Man, I wouldn't even use it for Switch games, I'd use it to emulate my old Gameboy games etc so I can have a complete physical Nintendo library. I don't want their stupid online subscription for games I already bought.
The reason the game cycles on re-insertion, is probably so the cartridge doesn't need its own cartridge ID, it just uses the current game's ID so it doesn't get banned.
Yes and no, with the game id you are of cuz right but that’s not the point why it just circles, to make a menu like on R4 cards you just need a bit more time cuz it’s just an optical thing and have nothing to do with the hacks behind them and to bring this to a beta product is not important, so in the final version we could maybe already have an menu to select games… Early versions of the R4 cards don’t have a menu too, in the first versions you got an similar system with the difference (when I remember correctly) that you just load one game at the time on the sd… At least that was the way on the 3ds R4 card, in the first versions of those you need not just an 3ds R4 card, you needed an ds r4 card to to setup the 3ds r4 card… So a Menu is nothing special and just need some more work next to the hacking process but has mostly nothing to do with the hack it self…
I really hope so because, Nintendo actually has the power to ban individual cartridges from online. So they could use a cartridge certificate to trace known dumps.
nope, its almost guaranteed that this is just emulating a retail cart, meaning the games still NEED to be signed and as such no home-brew (or menu), rom hacks etc the 3DS had a similar card called sky3ds, that also worked by emulating a retail cart and as such, zero possibility of running a custom menu so they need to have some other way of choosing what game to emulate, sky3ds had a little button built into it for changing game iirc they prototype sky3ds used the exact same pop the cart in and out to cycle games, but was refined to a button before shipping, and later on in its life they released a 2 button version for cycling forwards and backwards between games incase you skipped past the game you wanted and needed to go back on an additional note, as with the 3DS every single 3ds cart had its own embedded unique serial meaning you couldn't just throw a random .3ds file on the SD, they needed their own config file with unique cart serials, meaning most people were using publicly shared serials, whilst many speculated nintendo could ban consoles using those serials from online play I don't think nintendo ever took that step as it would become legally dubious due to the fact at least some people could be banned by accident as with the 3ds people were actively bragging that they were dumping games from sources like libraries or buying games to return to the store once they dump the cart serial so nintendo only ever went as far as blacklisting the serials publicly shared from online play, but they could take the blacklisting serials further and ban certain cart carts from even working once people update their FW making distribution harder as the resellers would find themselves inundated with "I want a refund, all my games stopped working" emails every few weeks, especially now the switch have on the fly firmware updates, they could just push new blacklists without even waiting for a specific FW update and make the switch refuse to load up any game found on the blacklist the obvious advantage of such a cart though is that it works exactly like a retail cart, they don't require only certain firmwares, or booting up exploits or installing CFW, they literally just act as a retail cart, so these kinds of solutions appeal to every switch owner as they are a simple fool proof solution that if you own a switch you can use no questions about what version, or firmware, but if they do go the route of blacklisting carts the product looses its appeal to the less technically savvy when they are told they need to not connect their console to the internet any more
The current game's ID? But no game cart is inserted while the flash cart is inserted. That aside, in the 3DS era that logic would have applied because back then Nintendo had no way of knowing what was actually running. You could swap out a header with a that of another game and as far as Nintendo is concerned you are playing that game even if you are somehow online and connected with other people. Correct me if I am wrong, but the Switch's Telemetry includes more than that. Nintendo should be able to see if you are playing a game with a header that does not match the game in the current generation. If that is not the case, however, I think it would be very nice if you could just put a header in some folder and instruct it to use that. That way you won't have to mess with editing each game's header and can reliably ensure that each console is using a different console ID. I'd be shocked if that would work, however. I am personally expecting Nintendo to ban pretty much everyone who tries to go online with this flash cart. The only people who won't get banned at the ones who bought their own carts and therefore are using a legit header. Nintendo absolutely wouldn't be able to detect that.
@Elliandr yeah now you mention it, been a while since all the 3ds stuff, so a bit sketchy on the details, I think nintendo dropped the ball with the 3ds and almost certainly learned a few lessons, would be super trivial for them to just keep a database during manufacture of what chip ranges were used for each game, iirc the cart headers were basically just part of the actual rom chips register being used as a final verification for online play as they knew what chip ids they had used but not nessisarily for what title, so "valid nintendo chip id" is just a valid nintendo chip ID pretty sure when people were first documenting the switch protocols they mentioned that the switch does a lot more communication with the cart in terms of pulling chip ID'S and stuff and verifying them, so I would imagine if they had learned anything from the 3ds they would be looking at running some of those checks on the system itself and having a blacklist pretty much ready to go from day 1 just for if/when sky3ds style clone cart was released sure it becomes a game of cat and miuse, but all nintendo need to do is cause enough of a headache and angry people saying "this cart keeps breaking" that it would be enough to dissuade a good portion of people whi don't want to risk having their console banned even if that danger isn't actually really there, the FUD is usually enough, I seen it with the likes of sky3ds As for nintendo being able to detect this stuff, it will all depend, its somewhat feasible that the switch could measure current draw to the cart slot to identify this cart and stop it loading, would just depend on the tolerances of stock carts vs the flashcard and if nintendo has the ability or motivation to bother doing so with the switch being so late into its life cycle, they are probably already well underway in the development of the successor to the switch and would benefit more from having their hardware engineers and software developers entirely focused on that right now
I have 5 switches that can be modded (so that I can always have a modded switch for my whole life) and even I would pick up a few of these cards if you can use them on an unmodded switch.
It’s honestly pretty impressive it took this long for someone to figure out a flash cart. I never really thought about it before but Nintendo had to have a pretty impressive security solution to prevent that from working.
As someone who has tinkered with Switch emulation and h-cking, the Nintendo Switch is heavily encrypted and has a ton of telemetry to ban anyone who potentially breaks through But still, because of the unpatchable RCM glitch on day 1 models, we should've at least seen something a little sooner But maybe it's because of the RCM glitch that made these flashcards "unnecessary" to some extent
@explodedglue5509 Yeah It's the reason why the Switch doesn't let you put save data on an SD card (to stop save game exploits that the Wii had) Or why the Switch doesn't have an internet browser (to stop browser exploits the Wii U had) Nintendo clearly learned their lessons and are taking no risks, and it's because of this, we haven't had a new Switch softmod since 2018 - just the RCM one and a (long since patched) browser-based exploit
Honestly the main reason it’s been so hard for people to safely mod switches is because compared to other consoles Nintendo has managed to do something unique which is make every part of its system sooo proprietary that the process you’d have to use to mess with stuff is a lot harder than it has been for their past systems. Also another thing is compared to most other companies Nintendo is very sue trigger happy because the only real thing they’ve got going for their console is exclusivity and the fact that they can charge a lot for their franchises and products because of said exclusivity.
The cart cycling through the games reminds me of Sky3DS+. I had one for my unmodded 3DS and it had two buttons that let you cycle alphabetically through the list of roms in the MicroSD All it did was mimick official cartridges and it had no menus like the R4 and its clones
On one hand, homebrew is about to go nuts over this. On the other hand, Nintendo must be frothing at the mouth right now lol. They're gonna do everything they can to stop this.
@@zenvultrayep and constantly getting s!mps to pay to rent their games month after month or year after year. Remember when Nintendo tried to sue Blockbuster over game rentals? I member.
It may surprise you all that I actually just want to buy the games physically, rip my own ROMs, and KEEP my physical games on my shelf. I like seeing them on my shelf.
@@ComicCrossing super nintendo, 64, gamecube, wii, switch hmmm yea switch 2 probably not going to be backwards compatible judging by their track record.
I remember buying an R4 and a ds for my bro for Christmas. Gave him an SD card first, which he thought was a good gift as he had just started uni. Then the ds, which was awesome for travelling. Then the R4 cart and explained to him what all 3 together do. He was stoked. By far the best gift I've even given.
I remember when I got the r4 it was like a miracle for me. My family was poor so games weren't on the priority list unless it was Christmas or my birthday and even then I had to be considered on the price. The r4 open a whole new world of possibilities and games and made my childhood better and for that I will forever be grateful. Best pirate devices ever
Facts and now with the switch I only have 2 games and I have had it for 2 years now 😭 I really hope they drop it I’m not planing on spending 60 bucks on games that should be at max 30
With it being on the tail end of the system like you pointed out, I figured something like this would come about. Either an easier way to load cfw or like this. Either way, I'm definitely interested.
