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

 

[impeeza]

I did inject dlc and updates into aci but it would just give me a red light on the mig switch and error on switch

This thread is wrong then?

https://gbatemp.net/posts/10339010/

 

[VTemp]

This thread is wrong then?

Yes. That's going around Horizon as it's a hack of Horizon. The mounting done by SXOS is not an actual cartridge and only works because Horizon is compromised.

The MIG is doing no such thing, Horizon will signature check any software trying to be passed and it will be rejected unless you somehow got your hands on N's key to resign custom software. Customs anything will not work, only officially signed software that is printed to carts will work.

You're putting the cart before the horse on order of operations.

 

[DPyro]

Yes. That's going around Horizon as it's a hack of Horizon. The mounting done by SXOS is not an actual cartridge and only works because Horizon is compromised.

The MIG is doing no such thing, Horizon will signature check any software trying to be passed and it will be rejected unless you somehow got your hands on N's key to resign custom software. Customs anything will not work, only officially signed software that is printed to carts will work.

You're putting the cart before the horse on order of operations.

The games are signed by Nintendo so there's no change there, all you're doing is modifying the structure of the xci and bins.

 

[AlienRetroGaming]

The games are signed by Nintendo so there's no change there, all you're doing is modifying the structure of the xci and bins.

if you know how to do this or want to send anything across I can test I'm more than happy to.

 

[ghjfdtg]

Modified XCIs might work under CFW. They will 100% not work on unmodified Switches. But if you already have CFW why would you use the Mig?

 

[mrdude]

Modified XCIs might work under CFW. They will 100% not work on unmodified Switches. But if you already have CFW why would you use the Mig?

If you have CFW and a bunch of xci's and your micro sd card is full + onboard storage is full this gives more room for those games without needing to install them. A bit like when SXOS users could mount xci from hard drive and play them without needing to install. That's one benefit for CFW users.

 

[Wario]

Depends on what are you objective:

If you have a lot of original Cartridges and you like to play a lot online games and like to avoid the lost of your cartridges, you can use the MIG to put them on a SD Card and only have a Cartridge with your console.

If you only browse the seven seas, yeah a Modchip is the way.

I’ve been in the scene for a long time and I honestly first heard of that metaphor when @AlienRetroGaming gaming used it during his Mig review. Nick Moses gave JP credit for starting the phrase as a euphemism for piracy.

 

[impeeza]

I’ve been in the scene for a long time and I honestly first heard of that metaphor when @AlienRetroGaming gaming used it during his Mig review. Nick Moses gave JP credit for starting the phrase as a euphemism for piracy.

it's very recent

argggh

 

[M7L7NK7]

I’ve been in the scene for a long time and I honestly first heard of that metaphor when @AlienRetroGaming gaming used it during his Mig review. Nick Moses gave JP credit for starting the phrase as a euphemism for piracy.

lol at people saying they created that phrase when It's been around forever.. here's an article from 22 years ago using it
https://www.wired.com/2002/06/pirates-sail-the-seven-seas/

 

[rayida]

lol at people saying they created that phrase when It's been around forever.. here's an article from 22 years ago using it
https://www.wired.com/2002/06/pirates-sail-the-seven-seas/

Pfff, here's Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark singing about it 33 years ago in 1991, no doubt protesting about the invention of the MP3 /s

 

[W00fer]

Is the MIG Switch even send out? I mean I see on X that almost no one is able to order it. All out of stock or pre-orders.

Post automatically merged: Jan 23, 2024

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.

Nah, they had that one already with the R4, the Sky3DS and even the Aliexpress clones of N64 cards. If big N really gave a shit they would shut that down.
I mean it is not like companies like Datel or others make cheat devices that also allow running backup copies are new. Gamebreaker and other tools have been around for a long time. I am sure if N wants, they can trace where the Mig comes from within a week. Quite a lot of private investigations in China towards corporate espionage. The whole Russia story is fake anyway. And I seriously doubt due to the current sanctions the products end up behind customs anyway if it does come from Russia.

 

[DysonSphere]

Is the MIG Switch even send out? I mean I see on X that almost no one is able to order it. All out of stock or pre-orders.

A few people have gotten their hands on one early, as a means of reviewing the product for a wider audience. AlienRetroGaming, who posted in this thread earlier, is one of those people.

But yeah, most people have not gotten their hands on it yet- myself included.

 

[cainan__c]

hello everyone, Just thought I would Stop by see whats going on.

Firstly, welcome to GBATemp!
Secondly, know how games with built in DLC function with the MIG Switch? i.e Pokemon Scarlet + Expansion Pass, MK8D Complete Edition, BOTW + Expansion, etc.

Same for newer cart revisions with Updates built in, such as the later revisions of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe including v1.7.1(?)

I assume they work the exact same as all other game cartridge dumps but not sure.

 

[Atlas722]

I just ordered mine from moded hardware, does anyone know when It will be shipped?



I wanted to mod my OLED switch, but it costs around 180$ where I live, so I rather get the mig switch.

