It should come as no surprise that since the Fusee Gelee exploit was release last year, there’s not much Nintendo can do to prevent hackers from unpacking and exploiting firmware updates. Still, it’s always impressive to see a new firmware being cracked so fast.
Nintendo Switch 7.0.0 update
Nintendo Switch Firmware 7.0.0 mostly brings support for new languages (and, technically, dramatically expands the possible audience for the console), namely Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese. The usual “system stability improvements” are also inserted in the update for good measure.
The full changelog:
Select from six new New Super Mario Bros.™ U Deluxe icons for your user
To edit your user icon, head to your My Page > Profile on the top left of the HOME menu
Added additional language support to the HOME Menu for Chinese, Korean, and Taiwanese
To change the language, head to the System Settings > System > Language
General system stability improvements to enhance the user’s experience
Related to the “stability improvements”, hacker SciresM mentions this new firmware brings lots of changes at the OS level, possibly in order to “facilitate stuff for games in the future”.
For people complaining about "no new changes", 7.0.0 is actually definitely deserving of a major bump. Besides usual anti-hacker stuff, 7.0.0 has major API changes...new services and everything! They also seem to have turned on optimization flags(?) in a lot of sysmodules?
But SciresM also hinted at some changes in the Switch OS which could be attempts at limiting what can be done on the console with Custom Firrmware and homebrew. For example by limiting the number of threads a sysmodule can create.
Nintendo Switch 7.0.0 hacked within hours
A few hours after the update was out, developermotezazerannounced the firmware was cracked.
7.0.0 cracked Here are some SHA256 hashes in celebration :) PK11: 434FA7D07A8D4FDFD8630AC40FF9BC697E0DE40E0041E225F154BEB9571044E9 Master key: 4EC96B8CB01B8DCE382149443430B2B6EBCB2983348AFA04A25E53609DABEDF6
For quite a few years, rhtyhm games, like the Project Diva series, have been pretty popular and the Switch has its own share of official titles. However, none of these are as expandable as osu! so now, the homebrew community stepped in to rectify that along with releasing an update to Atmosphere.
McOsu NX makes its way to hacked Switches
McOsu is an unofficial client osu! supporting regular beatmaps that comes with extra features for gameplay customisation and to make practicing gameplay easier.
If OSU is your thing, then the Switch has a homebrew to satisfy your hobby thanks to McKay (Screenshot from the McOsu NX GitHub README)
Now, it’s been ported to the Switch as McOsu NX by its author McKay42 so that you could ace some beat maps on your Switch. From a video by McOsu’s developer on YouTube, this port seems to work well and has the following features:
A fully working menu system
Functioning audio so that you could listen to your favourite songs while going nuts on your favourite songs
Multi-touch support so you can go crazy with your favourite beatmaps
McKay states that that McOsu NX must be run through NSP HBL or HBL takeover in order to work properly as it needs around 1GB RAM allocated to it. McOsu NX also comes with 9 built-in songs, including Renatus and Tear Rain, so you’ve got something to muck about with if you never played osu!
To grab McOsu NX, check out this link and download the provided ZIP file. Then, copy the ZIP file’s content to your SD Card and place the songs you want in “switch\McOsu\Songs\”. If you encounter any issues, report them to the Issues Tab of the in-line GitHub link.
Atmosphère 0.8.3 released with various fixes
Atmosphere is still being updated so that it’s made better so you should think about updating especially if you encounter the downgraded NAND sleep issue thanks to Nintendo’s fuse burning system.
Every now and again, the Switch’s go-to CFW gets an update and this time, it’s received version 0.8.3. Apart from a custom warmboot firmware to fix sleep issues on a downgraded NAND, Atmosphère 0.8.3 brings along:
Some changes to the internal workings of the CFW which include the ExternalContentSource API not clearing on failure
Content override now has an “app” setting which allows for overriding of all applications with HBL rather than a specific title
Customisation of system settings is now supported through an added extension to “set.mitm”.