Also it could drive sales of switches for those who didn’t want to buy because nintendos shitry game pricing Why Mario Zelda and stay full price and only sale at 10 bucks off is beyond me
This is basically a modern version of the sky3ds+ for the 3ds, as it mimics an official cartridge (you can download the updates and dlcs and they’ll work just fine as well) accessing one rom a time with a button.
The moment you said ds days I immediately thought about the action replays you could stick into your ds and play roms. It was the best for playing games not available in the US.
DS was region free, but DSi was not. I think you could play foreign games you otherwise couldn't by putting them into an Action Replay though. 3DS never got an Action Replay device, and never worked with the Action Replay DSi I had for DS(i) games.
Admittingly, I used to be more into piracy as a teen. Nowaydays I buy what I want. However, these cards ARE good for the future when games arent available officially anymore. For example, I recently heard about Pinball of the Dead for the GBA. I found an old sale on a site for 5 euros. But now it's only secpnd hand for sale for around 100 euros. That is absolutely ridiculous. This is where these flashcards can come in.
Agreed. Unlike 99 percent of people, apparently, I don't really like the idea of pirating games for a system that is still out and selling, but after it's off the market and / or a game just isn't available, these are great for access and preservation.
@@CatIsBack25 Nuanced and well conceptualized. Exactly the quality of thought that I expect from such an august platform as the RUclips comments section. Humanity should end.
@@ZeusTheIrritableone switch example is the port of nes fire emblem 1. It is the only English version of the nes game and it is no longer listed on the eshop. It also has no physical version so unless you brought it already your shit out of luck.
This is more like the Sky 3DS Cart for the 3DS more than the R4, you didn't need a modified 3ds stock from the shop it would work, just load up your games and press the button to cycle through, was quite expensive though about £100
@@checob224. Still, R4 on the NDS was capable of running different region games, homebrew, adding action replay and several other nice features Sky3DS+ was just mimicking official cartridges, which is what this one seems to be doing
This will be awesome for preservation, especially with Nintendo which likes to gate-keep and remove games from existence. Honestly, every console nowadays needs something like this. Companies like Sony have become the absolute worst scum when it comes to digital ownership.
What games have been "removed from existence"? I'm curious. I presume games that we're only available on Wii u eshops right? That you probably never played or cared about until you found a reason to hate Nintendo again after they removed the eShop from the Wii u. Lol you can still buy Wii u game physically, and the Wii u is now like the Wii and GameCube and N64 an offline console which isn't a bad thing. You can still play the Wii u and 3ds and such.
@@DANCERcow You talk a whole lot of sh*t about a person you know nothing about. Yes, there are games that I no longer have access to on my Wii. And who the f*ck should be in the position to assert what content deserves to stay or go? Doesn’t matter if it’s a Zelda or a 5$ indie game on the eShop. People paid money for it and you’re in no position to tell them what they should enjoy or care about or be able to keep. The Wii mostly offered small paid downloads of course. Do you honestly think that 10-15 years down the line Nintendo will still support the 100s of gigs of digital content now out on Switch? Especially when most physical games there require massive downloads to even function? All that stuff will go at one point, and so will the entire legacy of this generation.. that is unless people take steps to preserve it through products like the flash cart. Im glad you don’t care of course, keep investing in that digital scheme of theirs. But there’s no need to project your sh*t onto others.
@@DANCERcowlol yes! This right here 😂👌. Ppl complaining about stuff they never play anyways and if they wanted to they could’ve just bought a hard copy or gotten a rom hack pretty easily anyways
@@DANCERcowthere are also things like 3D all stars that they decided to only put out for a limited time that you can’t buy anymore. I feel like it might be in reference to that
@@DANCERcow Many underrated games or smaller budget ones are gone. Physical copies still exist, but not for long. Some games like Chibi Robo become a good example of rare and expensive games because of its physical scarsity
About being able to change ROMs without an interface/removing the cart: Some specific collection carts feature more than one game on it, which display separately in the home screen. Maybe they could use that?
Those multicarts have the multiple titles in a single ROM images. From what it appears this flashcart just passes through the ROM data and requires original ROMs to use. Likely the 3DS cart with the ROM swap button would turn off the gamecard interface and turn it back on with the next ROM.
I wouldn't mind having this type of product in the future. Now that it's been developed it's only inevitable that clones and better versions of it will pop up. I look forward to the future of flash carts, but I'll definitely still be buying the games I'm really interested in.
It's like the Sky3DS. For reference DS Flashcards had menus and all, as for the 3DS they needed to be hacked to do that. However a flashcart for the 3DS called Sky3DS came out which had a physical button on the cartridge and would cycle through games by pressing the button, the flashcart would then emulate being the real retail game
Makes me glad I kept my old switch when I upgraded to an OLED model. My original Switch was having corruption issues which strangely went away it seems, but if I get into this I can keep my current system up to date and use the old one for everything else.
If this works without modding, using wifi services without messing with setting up sysnand is also a possibility. As far as I know the only main checks while booting a game are for firmware version and that happens locally. I do wonder if they have to be xci format specially to run. eshop games would have to be converted if that were the case.
Switch cartridges have unique certificates that are required for online play. If someone were to use this cart without a proper cert, they'd instantly get flagged for a ban
nintendo ain't gonna do a thing. they can't. there are 1000s of sellers on aliexpress selling modded switches. heck look at all the Chinese manufacturers releasing emulation handhelds like anbernic and retroid. they ship with 1000s of Nintendo games.
@@bern9642The difference is those are slow ass androids that can barely run Citra they totally would if it affected switch more. With the switches people are just impatient and don't like spending a lot of money on a random Chinese seller which is logical but they probably wouldn't bat an eye if it was amazon. A lot of the stuff is pre loaded too and that's it appeal but I'd hate that cus the sellers don't care where they download from and it will packed with malware the roms. TLDR despite options to pirate Switch games being around for a while now if there's too many steps most people won't be bothered. That's why tears of the kingdom and mario wonder still had record first 2 weeks sales still this year. The flashcards could definitely change that though.
@@Bargate you definitely don't follow retro-style systems and you need to at least do your research before commenting on the subject. the spectrum is impressive. some are poorly made and cost like $20 and can play up to snes and some cost as much as $400 and can play up to Nintendo switch. Most of them are linux based (way easier to work with than android, the more established brands use custom linux roms but most use open-source Linux distros like jelos). a large majority dual boot into linux and android. then some are android. a few have windows. the price range from $20 up to $400 for something like the AYN Loki. retroid and anbernic are the most popular and their handhelds range from $70 to $200 and the high end ones can emulate citra with no problem. and malware? none of them have malware. lol. how would that even work? they will intentionally ship malware with the system they want you game on? a lot of them have homebrew roms and even modded roms. they also usually have different region versions of the same game. they can have the European, Japanese, and American versions of the same game on there. the market is huge and booming. they have a handheld for every type of system. example, the Anbernic ARC specifically targets sega genesis. sure it can emulate up to the ps2 but it is made specifically with sega genesis in mind and most of them comes loaded with every single sega genesis game ever made alongside other games from other systems. switch piracy isn't affecting sales numbers that much because switch games are easily accessible. unless you are low on cash or just stingy, there is no need to go on shady sites with a bunch of pop-ups and slow download speeds when you can just download from the e-shop. retro-style Chinese handhelds are a huge hit because finding retro games to buy isn't easy. they are overpriced and you have to bargain with some guy online to get them.
