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NES Golf Easter Egg Made Inaccessible From Switch Firmware

by Imran Khan on Dec 26, 2017 at 04:44 PM

Earlier in the year, Switch hackers found a secret version of NES Golf hidden in the system's firmware. Now, as of the 4.00 update, it appears the easter egg can no longer be found.

Switch homebrew hackers have reported that the source code used to launch the game has been decimated, indicating that, even if the game is still in there, it is basically impossible to get to anymore. The official code to launch the game has been completely removed and every other part of it has been overwritten with seeming nonsense.

The original method for unlocking the game involved doing the passed away Nintendo president Satoru Iwata's "Direct to you" gesture with the joycons and was only accessible by earlier firmware when it was discovered. It is unlikely that Nintendo ever even expected anyone to find it, much less that early.

Around the time it was discovered, speculation was that the hidden game, programmed by Iwata himself when he started at Nintendo, acted as an "omamori," a Japanese charm to guide something with good luck. As the Switch approaches the final quarter of its first year ahead of its initial projections by hitting ten million sold even before the holiday season, maybe Nintendo is leaving the rest up to heaven.