 

[W00fer]

This is the problem. There are a lot of pre-orders but no guarentees that either will be shipped, when, how and where. I track the various Telegram groups and there is no sign of any end user products delivered. Only the <10 review units for Youtubers.

On this I can say that all kinds of speculation about the chips used and the countersecurity measures by N are bogus and simply rumors.

Final hardware can change and to me, the Mig Switch was and is a showcase project. A decoy to see how and if the dogs will bite. Most resellers on the MigSwitch website are either offline or shady vendors without any traceability (so you are screwed when the money is transferred and nothing is delivered).

I understand some covert operations to not stir any takedown problems, but for a 100 dollar product you need some form of return address if you have a DOA which can happen.

According to the law in my country the local MIGSWITCH reseller doesn't even have the required chamber of commerce number, no e-mail, no phone, nothing on the website.
Would you give money to someone who doesn't have any form of reachability?

On a darknet market maybe, but not on a technical product that has warranty under local law.

Plus, and this is the most interesting: the owners of various Telegram groups related to MIGSWITCH claim that they speak to the developers, but not a single proof of that is given.

If indeed it is a ESP32-S2F and a Lattice FPGA we might as well chip in quite a lot of money to do the reverse engineering task to dump it.

I just ordered mine from moded hardware, does anyone know when It will be shipped?



I wanted to mod my OLED switch, but it costs around 180$ where I live, so I rather get the mig switch.

 

[Wario]

Mig doesn’t want to sit on any inventory, so they made enough to get it to the reviewers to help advertise. If the response is positive and depending on how many pre-orders there are, they’ll know how much to make. This is a risky venture, so they don’t want to sit on unsellable inventory if Nintendo flexes its muscle in every country that’ll cooperate with them.

Post automatically merged: Jan 25, 2024

I wonder if the YT channels with big subs are avoiding this thing because the channel is their main source of income and their job and don’t want to risk being demonetized while the smaller channels are willing to review it since it’s still a hobby for them. I’m surprised that MLP and RGT hasn’t posted reviews yet.

 

[W00fer]

Mig doesn’t want to sit on any inventory, so they made enough to get it to the reviewers to help advertise. If the response is positive and depending on how many pre-orders there are, they’ll know how much to make. This is a risky venture, so they don’t want to sit on unsellable inventory if Nintendo flexes its muscle in every country that’ll cooperate with them.

Post automatically merged: Jan 25, 2024

I wonder if the YT channels with big subs are avoiding this thing because the channel is their main source of income and their job and don’t want to risk being demonetized while the smaller channels are willing to review it since it’s still a hobby for them. I’m surprised that MLP and RGT hasn’t posted reviews yet.

Being demonitized for making legal backups?

There are rumors that MIG bought 100k chips from a Telegram group but I would take it with a huge grain of salt. 100k products is 6+ million in sales. What funding is behind this company to take up on that load? They need to invest multiple millions into production. This is a way to big risk if you focus that on one factory.

They don't want unsellable inventory? It's always a risk that a firmware update can come. Big N updated their 3DS with anti piracy fixes years after production stopped. Even the PS3 still gets updates once in a while.

For now, it is too quiet. A product like this should build up the hype or become slowly available in batches. The manual is there, firmware is there, the packaging is done. I mean what are they waiting for?

I'm already reading that for first orders the dumper was included but now it isn't anymore.

 

[MountainMan23]

Spoiler

This is the problem. There are a lot of pre-orders but no guarentees that either will be shipped, when, how and where. I track the various Telegram groups and there is no sign of any end user products delivered. Only the <10 review units for Youtubers.

On this I can say that all kinds of speculation about the chips used and the countersecurity measures by N are bogus and simply rumors.

Final hardware can change and to me, the Mig Switch was and is a showcase project. A decoy to see how and if the dogs will bite. Most resellers on the MigSwitch website are either offline or shady vendors without any traceability (so you are screwed when the money is transferred and nothing is delivered).

I understand some covert operations to not stir any takedown problems, but for a 100 dollar product you need some form of return address if you have a DOA which can happen.

According to the law in my country the local MIGSWITCH reseller doesn't even have the required chamber of commerce number, no e-mail, no phone, nothing on the website.
Would you give money to someone who doesn't have any form of reachability?

On a darknet market maybe, but not on a technical product that has warranty under local law.

Plus, and this is the most interesting: the owners of various Telegram groups related to MIGSWITCH claim that they speak to the developers, but not a single proof of that is given.

If indeed it is a ESP32-S2F and a Lattice FPGA we might as well chip in quite a lot of money to do the reverse engineering task to dump it.

Moded hardware seems legit. They took the time to go through hundreds of customer comments with their orders about not having the dump included with the mig switch and I just got my $20 refund. They say the mig will ship at the end of February.

 

[W00fer]

Moded hardware seems legit. They took the time to go through hundreds of customer comments with their orders about not having the dump included with the mig switch and I just got my $20 refund. They say the mig will ship at the end of February.

Isn't the date moving all the time?

 

[BigOnYa]

Isn't the date moving all the time?

Yea was thinking that myself. Originally they said shipping out beginning of Feb, now it's shipping out end of Feb.