As rumors and leaks about a potential arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2 before the end of 2024, one of the staple signs that a console is end of life finally seems to have been brought to life as hackers and modders seem to have managed to create a flash card to load illicit Switch games from.

The MIG-Switch device uses an SD card that contains a rom of a game – legally speaking, one you own and have backed up yourself – although Nintendo still does not approve of that grey area – and loads it from that, thus saving wear and tear on your original, or realistically allowing pirates to play copies of Zelda and Mario games.

We normally see flash carts like the Everdrive appear many years after a console has passed into old age – the Everdrives for Sega Genesis and Nintendo Gameboy being good examples. You can fit pretty much the console’s entire library on an SD card from back in the day, making them popular with retro collectors fearing for their aging hardware’s electronics when keeping swapping carts in and out.

Of course, Switch games are much larger than a Sonic the Hedgehog rom so that won’t be possible here.

A video on YouTube from Taki Udon shows the cart in action (presumably Nintendo has been too busy with Palworld to get around to getting this taken down as yet) shows the cart working seemingly on any version of the Nintendo Switch.

Previous mods that have hijacked the firmware to run game copies have been restricted to older versions of the Switch that have not been updated. This would change the game in terms of potentially removing the need for Switch owners to buy their games. Bad news.

Officially speaking the buzz around the cartridge is aimed at developers, but let’s be honest, if it becomes widely available, that is not what it will be mainly used for. 

According to the video, the MIG-Switch will be fully available within the next few months. We doubt we have heard the end of this one.

Featured Image: Taki Udon

Paul McNally

Gaming Editor

Paul McNally has been around consoles and computers since his parents bought him a Mattel Intellivision in 1980. He has been a prominent games journalist since the 1990s, spending over a decade as editor of popular print-based video games and computer magazines, including a market-leading PlayStation title published by IDG Media. Having spent time as Head of Communications at a professional sports club and working for high-profile charities such as the National Literacy Trust, he returned as Managing Editor in charge of large US-based technology websites in 2020. Paul has written high-end gaming content for GamePro, Official Australian PlayStation Magazine, PlayStation Pro, Amiga Action, Mega Action, ST Action, GQ, Loaded, and the The Mirror. He has also hosted panels at retro-gaming conventions and can regularly be found guesting on gaming podcasts and Twitch shows. He is obsessed with 3D printing and has worked with several major brands in the past to create content Believing that the reader deserves actually to enjoy what they are reading is a big part of Paul’s ethos when it comes to gaming journalism, elevating the sites he works on above the norm. Reach out on X.

• 
•