Video: Retro Emulation Finally Comes To Switch Following Homebrew Hacking Efforts

And so it begins. I'm not worried, bring on the stability Nintendo!

I’m hoping the real stuff from Nintendo comes out soon. I’m not personally into doing this.

Not worth having to stay offline for, but when they can get Gamecube and Wii games running properly, with full joy con controller support, it could be enough to push me into getting a second Switch.

Sheesh. The lengths some people will go to play old games. God forbid people wait until Nintendo announces their new VC service.

Lame

All that work just to play Jaguar games?

The virtual console is a license to print money...Nintendo saying virtually nothing about it is starting to annoy me, i want my classics arceus damn it!

The longer they stall the more people will resort to homebrew.

Cool, I will probably be looking into this stuff when the Switch is dead. The Wii still gets a lot of use from me for this very reason.

@KayFiOS And what if they dont?

Hoping the Switch becomes the next PSP in terms of homebrew.

Retroarch on the Switch... a dream come true!
Also just because you can install pirated games on a system you own doens't mandatory mean you have to. The age old moral debate has been with us for the past decades and will continue for decades more. If you love this industry, you support it as best your can and that is the bottom line.

Looks cool but I wouldn't want to void my warranty for this, plus there are so many emulators out there. Still, it's great to see.

I wouldn't be bothered to do this.

A hacked Wii U is one of my most prized possessions. A hacked Switch could be even better. Mine's still at 3.0 although I get an annoying update nag everytime I start a game. Will be worth it in the end.

Thanks, but no thanks.

Ha I never realize that grabbing RetroArch is that easy. No wonder many people and companies wants to steal it and profit from it.

There’s no point in even attempting this. It’s going to be patched out almost immediately. If Nintendo could just go ahead and release some Virtual Console games, people wouldn’t even have to try this.

@Bunkerneath Well, then get a Retron. Why on earth would you hack the Switch?

I agree with doing this when the machine is dead, but a machine under a year old? Come on. Surely more sense to keep this on the Wii U and off the latest machine, although I’m sure many are screaming good intentions (as far as roms go, of course) but this will quite obviously be used for piracy on a contemporary scale without a doubt.

This is just a teaser for things to come. We start with emulation, then work to custom firmware with the ability to gain latest firmware options while keeping the homebrew. At this rate, custom music and textures will see light within the end of the year. This isn’t as bad as everyone thinks it is. A casual Switch owner won’t even care about this.

There will always be people who have different ideas for the products they use, so I'm not surprised.

@KnockKnock is right, the normal or casual Switch won't care. Others can take the risk with their hardware, I'll just wait for Nintendo to bring out their official way of doing things.

@AlexOlney this:

Keep your eyes on Original way to play, guys.
That Temptation...

Pass on my part. Along with exploit patching, here's hoping Nintendo can ban these systems from online play to stem the flood of exploits for online games.

does seem random getting the jaguar in there and that game looks like its running painfully slowly. the others look fine. I hope that this encourages Nintendo to get a move on with their VC.

@KnockKnock
I would rather keep my Switch stay Original, No hacking or Illegal ways whatsoever.
Remember, that temptation....

@KayFiOS And why would someone want this instead of a Retron5? The R5 kind of sucks, but more so, not a portable. Their handheld SNES is awful with a broken d-pad and sketchy/missing support for chipped games.

@AlexOlney Jaguar has Tempest 2000, a decent Doom and Wolfenstein conversion, Aliens vs Predator, and a solid but limited selection of other unique games it only got. It's not as bad as people make it out to be, but it can't hold up against the systems that didn't die a horrible death.

Not good, but nothing can be done about it either unless there is somewhat of an easy fix Nintendo can slap down on it given the exploit isn't just a hardware hole code can't plug up.

Now these are worthwhile new titles for Switch library unlike all those 2/4/6/10-year-old ports.

(Before anyone interprets it as a jab against Gen 3 and 4, this is nonetheless coming from a long-time retro gamer of sorts, so don't feel obliged to lecture me on older games' merits XD)

@KayFiOS
Playing portable on the go~
Retron can't do that~

I would only do this if I had a second Switch, or if I upgraded to the next switch 2. Retroarch and NES-PS1 games on the Switch is just too tempting. Nintendo doesn’t have to worry, they can release a reskinned version of Super MARIO World like Wonderboy 3 and everyone will want to buy that... especially if you can Switch from hD to 16 bit graphics with one click of the button.

awesome! I imagine this year will be huge for switch hacking

Great, now that it's been hacked we can look forward to online games being a mess as always.