You missed an important detail: Nintendo carts each have their own ID which Nintendo collects. Back in the 3DS era it was sufficient to replace a header with any old legit header to play online without getting caught, but in the Switch era Nintendo Cartridge IDs are unique to each game so Nintendo can detect if two games are played with the same header in which case both game carts will be banned from use or if you are using a cart with no ID or an ID that belongs to a different game in which case your conole will be banned. And of course if you convert a game from a download version to a cart version Nintendo will be able to detect that as well. That said, this still has it's uses. As long as you legally purchase your own games and aren't running the same game on two consoles at the same time they won't be able to detect it. (that's also a legal thing to do in America at least) and one potential use case there is if you want to play a modded version of a game you own. (i.e. play the Linkle Mod of Breath of the Wild) Additionally, once Nintendo shuts down it's online servers for the Switch the risk of a ban won't mean anything anyway so it will at that point be very important to be able to play games from a flash cart since there won't be any legal way of obtaining a game that was never sold on a cart. Ever since SXOS got shut down the modding scene has only supported the installed versions of games which is problematic for those of us who buy a large library of game carts. It's far more convenient to swap out a file than have to uninstall reinstall repeatedly. For that reason I haven't really been involved in the modding scene as of late. I have noticed with recent updates to official firmware that game carts frequently need to be reinserted multiple times. I wonder if that's related to this news? Maybe Nintendo figures that by forcing everyone to occasionally reinsert a cart a few times they can verify that you aren't using a cart like this. I mean, it seems like a fairly straight forward way to go, although if true it would mean that Nintendo is intentionally annoying paying customers in the off chance that they might be pirates. SIDE NOTE: It really bothers me that Nintendo bans real game carts because the ID was at some point in the past copied. That only really hurts used customers because a pirate could buy a game, rip it, sell it used, and then the next person is the one who can't play what they paid for. Not that Nintendo would care about that since in Japan used games are heavily regulated and require Nintendo's permission to be leased at all. Makes me wonder if this tactic isn't legal in America. Like, what would happen if someone bought a retail game cart and couldn't play it and then decided to sue Nintendo for ingringement of the first sale doctrine?
@uneducatedgamer8881 Sorry to disappoint you, but these things do push the company take more options for their bottom line. Now they're going to be rushing to go digital.
I like modding a system once it’s basically dead and the online services are no longer up or once I am done using them. I don’t want to risk getting a system/account that I still actively use online banned. Something like this which is (potentially) indistinguishable from a normal cartridge would be great. I like to try games out before I buy them but I’m a collector at heart (to the detriment of my wallet), so I still like to buy physical games to put on my shelf, even if I can get away with just pirating them for free. If this is real, I would be interested to see how good it is, how it improves, and what the Nintendo ninjas do about it.
Oh man! The R4 and M3 carts were so awesome in the DS days. You better believe I had a billion games on mine and pirated the frik out of every DS game that ever came out. Not my proudest moment...but good times.
I love seeing these developments happen. I have my 3ds hacked but I find that I never play with it. Too many games and I get choice paralysis, and end up not playing at all because I just can't choose.
This will result in massive banwaves. Every cartridge has a unique signature that can't be spoofed. You can't download a Switch XCI/NSP and use it to play online or while connected to wifi as this will get you flagged and banned because multiple other people will also being using that same "unique" cartridge signature to play at the same time, which isn't normally possible. We've known this since the release of the Switch.
I have a modded switch...and the certificates can be backed up and transferred...if thats what they did with the flash cart...nintendo will have a hard time knowing...it will be like playing used games.
@@jonathan__g Yeah, it’s just unfortunate that a lot of people will mistakenly get themselves banned. Well worth the risk though for anyone who knows what they’re doing!
This is super cool. I typically sell my consoles at the end of the generation but if it really is just as simple as the R4 card was then I would definitely buy a Switch Lite and this card to play some more games. I can definitely see something like this though being in the range of $100-$120. I hope its not, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was.
@KILLACRISIS215 this hack shit, as you put it, is done by people who also buy games, especially when a console reaches End Of Life, because the only way to preserve games is to hack your system and dump them. Nintendo won't care when the Switch is discontinued, because they won't make money from the games upon the Switch being discontinued
R4 returns! I burned ALL my dreamcast games. I burned ALL my wii games. I have a day 1 Switch i CAN paperclip. But as i get older, i just don't have the time to play dozens and dozens of games. I will get 1 or 2 legit games a year and that's good enough for me now. However, this is absolutely a great thing to have. In 10 or 20 years, everyone will be using it like Everdrives on your classic nes, genesis, etc.
If it catches on , this could actually sell more switch units for Nintendo. For people who would like a switch but not have a lot of money ($60 to $70 a piece) for games. It wouldn’t be such a big investment.
@@Souls4Roca Well I’m pretty sure Sony and Microsoft lose money on each console sold. Even if Nintendo doesn’t sell the consoles for a loss, their main profit is from the games that are sold.
After Sony took away our purchaces, we knew Nintendo would do the same. As they say, if they take away our games, piracy is legal. As with all of you, I support this!
Owning physical/digital games will be dead in 10 years anyway--as everything will move to cloud/streaming subscription services. But the Retro emulation community will still be going strong.
@@user-qy2wf2lt6vWhat is your point? In the last 10 years, physical media has essentially evaporated, save some very niche spaces (Vinyl) It may have taken longer than 10 years. But the point is that we are heading to an inevitability where physical media loses out.
@@uneducatedgamer8881lmao Nintwndo won't license this, yet it works on Switch. They *NEVER, I REPEAT, NEVER* licensed a flash card for ANY of their systems. You have let Nintendo take your freedoms from you.
Meh… my phone already does this with backbone, Steam Deck… hardly anything to be excited about. It’s not like we are starved of places to conveniently access homebrew stuff or play emulation related content.
@@cbgg1585 that's pretty cool, I'm pretty interested in this thingie ngl. I don't own a steam deck nor do I wanna emulate games on my phone but I think this could be pretty cool for switch owners such as myself. We'll have to see how low it can stay before Nintendo ninjas attack >w>
Meh… all it is is just roms. I was expecting to see a far easier way to flash into say Android and not have to go through the hassle of soldering stuff. What a let down. I would love to use my Switch for greater use but guess I’ll resort to buying a Ayn Odin2 just for the portability alone plus Android OS to run Remote Play, Gamepass and mobile games or hell even emulators like Vita and Switch.
I've wanted to mod my Switch & seriously customise my gameplay experience in manners that Nintendo would never embrace & unfortunately I was screwed with a newer Switch model, but FINALLY my time has come!
Just as a heads up if you're interested in DS or 3ds, just get a new 3DS XL the custom firmware allows for full backwards compatibility now with every DS game and playable off the SD card.
If this shows signs of evolving into something greater such as jailbreak and homebrew, I'll keep my current Switch when the next system comes out instead of trading torwards.
I'm guessing by the ejecting and reinserting to change games that it appears to the switch as a genuine game and does not allow for running unsigned code. Each time it powers on it just switches to the next ROM in the file system.
The crazy thing is that IS a Switch OLED. I can tell by how vivid the screen looks in the camera. Unless this dude has a modded board inside that thing, this does most likely mean the switch can work with this unmodded. This looks crazy.
This would definitely be great for games that are harder to find. I loved that about the r4. I think now that I'm older and have some money I would still end up wanting to support the industry when I can
Yeah, it'd be great if it allows for playing modded games without having to hack the hardware itself. I'd love to be able to play custom Super Mario Bros Wonder levels.
The only thing that would make me interested in it is if it allows for homebrew on newer consoles in some way. I haven’t had the time or money to solder a mod chip into my oled, so this would give me a way to finally play some homebrew projects that are out there
@@Patrick-y4d1z Yes, but when only 1 game is on the cart it's a nessacery evil, why would I want to put 30 games on 1 card if I still have to do it? Maybe it's just a one time thing and when the game is on the dash it just boots, that would be acceptable.
Nintendo should be happy about these modding scenes . It pushes their age old console even further and gives longetivity.. Otherwise who would buy this ancient hard ware
As someone who saw the first flash cart for the NES pop up in the mid-late 2000s - and was absolutely mindblown - I figured it would be a matter of time. Maybe this is only coming out now because it’s a safer time to release? Switch 2 right around the corner?
@@pleasedontwatchthese9593 More common back then were cartridge copiers. I owned a Professor SF2 and Double Pro Fighter for SNES/Genesis. The first flash cart I bought was a Gameboy Xchanger which was around 1998. I'm not positive, but it might have been the first flash cart to exist in gaming. Also owned a Doctor V64 and Z64 for N64. That was such a fun time to be a gamer.
This could actually be big because of the switch 2. I remember watching a video on the history of 3DS hacking and apparently DS flash carts worked with the 3DS (but they couldn't play 3DS games). Since there are rumors about switch 2 being backwards compatible, I wonder if this flash cart will let you have a ton of pirated switch 1 games on the switch 2?
If this flash cart opens the doors to lites and oleds to be modded without mod chips then that’d be insane, switch homebrew would definitely flourish if more can access it
This should be the wake up call for N to get on the new system already, almost 7 years with dated hardware for back then. They sure turned it around and for that we’re all glad the world is a better place with Nintendo
This would be the best thing in years. I love flash carts. Installing games is a pain and it's so much easier to just pop a rom on an SD card and chuck it into a flashcart.
