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Homebrew, when applied to
video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
s, refers to software produced by hobbyists for proprietary
video game console A video game console is an electronic device that Input/output, outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can typically be played with a game controller. These may be home video game console, home consoles, which are generally ...
s which are not intended to be user-programmable. The official documentation is often only available to licensed developers, and these systems may use storage formats that make distribution difficult, such as ROM cartridges or encrypted CD-ROMs. Many consoles have hardware restrictions to prevent unauthorized development. Development can use unofficial, community maintained
toolchain A toolchain is a set of software development tools used to build and otherwise develop software. Often, the tools are executed sequentially and form a pipeline such that the output of one tool is the input for the next. Sometimes the term is us ...
s or official development kits such as
Net Yaroze The is a Game development kit, development kit for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It was a promotion by Sony Computer Entertainment to computer programming hobbyists which launched in June 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in ...
,
Linux for PlayStation 2 Linux for PlayStation 2 (or PS2 Linux) is a kit released by Sony Computer Entertainment in 2002 that allows the PlayStation 2 console to be used as a personal computer. It included a Linux-based operating system, a USB keyboard and mouse, a VGA ...
, or
Microsoft XNA Microsoft XNA (a recursive acronym for XNA's not acronymed) is a freeware set of tools with a Managed code, managed Runtime system, runtime environment that Microsoft Gaming developed to facilitate video game game development, development. XNA is ...
. Targets for homebrew games are typically those which are no longer commercially relevant or produced, and with simpler graphics and/or computational abilities, such as the
Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...
,
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
,
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
,
Nintendo 3DS The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
,
Wii U The Wii U ( ) is a home video game console developed by Nintendo as the successor to the Wii. Released in late 2012, it is the first eighth-generation video game console and competed with Microsoft's Xbox One and Sony's PlayStation 4. The W ...
,
Genesis Genesis may refer to: Religion * Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of humankind * Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Bo ...
,
Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...
,
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
,
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
, and
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
. Several groups within the homebrew community have created unofficial games and software for consoles, as well as circumventing the hardware and software restrictions imposed on them to allow for the use of homebrew.


Development

New games for older systems are typically developed using
emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...
s. Development for newer systems usually involves actual hardware, given the lack of accurate
emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...
s. However, efforts have been made to use actual console hardware for many older systems.
Atari 2600 The Atari 2600 is a home video game console developed and produced by Atari, Inc. Released in September 1977 as the Atari Video Computer System (Atari VCS), it popularized microprocessor-based hardware and games stored on swappable ROM cartridg ...
programmers may burn an
EEPROM EEPROM or E2PROM (electrically erasable programmable read-only memory) is a type of non-volatile memory. It is used in computers, usually integrated in microcontrollers such as smart cards and remote keyless systems, or as a separate chip d ...
to plug into a custom cartridge board or use audio transfer via the
Starpath Supercharger The Starpath Supercharger (originally called the Arcadia Supercharger) is an expansion peripheral cartridge created by Starpath, for playing cassette-based proprietary games on the Atari 2600 video game console. The device consists of a long car ...
.
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
developers have several ways to use GBA flash cartridges in this regard.


First generation consoles


Odyssey

In 2009, ''Odball'' became the first game for the
Magnavox Odyssey The Magnavox Odyssey is the first commercial home video game console. The hardware was designed by a small team led by Ralph H. Baer at Sanders Associates, while Magnavox completed development and released it in the United States in September ...
since 1973. It was produced by Robert Vinciguerra who has since written several other Odyssey games. On July 11, 2011, ''Dodgeball'' was published by Chris Read.


Second generation consoles


Atari 2600


Channel F

A handful of games have been programmed for the
Fairchild Channel F The Fairchild Channel F, short for "Channel Fun", is a home video game console, the first to be based on a microprocessor and to use ROM cartridges (branded ' Videocarts') instead of having games built-in. It was released by Fairchild Camera and ...
, the first console to use ROM cartridges. The first known release is Sean Riddle's clone of '' Lights Out'' which included instructions on how to modify the SABA#20 Chess game into a Multi-Cartridge. There is also a version of ''Tetris'' and in 2008 "Videocart 27: ''Pac-Man''" became the first full production game for the system since it was discontinued.


Third/Fourth generation consoles


NES / Famicom

Several compilers are available for the
Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
, but like the Atari 2600, most development is done in 6502 assembly language. One impediment to NES homebrew development is the relative difficulty involved with producing physical cartridges, although third-party flash carts do exist, making homebrew possible on original NES hardware. In April 2023 NESFab, a new programming language for the NES, was released. The programming language is based upon C# and C++ making the development of software for the system relatively fast and efficient. Its release consequently witnessed the increment of homebrew games for the NES, amongst them being Mosh-Lift by Morphcat Games and Ballooney by Nikusoft. Several varieties of custom processors are used within NES cartridges to expand system capabilities; most are difficult to replicate except by scavenging old cartridges unless the mapper in question was commonly used and thus cloned a lot, as is the case with the MMC3, or is simply consisted of discrete logic. One of the unofficial games that supports parallax scrolling and the MMC5 chip is ''Street Fighter II: Nostalgic Edition'', which is a port of '' Street Fighter II: The World Warrior'' developed by Parisoft. While the original
Famicom The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan on 15 July 1983 as the and was later released as the redesigned NES in several test markets in the ...
and its clones can play unlicensed games, the
10NES The Checking Integrated Circuit (CIC) is a lockout chip designed by Nintendo for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) video game console in 1985; the chip is part of a system known as 10NES, in which a ''key'' (which is stored in the game) i ...
hardware lock-out mechanism of the original model NES complicates the production of physical cartridges. The 10NES chip can be permanently disabled by performing a minor change to the hardware. The redesigned NES (also known as the New-Style NES or the New Famicom) lacks the 10NES chip.


