Hack Snes Mini Using Mac

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The NES Mini Classic is a wonderful little box. It captures most of the old gaming feeling by putting you close to the screen and giving you authentic feeling controllers. That all while displaying everything in a modern fashion on a up-to-date HDMI-capable device or TV.Also part of the thrill is that it gives you all that good old classic games in it’s 30 game line-up so that you can play everything that you loved during the 90s. Everything? Just barely.

Joe & Mac 2: Lost in the Tropics Jurassic Park Jurassic Park II: The Chaos Continues. Mario & Wario (joypad hack). I noticed that in the html file it says it's for the European SNES Mini, and I have a USA one. Would that be why it isn't working? I had to manually mimic the folder structure.

There might be some games missing that you’d like to see on the NES Mini Classic and that is probably why from it’s launch everybody has looked for a way to add more games. For example I’m missing Nintendo World Cup that I own on my real NES, but not on my NES Mini Classic. There might be other games. IGN has a great list.

Not to long ago hakchi came to the rescue offering a first way to add games. It did the job even on multiple platforms like Windows, Mac and Ubuntu, but you had to compile it yourself, which didn’t work out for me.

Along came hakchi2 with much better usability but with the big downside for Mac-user like myself that it only works on Windows. So since it’s release I was trying to find a way on how to do it on a Mac. After figuring it out it’s not that difficult and also it’s FREE even if you don’t own Windows.

DISCLAIMER:So the way hakchi2 actually works is that it’ll completely replace the firmware/storage of your NES Mini Classic. This means copying everything off there. Then modifying it. Then copying everything back again - overwriting the whole system. If - during this process - something goes wrong your Mini might not come back to life. I’ve read about people who this happened to, and they still could flash back the original system. But you never know.

Snes Mini Mod

You love retro-games that is why you read this. So you also know that even the NES games are copyrighted and must not be used for free. Only put games on your NES Mini that you legally own.

Everything you’ll need for this

  • The latest binary release of hakchi2
  • VirtualBox for Mac (I used version 5.1.14 for OSX hosts)
  • The VirtualBox Extension Pack (click on All supported platforms)
  • A Microsoft Windows Virtual Machine image for VirtualBox which you can find here for testing purposes (I used the Microsoft Edge Win 10 Stable). This will run for 90 days. You can use snapshots to extend this time. Microsoft even recommends this in the background wallpaper.
  • About 20GB of space on your Mac
  • Your trusty NES Mini Classic (mine is a China produced model named MOD. CLV-001 on the back) with it’s USB-cable. Controllers are not needed for this.

Quick version

Hack Snes Mini On Mac

  • Get VirtualBox up and running.
  • Install expansion pack.
  • Add Windows virtual machine.
  • Activate USB-support for it.
  • Fire it up.
  • Startup hakchi2.
  • Let Windows install .NET Framework on the way.
  • USB-Connect NES mini to your Mac.
  • Power-On NES Mini while holding RESET.
  • Install NES Mini driver from hakchi2.
  • Dump kernel.
  • Use video to learn about hakchi2.

Detailed version

  • Install VirtualBox normally by using the installer (my file was called VirtualBox-5.1.14-112924-OSX)
  • Next launch VirtualBox
  • When it has started up successfully get that file which you download as the VirtualBox Extension Pack and double-click it (for me it was named Oracle_VM_VirtualBox_Extension_Pack-5.1.14-112924.vbox-extpack) We need this extensions-pack cause VirtualBox does not ship with USB-support. This gets added by the extensions-pack. Since we’ll later connect that NES Mini via USB this must be installed.
  • Click „Install“, Accept the license agreement. It should succeed. Now we’ll install the Windows Virtual Machine.
  • Unpack the virtual machine you downloaded from Microsoft from the ZIP-file. My file was named MSEdge.Win10_RS1.VirtualBox.zip and gave me just one resulting file named MSEdge - Win10_preview.ova
  • Double-click MSEdge - Win10_preview.ova.
  • VirtualBox should now present you with the configuration for that virtual machine. Accept those settings as they are and click „Import“
  • The import will take some time
  • After the import is finished the virtual machine will be visible in VirtualBox. You’ll notice in the right panel under „USB“ it’ll say „Deactivated“. We’ll have to change that.
  • Click on „Settings“ in the Toolbar. Goto to „Ports“ -> „USB“. Activate the USB-Controller and select USB-2.0-Controller (EHCI)`. The others might also work. I haven’t tried them.
  • Now „Start“ the virtual machine.
  • After the virtual machine has started VirtualBox’s guest tools might prompt you with a notification that they are outdated. Didn’t matter for me. But you can go 'Devices' -> 'Insert Guest Additions CD Image…' and update them. If you do, reboot afterwards.
  • Now download hakchi2 and unpack it.
  • Double-click that hakchi.exe. Windows should prompt you that you need the .NET Framework 3.5 to use this application. Press 'Download and install this feature'. Wait until finished.
  • Close the window
  • Double-click that hakchi.exe again. It should start up fine now.
  • Now connect your NES Mini Classic via USB-cable to any USB-port of your Mac.
  • Power it up while holding the RESET-button. Let go off RESET. The NES Mini’s red LED will not light up.
  • From VirtualBox’ bottom right icon-lineup click on the one that looks like an USB-cable. Select the Onda (unverified) V972 tablet in flashing mode.
  • Windows should automatically start up a device install (look for the icon in your startbar). Wait until finished. Might take some time.
  • Back in hakchi2 select 'Kernel -> Dump kernel'.
  • A popup should appear that says „Waiting for NES Mini…“ followed by some steps. Click the „Install driver“-button. Accept the warning.
  • A black window appears. Wait until a message appears that says something like „Press ENTER to close“.
  • Press ENTER to close.
  • The kernel dump should start.
  • hakchi2 is ready to use.

