How To Hack Your Nintendo NES Classic: Here's A Quick Guide For Modders

Alexandra Burlacu, Tech Times 09 January 2017, 11:01 pm

Nintendo fans, rejoice! A new hack for the hugely popular NES Classic now allows users to add up to 90 games to the tiny console.

The Nintendo NES Classic proved to be an immense hit, so much so that the company sold nearly 200,000 units in November and had trouble keeping it in stock over the holidays.

Those who did manage to get their hands on the retro console, meanwhile, had two major complaints: the NES Classic has frustratingly short controller cables and doesn't have nearly enough games.

For those unfamiliar with the NES Classic, it's a slimmed-down version of the Nintendo Entertainment System from 1985, and it comes loaded with just 30 games. That wouldn't be a problem if Nintendo added more, but the company said it doesn't plan on expanding the library in the future.

With just 30 games to boot and no simple way to add more, frustration was building up among NES Classic users, but a new hack may save the day — at least for the tech-savvy owners of the console.

Nintendo NES Classic Hack For More Games

NES Classic owners have been trying to hack the console from the very beginning, but the latest hack seems to be the most promising one yet. Surfaced in a YouTibe video on the forums of the GBX Russian retro gaming community, the hack offered step-by-step instructions — albeit in Russian — and rose a great deal of interest.

The lucrative folks roaming the Reddit forums wasted no time and quickly picked up on the hack, posting it in the r/NESClassicMods subreddit and trying it out on their own devices.

While it's exciting to finally be able to add more games to the NES Classic retro console, bear in mind that hacking the device is not a simple process anyone can do — at least not yet.

The current hack involves having a game saved in the first Super Mario Bros. slot, booting the NES Classic into FEL mode, hacking the kernel, and pumping ROM files using a special tool. This is just the preparation. For more detailed instructions on how to hack the NES Classic and add up to 90 games to the console, head over to Reddit and check out the comprehensive thread there.

"I successfully added about 8 ROMs to my NES Classic by following the guide posted by MadMonkey via the gbx forum. Just make sure you have a save in the first slot on SMB for it to load the custom kernel," notes one Reddit user.

Hack At Your Own Risk

Fair warning: hacking the Nintendo NES Classic risks bricking it. If not done right, or even if you succeed, it will most likely void the warranty. At the same time, it's highly advised not to proceed with this process unless you're at least fairly familiar with config files and MD5 hashes.

Nintendo NES Classic Hack: 'How To' Tutorials

If you decide to proceed and hack your Nintendo NES Classic retro console to add more games, you can check out the quick guide tutorials embedded below. Once you're done tweaking, drop by our comment section and tell us how it all worked out.