Genesis / Mega Drive

The
Sega Genesis The Sega Genesis, known as the outside North America, is a 16-bit Fourth generation of video game consoles, fourth generation home video game console developed and sold by Sega. It was Sega's third console and the successor to the Master Sys ...
has no physical lockout mechanism (instead relying on software encoding), making it easier to release software for the system. ''
Pier Solar and the Great Architects ''Pier Solar and the Great Architects'' is an indie role-playing video game developed and published by WaterMelon for the Sega Mega Drive. The game was released worldwide on December 20, 2010. The game optionally utilizes the Mega CD expansion d ...
'', ''
Paprium ''Paprium'' is a side-scrolling beat 'em up video game for the Sega Genesis, Mega Drive developed by studio WaterMelon and released in 2020. It was announced as part of a crowd-funding pitch in 2012. Development took eight years, with little to ...
'', and a port of ''Teenage Queen'' are examples of games that were released as physical cartridges. Other games include ''Sacred Line Genesis'', ''Coffee Crisis'', and ''Frog Feast'' for the Genesis and ''Mighty Mighty Missile'' for the
Sega CD The Sega CD, known as in most regions outside North America and Brazil, is a CD-ROM accessory and format for the Sega Genesis produced by Sega as part of the fourth generation of video game consoles. Originally released in November 1991, it ca ...
. The 2018 game ''
Tanglewood Tanglewood is a music venue and Music festival, festival in the towns of Lenox, Massachusetts, Lenox and Stockbridge, Massachusetts, Stockbridge in the Berkshire Hills of western Massachusetts. It has been the summer home of the Boston Symphony ...
'' was notable in that it was developed using original Sega Genesis development hardware.


TurboGrafx-16 / PC Engine

The
TurboGrafx-16 The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation of video game con ...
/
PC Engine The TurboGrafx-16, known in Japan as the , is a home video game console developed by Hudson Soft and manufactured by NEC. It was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1989. The first console of the fourth generation, it launched ...
has a comparatively small homebrew scene. The first homebrew title was MindRec's ''Implode'' in 2002, a few years after the system's last official release ('' Dead of the Brain I & II'' for the PC Engine in 1999). The title was released on CD-ROM. Two years later, MindRec released ''Meteor Blaster DX'' on CD-R. Their official word on the change of CD format was that they were unable to be pressed to CD-ROM proper due to the glass mastering software suddenly unable to handle the unorthodox style of CD structure that the system expects. Five years later, Aetherbyte Studios released ''Insanity'', a '' Berzerk'' clone, on pressed CD-ROMs, quelling the notion of unpressable CDs. Aetherbyte later went on to prototype and produce a new
HuCard The (Known as the TurboChip in regions where the PC Engine was marketed as the TurboGrafx-16) is a ROM cartridge in the form of a card, designed by Hudson Soft for NEC's PC Engine and PC Engine SuperGrafx video game consoles, which were or ...
design called "''AbCARD''", which was fully compatible with the console. Aetherbyte celebrated the 30th Anniversary of the PC Engine since its release in 1987. There is one C compiler for the console known as HuC, however it has not been officially updated since 2005. The MagicKit assembler is generally considered the de facto assembler for the console, and comes included with HuC. Additional libraries for HuC/MagicKit include Squirrel, a sound engine developed by Aetherbyte Studios, and the SGX/ACD library, developed by Tomatheous, that gives the developer easy access to the
SuperGrafx The , also known as simply the SuperGrafx, is a fourth-generation home video game console manufactured by NEC Home Electronics and released in Japan in 1989. It is the successor system to the PC Engine, released two years prior. Originally kn ...
video hardware as well as the Arcade Card. The
cc65 cc65 is a cross development package for 6502 and 65C02 targets, including a macro assembler, a C cross compiler, linker, librarian and several other tools. Overview cc65 is based on a native C compiler that was originally adapted for the A ...
C compiler is compatible with the console, although there is no development library supported for it. There are a few original TurboGrafx CD games being made such as ''FX Unit Yuki: The Henshin Engine'' and a port of ''Mysterious Song'' in 2012. In 2025, Special Ninja Squad's demo was released for the system, coming out on HuCard format.


