A few days after the monumental reveal of a work-in-progress flashcart being made for the Nintendo Switch, more information has been made available. The previously unnamed flashcart is set to be called "Mig Switch", and the initial Twitter user that unveiled the Mig Switch's existence, After Time X, managed to get in contact with the team behind it all. According to them, they were offered a review unit of the Mig Switch, but turned it down, as the After Time X team fears legal repercussions from dealing with "backup loader" hardware.

Another interesting tidbit is that existing dumps of Switch games will NOT be compatible with the Mig Switch, and backups will need to be repacked to function with the flashcart. Games played with the flashcart can be played online, as well.

The Mig Switch currently has a website, where it is seeking distributors to work together with in order to sell initial limited quantities of the Mig Switch device, with the first units to be delivered sometime in January. The team claims that full availability is expected around March/April 2024. It'll come with the Mig Switch card, and the Mig Switch Dumper, with the latter of which allowing you to back up your games using NXdumpTool.

More Details Has Been Uncovered About the First Switch Flashcart

After some digging around by our @AfterTimeX journalists, it was discovered that the “Switch Flashcart” in fact has a name, “Mig Switch” and they agreed to answer a few of our questions about some points that… pic.twitter.com/kQtXdSNg7E

— After Time X (@AfterTimeX) December 27, 2023

Official Website

 

[Crass]

Anyone got high resolution photos of both sides of the PC boards? Would love to try to identify what chips they are using (possibly RP2040, but could be anything in a QFN56 package).

 

[W00fer]

The chips might have been identified

https://nl.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Lattice/ICE40UP5K-SG48I?qs=Rp3RbKSfAt3UqOG1AN4/Ag==

Image courtesy of Alula on X

These chips can be easily desoldered.

 

[cainan__c]

apparently, you can update the software of the cart, put the update file in the root of SD card and insert it into the flash cart, then put it on switch, and it will flash blue.

It's good a more repuatble youtuber is covering this now.

 

[SylverReZ]

The chips might have been identified

https://nl.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Lattice/ICE40UP5K-SG48I?qs=Rp3RbKSfAt3UqOG1AN4/Ag==

And

https://nl.mouser.com/ProductDetail/Espressif-Systems/ESP32-S2FH2?qs=Wj/Vkw3K%2BMAwgsQxM33nkg==


Image courtesy of Alula on X

These chips can be easily desoldered. Espressif has a wide variety of programming tools. Not sure on Lattice.

Its an ESP32 microcontroller.

 

[W00fer]

No apparently it is not.
The Espressif was a bad guess.

A proper photo has appeared.

Lattice ICE40UP5K-SG48I

and

Raspberry RP2040

 

[badbob]

No apparently it is not.
The Espressif was a bad guess.

A proper photo has appeared.

Lattice ICE40UP5K-SG48I

and

Raspberry RP2040

Looks shopped, doesn't line up with other pics. The account is new, probably the team trying to throw people off

 

[BigOnYa]

Lattice ICE40UP5K-SG48I

and

Raspberry RP2040

When comparing the two pics next to each other, you can tell that is not the chips.

 

[Tcoom]

Looks shopped, doesn't line up with other pics. The account is new, probably the team trying to throw people off

looks shopped to me

 

[Jefix]

I think it’s not very difficult to find out what kind of chips these are. It is enough to dissolve the body in acid and look at the silicon under a microscope.

 

[impeeza]

When comparing the two pics next to each other, you can tell that is not the chips.
View attachment 414902

Bad photoshop?

 

[alula]

I've looked through the ESP32-S2F datasheet and I'm nearly sure it is that MCU as everything makes sense electronically (matching pinouts, other components connected to correct pins and matching the requirements in datasheet).



Both of the chips are in 7x7mm QFN56 form factor, but RP2040 has much different pinout and it requires an external SPI flash to boot firmware from as it doesn't have internal flash memory. Also it uses a 12MHz oscillator in it's reference design (can be anything between 5-15MHz), whereas ESP32 requires a 40MHz clock and it's what we can see at top of the flashcart PCB.

 

[linuxares]

Sounds plausible

 

[Wario]

With the way it’s currently designed, any circuit board and chip experts out there think that a button could be installed to simulate the reinsertion of the cart or we’ll need to wait for v2?

 

[impeeza]

With the way it’s currently designed, any circuit board and chip experts out there think that a button could be installed to simulate the reinsertion of the carts, or we’ll need to wait for a v2?

Yes look into the videos and read late posts

 

[Nincompoopdo]

From a business perspective it's just easier to shut down MIG and expect lower sales. And force a firmware update to block the MIG.

This is a actually a far worse disruption for Nintendo than the SXOS, it made their retail business unreliable. SXOS is offering free tickets to the show while MIG is making legit ticket holders play Russian roulette.

This is Bowser's plan to take down Mushroom Kingdom.

 

[Wario]

This is a actually a far worse disruption for Nintendo than the SXOS, it made their retail business unreliable. SXOS is offering free tickets to the show while MIG is making legit ticket holders play Russian roulette.

This is Bowser's plan to take down Mushroom Kingdom.

Which Bowser?

 

[Nincompoopdo]

Which Bowser?

There's really only one - the one you see in games and movies are prophesied by Nintendo as their nemesis.

 

[realtimesave]

On AliExpress already with a well rated shop too it appears. But $95 ouch! Over 70 sold, they will catch on and double the cost!

old news, only one seller on there has it, price gouging and dumb people buying it at that inflated price heh

 

[G33ksquad]

old news, only one seller on there has it, price gouging and dumb people buying it at that inflated price heh

What I find interesting is no matter how many units are sold, more become available.

 

[Hassal]

There's really only one - the one you see in games and movies are prophesied by Nintendo as their nemesis.

Isn't that the reason why they appointed Doug Bowser as CEO of NA to counter that bad omen?