This is currently being used to add an option for error report uploading and enabling USB 3.0 speeds when the hardware you’re using supports it
The ability to boot into maintenance mode by holding */- was added to the PM
Bug fixes such as fixing one having to do with the MitM API causing occasional system hangs on boot
To get the latest version of Atmosphere, simply follow this link and download the fusee loader BIN file and Atmosphere ZIP file.
Conclusion
As more time goes on, the Switch scene gets more interesting and hacking it becomes a more appealing option. However, getting bans on the Nintendo’s online service is still a possibility so think twice about whether online functionality or playing some OSU songs is more important to you!
On the other hand, if you don’t want to or can’t hack your Switch, you can always inject your own osu! beatmaps into IA/VT on a hacked PSVita to get access to playing osu! on the go!
Singapore-based Virtuos is a studio that has already made quite a name for itself on Switch thanks to its superb ports of L.A. Noire, Dark Souls and Starlink – a trio of third-party efforts which have done much to enhance the library of Nintendo's hybrid system.
However, the company's next project could be seen a rather more daunting, given the stature of the franchise; Virtuos is currently hard at work bringing over Final Fantasy X | X-2 HD Remaster and Final Fantasy XII: The Zodiac Age to Switch. Keen to learn more about the process, we spoke to executive producer Lukas Codr and senior producer Fang Xiaoshu about the remasters, working on Switch and much more besides.
Nintendo Life: Can you tell us what led to you working on the Final Fantasy Remasters? Were you approached by Square Enix?
We have a great relationship with Square Enix, having previously worked with the company on Final Fantasy Remasters for PS4 and PC. These games were big hits so it was only natural for us to be brought in to work on the Xbox One and Switch remasters, too.
What has the response been like to existing PlayStation and PC remasters?
The response has been great; we’ve had a lot of positive feedback from players and the media, so I think it’s why Square Enix approached us for the Xbox One and Switch remasters.
When did discussions start regarding the Switch and Xbox One versions?
This project got on our radar in the second half of 2017, so the team was up and running in December. For big franchises like Final Fantasy, it usually takes some time to get release dates aligned with the rest of the SKUs and other projects, so we usually put some flexibility into the schedule.
We're talking about two very different consoles here; how hard has it been to scale the games for release on the Switch, given its unique portable nature?
I would say it was quite technically challenging because to make Final Fantasy work on Switch, we needed to convert it to 64GB. So, the Switch version needed to be shrunk without impacting the performance. As this requires a fair amount of skill, we have a small team specifically to target these parts of the remaster.
Did you have to tweak any element of the games in the process of porting them to new systems? Likewise, were there any ways in which you feel you improved the experience?
For such a great franchise, the main goal is to bring the exact same experience as the original version to the player. So, we haven’t touched the core content of these games in order to keep the same flavour as before.
However, some obvious legacy issues have been fixed during porting, including some UI logic and translation glitches. We’ve taken the “quick recovery” feature from PS Vita to Switch in order to take advantage of its touch screen. Finally, we’ve also integrated the “key mapping” system into both Xbox One and Switch versions in order to give more control flexibility to players around the globe. This is the first time we brought it to consoles (PS4/PSV don’t have it, only PC has such functionality).
We believe these features and fixes can actually give a better experience to players than the previous remaster versions.
Were there any lessons taken from Dark Souls and Starlink that came in handy with these games?
Communication is always super important in this type of project. The key is to be fully transparent to the client and never hide any issues the team encounters, so that we have time to find good solutions together.
We also had a well-experienced Japanese producer in charge of talking to the client, which was essential to bridge any cultural differences between Japanese and Western game development practices. Having such a person on site has proven extremely useful in those potentially tricky moments when we faced technical or production constraints. That was the last piece of the puzzle, next to things like technical feasibility reports, feature demos and so on.