The second this comes out Nintendo will develop some sort of checksum to determine cart authenticity since they know exactly how their own cart’s flash system works
@@thend4427 There still needs to be software for a handshake and security and to interpret the data. If it was just a matter of copying something physically a flash cart would have been developed a lot sooner. If the reverse engineering on cart validation isn't complete, it's possible that the nintendo ninjas find a way for the software to be able to tell the difference between official carts and the flashcart. Even ignoring that it's possible for them to allow the current games to work but change the security for newer games to not work with the flash cart. with a "stability update"
@@thend4427 they could reverse engineer the sd cartridge and try to patch the vulnerability in the console firmware, altho if its the issue with cardridges itself, there's no fix possible to make
@@Evangeder so you think the physical cart is what's telling the software to cycle and not how many times the media has been read? If the former is the case, yea that's rough to patch but if a software thing, nintendo could just check the installed game more than once in an instant to determine whether or not the cart is genuine.
There is a 3ds cart that makes you push a button to switch between games like this. R4 cards cost like $80+ when they came out so this one there is a good chance it will be over $100.
A must have if it functions like the R4, especially if you want to keep using your switch many years from now as Nintendo will eventually pull support and the shop like they did with the DS, and they rarely drop the prices of any good games so it’s just soooo damn expensive to build a big library of games.
I guess this really makes sense late term. As long as the cart "looks" identical to the system AFTER the contact pads on the back then the system has zero way of knowing. As long as it has the correct identification it's going to read like a normal cartridge.
Curious whether the removing/reconnecting it is needed to switch games or that's just a first-time thing to get the games on the home screen. Looks like it keeps adding new things to the hone screen, if you just had to do that once and then leave it in, that'd be huge.
No I'm pretty sure you would have to connect and reconnect every time you want to switch games, regular cartridge games also remain on the home screen but cannot be booted to
This is a huge positive! The only way Nintendo will be able to bury this is to open game sharing on family plans. I would grab this if the price is reasonable.
When I was younger, I would have been much more excited. But now with the constant online, system, and game updates I’m not sure how long it can be functional. On the point of game preservation, this thing is good news and if I had an extra system lying around this would be interesting.
Just have someone chip it for ya. I can point you towards people or do it myself. Switch is nearing its end of life for switch 2. And the r4 will be garbage compared to the chip. No cheats, no overclock, no themes, no online, no updates, no dlc = no go for me. And pushing that cart in and out will definitely wear it out eventually.
They probably use a Custom Communication ID used by Nintendo with a Card that probably allow launch program for Factory Service Stuff. And if its real it probably already use small mc chip to do the Switch each time card looses the voltage pin.
would love if this would allow mods without the hassle of a custom firmware or reboot without the paperclip, but the fact they show pirated games first is a sign nintendo is going to block this with a firmware update within a week
depending on how accurately they imitate an official game cart, it may not be possible to patch out. since they have no way to update existing cartridges people have already bought with any new security
@@TheBlueArcher You're probably right. If this thing just bit-for-bit emulates a real cartridge without a new soft-mod all it can feature is already signed code. Which makes it useful for region locked games (are those still around even?) piracy and backups.
Never did I expect R4 cards for a modern system
Man, I wouldn't even use it for Switch games, I'd use it to emulate my old Gameboy games etc so I can have a complete physical Nintendo library.
I don't want their stupid online subscription for games I already bought.
To be fair, I'll expect them so long as nintendo continues to use Carts. I feel like they'll always intrinsically have a flaw or weak point.
Back in my day we use to call them flash carts
Looks like a SD2Vita for Ps Vitas
This is so nostalgic.
The reason the game cycles on re-insertion, is probably so the cartridge doesn't need its own cartridge ID, it just uses the current game's ID so it doesn't get banned.
Yes and no, with the game id you are of cuz right but that’s not the point why it just circles, to make a menu like on R4 cards you just need a bit more time cuz it’s just an optical thing and have nothing to do with the hacks behind them and to bring this to a beta product is not important, so in the final version we could maybe already have an menu to select games…
Early versions of the R4 cards don’t have a menu too, in the first versions you got an similar system with the difference (when I remember correctly) that you just load one game at the time on the sd…
At least that was the way on the 3ds R4 card, in the first versions of those you need not just an 3ds R4 card, you needed an ds r4 card to to setup the 3ds r4 card…
So a Menu is nothing special and just need some more work next to the hacking process but has mostly nothing to do with the hack it self…
I really hope so because, Nintendo actually has the power to ban individual cartridges from online. So they could use a cartridge certificate to trace known dumps.
nope, its almost guaranteed that this is just emulating a retail cart, meaning the games still NEED to be signed and as such no home-brew (or menu), rom hacks etc the 3DS had a similar card called sky3ds, that also worked by emulating a retail cart and as such, zero possibility of running a custom menu so they need to have some other way of choosing what game to emulate, sky3ds had a little button built into it for changing game iirc they prototype sky3ds used the exact same pop the cart in and out to cycle games, but was refined to a button before shipping, and later on in its life they released a 2 button version for cycling forwards and backwards between games incase you skipped past the game you wanted and needed to go back
on an additional note, as with the 3DS every single 3ds cart had its own embedded unique serial meaning you couldn't just throw a random .3ds file on the SD, they needed their own config file with unique cart serials, meaning most people were using publicly shared serials, whilst many speculated nintendo could ban consoles using those serials from online play I don't think nintendo ever took that step as it would become legally dubious due to the fact at least some people could be banned by accident as with the 3ds people were actively bragging that they were dumping games from sources like libraries or buying games to return to the store once they dump the cart serial so nintendo only ever went as far as blacklisting the serials publicly shared from online play, but they could take the blacklisting serials further and ban certain cart carts from even working once people update their FW making distribution harder as the resellers would find themselves inundated with "I want a refund, all my games stopped working" emails every few weeks, especially now the switch have on the fly firmware updates, they could just push new blacklists without even waiting for a specific FW update and make the switch refuse to load up any game found on the blacklist
the obvious advantage of such a cart though is that it works exactly like a retail cart, they don't require only certain firmwares, or booting up exploits or installing CFW, they literally just act as a retail cart, so these kinds of solutions appeal to every switch owner as they are a simple fool proof solution that if you own a switch you can use no questions about what version, or firmware, but if they do go the route of blacklisting carts the product looses its appeal to the less technically savvy when they are told they need to not connect their console to the internet any more
The current game's ID? But no game cart is inserted while the flash cart is inserted.
That aside, in the 3DS era that logic would have applied because back then Nintendo had no way of knowing what was actually running. You could swap out a header with a that of another game and as far as Nintendo is concerned you are playing that game even if you are somehow online and connected with other people. Correct me if I am wrong, but the Switch's Telemetry includes more than that. Nintendo should be able to see if you are playing a game with a header that does not match the game in the current generation.
If that is not the case, however, I think it would be very nice if you could just put a header in some folder and instruct it to use that. That way you won't have to mess with editing each game's header and can reliably ensure that each console is using a different console ID.
I'd be shocked if that would work, however. I am personally expecting Nintendo to ban pretty much everyone who tries to go online with this flash cart. The only people who won't get banned at the ones who bought their own carts and therefore are using a legit header. Nintendo absolutely wouldn't be able to detect that.
@Elliandr yeah now you mention it, been a while since all the 3ds stuff, so a bit sketchy on the details, I think nintendo dropped the ball with the 3ds and almost certainly learned a few lessons, would be super trivial for them to just keep a database during manufacture of what chip ranges were used for each game, iirc the cart headers were basically just part of the actual rom chips register being used as a final verification for online play as they knew what chip ids they had used but not nessisarily for what title, so "valid nintendo chip id" is just a valid nintendo chip ID pretty sure when people were first documenting the switch protocols they mentioned that the switch does a lot more communication with the cart in terms of pulling chip ID'S and stuff and verifying them, so I would imagine if they had learned anything from the 3ds they would be looking at running some of those checks on the system itself and having a blacklist pretty much ready to go from day 1 just for if/when sky3ds style clone cart was released sure it becomes a game of cat and miuse, but all nintendo need to do is cause enough of a headache and angry people saying "this cart keeps breaking" that it would be enough to dissuade a good portion of people whi don't want to risk having their console banned even if that danger isn't actually really there, the FUD is usually enough, I seen it with the likes of sky3ds
As for nintendo being able to detect this stuff, it will all depend, its somewhat feasible that the switch could measure current draw to the cart slot to identify this cart and stop it loading, would just depend on the tolerances of stock carts vs the flashcard and if nintendo has the ability or motivation to bother doing so with the switch being so late into its life cycle, they are probably already well underway in the development of the successor to the switch and would benefit more from having their hardware engineers and software developers entirely focused on that right now
If you don't need to mod your switch this is going to be insanely popular
I have 5 switches that can be modded (so that I can always have a modded switch for my whole life) and even I would pick up a few of these cards if you can use them on an unmodded switch.