Seriously, again with the piracy announcements? NL really ought to represent higher standards than this. It's fine, and important, to report on its existence, but lets stop pretending "homebrew" is the reason this is done. It was hacked for piracy and cheating. Full stop. Trying to couch it behind "homebrew" makes NL look complicit.

Looks like I am gonna have to start going to Nintendo Everything to get my news, since you clowns can't stop reporting the switch hacks on the front page. Go there and there isnt a single mention of it. Wonder why.

@Shiryu That's the problem, Hacked hardware in no way supports the creators. But nice try.

Where did you learn to fly?

Nintendo Switch 5.0 will be the stablest genius

It’s like Captain America Civil War in here! I choose team IronMan, no Home brew! You can do it Nintendo! Patch this up and brick their switches!

Anybody remember the old ONM UK magazine reporting news like this about hacked hardware, back in the Wii/DS era? There was never any mention on console hacks or exploits, I wonder why given the NoE official licence? Very curious once again, if Nintendo UK is ok with news like this on NintendoLife?

@gcunit if it's anything like the 3DS home brew launchers, you should be able to Crack and the update it eventually. Not saying that is the case now, but you are able to do so on the 3DS, so I would imagine the same will be true here eventually.

Now this gives Nintendo a reason to put more features into OS 5.0, it will enticed everyone to upgrade from the hackable 3.0.

Looks like I might. Need a 2nd Switch!

The only reason I'd be interested in this would be if they found a way for docked primary switch players to be able to use an external HDD for storage.

Finally upgrading the switch experience! For those that don't like HB, remember the PSP? The PSP survived far longer than it should have with the crippled sony support, all thanks to a strong and growing PSP HB base.

It can only benefit sales, as long as the JW stay away with their brain dead reasoning.

Instead of focusing on improving the Switch interface and features they will be fuxing exploits. Thanks hackers for slowing down meaningful updates.

@Anti-Matter you sound like your playing the part of the devil on ones shoulders, saying original is the way to go...then adding “remember the temptation”
Reminding them of the temptation by saying remember the temptation, don’t you think you are trying to cause temptation saying it like that?
Are you the devil?!

Man I hate these pirates lol leave the switch alone, play on your mobiles or pcs if you want emulators, it’s not like there is a shortage of options!
If in some way you think you are doing a greater good as you think Nintendo will then have to legitimately add what you are shovelling you should think of all the Nintendo homes that will be built because of the switch bricks you create!
P.s idk why I’m typing this like I’m speaking to the hackers themselves...it just came out that way 😑

@Deathwalka You are just reasoning with yourself, you have an inner conflict. On one hand, you want this. You want to play with emulators on the Switch, but on the other hand you don't want to hack your Switch. By externalizing your turmoil to the hackers, you find some relieve.

Nintendo won't be able to patch this one out. It is at the proccessor level. They have to fix it in future chips but all current system hardware will be hackable forever regardless of firmware.

@Deathwalka
Nah.
I just remind to be careful with that Temptation.
A Temptation to hack your machine.
Better stay away from piracy things.

doom is on Jaguar....
guys,
we can play the original doom on switch!
(if possible...)

This is only good for a small number of people. I need mine on the latest build like most to play online.

And when Nintendo bricks there switch they will be the first ones whining.lol all my consoles stay legal.

@NextWizard "Hoping the Switch becomes the next PSP in terms of homebrew."

^^^ That sure worked wonders for official PSP support from 1st party and especially, 3rd party dev support, right?

That was the kiss of death for the PSP.

I mean seriously, why bring that kind of heat to the Switch when there are plenty of other cheaper alternatives to play emulators on?

Homebrew is a good thing, we should hope for them to continue to avoid Nintendo's so called "stability" updates

@Nincompoop lmao where did say I want to play with emulators?!
What are you even going on about!
Why do I want an emulator? There’s nothing I’d want to play again for the 100th time!
Are you reflecting your own beliefs on me? As where is your reasoning to say that? what was in my post to make you misread something so bad lol this obviously triggered you as your obviously the type to be stupid enough to hack your switch then complain like a little girl haha
Please don’t respond to me your stupidity is astounding
Blocked..

