While the new Nintendo Switch service has only been live for a short time, the expected has already happened — it’s been hacked. Before anyone panics too much, this isn’t the kind of breach that involves credit cards and illegitimate payments. This is the kind of hacking that aims to give people access to more NES titles than the 20 that were provided to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. It has reportedly allowed players to not only access the new games but to also play their own ROMs.
It didn’t take long at all for hackers to come up with a way around the restrictions of the current Nintendo Switch Online service. There’s been a small amount of discontent in light of the announcements about the new Switch NES controllers only being available to subscribers of the service, and only being compatible with the NES games on the system. However, an emulator has been used along with the hakchi program to demonstrate that running your own ROMS on a Switch is a simple enough process.
Polygon reported that players would be able to add any chosen ROMs to their library once they got the process started and that the ability of players to affect the Nintendo Switch Online service like this isn’t symptomatic of other issues of possible concern with the system.
Nintendo gating subscribers to only 20 NES titles out of all the great ones out there hasn’t been a popular decision for users of its paid service. That being said, those behind this latest ROM exploit have cautioned people against using the hack as a way to get around these limitations as Nintendo has yet to respond and is famous for its strict anti-interference measures when it comes to the Switch. You can check out a video of the ROM swapping in action below, courtesy of Youtube user DevRin.