Crazy
I would like to know if it works for the "Switch 2".
Imagine how great that would be.
I hope it does, it would be pretty useless if you still needed to mod your switch
@@rodneywarren1905the og Switch can be modded allways. Nintendo can't do anything against it. I don't get why you have 5 though
It’s honestly pretty impressive it took this long for someone to figure out a flash cart. I never really thought about it before but Nintendo had to have a pretty impressive security solution to prevent that from working.
As someone who has tinkered with Switch emulation and h-cking, the Nintendo Switch is heavily encrypted and has a ton of telemetry to ban anyone who potentially breaks through
But still, because of the unpatchable RCM glitch on day 1 models, we should've at least seen something a little sooner
But maybe it's because of the RCM glitch that made these flashcards "unnecessary" to some extent
@regis_c, you mean the switch has a higher security in general?
@explodedglue5509 Yeah
It's the reason why the Switch doesn't let you put save data on an SD card (to stop save game exploits that the Wii had)
Or why the Switch doesn't have an internet browser (to stop browser exploits the Wii U had)
Nintendo clearly learned their lessons and are taking no risks, and it's because of this, we haven't had a new Switch softmod since 2018 - just the RCM one and a (long since patched) browser-based exploit
Honestly the main reason it’s been so hard for people to safely mod switches is because compared to other consoles Nintendo has managed to do something unique which is make every part of its system sooo proprietary that the process you’d have to use to mess with stuff is a lot harder than it has been for their past systems. Also another thing is compared to most other companies Nintendo is very sue trigger happy because the only real thing they’ve got going for their console is exclusivity and the fact that they can charge a lot for their franchises and products because of said exclusivity.
The cart cycling through the games reminds me of Sky3DS+. I had one for my unmodded 3DS and it had two buttons that let you cycle alphabetically through the list of roms in the MicroSD
All it did was mimick official cartridges and it had no menus like the R4 and its clones
Still have mine, works great
@@miamiking8385. I sadly lost that 3DS alongside the Sky3DS+, but I got a modded N3DSXL and a modded N2DSXL and I use those two now
yeah sky3ds was great, saw one online recently for like 110 bucks
@@spikyod1864 really? I payed like 80 bucks years ago
Still have mine as well as the SuperCard dstwo
On one hand, homebrew is about to go nuts over this.
On the other hand, Nintendo must be frothing at the mouth right now lol. They're gonna do everything they can to stop this.
Let’s not act like companies aren’t looking to go digital regardless to have more control over consumers
@@zenvultrayep and constantly getting s!mps to pay to rent their games month after month or year after year.
Remember when Nintendo tried to sue Blockbuster over game rentals? I member.
anything to protect ur sales & ip. isn't a surprising response since its rife for piracy.
@@zenvultra
Yeah, things like this allow gamers to retake control and it's absolutely fantastic.
@@nyx3983
Piracy is largely a service issue.
I would like to get something like this to dump my own physical games onto it and just have one cartridge to carry around instead of several.
But then you could just buy every game, put them all on a card, sell it, rinse and repeat.
@@HereComesTheDay
EVERY Switch game is already online.
just admit you want to download roms
It may surprise you all that I actually just want to buy the games physically, rip my own ROMs, and KEEP my physical games on my shelf. I like seeing them on my shelf.
@@SeanOptimoawhere!!! i dont want to drop 60$ for mario wonder
Nintendo is going to lose their minds and send their ninjas on whoever showed this flash cart.
Oh yeah, the ninjas will be first in line to purchase it so they can reverse engineer it to create a firmware update against it.
@@leatherhidegamingthen what I would do is mark up the price 75k just to see if they gonna bite 😂
@@chriswright8074They would. They'd buy for a lot higher, too.
Imagine if they just take out backwards compatibility from the Switch 2 because of this
@@ComicCrossing super nintendo, 64, gamecube, wii, switch hmmm yea switch 2 probably not going to be backwards compatible judging by their track record.
I remember buying an R4 and a ds for my bro for Christmas.
Gave him an SD card first, which he thought was a good gift as he had just started uni.
Then the ds, which was awesome for travelling.
Then the R4 cart and explained to him what all 3 together do. He was stoked.
By far the best gift I've even given.
This is what happens when a company never lower their prices
Nah, organized crime is pretty commonplace. Nintendo has worked for the mafia before...wouldn't surprise me if they would again.
Brokies be like:
@@jemysvern5378 Who're you talking about?
Nine-year old kids?
@@ezekielbrockmann114 Someone like you who feels entitled for discounts.
@@jemysvern5378mario kart 8 has been out for almost 10 years now and still $60. That is corporate greed
I remember when I got the r4 it was like a miracle for me. My family was poor so games weren't on the priority list unless it was Christmas or my birthday and even then I had to be considered on the price. The r4 open a whole new world of possibilities and games and made my childhood better and for that I will forever be grateful. Best pirate devices ever
Facts and now with the switch I only have 2 games and I have had it for 2 years now 😭 I really hope they drop it I’m not planing on spending 60 bucks on games that should be at max 30
@@user-pd4ds6ky5ji just buy the games used you can find them 20-45$
If ur families poor don't game work.....
@@user-pd4ds6ky5jSwitch games are overpriced, better buy them second-hand
@@Alex-xt2gnlife is too short to just focus on working and making money! Poor people are allowed to have fun too. Get your priorities straight.
Now I'm waiting for the second video about how the switch's security was defeated by MVG.
This would be awesome to run roms with or play older versions of games that aren't playable anymore.
Dr. Luigi anyone?
With it being on the tail end of the system like you pointed out, I figured something like this would come about. Either an easier way to load cfw or like this. Either way, I'm definitely interested.
Also it could drive sales of switches for those who didn’t want to buy because nintendos shitry game pricing
Why Mario Zelda and stay full price and only sale at 10 bucks off is beyond me
This is basically a modern version of the sky3ds+ for the 3ds, as it mimics an official cartridge (you can download the updates and dlcs and they’ll work just fine as well) accessing one rom a time with a button.
Indeed. I thought the same thing.
The moment you said ds days I immediately thought about the action replays you could stick into your ds and play roms. It was the best for playing games not available in the US.
fortunately i dont think games get region locked as much as they did back then
I don't think DS games are region locked
@@agenerichuman they aren't. 3DS on the other hand....
@@LoliconSamalikwas region locked to hell. I remember modding my 3DS to play Japanese games
DS was region free, but DSi was not. I think you could play foreign games you otherwise couldn't by putting them into an Action Replay though.
3DS never got an Action Replay device, and never worked with the Action Replay DSi I had for DS(i) games.
Admittingly, I used to be more into piracy as a teen. Nowaydays I buy what I want. However, these cards ARE good for the future when games arent available officially anymore. For example, I recently heard about Pinball of the Dead for the GBA. I found an old sale on a site for 5 euros. But now it's only secpnd hand for sale for around 100 euros. That is absolutely ridiculous. This is where these flashcards can come in.
Agreed. Unlike 99 percent of people, apparently, I don't really like the idea of pirating games for a system that is still out and selling, but after it's off the market and / or a game just isn't available, these are great for access and preservation.
@@ZeusTheIrritablePirating Nintendo games is morally okay, except if it's Metroid or F-Zero.
@@ZeusTheIrritable SIMP
@@CatIsBack25 Nuanced and well conceptualized. Exactly the quality of thought that I expect from such an august platform as the RUclips comments section.
Humanity should end.
@@ZeusTheIrritableone switch example is the port of nes fire emblem 1. It is the only English version of the nes game and it is no longer listed on the eshop. It also has no physical version so unless you brought it already your shit out of luck.