If you need more info on how to use hakchi2 watch this video.

Mini

And that is how to use hakchi2 on a Mac for FREE.

Cluster_M has been working tirelessly for over a week now to give us the same support and the same, if not more, functionality that he gave us for the NES Classic on the SNES Classic. Well, today we finally have a non-beta, official release! In this article, we’ll talk about what is new to the program. Don’t worry, we will soon have instructions for adding more SNES ROMs to the SNES Classic (which could also apply to NES ROMs on the NES Classic) as well as a separate tutorial for installing RetroArch cores and running games from some of your other favorite systems!So what is new in hakchi 2.20 other than the all too obvious SNES Classic support? Well for starters it still supports NES Classic but it also supports Famicom Classic and Super Famicom Classic for those of you who happen to own those and want to join in on the fun (finally). Here’s the official changelog.

Changelog

  • ‘SNES Classic Mini support.
  • Automatic ROM conversion to special SNES Classic Mini’s format. ~75% of games are working fine. You can use RetroArch mod for problem games.
  • For expert users: you can select SNES game and press Ctrl+Alt+E to show hidden Preset ID editor.
  • Individual profiles for different consoles, so you can use the same hakchi2 for both NES, SNES, Famicom and Super Famicom. You can select console type using “Settings menu”.
  • 7-Zip compression support for all platforms and emulators. You can compress or decompress any game using only one checkbox.
  • Group operations. Now you can select multiple games in the main window, right click on them and do mass compression or mass cover downloading only for selected games. Hold control to select individual games.
  • For expert users: NAND dump, NAND-B dump, and memboot features. Don’t use it if you don’t know what is it.
  • Some bugfixes and refactoring.’

Here is a list of all of the base features that you can come to expect when using this grand piece of software.

Features

  • ‘Change any game settings (including command-line arguments)
  • Fill all game data automatically using included database
  • Automatically check for supported games
  • Search for box art using Google Images
  • Use Game Genie codes for NES games; includes Game Genie database
  • Automatically patch problem games (patches for many popular games included)
  • Upload hundreds of games at once
  • Return to the HOME menu with a button combination instead of the Reset button
  • Enable autofire A/B
  • Simulate the start button on the second controller (for Famicom Mini)
  • Disable seizure protection
  • Allows to install user-mods to add more features (even support for SNES/N64/Genesis/etc., music replacement, themes, etc.)’

If you don’t need to wait and see the instructions on adding more roms and compressing the original roms in the SNES classic that we’re going to post and just want to jump right into it, you can find the download here. If you used the beta and would like to use this version just revert back to stock, using uninstall feature in the kernel tab, then reinstall the custom kernel again.

Hack Snes Mini Using Mac

Quick rundown of a new install, if Hakchi2 was never installed before.

1) With the SNES Mini attached to your PC via USB, hold reset, turn the Mini on, wait a few seconds, then release reset. The light will not be on.
2) Go to Kernel, Dump Kernel. Install the driver if prompted. DO NOT lose this file, ever.
3) Go to Kernel, Flash Custom Kernel. Your SNES Mini is now haxed.
3a) Optional, but recommended if you aren’t doing too many games. Go to Settings, Pages/Folders Structure and pick Disable.
4) From now on, simply use the Add Games button, pick your SNES ROM, fill out the details, assign some box art..
5) And when you’re done, hit the Sync button bottom right.
6) Now turn the SNES off, wait a moment, then turn it back on without holding reset. The light will come on, your new games will appear.

Download: hakchi2.20

To be abundantly clear, this is just the first official release which has been tested rigorously, but there are always bugs to be squashed and fixes to be made or improvements like you see in the tweet below. If something isn’t working quite right for you once you have it up and running, let Cluster_M know via Twitter or his GitHub page.

  • hakchi2_debug.zip – debug version with verbose logging, download it to create bug reports for me.

Do you want to overclock #StarFox on #SNESmini? Can you seen the difference? https://t.co/adstdlC6m5

— Cluster (@Cluster_M) October 8, 2017

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