What lessons did you learn from having to port these games to two such different systems?
Xbox has a unique “player profile” system, which requires title response to the changes of player profile status at any time when the game is running. Unfortunately, the original game could not be paused at any given moment, so we had to change some lower level code to make sure the engine can satisfy these platform requirements.
For Nintendo Switch, the main challenge was the package size, as the previous raw data size could reach up to 50GB. This much data simply cannot fit on a single Switch game card, so we had to analyse and modify the data cooking pipeline and managed to fit the game on a 32GB card without any impact on visual quality or loading performance.
Another tricky part is middleware. Some specific middlewares are no longer supported, so we had to remove them or replace them with our in-house libraries, which we have available for such situations.
Would you say this was an easier task than Dark Souls and Starlink?
Compared to Dark Souls, we can say the development was smoother in general. It was still a lot of work due to the sheer size of the games we were porting and all the different SKUs we had to prepare, but we had a very good understanding of the code. Moreover, many of the necessary performance optimisations were already present in the code.
Just like with every project, we also had our share of issues and difficulties. However, the team at Square Enix was very responsive, so we were able to solve them without too much hassle.
Final Fantasy, Dark Souls and L.A. Noire are three massive properties – what's it like to be trusted with them?
We always treat every client’s IP as if it was our own. It’s our bread and butter working with other companies’ IPs so we’re very comfortable with doing so. The key thing is good communication with the client, both in knowing exactly what they want and keeping them updated along the way.
Not so long ago, the concept of a remaster was pretty unusual, but we've seen a sharp rise in this kind of project in recent years.Do you think this will continue, and if so, does that make a studio like Virtuos even more valuable to publishers?
We're big fans of remasters and older games so it’s very exciting to see that IP owners want to bring them back, bigger and better, onto more powerful consoles. We think remasters will continue to be very popular in part from older generations playing the very same games when they were kids, with their own kids.
We’ve found though that it’s not just remasters where studios are looking for support from companies like us. We’re working more in co-development of titles, and are increasingly designing entire levels for new games as we help studios to expand the scope of their games.
According to the latest issue of Dengeki PlayStation, Murder Detective Jack the Ripper is in development for Switch.
The magazine has the project down as an adventure game. It takes place in a fictional London, where a private detective takes on a case. Players will be able to experience different branches for detective and murderer routes.
Dengeki PlayStation confirms the following characters:
Here are the characters:
Arthur Hewitt (voiced by Yuusuke Hirooka) Self-Proclaimed Jack the Ripper (voiced by Kiyohiro Yamaguchi) Charlotte Peacely (voiced by Aiko Yamasaki) Rory Godpseed (voiced by Mitsuki Natsukawa) Harry Brown (voiced by Yuuki Fujino) Sophie Raichel (voiced by Yuki Yawakami) Walter Raichel (voiced by Kouji Mikogami)
Murder Detective Jack the Ripper launches April 25 in Japan. Pricing is set at 6,980 yen.
Travis Strikes Again: No More Heroes has a pretty interesting ending. We won’t get into it for spoiler reasons, but if you want to learn more, you can find our original post here. Basically: you’ll want to pay attention to what happens after the credits.
Gamereactor was able to ask director Suda51 further about the ending, and was told that it was inspired by “the gaudy, in-your-face endings you see in the Marvel Cinematic Universe”. He also spoke about wanting to make some sort of announcement at E3 in June.
Here’s a rough translation of Suda51’s comments from Google Translate:
“I wanted to make the final scene so that it was a mix between a teaser and those shocking endings that you let loose all over your face in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I wanted to send a very strong message to the fans, so I put out a demo that we used for research and development.”
“My level of English is not very good, so I do not catch the reactions as it should, and I would be very happy that both the fans and the new players were excited and excited about all this, but doing TSA promotions lately I’ve realized how complicated it can be to allude to a possible sequel.”