SNES / Super Famicom

Bung Enterprises released the Game Doctor SF hardware series. It allows users to copy games and run new games on SNES hardware. ROMs can be converted into the Game Doctor SF format and put onto a 3 1/2" floppy. Games as large as twelve
megabits The bit is the most basic unit of information in computing and digital communication. The name is a portmanteau of binary digit. The bit represents a logical state with one of two possible values. These values are most commonly represented as ...
can be put on floppy disks formatted to 1.6 megabytes. An alternative device is the Super Flash, by Tototek, which allows multiple games to be burned onto a flash memory chip in a cartridge. This allows games as large as 48 megabits. The system can also program compatibility with a C compiler. The language program interest growth from French fans, porting Konami’s ''
Asterix ''Asterix'' ( or , "Asterix the Gauls, Gaul"; also known as ''Asterix and Obelix'' in some adaptations or ''The Adventures of Asterix'') is a Franco-Belgian comics, French comic album book series, series about a Gaulish village which, thanks ...
'' beat ‘em up. The run and gun game ''Alisha's Adventure'' used original Super Famicom development hardware. WaterMelon's action role-playing game codenamed ''ProjectN'' is a brand-new homebrew game for the SNES that is currently in development. ''Dottie -dreads nought-'' has been released for the 2021 SNESdev Game Jam, among ''Supercooked'' in 2022.


Neo-Geo MVS, AES, and CD

The Neo-Geo Home Cart and Arcade Systems can be tough candidates for homebrew development. Neo-Geo AES (Advanced Entertainment System) and MVS (Multi-Video System) cartridges have two separate boards: one for video, and one for sound. If programming a cartridge for the system were to occur, it would involve replacing the old ROM chips with one's newly programmed ones as the cartridges are in a sense, Arcade boards. NGDevTeam, who have released ''
Fast Striker ''Fast Striker'' is a vertically scrolling shooter developed and published by German developer NG:Dev.Team in 2010 for the Neo Geo MVS. The player flies a space fighter craft through levels to shoot waves of enemies. The game was ported to D ...
'' and ''
Gunlord ''Gunlord'' is a 2012 Single-player video game, single-player Shoot 'em up#Run and gun, run and gun video game developed and published by German Indie game, indie NGDEV, NG:Dev.Team for the Neo Geo MVS. It is the first run and gun title from NG: ...
'', simply printed out their own board and soldered their own ROM chips onto it; this, however, can cause the Universe Bios logo to look corrupted if a custom BIOS were to be programmed. Programming for the Neo-Geo CD, however, is easier than programming for cartridges. The CDs themselves can actually contain both sound and video respectively. Depending on the Megabit count for a game program, load times will vary. A CD game with low Megabit counts will load only one time, whereas a CD game with higher megabit counts could load in between scenes, or rounds. As of 2014, other full games have been scheduled for release in physical form, such as ''Neo Xyx''. Razoola, programmer of the Neo-Geo Universe Bios, was working in January 23rd, 2019 on a "Skeleton Game Driver" that supports two players. This ROM is meant to remedy the corrupted Universe Bios Screens, as well as work with an unmodified/stock Neo-Geo MVS or AES. '' Razion'' is an example of an original Neo Geo game ported over to modern consoles, in this case the Nintendo Switch.


Game Boy

There are many toolkits and utilities available to program homebrew on the Game Boy. ROM hacks of games on the handheld are available for the system. There are also unofficial ports and
demakes A video game remake is a video game closely adapted from an earlier title, usually for the purpose of modernizing a game with updated graphics for newer hardware and gameplay for contemporary audiences. Typically, a remake of such game software sh ...
of games from other home consoles and handhelds made for the Game Boy, some examples are a demake of the PlayStation game '' Castlevania: Symphony of the Night'', a port of the infamous
Philips CD-i The Compact Disc-Interactive (CD-I, later CD-i) is a digital optical disc data storage format as well as a hardware platform, co-developed and marketed by Dutch company Philips and Japanese company Sony. It was created as an extension of CDDA ...
game '' Zelda’s Adventure'', and a port of '' Stunt Race FX''.


Lynx

Very soon after the release of the Lynx was the first homebrew devkit release which was later named BLL (as it was done by the same developers as BJL for the Atari Jaguar). At the beginning, game development on BLL used 65C02 assembly much like on the Atari ST, but soon cc65 support was added. In the recent years, the homebrew scene developed a number of new games.


