New major updates made in the $3 Pikofly Nintendo Switch modchip project

27002868.jpg

Late last year, a homebrew developer made a massive announcement: there was a new Nintendo Switch modchip coming soon, and it would support not just launch units, but also more modern OLED and Mariko Switch revisions (though not Erista). The icing on the cake was that the modchip to hack the Switch only cost $3. and consist of a RP2040-Zero unit, which hugely contrasted with the only other available modchip--the HWfly--which went for over $100 at the time. Dubbed the Pikofly chip, it would, in theory, be able to install custom firmware on your Switch.

Scene members quickly took notice, as many began working on breaking down how the chip functioned, with lots of information available in the Pikofly discussion thread. And now, thanks to their hard work, you can now take advantage of it, in order to get the Pikofly modchip working on your Switch. GBAtemp user Rehius has published a GitHub project page that has a firmware file and further documentation, while Flynnsmt4 managed to decrypt parts of the code, even creating a cycle-accurate emulator that further explains how the chip works. With these new milestones, people are already discussing techniques to solder the chip to their consoles.

If you're curious to see more, and how this unfolds, head on over to the Pikofly thread to see the latest discussion and updates.
 

SylverReZ

GBAtemp Lurker
Member
Joined
Sep 13, 2022
Messages
6,890
Trophies
3
Location
The Wired
Website
m4x1mumrez87.neocities.org
XP
23,024
Country
United Kingdom
Hopefully someone will make a open source one and we can print it on like pcbway
I'd love that if this was possible.
Post automatically merged:

Spaghetti wires! Good to see something come of this.

EDIT: MicroSD card. :unsure:
Was curious about the SD card part though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kioku

Foxi4

Endless Trash
Global Moderator
Joined
Sep 13, 2009
Messages
30,818
Trophies
3
Location
Gaming Grotto
XP
29,788
Country
Poland
I always wondered why use a Pi at all. This seems like massive overkill to me, seems like something the average microcontroller should handle, something along the lines of an AtMega. Then again, I don’t know exactly what code this is running, so I may be entirely off-base and that cortex is doing voodoo on the Switch. I suppose availability of resources and big community make it more attractive.
 

tech3475

Well-Known Member
Member
Joined
Jun 12, 2009
Messages
3,618
Trophies
2
XP
5,981
Country
I stand corrected. How confusing

A part of me wonders if that was intentional, a way to trick people into buying these because of how much of a PITA it can be to get an actual RPi.

They could have called it something like the RP2040-Micro.

The Pi naming conventions are just as weird as USB…

To be fair, it seems to be a third party board, the RP2040 microcontroller is sold on it's own so in theory someone could make a custom board integrating it.

https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/rp2040/
 
  • Like
Reactions: Kioku

Site & Scene News

Popular threads in this forum

General chit-chat
Help Users
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    So true
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    @K3Nv2 Snow Day is pretty fun. My only bitch would be the camera controls, when you move around, say down, you have to move the right stick left or right to get camera to turn and get your view, other than that I like it so far.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    From what people say pvp isn't even worth it
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    I just been playing offline, and they give you a few bots here n there on your team to help battle. I don't think it's as funny as the other games tho, more battle oriented than humor, which kinda sucks, but I'm still early in it
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @BigOnYa, doesnt the game have a campaign mode?
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Yea, and co-op, but you can also start a pvp session and battle just with friends. You get special skill cards (powers) the more you play. And higher value cards, but you can only enable so many cards at a time.
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    If you can find enough for it
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    Toilet paper is considered the money, you collect and buy stuff with TP, kinda funny. Graphics are def better than the other games tho, I think they used Unity 5 engine.
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    Look if I zoom in enough I can see the herpes!!!
    +1
  • BigOnYa @ BigOnYa:
    In fact I'm gonna go make a drink, roll a fatty n play some, good night to all!
    +2
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    I bet most people at the time still watched it in black and white
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    @Xdqwerty, Many of them did before colour television was common.
  • SylverReZ @ SylverReZ:
    Likely because black and white TV was in-expensive.
    +1
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    It certainly wasn't inexpensive it cost the same as a new car back then
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    How much did a 1965 color TV cost?

    For example, a 21-inch (diagonal) GE color television in 1965 had an advertised price of $499, which is equal to $4,724 in today's dollars, according to the federal government's inflation calculator.
    +1
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    @K3Nv2, take into consideration how economy was back then
  • K3Nv2 @ K3Nv2:
    Yeah that's why they listed inflation rates
  • Xdqwerty @ Xdqwerty:
    Sorry didnt read that part
  • BakerMan @ BakerMan:
    @LeoTCK don't worry i knew he was joking
    +1
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    My first color TV was like 1984 or something lol
  • Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo:
    19 inches it was glorious lol
    Psionic Roshambo @ Psionic Roshambo: 19 inches it was glorious lol