This is more like the Sky 3DS Cart for the 3DS more than the R4, you didn't need a modified 3ds stock from the shop it would work, just load up your games and press the button to cycle through, was quite expensive though about £100
I have to say that when people say r4 they mean flash card and not how each flash card works.
Still got mine but don't use it since i moded my new 3ds xl. It was worth it, tons of games for the price of 2 at most.
@@checob224. Still, R4 on the NDS was capable of running different region games, homebrew, adding action replay and several other nice features
Sky3DS+ was just mimicking official cartridges, which is what this one seems to be doing
@ddnava96 yes I understand that, but like I said when people mentioned the name r4 they mean flash card which sky3ds and r4 are.
Still better then Göttingen ripped off by nintento 🤷👌
This will be awesome for preservation, especially with Nintendo which likes to gate-keep and remove games from existence. Honestly, every console nowadays needs something like this. Companies like Sony have become the absolute worst scum when it comes to digital ownership.
What games have been "removed from existence"? I'm curious. I presume games that we're only available on Wii u eshops right? That you probably never played or cared about until you found a reason to hate Nintendo again after they removed the eShop from the Wii u. Lol you can still buy Wii u game physically, and the Wii u is now like the Wii and GameCube and N64 an offline console which isn't a bad thing. You can still play the Wii u and 3ds and such.
@@DANCERcow You talk a whole lot of sh*t about a person you know nothing about. Yes, there are games that I no longer have access to on my Wii. And who the f*ck should be in the position to assert what content deserves to stay or go? Doesn’t matter if it’s a Zelda or a 5$ indie game on the eShop. People paid money for it and you’re in no position to tell them what they should enjoy or care about or be able to keep. The Wii mostly offered small paid downloads of course.
Do you honestly think that 10-15 years down the line Nintendo will still support the 100s of gigs of digital content now out on Switch? Especially when most physical games there require massive downloads to even function? All that stuff will go at one point, and so will the entire legacy of this generation.. that is unless people take steps to preserve it through products like the flash cart.
Im glad you don’t care of course, keep investing in that digital scheme of theirs. But there’s no need to project your sh*t onto others.
@@DANCERcowlol yes! This right here 😂👌. Ppl complaining about stuff they never play anyways and if they wanted to they could’ve just bought a hard copy or gotten a rom hack pretty easily anyways
@@DANCERcowthere are also things like 3D all stars that they decided to only put out for a limited time that you can’t buy anymore. I feel like it might be in reference to that
@@DANCERcow Many underrated games or smaller budget ones are gone. Physical copies still exist, but not for long. Some games like Chibi Robo become a good example of rare and expensive games because of its physical scarsity
About being able to change ROMs without an interface/removing the cart: Some specific collection carts feature more than one game on it, which display separately in the home screen. Maybe they could use that?
also 3DS carts had a button for rom swapping in the years after GW 3DS
Those multicarts have the multiple titles in a single ROM images. From what it appears this flashcart just passes through the ROM data and requires original ROMs to use.
Likely the 3DS cart with the ROM swap button would turn off the gamecard interface and turn it back on with the next ROM.
I wouldn't mind having this type of product in the future. Now that it's been developed it's only inevitable that clones and better versions of it will pop up.
I look forward to the future of flash carts, but I'll definitely still be buying the games I'm really interested in.
It's like the Sky3DS. For reference DS Flashcards had menus and all, as for the 3DS they needed to be hacked to do that. However a flashcart for the 3DS called Sky3DS came out which had a physical button on the cartridge and would cycle through games by pressing the button, the flashcart would then emulate being the real retail game
I'm just stunned the community figured out how to create an R4 for the Switch. This is awesome! :)
Makes me glad I kept my old switch when I upgraded to an OLED model. My original Switch was having corruption issues which strangely went away it seems, but if I get into this I can keep my current system up to date and use the old one for everything else.
With the $70 price tags of games, buggy releases, and dlc all over the place, I would definitely take advantage of this
70$? Buggy releases? What do you own? The Bintendo CX???
If this works without modding, using wifi services without messing with setting up sysnand is also a possibility. As far as I know the only main checks while booting a game are for firmware version and that happens locally. I do wonder if they have to be xci format specially to run. eshop games would have to be converted if that were the case.
I wonder that as well. My backups are all NSP!
@@gjk2012 Ahh yes, Ninja Sex Party roms.
Switch cartridges have unique certificates that are required for online play.
If someone were to use this cart without a proper cert, they'd instantly get flagged for a ban
@@ihavenoideas5844 That's really important to know, thanks
@@ihavenoideas5844 Couldn't we just use airplane mode while playing it?
I think it's about time for something like this to come out IMO. But good luck to those creating it lol
It depends where it made, like if it's from China good luck.
@@pleasedontwatchthese9593 yeah that's true.
nintendo ain't gonna do a thing. they can't. there are 1000s of sellers on aliexpress selling modded switches. heck look at all the Chinese manufacturers releasing emulation handhelds like anbernic and retroid. they ship with 1000s of Nintendo games.
@@bern9642The difference is those are slow ass androids that can barely run Citra they totally would if it affected switch more. With the switches people are just impatient and don't like spending a lot of money on a random Chinese seller which is logical but they probably wouldn't bat an eye if it was amazon. A lot of the stuff is pre loaded too and that's it appeal but I'd hate that cus the sellers don't care where they download from and it will packed with malware the roms. TLDR despite options to pirate Switch games being around for a while now if there's too many steps most people won't be bothered. That's why tears of the kingdom and mario wonder still had record first 2 weeks sales still this year. The flashcards could definitely change that though.
@@Bargate you definitely don't follow retro-style systems and you need to at least do your research before commenting on the subject. the spectrum is impressive. some are poorly made and cost like $20 and can play up to snes and some cost as much as $400 and can play up to Nintendo switch. Most of them are linux based (way easier to work with than android, the more established brands use custom linux roms but most use open-source Linux distros like jelos). a large majority dual boot into linux and android. then some are android. a few have windows.
the price range from $20 up to $400 for something like the AYN Loki.
retroid and anbernic are the most popular and their handhelds range from $70 to $200 and the high end ones can emulate citra with no problem.
and malware? none of them have malware. lol. how would that even work? they will intentionally ship malware with the system they want you game on? a lot of them have homebrew roms and even modded roms. they also usually have different region versions of the same game. they can have the European, Japanese, and American versions of the same game on there.
the market is huge and booming. they have a handheld for every type of system. example, the Anbernic ARC specifically targets sega genesis. sure it can emulate up to the ps2 but it is made specifically with sega genesis in mind and most of them comes loaded with every single sega genesis game ever made alongside other games from other systems.
switch piracy isn't affecting sales numbers that much because switch games are easily accessible. unless you are low on cash or just stingy, there is no need to go on shady sites with a bunch of pop-ups and slow download speeds when you can just download from the e-shop.
retro-style Chinese handhelds are a huge hit because finding retro games to buy isn't easy. they are overpriced and you have to bargain with some guy online to get them.
Do not update you switch!
Nintendo stabilizing as fast as they can.
Good to know bowsers crucifixion hasn't detered the homebrew scene.
You missed an important detail: Nintendo carts each have their own ID which Nintendo collects. Back in the 3DS era it was sufficient to replace a header with any old legit header to play online without getting caught, but in the Switch era Nintendo Cartridge IDs are unique to each game so Nintendo can detect if two games are played with the same header in which case both game carts will be banned from use or if you are using a cart with no ID or an ID that belongs to a different game in which case your conole will be banned. And of course if you convert a game from a download version to a cart version Nintendo will be able to detect that as well.
That said, this still has it's uses. As long as you legally purchase your own games and aren't running the same game on two consoles at the same time they won't be able to detect it. (that's also a legal thing to do in America at least) and one potential use case there is if you want to play a modded version of a game you own. (i.e. play the Linkle Mod of Breath of the Wild) Additionally, once Nintendo shuts down it's online servers for the Switch the risk of a ban won't mean anything anyway so it will at that point be very important to be able to play games from a flash cart since there won't be any legal way of obtaining a game that was never sold on a cart.
Ever since SXOS got shut down the modding scene has only supported the installed versions of games which is problematic for those of us who buy a large library of game carts. It's far more convenient to swap out a file than have to uninstall reinstall repeatedly. For that reason I haven't really been involved in the modding scene as of late.