Fifth generation consoles


Jaguar

The first hobbyist-developed
Atari Jaguar The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console developed by Atari Corporation and released in North America in November 1993. It is in the fifth generation of video game consoles, and it competed with Fourth generation of video game consoles, fo ...
game was released in 1995: a version of ''
Tetris ''Tetris'' () is a puzzle video game created in 1985 by Alexey Pajitnov, a Soviet software engineer. In ''Tetris'', falling tetromino shapes must be neatly sorted into a pile; once a horizontal line of the game board is filled in, it disa ...
'' called ''JSTetris''. It was written using a Jaguar with a custom BIOS and a homebrew development kit named BJL running on Atari ST. After purchasing all the intellectual property assets of
Atari Corporation Atari Corporation was an American manufacturer of Home computer, home computers and Video game console, video game consoles. It was founded by Jack Tramiel on May 17, 1984, as Tramel Technology, Ltd., but then took on the Atari name less than ...
from JTS in 1998,
Hasbro Interactive Hasbro Interactive, Inc. (Currently named Atari Interactive, Inc.) is the former video game subsidiary of board game and toy manufacturer Hasbro. Originally formed in 1995 and headquartered in Beverly, Massachusetts, Hasbro Interactive initially ...
, on May 14, 1999, announced that they have released all rights to the Jaguar, declaring the console an
open platform In computing, an open platform describes a software system which is based on open standards, such as published and fully documented external application programming interfaces (API) that allow using the software to function in other ways than the ...
. Following the announcement, a few developers and publishers, such as
AtariAge AtariAge is a website focusing on classic Atari video games. The site features gaming news, historical archives, discussion forums, and an online store. It was founded in 1998. Taking its name from the 1982–84 '' Atari Age'' magazine, the site ...
, B&C Computervisions,
Piko Interactive Piko Interactive LLC is an American video game publisher based in San Antonio, Texas. Founded in early 2013 by Eli Galindo, the company focuses on physical re-releases of games from older video game consoles and digitally released ports to newer ...
, Songbird Productions,
Telegames Telegames, Inc. is an American video game company based in Mabank, Texas, with a sister operation based in England. Telegames was known for supporting not just modern game systems but also classic game systems, after they had been abandoned by ...
, and Video61, have released both previously unfinished games from the Jaguar's past as well as several brand new games. Since emulation of the console is still limited, coding uses a real console through either the Skunkboard development cartridge, using a BJL modified Jaguar, or the official Alpine Development Kit. The commercial game '' BattleSphere Gold'', also contains the JUGS (Jaguar Unmodified Game Server) aid to development. Games are released in either cartridge, CD–or both–formats. Most developers have published their works either online on forums or in cartridge via independent publishers. Since both systems do not have regional locking, all of the titles are
region free A regional lockout (or region coding) is a class of digital rights management preventing the use of a certain product or service, such as multimedia or a hardware device, outside a certain region or territory. A regional lockout may be enforced t ...
. Some of the earliest CD releases were not
encrypted In cryptography, encryption (more specifically, encoding) is the process of transforming information in a way that, ideally, only authorized parties can decode. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plain ...
, requiring either B&C's Jaguar CD Bypass Cartridge or Reboot's Jagtopia (Freeboot) program burned into a CD in order to run unencrypted CD games, but Curt Vendel of Atari Museum released the binaries and encryption keys for both the cartridge and CD format, making it possible to run games without the need of development hardware. A cracked
BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is a type of firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization d ...
of the Jaguar D can be soldered inside the system. There are also ST-to-Jaguar conversions, which involves porting titles from the
Atari ST Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the company's Atari 8-bit computers, 8-bit computers. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985, and was widely available i ...
to the Jaguar, which may include some enhancements. While they can be downloaded for free, select titles were sold on August 3, 2016 and others, as of date, are being licensed and sold in festivals dedicated to the system such as E-JagFest, JagFest, or online via
AtariAge AtariAge is a website focusing on classic Atari video games. The site features gaming news, historical archives, discussion forums, and an online store. It was founded in 1998. Taking its name from the 1982–84 '' Atari Age'' magazine, the site ...
.


PC-FX

There is only one Homebrew development kit known for the
PC-FX The is a 32-bit home video game console co-developed by NEC and Hudson Soft. Released in December 1994, it is based on the NEC V810 CPU and CD-ROM, and was intended as the successor to the PC Engine (known overseas as the TurboGrafx-16). Unlik ...
, which is based on the
GNU Compiler Collection The GNU Compiler Collection (GCC) is a collection of compilers from the GNU Project that support various programming languages, Computer architecture, hardware architectures, and operating systems. The Free Software Foundation (FSF) distributes ...
version 2.95.1. The
Mednafen Mednafen (My Emulator Doesn't Need A Frickin' Excellent Name), formerly known as Nintencer, is an OpenGL and SDL multi-system free software wrapper that bundles various original and third-party emulation cores into a single package, and is driv ...
author began work on a library for the compiler called pcfxlib but it was discontinued due to lack of interest until trap15 started development of a new library called liberis. The toolchain is designed for a
Linux Linux ( ) is a family of open source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an kernel (operating system), operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically package manager, pac ...
environment, although it can also be used with
cygwin Cygwin ( ) is a free and open-source Unix-like environment and command-line interface (CLI) for Microsoft Windows. The project also provides a software repository containing open-source packages. Cygwin allows source code for Unix-like operati ...
. To date, no Homebrew titles for the PC-FX have been released, although Aetherbyte Studios and Eponasoft have both expressed interest in developing new software for the console.


PlayStation

Making games on the PlayStation is possible with any model of the system through the use of a
modchip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray players ...
or the double 'Swap Trick'. There is also a softmod/save game exploit called "tonyhax". Requirements consist of a PC, SDK, and a 'Comms Link' device to upload and download files to and from the console. Another way of starting homebrew on the PlayStation is 'UniROM', which is a Softmod. UniROM works by being installed onto a cheat-device, which is connected via the parallel-port (on old consoles) and allows loading of custom code via burned CDs and the serial port. Homebrew was originally promoted by Sony with the
Net Yaroze The is a Game development kit, development kit for the PlayStation (console), PlayStation video game console. It was a promotion by Sony Computer Entertainment to computer programming hobbyists which launched in June 1996 in Japan and in 1997 in ...
, which had a large scene for quite some time. However, the official Net Yaroze site was shut down in mid-2009, and Sony stopped supporting the system as well as the users who still owned the console.


