The first batch of the Mig Switch flashcarts have made their way into the hands of reviewers. Plenty of initial impressions have gone live, with users showing off how the device works. Just as promised, you can in fact play your "legally owned Nintendo Switch games", across any model of Nintendo Switch. However, there are more questions raised than answered.

For one, it's still uncertain if and when you'll get banned after playing online using the Mig Switch--the team claims so long as you have a valid certificate, card ID set, and card UID, and a fully complete game dump, you'll be able to play online just fine. Whether or not Nintendo can notice and take action is something that will take time to see. In order to obtain updates and DLCs for games, you'll need to be online to download them, as the Mig Switch can't load those files itself.

This leads into another quandary. The three aforementioned aspects--the certificates and IDs--come from a backed up copy of a Nintendo Switch game. If someone were to illicitly share their certificate online, there could be dozens or hundreds of users using the same cert for multiple games, across multiple systems, at the same time. Since you can obtain a certificate from a physical game, there's growing concern as to how it could affect pre-owned backed up copies of games that might have had their certificates used and banned. We know for a fact that Nintendo has banned gamecart certificates in the past, as found by scene memeber SciresM back in 2018.

If you're interested in seeing the Mig Switch in action, there are a handful of reviews from notable emulation-focused YouTubers.

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So far, what are your thoughts on the Mig Switch? There's plenty of interesting quirks to the device, from its usage, to its mysterious development team. Have you ordered one, either to test out, or for use on trickier to softmod Switch revisions? Or are you staying away from anything to do with this flashcart?

 

[aoikurayami]

More like MigSNITCH ...

6:20
This thing is trash.
That is the worst mode select ever.

Can't wait for all these pinpoint gamecart cert bans.

Whats that !?
You bought a game online and it doesnt work.
Mayyybe the a%@%@% seller "made a """ safety backup"""" b4 selling


At one point buying games new will be the best options.

Wtf
This thing is so bad it makes me angry.

"Cheap buck, we dont care what happens."
~Good Job~

_______
I'll laugh SO hard if Nintendo's newly printed, highprice games soar, cause everyone buys new to avoid buying paperweight

{This post is satire, don't take it too seriously}

 

[fst312]

I’m sure this cart at most is really worth $30, the chip they used is probably not that expensive to make it. Whether I need it or not, I might be willing to buy a clone cart to this. I believe I said this in another post, they charged $30 for the box, cardboard is expensive these days.

 

[Hassal]

I think game carts have the required firmware update on them

EDIT: Bet you can incorporate some game updates right into the cart as well. They are signed

Even though I knew that carts already had the latest firmware requirements I thought there was no way of deploying such updates, which is apparently wrong. The company oddly never enforced an online connection for using carts which make sense since they didn't want to lock out people from playing game carts before initiating connection. But of course this could all change with the way carts is being used now.

 

[PhyChris]

Even though I knew that carts already had the latest firmware requirements I thought there was no way of deploying such updates, which is apparently wrong. The company oddly never enforced an online connection for using carts which make sense since they didn't want to lock out people from playing game carts before initiating connection. But of course this could all change with the way carts is being used now.

Yeah a banned console can still make money for them with cart sales

 

[chrisrlink]

World politics aside, im frustrated that something like this took so long to finally happen.

Nintendo banning game cards at this point is disheartening, but not surprising. It would be a problem if a banned game card led to having the console banned as well. Which, as I understand it, I fail to see the point, since a banned card id means thw game will be blocked from launching, not necessarily the console it's inserted on.

nintendo cant (or rather it's litigation suicide) to ban consoles based on banned game cards) cause well things like gamefly exist amd i'm pretty sure some people will rent,dump repeat instead of torrenting

 

[codezer0]

nintendo cant (or rather it's litigation suicide) to ban consoles based on banned game cards) cause well things like gamefly exist amd i'm pretty sure some people will rent,dump repeat instead of torrenting

On the flip side, I dont put it past Nintendo to be that petty and stupid.

 

[chrisrlink]

first we'll see if they sue over palworld then we'll have our answer

 

[LightBeam]

On the flip side, I dont put it past Nintendo to be that petty and stupid.

Petty, sure, but also very very safe when it comes to law.
They haven't sued Palworld even tho they could have done it a while ago, because they have no case. I don't think they have a case here either.

I'm sure that if they hurt the aftermarket with bans, at least Europe would slap them. I always imagine Nintendo getting tempted over doing this kind of stupid stuff, with lawyers urging them to stop being dumb

 

[nubman33]

I wonder... if MIG switch, when inserted, acts like a legit game card with the legitimate certificates...
What if you tried to redeem gold points from new games in the flash cart...?

Actually the correct question is: What is the probabilty of getting banned if you try that?

If you’re going to pirate or back up games, you shouldn’t be worrying about bans

 

[CaliousKai]

Are y'all ready for: "Why my Switch is banned" threads in the following months?

Also... 1 month until chinese clones it.

pretty simple just dont go online with the games on the flash card problem solved plus id rather have a flash card over custom firmware

 

[Hanafuda]

I’m sure this cart at most is really worth $30, the chip they used is probably not that expensive to make it. Whether I need it or not, I might be willing to buy a clone cart to this. I believe I said this in another post, they charged $30 for the box, cardboard is expensive these days.

There's more to the value of a product than just the raw materials needed to manufacture it. I'm not saying that to defend anyone, just stating fact. R&D, overhead cost of a manufacturing facility, equipment and assembly machines, personnel to operate that equipment, QC, packaging and distribution, AND the raw materials. Even a "gray market" or semi-illicit product has all these costs.

 

[SylverReZ]

If you’re going to pirate or back up games, you shouldn’t be worrying about bans

More to that. Using a pirated game online with certificates that match to the previous owner, or is faked, will still get you banned.

 

[CaliousKai]

im still getting one but only getting games that are digital only and offline so ill be fine
i only go online for games i actually play onine

 

[TomSwitch]

im still getting one but only getting games that are digital only and offline so ill be fine
i only go online for games i actually play onine

personal backup has always been fine, but if you are a pirate then probably not fine

 

[tabzer]

More to that. Using a pirated game online with certificates that match to the previous owner, or is faked, will still get you banned.

Do you think people will get banned because they played a pre-owned game someone else copied?

 

[TomSwitch]

Do you think people will get banned because they played a pre-owned game someone else copied?

I expect immediate ban of the cert that appear concurrently online. Maybe some count of warning before ban or maybe even do nothing to the users, some will probably pay up when their MIG stop working for them, no reason to not want them as customers. Wasted money on MIG is enough punishment for the kid already.

 

[FR0ZN]

im still getting one but only getting games that are digital only and offline so ill be fine
i only go online for games i actually play onine

The source of the games need to be the original cartridge.
You can't put games on there that were only released digitally.

 

[Nuzzgok]

im still getting one but only getting games that are digital only and offline so ill be fine
i only go online for games i actually play onine

It can't play digital games, only exact cartridge XCIs. This is why I decided against getting one, it will never support updates or DLC etc

 

[FR0ZN]

It can't play digital games, only exact cartridge XCIs. This is why I decided against getting one, it will never support updates or DLC etc

Updates will work - as long as you are online of course
DLC as well - as long as you pay for it

 

[Nuzzgok]

Updates will work - as long as you are online of course
DLC as well - as long as you pay for it

I don't think anyone should get unless they 100% expect to get banned and are fine with that!