Hacking Secret NES Golf game on the Switch. A tribute to Mr. Satoru Iwata.

[Bladexdsl]

lol how the hell did they figure it out. it;'s been driving people nuts for months

 

[Deleted-368796]

lol how the hell did they figure it out. it;'s been driving people nuts for months

I'll quote myself here I guess. http://gbatemp.net/threads/request-...-emulator-updated.478296/page-40#post-7586453
That along with all the info we collected together in that thread. Twas a joint effort.

 

[Tsubakiandou]

well how about that... good job OP!

we need more people to do this for me to be fully convinced tho.

 

[Masterwin]

tested in 3.0.0 many times, did not work

 

[isoboy]

I've not been online or inserted a cart in mine at 2.1.0 and I've tried several times. I give up. If Nintendo took it out then those consoles that have this will surely be worth a little more in time.

 

[Home_Rowed]

Awesome!
I've been hearing a lot of talk saying that if you've connected your Switch online, that it will still be doable but it only checks with the server's time. So you'll have to wait for an actual July 11th. Has that been confirmed via code anywhere, or is it just hopeful speculation?

 

[ToasterOven]

Tried a few times on 2.3.0 firmware and have not been able to get it to work. Never been online and came with 2.3.0 out of the box. Starting to think if Nintendo updated your firmware then your also out of luck since I don't see anyone else getting it to work on anything other than 1.0.0

 

[PotatisKnug]

Tried a couple of times on 3.0.2. Not working in my book. I didn't use too much effort though.
ps. My switch has been online. (obviously)

I'm now waiting for the Super Mario 3 and Super Mario sunshine easter egg

 

[FAPPYcat]

Awesome!
I've been hearing a lot of talk saying that if you've connected your Switch online, that it will still be doable but it only checks with the server's time. So you'll have to wait for an actual July 11th. Has that been confirmed via code anywhere, or is it just hopeful speculation?

Confirmed via code. That's how they were able to determine the don't-let-it-get-online thing.

 

[senas8]

Awesome !! Thanks for the video op.
What a good feel story this is.

 

[MK73DS]

Do you think we can fake server's time ?

 

[senas8]

Do you think we can fake server's time ?

Honestly for me I would not try to activate it .. now that I know the story I will wait till July 2018. And give it proper respect.
It's one of those gameing moments I will remember and not forget.

 

[Chunbe]

Can anyone test (and maybe record a video) on how the added motion controls works? Hold the controller pointed downwards like a golf club then hold ZL (or ZR) then do a full swing (back then fowards) while still holding the button the entire way. (It's how golf works in the Wii Sports titles). Can you preview the power of the shot on the meter during the backswing like in Wii Sports as well?

Spoiler: Also, for those who never played NES Golf

After seeing some videos of the trick, I feel like giving a quick basic tutorial for those who never played NES golf or other golf titles with similar mechanics before (like Mario Golf or Everybody's Golf).

The first arrow moving left after you press A sets the power, the more left on the bar it is when you press A the second time, the further the shot goes. After you set the power, a second arrow will show up from there moving quickly right, this second one sets the accuracy. Press A when the arrow is below the white part for a straight shot. Too early or too late means the shot will curve in mid air. Left/Right for direction. Up/Down to change clubs, this game doesn't auto select the best one so you'll to need to figure it out since there's no shot preview. Link to the manual with club distances.

The game's still quite hard even knowing the controls so good luck! Maybe the motion controls are easier to use.

 

[fedehda]

We should make a hashtag for the July 11th.

 

[AwesomeMario128]

- You may need to have a Switch that was never connected to the internet before. Once the Switch makes network contact, it will automatically pull some files for date/time which may hinder access to the game, even if you set the date back to July 11th.

Would initializing the console work?

 

[vgmoose]

Do you think we can fake server's time ?

Unfortunately the server time is synced over HTTPS, so this is not possible without hacks.

Would initializing the console work?

The cached date is stored to system save data, which isn't wiped when the console is initialized. Crash reports are also saved to this area.

If you disassemble the switch remove the system battery for a while, the time value appears to behave as if it was never sync'd, according to this report. You can tell if it's been sync'd or not, as it will "snap back" to the real time, even when completely offline. This might satisfy the offline condition, but it wasn't done on a 1.0 switch, which leads me to my next point:

Has there been a single report of it working on >1.0 completely offline consoles? Excluding people who have private switchhax, I haven't seen any instance of this. While this doesn't remove the lack of network sync requirement, it should be noted that this likely means there is another condition that people are missing on >1.0 to do it.

 

[Beerus]

heroes get remembered but legends never die

 

[PotatisKnug]

We should make a hashtag for the July 11th.

#iwata2017

 

[g4jek8j54]

Pretty cool discovery. My Switch console is actually at 1.0.0, and has never been connected to the internet. Unfortunately, I couldn't get it to work. I tried to set the date to both July 11, 2017 and July 11, 2018, but had no luck. I'll have to try again later.

EDIT: Haha. Well, I had to slow fire3element's YouTube video down to .25 speed to get the gist of exactly how he was holding the Joy-Cons, and his arm movements, but after many tries, I did manage to get the game to boot. I don't think I have ever played NES Golf before, and I am currently pretty terrible at it. Nice to have another game to go with my Switch, though. I have gotten it to boot by setting the date on my Switch console to 7/11/2019, 7/11/2018, and 7/11/2017, in that order. I also tried with the date set at 7/12/2017, and as expected, the game didn't boot.

Thanks for the video, and thanks and good job to everyone involved in finding this.

 

[godreborn]

I personally think this is genius. I loved Iwata-san myself. he seemed like a guy you'd want to drink a beer with even though I no longer drink.