I really don’t mind anyone advocating home brew as few people have found some genuine reasons where it comes in handy.
But, I’m no expert on this, but I think so many people don’t understand the potential effects hackers cause because of emulation....
Firstly android devs makes very little money compared to iOS because of jailbreaking.
The PSP got affected as devs don’t want to support something where there hard work gets downloaded for free.
Can you supporters of home brew not see this side of things? Is it because you feel it has more positives then negatives?
As I don’t doubt it has some good aspects about it but if it affects the business, I think that’s where we should draw the line.
Again many won’t take advantage but some still will.

Nintendo brings this on themselves. The only reason these homebrew hacks become popular is because they provide something that the OEM refuses to support. If Nintendo made every NES, SNES, and Game Cube game available on the Switch Virtual Console, there would be very little reason to use unstable, pirated software.

@NintendoLife
"We'd imagine Nintendo will be doing everything it possibly can to shut the door on such exploits in a future firmware update"

Didn't Nintendo already do that? All confirmed hacks require firmware 3.0.0. The one used in the videos in this article definitely does.

@RadioStarbuck The Wii had the biggest Virtual Console library yet and it was still hacked.

Promoting piracy? I expected nothing less from NL...

@gcunit
I'm not paying for Nintendo's online service anyway. So as soon as it goes live as a pay service I'm trading Splatoon 2 since it's online only & hacking my Switch. I hacked my Wii a decade ago and it's still getting used regularly. Cant wait to load this up with emulators.

Emulators would be nice, although homebrew always leads to software piracy. I mostly use my hacked systems to play unreleased region-locked games or games that aren’t available on virtual console library. I support devs as much as I can but not everyone thinks that way. Homebrew is still a vulnerability for those companies...

@countzero The method they are using is not firmware based. It is a vulnerability in the proccessors and one of them cannot be fixed via a firmware update so all Switch unitls in circulation and in homes are forever hackable.

This is GREAT NEWS, better than a Nintendo direct announcement.

Ninty can't even patch it with a firmware update, bloody fantastic
Don't matter what firmware your on the switchtab will always be hackable

YES YES and YES again, this has certainly made my day and year for that matter

We are just getting started, and things are only going to get better!

https://gbatemp.net/threads/team-xecuter-announces-future-proof-switch-exploit.493187/

https://gbatemp.net/threads/homebrew-launcher-for-switch-fw-3-0-released.493618/

https://gbatemp.net/threads/fail0verflow-teases-cold-boot-switch-hacks.493649/

I am now saving up to buy a Switch!

I want to have an official firmware on my systems and play official games on them. Psp is the only system I’ve put retro games on, and to be honest it does not feel rewarding or even that fun to play those games on it. Whenever I decide to buy a game, I’ll think it trough and make sure it’s a game I’ll enoja. I might not play it right always, but when that moment comes it feels like I want and need to play it. Cos I bought it. If I put some roms on an emulator, it’s basically all the same if I even play the games. It just leaves me feeling hollow inside. It’s cool how ppl can do things like this but I wish Nintendo would make this possible by themselves. And by ”this” I mean giving us their old games. Not for free ofc but with a reasonable price tag.

@KayFiOS Doesn’t seem like Nintendo are going to though, just keep selling mini consoles....

@RadioStarbuck
Little reason, hmm I would say big reason, your forgetting PS1, PSP, MAME, MSDOS, MEGADRIVE, MASTER SYSTEM, GAME GEAR, NEO GEO, TURBO GRFX, ATARI, AMIGA, LYNX, MEGA CD, 32X, some SEGA SATURN, DREAMCAST basically over 30 years of gaming history and that's not counting NES, SNES GB, GBA, N64, DS

@FinalFrog
Doug can sod off for all i care, i will build my own motorcycle, a better one than Honda will sell me and it won't cost a penny

talks about Switch hacking, gets banned

May be Nintendo should start releasing retro games themselves from their back catalogue and sign up Sega,Atari and any of the Arcade companies from the 80’s

This really makes me want Tempest 2000 on switch! Not enough to hack mine though.