Saturn

All models of the
Sega Saturn The is a home video game console developed by Sega and released on November 22, 1994, in Japan, May 11, 1995, in North America, and July 8, 1995, in Europe. Part of the fifth generation of video game consoles, it is the successor to the succes ...
can be used for hobbyist development.
Modchip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray players ...
s for the Saturn Model 1 have been scarce for some time, as it seems that no one has produced any new modchips in years. As such, the only two options left are to either perform the swap trick or extensively modify a Saturn Model 2 modchip. Running homebrew on the Model 2 can be accomplished by bridging two points on the modchip, soldering a wire from the modchip to the Saturn power supply, and inserting it where the CD-ROM ribbon cable inserts. The swap trick is more difficult to pull off on this Model due to the lack of an access light. Another method is what is known as the "PseudoSaturn" unlocking method. It is a program created by CyberWarrior2000 that abuses the "Pro Action Replay" cartridge's firmware. It unlocks region, frequency, and CD protection of most Saturn models. Either a modded Saturn or a swap trick is required to run the installer, which loads the code in the FlashROM of the cartridge. Afterwards, the cartridge unlocks everything and most software can be run, from backups to homebrews. There is also now a new engine for development called the Jo-Engine created by Johannes Fetz to allow easy development of 2D games. This engine is currently able to compile 2D games without the Sega Graphic Libraries (SGL). Another engine by XL2, called the Z-Treme engine, led to the creation of a fully 3D
Sonic the Hedgehog is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...
game called Sonic Z-Treme. Z-Treme uses Sega Basic Libraries (SBL) and Sega Graphic Libraries (SGL).


Virtual Boy

Nintendo's
Virtual Boy The Virtual Boy is a 32-bit tabletop portable video game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo and released in 1995. Promoted as the first system capable of rendering stereoscopic 3D graphics, it featured a red monochrome display viewe ...
has no region lock, but it wasn't until the flash carts FlashBoy and FlashBoy+ were released that the homebrew scene began to grow. Two previously unreleased games, ''
Bound High! is an unreleased action-puzzle video game that was in development by Japan System Supply and planned to be published by Nintendo on a scheduled 1996 release date exclusively for the Virtual Boy. In the game, players take control of a transfor ...
'' and ''Niko-Chan Battle'' (the Japanese version of '' Faceball'') have been released. In 2015, a dedicated fan ported Konami’s cyberpunk
point-and-click Point and click are one of the actions of a computer user moving a pointer to a certain location on a screen (''pointing'') and then pressing a button on a mouse or other pointing device (''click''). An example of point and click is in hypermedi ...
'' Snatcher'' over to the Virtual Boy platform. ''Red Square'', a
Yume Nikki is a 2004 surrealist adventure game created by the pseudonymous Japanese developer Kikiyama. The player controls a girl named Madotsuki and explores her dreams, collecting 24 effects that change her appearance and equipment. Random events als ...
fan game was created in six weeks for the 2019 Dream Diary Jam.


