SNES Classic Hacked To Add More Playable Games And A Very Welcome Feature

The Super NES Classic Edition boasts an impressive lineup of the original console's games, plus a long-lost, unreleased one in Star Fox 2. But just like its predecessor, the SNES Classic comes with no official means for playing anything other than those games. There's no Virtual Console-style digital library to purchase games from, nor can you pop in an original SNES cartridge if you still have one lying around. Yet just like the NES Classic Edition, hackers have found a way to expand what the system is capable of.

Using an updated version of a tool called HackChi--also used to hack the NES Classic--it's possible to load more games onto the SNES Classic by connecting it to a PC. Due to the fact that the system is loaded with 300 MB of storage, only a fraction of which is actually used by the officially included games, it's possible to load dozens of additional games. The video below, for instance, showcases a system that now has more than 200 of them. As you can see, it's even possible to add box art and tweak various options so that these added games appear no different from those that are officially supported. They don't even necessarily have to be SNES games to work.

You can also use HackChi to address one of the annoying, if ultimately minor oversights of the SNES Classic: the absence of a Home button. In order to bring up the system's menu (either to switch games or access save states for what you're currently playing), you have to physically push a button on the system itself; there's no option to do this on the included controller. HackChi allows you to implement your own controller shortcut.

As you might imagine, however, there are some things to keep in mind. Doing anything like this runs the risk of bricking your console--and although Nintendo suggests they'll be easier to get than the NES Classic, that's still a risk you may not want to take. It also requires obtaining ROMs for the games you want to install, which is both illegal and risky.

There are plenty of games we would have have liked to see on the SNES Classic, but what you get out of the box is still a fantastic offering. For more, you can check out our SNES Classic Edition review. The system is hard to come by, but we're tracking how to buy a SNES Classic--it's already shown up in stock again at GameStop since launch.