To be able to play Towers 2 again.

Damn it.. piracy is going to sink this ship..

Well, maybe Nintendo should get their arse in gear and release VC, hmm????

@Joeynator3000
Yup, staff mentioning hacking/homebrew = A OK
Member discusses so much as saying the H or P word, instaban.

Yeah, that's totally fair

@MrYuzhai
That's a myth, piracy has never affected or killed a console. Please show me any and all sources that prove to the contrary. Thank you. Also, most people who pirate end up buying the games, and also hacking and modding a console isn't piracy, as it's not stealing anything.

How does installing an emulator, which under US law, is legal, pirating? Oh wait, it's not.

Yeeha

Voiding my warranty. Check.
No access to online. Check.
Possibly getting a mole looking for my credit card info. Check.
Possibly turning my Switch into a premium paperweight. Check.
But I can play Jaguar games! Yay! (Obvious sarcasm)
It’s just plain stupid to even consider doing it.

@maruse Then don't? No one's making you.

@mikegamer Obviously I won’t. But you are free to try it, no one’s stopping you.
Everyone is free to do whatever they want with their machine. I just think it’s stupid to risking bricking it for basically nothing worth the risk or effort.

If Nintendo fails to bring us any sort of Virtual Console-type service, I will probably end up buying a second Switch for this purpose. But I intend to give Nintendo the benefit of the doubt and wait.

@maruse Well, considering Nintendo has been bloody lazy on the VC front...

I prefer to purchase them properly anyway though. It'd be nice if something like this were to motivate Nintendo to make/hurry up with their own VC service. The Switch is arguably the best console for VC to date!

@mikegamer Actually, there're not being lazy, they just want you (us) to buy the NES mini/SuperNES mini instead...

I don't agree with that but alas... nothing we can do.

I still think that eventually the VC will come to the Switch, but when and in what fashion... we can only guess.

@FinalFrog
Nah, Doug hasn't worked at the Honda plant in years, and that model hasn't been produced for even longer

@Xaessya New 3DS can. It's surprisingly easy enough to hack, certainly moreso than the Switch.

My right ear enjoyed the first two videos.

I wonder if it'll be possible to run PS1/PSP emulator on the Switch, i could get behind this.

@AlexOlney But the Jaguar had classics like Cybermorph!

You know, the one with horrendously unresponsive controls, excremental draw distance and the annoying green alien thing mocking you after crashing into things that just appear right in front of you with the lovely sentiment "Where did YOU learn to fly?".

@mikegamer Piracy is largely responsible for reducing the PSP from a gaming console to just another machine to watch movies on. So there's one at least.

@mikegamer what’s that about getting banned for discussing hacking? Has someone been banned?

@Syntaxkita that’s a good solution tbf if you want to try home brew, buy a second switch. It’s good precaution if you can afford to do that in case something goes wrong.
Me personally I like my devices to stay as they are regardless but I respect you thinking like that

Eh, why homebrew when you can just install an emulator on a phone or tablet and play with next to no effort? Not really into pirating games, purchasing games gives companies like SE incentive to create exclusives and port over classics like Romancing Saga 2.

@AlexOlney Tempest 2k was awesome

@AlexOlney We only want to play in the most legal way so please publish these articles in some other sites (i.e. HackerLife maybe?)

99% of the reason to hack a console is to run pirated games. Don't think so? What is demonstrated in the videos? A homebrew app or a homebrew game? No. Its a pirated game running in an emulator. Almost any demonstration of a hacked console is a pirated game running in an emulator.

Now if people really want to program apps and games for the Switch they should contact Nintendo for a development kit. Maybe Nintendo can get something going where people can create games and apps and share them in a separate non-profit channel or shop or whatever it is on the Switch.

Why stop there? Put in a Philips CDi emulator in there too! And play some Mutant Rampage: Bodyslam!

@Deathwalka It's a touchy topic with the higher ups to say the e-word or h-word, hacking. Journalists can say it and mention it, but if users talk about it, it's somehow evil.

@maruse I already have an Snes mini (zero interest in NES games). I don't want them to release SMB for the ten millionth time.

@SimplyCinnamon53 That would be awesome actually.