Nintendo 64

The
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
Homebrew scene began, and started off small, in January 1997, after the release of the DoctorV64, by Bung, during which many hobbyist developers utilized the use of a DoctorV64 for playback of their game or demo code, while also programming and utilizing their own written tools and programs for development, usually for Windows 95, or Linux. Nintendo 64 homebrew
demo scene The demoscene () is an international computer art subculture focused on producing demos: self-contained, sometimes extremely small, computer programs that produce audiovisual presentations. The purpose of a demo is to show off programming, visu ...
competitions, known as "''Presence Of Mind''" were held, in which entrants utilized the DoctorV64, were hosted by the now-defunct N64 Homebrew Development website, Dextrose.com, in December 1997, leading into 1998, and 1999. A ''Presence Of Mind'' competition was due to happen in 2000, but with the waning popularity of the console by this time, did not occur. Between the years 2001 and 2005, homebrew development for the console stalled. A new flashcart for the system, titled the NeoMyth Flashcart, was announced in May 2006. Jennifer Taylor started work on the opensource SDK known as ''LibDragon'' in May 2009, for developers to utilize a non-proprietary SDK for homebrew game and program development on the Nintendo 64. In April 2010, another new developer-friendly device for running custom programs and code, known as the 64Drive, would begin to be developed by Marshall H.
In 2012, Ukrainian developer KRIKzz would develop their own device for the Nintendo 64, the EverDrive 64, which is also utilized for homebrew development. The N64Brew community has hosted
game jam A game jam is an event where participants try to make a video game from scratch. Depending on the format, participants might work independently, or in teams. The event duration usually ranges from 24 to 72 hours. Participants are generally program ...
development competitions in 2020, 2021, 2022, 2023, and 2024. These competitions focused on creating games for the system (rather than demos, compared to the '98 and '99 competitions). These competitions also held interviews with the judges and developers behind the games they worked on. Notable judges for the competitions were former Nintendo 64 developers, such as Allan Findlay,
David Doak David Doak ( ) is a Northern Irish video game designer. Biography Originally from Belfast, he later moved to England, where he studied at Oxford University on biochemistry specialty and worked as a research scientist. Doak began his video g ...
, Neil Voss, and Giles Goddard. In August 2020, a
wiki A wiki ( ) is a form of hypertext publication on the internet which is collaboratively edited and managed by its audience directly through a web browser. A typical wiki contains multiple pages that can either be edited by the public or l ...
dedicated to providing accurate documentation of the Nintendo 64, its peripherals, and related software was created by the Nintendo 64 homebrew community. There have also been a number of other game
emulator In computing, an emulator is Computer hardware, hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run sof ...
s developed for the Nintendo 64, notably a Nintendo Entertainment System, Super Nintendo, Neo Geo, Game Boy and
Game Boy Color The (GBC or CGB) is an 8-bit handheld game console developed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on October 21, 1998, and to international markets that November. Compared to the original Game Boy, the Game Boy Color features a color TFT scre ...
and a
ScummVM Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion Virtual Machine (ScummVM) is a set of game engine recreations. Originally designed to play LucasArts adventure games that use the SCUMM system, it also supports a variety of non-SCUMM games by companies l ...
emulator, among others. In 2025, active development for the console and programs for the console is back in full swing. There are roughly 6,000 active members within the Nintendo 64 Homebrew community.
The 16-bit top-down shooter Xeno Crisis has received a version for the Nintendo 64, released on physical cartridge in April 2023.


Sixth generation consoles


Dreamcast

Despite its short commercial lifespan of less than two years in North America, the
Dreamcast The is the final home video game console manufactured by Sega. It was released in Japan on November 27, 1998, in North America on September 9, 1999 and in Europe on October 14, 1999. It was the first sixth-generation video game console, prec ...
benefits from an active homebrew scene even ten years after its discontinuation. Due to a flaw in the Dreamcast’s
BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is a type of firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization d ...
, which was intended for use with
MIL-CD The GD-ROM (gigabyte disc read-only memory) is a proprietary optical disc format developed as a collaboration between Sega and Yamaha for the Dreamcast and other Sega systems. Specification A double-density format based on the CD-ROM that cou ...
's, the console can run software from a
CD-R CD-R (Compact disc-recordable) is a digital media, digital optical disc data storage device, storage format. A CD-R disc is a compact disc that can only be Write once read many, written once and read arbitrarily many times. CD-R discs (CD-Rs) ...
without the use of a modchip. Sega responded to this by removing MIL-CD support from the BIOS on all Dreamcast consoles manufactured from November 2000 onwards. The console is especially notable for its commercial homebrew scene. One notable project was the
Bleemcast! Bleem! (styled as bleem!) is a commercial PlayStation emulator released by the Bleem! Company in 1999 for IBM-compatible PCs using Microsoft Windows and the Dreamcast. It is notable for being one of the few commercial software emulators to be a ...
emulator, which was a series of bootdisks made to play
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
games on the system, featuring visual enhancements over the original console. Newer independent releases include '' Last Hope'', released by RedSpotGames, and ''
DUX ''Dux'' (, : ''ducēs'') is Latin for "leader" (from the noun ''dux, ducis'', "leader, general") and later for duke and its variant forms (doge, duce, etc.). During the Roman Republic and for the first centuries of the Roman Empire, ''dux'' coul ...
'', both
Shoot 'em up Shoot 'em ups (also known as shmups or STGs) are a Video game genre, subgenre of action games. There is no consensus as to which design elements compose a shoot 'em up; some restrict the definition to games featuring spacecraft and certain typ ...
style games. These releases were written using the KallistiOS development system. A port of the freeware high-level development language Fenix and
BennuGD BennuGD (also referred as Bennu Game Development or Bennu) is a high-level open-source video game development suite, originally created as a Fenix Project fork by Argentinian hacker SpliterGU. It is officially supported for Windows, Linux, GP2X ...
is available for use in game development; many DIV Games Studio games have been ported and others were originally written for the system.