I have noticed with recent updates to official firmware that game carts frequently need to be reinserted multiple times. I wonder if that's related to this news? Maybe Nintendo figures that by forcing everyone to occasionally reinsert a cart a few times they can verify that you aren't using a cart like this. I mean, it seems like a fairly straight forward way to go, although if true it would mean that Nintendo is intentionally annoying paying customers in the off chance that they might be pirates.
SIDE NOTE: It really bothers me that Nintendo bans real game carts because the ID was at some point in the past copied. That only really hurts used customers because a pirate could buy a game, rip it, sell it used, and then the next person is the one who can't play what they paid for. Not that Nintendo would care about that since in Japan used games are heavily regulated and require Nintendo's permission to be leased at all. Makes me wonder if this tactic isn't legal in America. Like, what would happen if someone bought a retail game cart and couldn't play it and then decided to sue Nintendo for ingringement of the first sale doctrine?
Quick Everyone Mass buy these before its taken down
It's Pandora's box, once out, every chinese manufacturer will pick it up and sell their own version
Great way to get Nintendo to decide to go digital only. Thanks a lot.
Not true
@uneducatedgamer8881 Sorry to disappoint you, but these things do push the company take more options for their bottom line. Now they're going to be rushing to go digital.
You do realize that you can pirate digital games right?
I like modding a system once it’s basically dead and the online services are no longer up or once I am done using them. I don’t want to risk getting a system/account that I still actively use online banned. Something like this which is (potentially) indistinguishable from a normal cartridge would be great. I like to try games out before I buy them but I’m a collector at heart (to the detriment of my wallet), so I still like to buy physical games to put on my shelf, even if I can get away with just pirating them for free. If this is real, I would be interested to see how good it is, how it improves, and what the Nintendo ninjas do about it.
Oh man! The R4 and M3 carts were so awesome in the DS days. You better believe I had a billion games on mine and pirated the frik out of every DS game that ever came out. Not my proudest moment...but good times.
I love seeing these developments happen. I have my 3ds hacked but I find that I never play with it. Too many games and I get choice paralysis, and end up not playing at all because I just can't choose.
Most games are shit.
Same
Same…
This will result in massive banwaves. Every cartridge has a unique signature that can't be spoofed. You can't download a Switch XCI/NSP and use it to play online or while connected to wifi as this will get you flagged and banned because multiple other people will also being using that same "unique" cartridge signature to play at the same time, which isn't normally possible. We've known this since the release of the Switch.
Just gotta be smart and not have those online games basically. And not connected to a network.
Ya as long as you don't play any games online you should be good. The Switch has a ton of single player games that this would be great with.
I have a modded switch...and the certificates can be backed up and transferred...if thats what they did with the flash cart...nintendo will have a hard time knowing...it will be like playing used games.
@@jonathan__g Yeah, it’s just unfortunate that a lot of people will mistakenly get themselves banned. Well worth the risk though for anyone who knows what they’re doing!
Nintendo online play is dog shit anyway, you're not losing anything of value
This is super cool. I typically sell my consoles at the end of the generation but if it really is just as simple as the R4 card was then I would definitely buy a Switch Lite and this card to play some more games. I can definitely see something like this though being in the range of $100-$120. I hope its not, but I wouldn't be shocked if it was.
Just gotta wait for the second wave of clones!
So how would this improve the already older switches especially the lite version?? What does this do for the performance and in general?
Don't complain when they make the next console all digital this hacking sh!t is going to kill the company's who make these games
@@KILLACRISIS215damn. Didn't even think of that. This could give nintendo the excuse to do that.
@KILLACRISIS215 this hack shit, as you put it, is done by people who also buy games, especially when a console reaches End Of Life, because the only way to preserve games is to hack your system and dump them. Nintendo won't care when the Switch is discontinued, because they won't make money from the games upon the Switch being discontinued
R4 returns!
I burned ALL my dreamcast games.
I burned ALL my wii games.
I have a day 1 Switch i CAN paperclip.
But as i get older, i just don't have the time to play dozens and dozens of games. I will get 1 or 2 legit games a year and that's good enough for me now.
However, this is absolutely a great thing to have. In 10 or 20 years, everyone will be using it like Everdrives on your classic nes, genesis, etc.
WRONG. people will be using this way, WAY before 10 or even 20 years 😂
There would be no need for this if Nintendo didn't keep their prices artificially high. Piracy is a service issue.
If it catches on , this could actually sell more switch units for Nintendo. For people who would like a switch but not have a lot of money ($60 to $70 a piece) for games. It wouldn’t be such a big investment.
Yeah but I’m pretty sure they lose money on each console sold, and make their money from game sales.
@@Decommissionednope, Nintendo does not sell switches for loss
@@Souls4Roca Well I’m pretty sure Sony and Microsoft lose money on each console sold. Even if Nintendo doesn’t sell the consoles for a loss, their main profit is from the games that are sold.
After Sony took away our purchaces, we knew Nintendo would do the same. As they say, if they take away our games, piracy is legal. As with all of you, I support this!
Owning physical/digital games will be dead in 10 years anyway--as everything will move to cloud/streaming subscription services. But the Retro emulation community will still be going strong.
Sony didn't take then away the people that owns the IP did,
@@Jester2415I heard that in 2011 ...
@@user-qy2wf2lt6vWhat is your point?
In the last 10 years, physical media has essentially evaporated, save some very niche spaces (Vinyl)
It may have taken longer than 10 years. But the point is that we are heading to an inevitability where physical media loses out.
@@user-qy2wf2lt6v Go check out the Xbox leaks... You will own nothing and be happy
Sick! I want one so bad!
Would be pretty funny if this worked on the next system day 1
Yes once Nintendo licenses the product.
Then it can be used on the Switch or Switch 2.
@@uneducatedgamer8881 "Once Nintendo licenses the product" lmao
@@uneducatedgamer8881lmao Nintwndo won't license this, yet it works on Switch. They *NEVER, I REPEAT, NEVER* licensed a flash card for ANY of their systems. You have let Nintendo take your freedoms from you.
The second coming of R4 at the end of 2023 was something I was NOT expecting
Homebrew scene about to go crazy
Only if people are quick
Meh… my phone already does this with backbone, Steam Deck… hardly anything to be excited about. It’s not like we are starved of places to conveniently access homebrew stuff or play emulation related content.
@@cbgg1585 that's pretty cool, I'm pretty interested in this thingie ngl. I don't own a steam deck nor do I wanna emulate games on my phone but I think this could be pretty cool for switch owners such as myself. We'll have to see how low it can stay before Nintendo ninjas attack >w>
Meh… all it is is just roms. I was expecting to see a far easier way to flash into say Android and not have to go through the hassle of soldering stuff. What a let down. I would love to use my Switch for greater use but guess I’ll resort to buying a Ayn Odin2 just for the portability alone plus Android OS to run Remote Play, Gamepass and mobile games or hell even emulators like Vita and Switch.
@@cbgg1585I think he meant for switch
Omg lol. Well, another wildly successful Nintendo console, another R4.
This is AWESOME, really brings me back to the DS days just insane nostalgia if you dont need to mod
I've wanted to mod my Switch & seriously customise my gameplay experience in manners that Nintendo would never embrace & unfortunately I was screwed with a newer Switch model, but FINALLY my time has come!
Just as a heads up if you're interested in DS or 3ds, just get a new 3DS XL the custom firmware allows for full backwards compatibility now with every DS game and playable off the SD card.
TwiiLight is genuinely wonderful, isn't it?
@@aiodensghost8645 I am loving my 3DS again because of it.
If this shows signs of evolving into something greater such as jailbreak and homebrew, I'll keep my current Switch when the next system comes out instead of trading torwards.
I'm guessing by the ejecting and reinserting to change games that it appears to the switch as a genuine game and does not allow for running unsigned code. Each time it powers on it just switches to the next ROM in the file system.
This is such a Robin Hood moment for the gaming community, LOVE IT! Hope to get my hands on these one day =)
Nice thanks for the info. Couldn’t do the 10 minutes because it was so stretched out to get to the 10 minutes but great update
The crazy thing is that IS a Switch OLED. I can tell by how vivid the screen looks in the camera. Unless this dude has a modded board inside that thing, this does most likely mean the switch can work with this unmodded. This looks crazy.
This would definitely be great for games that are harder to find. I loved that about the r4. I think now that I'm older and have some money I would still end up wanting to support the industry when I can
Would be cool if you could get switch and gba games working on it
Yeah, it'd be great if it allows for playing modded games without having to hack the hardware itself. I'd love to be able to play custom Super Mario Bros Wonder levels.
