Starting this thread about game console modding mainly because I’m modding my SEGA Dreamcast today and wanted a place to record what I did. I have a cautious relationship with console modding/hacking. I love the ability to play games on the original hardware without having to worry about damaged storage mediums like discs or cartridges. I love websites like https://3ds.hacks.guide/ or https://wii.hacks.guide/ that collect tons of knowledge gained by community members and share them in digestible ways with others. I’m willing to go through a lot of friction to play specific games, but I also try to take very good care of my game systems and so risking them in any way always freaks me out some.
Today I’m installing a new USB-C PSU and replacing the internal battery for my Dreamcast. I’m a little nervous about it, but the GDEMU mod I installed a year ago has been really unreliable - I think due to problems with my PSU. Hopefully it works out, but I’m a big scaredy-cat about soldering.
I also recently found a replacement PS3 after my old model’s wireless chip that powered the bluetooth controller connection bit the dust. This is one I could install custom firmware on, but it seems like there’s less of a consensus on the install process for CFW from my investigations.
Other than that I have a GBA I updated with an IPS display, USB-C battery, and a new case, as well as a modded Wii, DSi, 3DS, and PS2 (Free McBoot + Hard Drive).
Is anyone else into console modding? I mainly just want the ability to play backups of games on native hardware; I haven’t dug deep into homebrew software or other modifications.
I’ve never been brave enough to make any physical modifications to my consoles, but I am pretty invested in soft modding. I have soft mods set up for my PS2, Wii, 3DS, Vita, and switch. I have an everdrive for my game boy but that doesn’t really count. I’m planning on setting up that new exploit on my 360 soon, and my PS3 should be perfectly open to exploits but I’ve never been able to get one to work on it for some reason and I haven’t given it another shot yet. An original xbox I got on craigslist has a mod chip installed, but the disk drive is giving out and I have to figure out how to replace it or install games onto the hard drive before I can really use it.
I’ve been curious about digging into modding on older consoles because I really value the experience of playing on original hardware and on CRT but for now I cover 5th gen and before with a MiSTer FPGA setup I have that has analog output. I don’t have any add-ons for connecting original controllers but it’s easy enough to get decent USB imitations. It has served me well, I think it’s a much better experience than software emulation. most recently I played doom 1/2 on it via the DOS core, but in the past I’ve used it to play king’s field, earthbound, chrono trigger, and zelda 2 on CRT, all of which were great. it can’t cover everything though, 6th gen is too complex for hardware level emulation still. I gotta get an ode for my dreamcast.
(Apologies for poor cable management in this pic; it shares a shelf with my old PS and the only keyboard I own without RGB that I can plug into my old systems without driver incompatibility )
You’re the first other MiSTer user I’ve met in the wild! I love my MiSTer. I was a little skeptical at first but as soon as I got it working with my JVC I fell in love. I’ve always been looking for a good way to play PSX titles on my CRT (PSX console modding seems to be in a precarious place at best, I never got any of my burned discs to work no matter how slowly I burned them or what writer I used, the PS2 does not play well with trying to load PSX off USB or HDD, and the emulation on other consoles like Wii is really spotty) and now I basically don’t use my old PlayStation anymore and play everything on this little powerhouse. It also opened up a lot of opportunities to play systems I totally missed and never tried (a lot of SEGA for me - specifically Genesis and Saturn). I was also surprised by how much I liked using its HDMI functionality - it’s been a huge hit at parties (granted I also bought a bluetooth adapter to make it work well in those scenarios).
I have Everdrive cartridges for my N64, SNES, GBA, and GB and I still use those instead of MiSTer most of the time (esp for handhelds), but it feels like the MiSTer has future-proofed me for any sixth gen and below. I do have one set of SNAC adapters for N64, but I’ve been fine just using a Dualsense for most of my games (my MiSTer is basically a tiny FPGA Playstation)
An update. I spent an entire miserable hour trying to de-solder the CMOS battery from the controller board and was convinced I’d ruined the circuitry around it but somehow I got it out, got the new replacement in, and now my Dreamcast has a functioning clock and a snazzy new USB-C power supply. The GDEMU is consistently booting again too, but I’ve never had more trouble with a console mod than trying to remove the center pin from the original battery.
I’ve done a few bits, mostly software mods! Off the top of my head;
Dreamcast, swopped the disc drive for an SD card reader. Surprisingly easy to do!
3DS softmodded. I’d kept checking over the years for a softmod that would work with my hardware + OS version, and they finally had a working method the last time I checked about a year ago!
Wii softmodded - I didn’t actually do this one, inherited it from a friend. I did expand on it to handle Gamecube stuff from the SD card… Which I never actually got working, yay me!
PS3 - Softmodded, lovely. Still salty that Sony removed official Linux support, c’mooooon.
PS2 - Added a mod memory card (which opens up a whole bunch of possibilities), and whacked in a HDD to go with it.
Xbox360 - I think I soft-modded this? I don’t really remember, need to check up on this…
SNES Mini and The A600 - Both soft-modded to open them up.
Ooh, and added a bunch of software stuff to the Steam Deck, although that barely counts.
I hyperfixated on modding Game Boys in 2019 but then the prices shot up so I gave it up. Otherwise, I’ve softmodded a few of my 2/3DSs, my Wii, and my old PSP before I got rid of it
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