PlayStation 2

Early versions of the
PlayStation 2 The PlayStation 2 (PS2) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Computer Entertainment. It was first released in Japan on 4 March 2000, in North America on 26 October, in Europe on 24 Novembe ...
have a buffer overflow bug in the part of the BIOS that handles PS1 game compatibility; hackers found a way to turn this into a loophole called the PS2 Independence Exploit (released in August 2003), allowing the use of homebrew software. Other options for homebrew development would be the use of a
modchip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray players ...
or the utilization of a PS2 hard drive and an
HD Loader HD Loader is a program for the PlayStation 2 video game console which allows users to play games installed on the optional hard drive peripheral via PlayStation 2 Network Adaptor. The games can be copied to the hard drive from within the program, ...
. In
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
and Australia, the PS2 came with a free
Yabasic Yabasic (Yet Another BASIC) is a free, open-source BASIC interpreter for Microsoft Windows and Unix platforms. Yabasic was originally developed by Marc-Oliver Ihm, who released the last stable version 2.91.2 in 2025. From version 2.77.1, the proj ...
interpreter on the bundled demo disc for some time. This allows simple programs to be created for the PS2 by the end-user. This was included in a failed attempt to circumvent a UK tax by defining the console as a "computer" if it contained certain software. A port of the
NetBSD NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was fork (software development), forked. It continues to ...
project and BlackRhino GNU/Linux, an alternative
Debian Debian () is a free and open-source software, free and open source Linux distribution, developed by the Debian Project, which was established by Ian Murdock in August 1993. Debian is one of the oldest operating systems based on the Linux kerne ...
-based distribution, are also available for the PS2. Sony released an official Linux-based operating system for the PS2 in 2002, with the contents of the kit including a
keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...
,
mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...
, Network Adaptor and HDD. The North American versions were discontinued in 2003 after the kits quickly went out of stock not too long afterwards, however the European version was still available for quite some time. The kit boots by installing a proprietary interface (the
run-time environment In computer programming, a runtime system or runtime environment is a sub-system that exists in the computer where a program is created, as well as in the computers where the program is intended to be run. The name comes from the compile time a ...
) from a region-encoded
DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for digital video disc or digital versatile disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any ki ...
, meaning that the North American and European kits would only work with PS2 systems from their respective regions. A more recent development called Free McBoot or FMCB (first released in May 2008) allows homebrew programs to be launched without a trigger disc required by the older exploit (Independence Exploit). This also allows the use of homebrew on unmodded systems without a functional disc drive. However, installation of the exploit to each individual memory card requires either an already exploited/modded system in order to launch the installer, or a boot image that can load an app to boot into
Executable and Linkable Format In computing, the Executable and Linkable FormatTool Interface Standard (TIS) Portable Formats SpecificationVersion 1.1'' (October 1993) (ELF, formerly named Extensible Linking Format) is a common standard file format for executable files, obje ...
(ELF) binaries (a Network Adaptor with a hard drive is also required). The installation is keyed to the Memory Card and will only be usable on the same version consoles that it was originally installed on, unless a Multi-Install is performed. The only drawback to this exploit is that it needs to be installed/compiled on each individual memory card. Simply copying from one memory card to another will not work. This exploit does not work on the latest slimline PS2s manufactured since late 2008 (the later SCPH-9000x models with BIOS 2.30 and newer), but will work on all models prior to that. The newest versions of Free McBoot (version 1.90 and newer) also have the ability to install and boot from both Sony and non-Sony HDDs when using an original "fat" model PS2 and network adapter. This support is called Free HDBoot or FHDB. With a few minor issues, it is now possible to play games entirely from the HDD, without the need to use the optical disc drive nor a physical memory card. Free McBoot is also notable for allowing the user to copy PS1/PS2 save files from a Memory Card to a USB drive, a functionality normally only possible with tools such as
DexDrive DexDrive is a discontinued line of home video game console memory card readers released in 1998, allowing saved game data transfer to a personal computer. It was made by now-defunct GameShark#Brand history, InterAct for use with PlayStation (con ...
. After installing an exploit, unsigned executables (in ELF format) may be launched from a Memory Card or a USB drive. Such programs include emulators, media players, hard drive management tools, and PC-based or NAS-based file shares. Using homebrew programs (e.g. 'SMS Media Player') it is possible to listen to various audio file formats (
MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany under the lead of Karlheinz Brandenburg. It was designed to greatly reduce the amount ...
, OMA,
Ogg Vorbis Vorbis is a free and open-source software project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation. The project produces an audio coding format and software reference encoder/decoder (codec) for lossy audio compression, libvorbis. Vorbis is most common ...
,
AAC AAC may refer to: Aviation * Advanced Aircraft, a company from Carlsbad, California * Airborne aircraft carrier, a type of aircraft * Alaskan Air Command, a radar network * American Aeronautical Corporation, a company from Port Washington, New ...
,
FLAC FLAC (; Free Lossless Audio Codec) is an audio coding format for lossless compression of digital audio, developed by the Xiph.Org Foundation, and is also the name of the free software project producing the FLAC tools, the reference software ...
, AC3), and watch various video formats (
DivX DIVX (Digital Video Express) is a discontinued digital video format. Created in part by Circuit City, it was an unsuccessful attempt to create an alternative to video rental in the United States. The format's poor reception from consumers resu ...
/ XviD,
MPEG1 MPEG-1 is a standard for lossy compression of video and audio. It is designed to compress VHS-quality raw digital video and CD audio down to about 1.5 Mbit/s (26:1 and 6:1 compression ratios respectively) without excessive quality loss, mak ...
,
MPEG2 MPEG-2 (a.k.a. H.222/H.262 as was defined by the ITU) is a standard for "the generic coding of moving pictures and associated audio information". It describes a combination of lossy video compression and lossy audio data compression methods ...
, MPEG4-ASP in AVI Container) using the console. Games can also be played on any device connected to the console (i.e. external
USB Universal Serial Bus (USB) is an industry standard, developed by USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF), for digital data transmission and power delivery between many types of electronics. It specifies the architecture, in particular the physical ...
/
FireWire IEEE 1394 is an interface standard for a serial bus for high-speed communications and isochronous real-time data transfer. It was developed in the late 1980s and early 1990s by Apple in cooperation with a number of companies, primarily Sony a ...
/
thumb drive A flash drive (also thumb drive, memory stick, and pen drive/pendrive) is a data storage device that includes flash memory with an integrated USB interface. A typical USB drive is removable, rewritable, and smaller than an optical disc, and u ...
/hard disk drive (
FAT32 File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers and was the default file system for the MS-DOS and Windows 9x operating systems. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on ...
only), the internal hard disk on early revision consoles, network shares ( Windows Network or PS2 host: protocol), and even optical CD-R(W)/DVD±R(W) discs (modded systems or patched discs)). A number of homebrew emulators of older computer and gaming systems have also been developed for the PS2.