“What you saw was just a bit of work that is still going through the R & D process, and we’re going to really work hard to make ‘3’ come true.”
“I’m also going to Los Angeles for E3 this year, and it had not been going for quite some time, and I really hope to be able to make some kind of announcement there, so we will continue to work hard to be at the height of everyone’s expectations.”
Nintendo first announced Metroid Prime 4 at E3 2017, but we haven’t seen the game since then. Unfortunately, it sounds like it’ll be quite a bit longer before it reemerges.
Nintendo’s Shinya Takahashi provided a status update on the project today, revealing that “development progress has not reached the standards we seek in a sequel to the Metroid Prime series.” He added that “the current development status of the game is very challenged, and we had to make a difficult decision as a development team.” Nintendo is now changing the development structure.
So what happens next? Nintendo is returning to the series’ roots by having the original Metroid Prime development team work on the fourth entry – Retro Studios. Development will also be restarted. The result is that “the completion of the game will be delayed from our initial internal plan.”
During today’s live stream for Dragon Quest XI S, a bit of footage from the game was shown featuring various story scenes. You can see the relevant recording below.
As a side note, Dragon Quest XI S will have additional scenarios. Square Enix has yet to share any details on what’s new, however.
As more time goes on, the Switch homebrew scene keeps on getting more interesting releases and some of these, like N64/DS emulators, require more processing power so CPU overclocking emerged. In this article, we’ll discuss the work being done on more overclocking with GPU/Memory OCs in handheld mode, the port of OpenClaw that got released and numerous updates to UAE4ALL2.
Work being done on overclocking the GPU and Memory in Handheld mode
Nintendo Switch GPU Overclock by @m4xwdev helps getting better performance in many different games while in handheld mode. Here goes a sneak peek of what you can expect. pic.twitter.com/lfiEXdgbUU
As most of us know, the Switch allows you to play your games both on the TV and in handheld-mode so that it doubles as a home and portable console at the same time. While this is all well and good, the handheld experience is a bit different as the GPU is downclocked to 384MHz and obviously, some aren’t too pleased with this.
To remedy this, developer m4xw, who is contributing to the N64 dynarec port for the Switch, has been working on increasing the GPU and memory clock speeds of the Switch while it’s in handheld mode! A few days ago, Reddit user @loleaguesin published a comparison video showing m4xw’s work in action demonstrating Pokemon and Lego City Uncovered running with GPU speeds of 460MHz rather than the stock speeds of 307-384MHz.
Right now, there isn’t a public download available but you may grab some Horizon profiles for overclocking the GPU/memory in handheld mode if you’re a Patreon supporter of m4xw. If you aren’t a Patreon supporter of his or want something that works on firmware versions other than 6.x, you have to wait a short while till m4xw and others release a homebrew utility to manage such overclocks.
Captain Claw comes to the Switch with ClawSwitch
Claw is a side-scrolling platforming game by Monolith Productions featuring Captain Claw originally released in 1997 for Windows which received good reviews. This game revolves around a cat pirate who was kidnapped by enemy ships and ends up being thrown in prison. After being stuck there for a while, a friend of his sends him a note along with a map telling him about a so-called Amulet of Nine Lives which grants the wearer near-immortality.
Do you love both cats and pirates? If so, you should surely check out Captain Claw on the Switch!
Obviously, Captain Claw decides to go look for this and to do this, you have to first get out of jail, traverse through a forest and roam around the land to obtain the gems that make up the amulet. To do this, you have to kill enemies, jump platforms and probably die a few times while also collecting coins and valuables to increase your score.