Harder to find games you're just supporting resellers at inflated prices, not the gaming industry. This device may bring down prices
The only thing that would make me interested in it is if it allows for homebrew on newer consoles in some way. I haven’t had the time or money to solder a mod chip into my oled, so this would give me a way to finally play some homebrew projects that are out there
Even if I was into this scene(the last console I 'modded' was the Wii) I'd wait for Rev. 2.0 so I don't have to eject and reinsert the cart.
1: that sounds incredibly lazy
2: a menu to switch between the games would only make it more detectable
Isn't that basically what we already do? Eject and insert new cartridges?
@@Patrick-y4d1z Yes, but when only 1 game is on the cart it's a nessacery evil, why would I want to put 30 games on 1 card if I still have to do it? Maybe it's just a one time thing and when the game is on the dash it just boots, that would be acceptable.
@@SjorsMaster 1.Why have multiple games on 1 card if laziness wasn't the goal?
2. I was thinking more of just load the games on to the dashboard.
@@Puremindgamesthe main goal is piracy, not laziness
Nintendo should be happy about these modding scenes . It pushes their age old console even further and gives longetivity.. Otherwise who would buy this ancient hard ware
Nintendo wont be happy... bu i most certainly will
As someone who saw the first flash cart for the NES pop up in the mid-late 2000s - and was absolutely mindblown - I figured it would be a matter of time. Maybe this is only coming out now because it’s a safer time to release? Switch 2 right around the corner?
Disney's switch 2*
I don't think it was flash but I remember the snes even had one back in the 90s
@@pleasedontwatchthese9593 More common back then were cartridge copiers. I owned a Professor SF2 and Double Pro Fighter for SNES/Genesis. The first flash cart I bought was a Gameboy Xchanger which was around 1998. I'm not positive, but it might have been the first flash cart to exist in gaming. Also owned a Doctor V64 and Z64 for N64. That was such a fun time to be a gamer.
@@Eagles.Fan.Since.Super.Bowl.52making copies of games has been a thing since Atari 2600.
This could actually be big because of the switch 2. I remember watching a video on the history of 3DS hacking and apparently DS flash carts worked with the 3DS (but they couldn't play 3DS games). Since there are rumors about switch 2 being backwards compatible, I wonder if this flash cart will let you have a ton of pirated switch 1 games on the switch 2?
This, if true, will be awesome for the speedrunning scene. No more owning 3 switches with different revisions.
If this flash cart opens the doors to lites and oleds to be modded without mod chips then that’d be insane, switch homebrew would definitely flourish if more can access it
It would be in the beginning but most likely like the 3ds it will have almost a hundred ways to hack it.
Attempting to stop people from doing what they want with hardware they buy is not American.
but it's capitalist
Merry Christmas for the Switch homebrew scene
😀
This should be the wake up call for N to get on the new system already, almost 7 years with dated hardware for back then. They sure turned it around and for that we’re all glad the world is a better place with Nintendo
I’m already intrigued. I’ve always loved mod cartridges for 3Ds and DS
This would be the best thing in years. I love flash carts. Installing games is a pain and it's so much easier to just pop a rom on an SD card and chuck it into a flashcart.
I have one of those R4 clones from Amazon in my modded 2DSXL and it still works after 2yrs.
The second this comes out Nintendo will develop some sort of checksum to determine cart authenticity since they know exactly how their own cart’s flash system works
Imagine having over 100+ games, and to get to the 94th game, you have to eject and insert the flashcart 94 times.
this is insane, if it functions just like the R4 I will definitely want one
100% interested. I’d be snatching one immediately before they get banned.
Worried a flashcart for Switch means now we have no hope of getting backwardards compatibility for gamecards.......
nice reminds me of the R4 back on the NDS! R4 was so sick man
A Christmas miracle 😊
Nintendo is having flashbacks from vietnam
Looking forward to the "stability updates" in the future.
lol🤣
I wonder how they can fix something from a physical thing lol
@@thend4427 There still needs to be software for a handshake and security and to interpret the data. If it was just a matter of copying something physically a flash cart would have been developed a lot sooner. If the reverse engineering on cart validation isn't complete, it's possible that the nintendo ninjas find a way for the software to be able to tell the difference between official carts and the flashcart. Even ignoring that it's possible for them to allow the current games to work but change the security for newer games to not work with the flash cart. with a "stability update"
@@thend4427 they could reverse engineer the sd cartridge and try to patch the vulnerability in the console firmware, altho if its the issue with cardridges itself, there's no fix possible to make
@@Evangeder so you think the physical cart is what's telling the software to cycle and not how many times the media has been read? If the former is the case, yea that's rough to patch but if a software thing, nintendo could just check the installed game more than once in an instant to determine whether or not the cart is genuine.
There are switch carts that hold multiple games, each with their own home menu icon.
FINALLY I had been hoping that we would get a flash cart for the switch
There is a 3ds cart that makes you push a button to switch between games like this. R4 cards cost like $80+ when they came out so this one there is a good chance it will be over $100.
2 downloaded games and it justifies itself
@@aceman1126 I do not disagree
A must have if it functions like the R4, especially if you want to keep using your switch many years from now as Nintendo will eventually pull support and the shop like they did with the DS, and they rarely drop the prices of any good games so it’s just soooo damn expensive to build a big library of games.
This sounds too good to be true
At best, this is a way to have digital games physically available.
I had the M3 card for the DS. Worked brilliantly. Still got it somewhere. If you need to reinsert though, it’ll soon bust the spring.
I'm all for this, I had a r4 card for the DS Lite and 3DS and I loved it, it saved me tons of money from buying all the games I wanted to play.
It's called piracy
@@defs8073and it’s freaking great 😎🤘
Oh lord Nintendo is going to go into destroy mode
I guess this really makes sense late term. As long as the cart "looks" identical to the system AFTER the contact pads on the back then the system has zero way of knowing.
As long as it has the correct identification it's going to read like a normal cartridge.
This is already sold out and the person responsible is already kidnapped by the Nintendo mafia 😂
Nintendo probably saying this right now "Oh come on! Not this sh*t again" 😂
Curious whether the removing/reconnecting it is needed to switch games or that's just a first-time thing to get the games on the home screen. Looks like it keeps adding new things to the hone screen, if you just had to do that once and then leave it in, that'd be huge.
No I'm pretty sure you would have to connect and reconnect every time you want to switch games, regular cartridge games also remain on the home screen but cannot be booted to
Well, isn’t Nintendo always having a cow 🐮 about something?
Yes
Yes always
Yes, because people are always trying to steal from them.
No, I stopped supporting Nintendo along time ago. I only got an Nintendo Wii.
People always stealing their shit
I could also see this being useful for having a cartridge version of some of the larger (>15GB) download only games on the e-shop.
This is a huge positive! The only way Nintendo will be able to bury this is to open game sharing on family plans. I would grab this if the price is reasonable.
I don't care how annoying it would be to in n out that cartridge, IT'S FREE! I WOULD DO IT 1000 TIMES!♥️
You mean a SWITCHUATION
Go home, you're drunk.
I need it tbh
When I was younger, I would have been much more excited. But now with the constant online, system, and game updates I’m not sure how long it can be functional.
On the point of game preservation, this thing is good news and if I had an extra system lying around this would be interesting.
Just have someone chip it for ya. I can point you towards people or do it myself.
Switch is nearing its end of life for switch 2. And the r4 will be garbage compared to the chip.
No cheats, no overclock, no themes, no online, no updates, no dlc = no go for me.
And pushing that cart in and out will definitely wear it out eventually.
They probably use a Custom Communication ID used by Nintendo with a Card that probably allow launch program for Factory Service Stuff.
And if its real it probably already use small mc chip to do the Switch each time card looses the voltage pin.
would love if this would allow mods without the hassle of a custom firmware or reboot without the paperclip, but the fact they show pirated games first is a sign nintendo is going to block this with a firmware update within a week
depending on how accurately they imitate an official game cart, it may not be possible to patch out. since they have no way to update existing cartridges people have already bought with any new security
@@TheBlueArcher You're probably right. If this thing just bit-for-bit emulates a real cartridge without a new soft-mod all it can feature is already signed code. Which makes it useful for region locked games (are those still around even?) piracy and backups.
I would get this flash card instantly
And get banned instantly..