I decided to give this a shot, was really wanting to see if it could handle something like Dragon
Quest Warrior IV.
The process itself didn't take too long to accomplish, but I was following a machine-translated guide so I was sure to read and re-read each section carefully. I've done a few mods like this in the past and I understand electronics and programming so I thought it was worth attempting. I used Windows 10. The basic process went like this:
- Play Super Mario Bros (the first one) and create a save state in the first slot
- Hook NES Classic to computer's USB, load into dev mode (hold reset, then press power, let go of reset after 3 seconds)
- Use provided application to install USB drivers for the "Unknown Device" aka NES Classic
- Dump the console's uboot and kernel via USB using the provided Hakchi program
- Using the provided tools, recompiled the NES ROM file along with the chosen game's label image as a JPEG
- Unpacked the kernel file using Hakchi
- Copied the newly compiled ROM to the specified folder in the Hakchi directory
- Rebuild the kernel file using Hakchi
- Hit the "memboot" button in Hakchi, after which it shut down the console
- Restarted the console in dev mode
- Hit "Flash Kernel" in Hakchi, which took about 90 seconds
After that the console restarted and I had this in my menu!
Started up the game and it worked great. The volume is pretty high but there is a setting for that when compiling the ROM that I left at default but I'll probably lower on my next attempt. The graphics look sharp and everything appears to be working as far as I can tell - the only graphical issues I've seen are those that are present on the original NES so it appears everything is in order.
Next, I'm going to try flashing a few more games at once, then I'm going to try deleting an existing game. That is, if I can resist just spending a few days playing DQ4.