The Switch port, which is based on OpenClaw, was done by djmuted and it’s still in beta stage but it seems to be working well enough to be playable. However, some things have some issues and these are:
The music doesn’t work even though the sounds do
Usineur, a PSVita porting veteran, has been able to fix this with a build of his own
Analogue controls are a bit jacked up so djmuted recommends using the d-pad
In docked mode, the FPS may drop down to 55 which could result in sound issues
Not all levels are implemented
You can only play up to level 10 without issues
Level 11 is playable but buggy
Levels 12-14 can’t be played at all so the port isn’t completely finished yet
This isn’t a flaw of the Switch port but it’s because level 11 isn’t implemented properly and the last 3 levels aren’t implemented at all in the engine (OpenClaw) itself. – UPDATE
To get it on your Switch, either grab the NRO file from here or use usineur’s build linked above if you want music. The game files from the original game are required for it to work and should be placed in the “/switch/claw” directory.
Recent UAE4ALL2 updates by rsn8887
If you like emulating the Amiga, you can now type with style thanks to on-screen keyboard skins by @wronghandsimplemented into UAE4ALL2! (Image Source)
For over 2 years, rsn8887 has been regularly improving upon the UAE4ALL2 (Amiga emulator) port for the PSVita which was done by Cpasjuste. Later on, he brought over his improved version to the Switch and is still rolling out regular updates to this day. Among the changes in recent updates, which are available for both the Vita and Switch, we find:
A widescreen menu
Physical keyboard and mouse support for the Switch presumably via USB
The slow-down experienced on the Switch when returning from sleep is no longer present – up to here in 1.91
Keyboard styles are now a thing with 4 different styles
The save state menu is now rendered faster when there are thumbnails
A French on-screen keyboard got added
Many many other updates and improvements
To get the latest version, which is 1.91 for both consoles, check out this link and get the NRO/VPK file for your selected device.
Conclusion
Hopefully, we’ll see updates to OpenClaw in the near future so that the whole game is playable and maybe, we’ll also see a PSVita port since Switch->Vita homebrew ports have become somewhat common lately with ports such as Postal Vita.
Apparently, Rinnegatamante and usineur have tried porting OpenClaw to the Vita but they faced numerous problems due to issues in the code and memory leaks so a Vita port is unlikely to arrive before someone fixes the OpenClaw code. – UPDATE
If you encounter any issues, report them in the Issues tab of the GitHub links found in-line!
This past week, Bandai Namco finally confirmed Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission for the west. The game will be distributed in North America and Europe alongside the previously-announced Japanese version.
We actually already know that Super Dragon Ball Heroes: World Mission will be sold physically overseas. Amazon is taking pre-orders here and Amazon UK has it here. We have the boxart above as well.
While it hasn’t been announced officially just yet, a physical version of Dragon’s Lair Trilogy seems to be in the works. Nintendo’s website has a listing for the game on its website showing a boxart. Limited Run Games will be handling the physical version.
Here’s a look at the boxart:
Dragon’s Lair Trilogy just came out on the Switch eShop this week. It’s unclear when the physical version will be ready.
Guilty Gear and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R were both announced for Switch last year. PQube revealed additional plans for both titles today, including new release windows.
Fans can look forward to Guilty Gear and Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R this spring. Additionally, PQube will be offering a physical bundle for the two games as part of the “Guilty Gear 20th Anniversary Edition”. Both will be sold separately on the eShop as well.
Below is some additional information:
Guilty Gear
In 1998, one game made huge waves within its genre: Guilty Gear for the original PlayStation. Spectacular special moves that brought the console to its limits, a hardrock soundtrack that still has to meet its match, innovative mechanics and unique characters that kicked off an incredibly complex and epic anime story will equally fascinate fighting game fans today, as it did 20 years ago!
Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R
First released in 2008 in Japan, Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus R is the final installment and epitome of the Guilty Gear XX series that polished everything introduced in the 12 previous installments to reach optimal balance. Mechanics like the universal overhead attack “Dust” as well as “Roman Cancel”, which allows players to cancel all kinds of actions and therefore increases their options dramatically, set the bar for the series’ sequel: Guilty Gear Xrd.
(Screenshot from the McOsu NX GitHub README)
