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MiniSNES rules; Read the subreddit rules here: r/miniSNES is a spot to discuss the miniSNES (SNES Classic Edition), it's games, and modifications. Be sure to be courteous to your fellow redditors, and to follow the subreddit's rules. Failure to adhere to the rules may result in removal of posts or suspension of access to this subreddit. SNES Classic Edition hack opens the door to more games. You can also use the RetroArch mod, so if there’s one game in particular you’d like to play on your SNES Classic, you should be able.
The NES Classic Edition was a hot gift over the holidays — Nintendo couldn’t make them fast enough to meet demand. Who would have thought people would be so excited to play the 30 retro games on this box? Well, that wasn’t all buyers were excited about. If you give people interesting new hardware, they’ll start modding it. In the case of the NES Classic Edition, it’s fast becoming the gaming emulator of your dreams.
The NES Classic Edition comes stocked with some of the most popular titles from the original console, but the selection varies a bit by region. In the US, some of the big games include all three Super Mario Bros., Metroid, Castlevania, and The Legend of Zelda. The obvious drawback of this device is that you get the games it comes with and that’s it — no installing new ones. The NES Classic Edition is not designed to have writable memory beyond the game saves. Modders seem to have taken that as a challenge.
It took about a month after release for someone to figure out how to write to the NES Classic Edition’s memory without bricking it. The most prominent tool for NES Classic modding is called Hakchi2, a Windows-based program from Russian developer Alexey Avdyukhin. It started as a rather messy hack, but in just a few weeks it’s become a surprisingly usable graphical interface for loading new games onto the NES Classic Edition.
Setup for Hakchi2 is quick, but not without risk. You have to install an unsigned driver on your computer, which some people will find worrisome. Once you’re up and running, you can remove and add NES titles to the console with your PC; you’ll need to download ROM files, which is a legal gray area. There’s also an optional mod for Hakchi2 based on the RetroArch emulator. Install that and you can play games from other systems on the NES Classic Edition. See below for a video of a particularly giddy man testing a number of titles from Genesis, SNES, and even N64 on the NES Classic. There are some bugs, but the games load. That’s more than I can say for many software emulators I’ve used over the years.
If you want to play around with Hakchi2, you’ll first have to get your hands on the NES Classic Edition. It’s still in short supply, which has led to some outrageous price-gouging. Using Hakchi2 would certainly void your warranty, so don’t expect Nintendo to be sympathetic if you break your rare and valuable NES Classic Edition.
The Super NES Classic is a beautiful piece of nostalgia for a very good price. At only $79.99 for twenty classic Nintendo games and two extremely well-constructed controllers, the Super NES Classic is worth owning even if it couldn't be pwned. But happily, for us, it can be pwned to allow not only more Super Nintendo games to be installed, but to allow other emulators so we can play just about any game on it.
We will take you through the simple process of getting your console unlocked and ready to go. Step one is to have your SNES Classic and it's USB cable next to your PC ready to go and to install the Hakchi2 Software from ClusterM. Some people prefer to use the .ZIP file but we will use the .EXE version for this tutorial. Unfortunately, there is currently no Mac version of this so you will need to find a Windows PC to do it or use Bootcamp. Toold like Wineskin or a vitual PC emulation software like VirtualBox could theoretically work but he haven't tested those options.
Initial PWN
- Install and open Hakchi2 from Github.
- Plug in your SNES Classic via the USB on your PC.
- Select Kernal and select Flash Custom Kernel.
- Follow on-screen instructions. Make sure to save your kernel to the cloud!
- Create a folder on your PC called ROMs.
- Use your ROMs in .zip file format.
- Find a cover art on Google or your prefered search engine (Bing has a surprisingly good image search).
- Press the Synchronise Selected Games button.
Flashing the Kernel
This is perhaps the most delicated part of the procedure and could potentially ruin the device. Do this at your own risk, but you already know that, and we aren't responsible if you do brick your SNES. If you follow the instructions you should be fine.
That being said, make sure your SNES Classic is plugged into the USB on your PC and the power is on. you should hear the familiar beeps of a driver being installed but don't worry if you don't, it will install later on. Next, in the Hakchi2 window select 'Kernel' then 'Flash Custom Kernel' from the drop-down.
From here you will see a pop up that explains everything you need to do. Follow this to the letter and it will be ok. The first time you do this you will see a command prompt screen appear to load the drivers automatically, if they haven't installed already, so don't worry as it's normal. A good rule of thumb I found is when that pop up disappears is a good time to release the reset button. That will allow the program to do its job.
And that's it! Your Super NES Classic is now ready to accept custom extra ROMs. Now, the internal storage of the SNES Classic is only 200mb and though that seems very small the average game ROM is only 1.5mb so there is plenty of room. Google is you friend in terms of getting your 100% fully legally obtained software ROMs to put on your console.
Installing ROMs
Once you have acquired the ROMs you need, installing them is very easy. Using the same Hakchi2 interface as before, select the 'Add More Games' button and navigate to your ROMs folder. I suggest making a separate folder for them all to keep them from getting lost in the downloads. From there select the .ZIP file you want to use. Remember, the SNES Classic is built on the NTSC platform, not PAL so make sure your ROMs are NTSC or USA only.
Once you have chosen the ROM you have some options on the right-hand side. Normally they populate automagically from the info on the ROM so you don't need to change them but you can add your own cover art from a picture you have taken from the internet.
Making sure your Super NES Classic is still plugged in and turned on you can press the 'Synchronize Selected Games' button and watch it install on your SNES. Once you have the games installed turn off your SNES, disconnect it from your PC and set it all back up on your TV and you are good to go!
To find the new games you will to navigate to the end of the line of original games and go into the folder there. From there you will see all of the cover art you used and can select the games to play, and play them!
Any other questions?
So thats it! A fairly simple way to maximise the Super NES Classics potential and let you play those amazing retro games we all know and love. If you have any questions or comments let us know below.