GameCube

Homebrew development on the Nintendo
GameCube The is a PowerPC-based home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on September 14, 2001, in North America on November 18, 2001, in Europe on May 3, 2002, and in Australia on May 17, 2002. It is the suc ...
tended to be difficult, since it uses a proprietary
MiniDVD MiniDVD or 8 cm DVD (also "3 inch DVD") is a DVD disc with a reduced diameter of . It has been most commonly used in camcorders due to its compact size. The most common MiniDVDs are single layered and hold 1.4 GB of data, but there are varia ...
-based drive and media as opposed to the standard DVD drives of the PS2 and Xbox for piracy protection. Also, its connectivity is limited, as it does not feature a USB port or an HDD port like the PlayStation 2. The barrier to burning Nintendo GameCube discs with a consumer DVD burner is the
Burst Cutting Area The Burst Cutting Area on an 80 mm DVD A resync byte and parts of nearby zero bytes on a disc's BCA In computing, the burst cutting area (BCA) or narrow burst cutting area (NBCA) is the circular area near the center of a DVD, HD DVD or Blu- ...
, a "barcode" in the innermost ring of the disc, an area inaccessible to most burners and writeable only by very expensive disc pressing machines. For a long time the only way to run homebrew software on Nintendo GameCube was through a patching-system exploit of '' Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II'', requiring users to find the game and a Broadband Adapter. Both of these are difficult to find because a follow-up has been released (under the name '' Phantasy Star Online Episode I & II Plus'') and thus the original PSO was rarely sold after then, and because the Broadband Adapter was not often carried in stores due to the Nintendo GameCube's very limited selection of online games. As of August 2019, the most common method is to use an Action Replay in conjunction with an SD card adapter inserted into the memory card slot, allowing the user to run homebrew from the SD card, or over Ethernet. Another method involves using a modchip to allow the GameCube to run homebrew from a MiniDVD-R via the disc drive. Another method uses a save game exploit which involves transferring modified game save files to a GameCube memory card that triggers arbitrary code execution when loaded by an official game, allowing custom software to be run from a memory card, SD card, or other media. As the Nintendo GameCube's case does not fit a full-size DVD-R, third party replacement cases are available. Homebrew software for the Nintendo GameCube mainly consist of emulators for other systems, as well as several popular homebrew utilities
Swiss
is an “all-in-one homebrew utility”, including a file browser, and the ability to force software to use different video modes that aren't officially supported, such as progressive scan or 16:9 widescreen. Th
Game Boy Interface
is a homebrew software frontend for the Game Boy Player peripheral, and is often used for capturing high-quality footage from Game Boy, Game Boy Color, and Game Boy Advance games. The 16-bit top-down shooter '' Xeno Crisis'' has received a version for the GameCube, released on physical optical disc.


Xbox

The
Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...
console uses several measures, including cryptographically signed code to obfuscate firmware. The primary method of executing homebrew code required installing a
mod chip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray players ...
which could be flashed with a modified Microsoft
BIOS In computing, BIOS (, ; Basic Input/Output System, also known as the System BIOS, ROM BIOS, BIOS ROM or PC BIOS) is a type of firmware used to provide runtime services for operating systems and programs and to perform hardware initialization d ...
. This BIOS allowed the system to boot unsigned executables (XBEs) and control several hardware variables, such as region coding and video mode. With the leak of Microsoft's official development kit ( XDK), homebrew coders were able to write replacement Xbox GUIs (known as dashboards), games and applications for the Xbox. A
softmod A softmod (short for software modification) is a method of using software to modify the intended behavior of hardware, such as computer hardware, or video game consoles in a way that can overcome restrictions of the firmware, or install custom f ...
, which uses a commercial game such as '' 007: Agent Under Fire'', ''
Mech Assault ''MechAssault'' is a 2002 video game released for the Xbox. Developed by Day 1 Studios and FASA Studio and published by Microsoft, ''MechAssault'' was initiated when Denny Thorley of Day 1 Studios approached Jon Kimmich of Microsoft about dev ...
'', or ''
Splinter Cell ''Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell'' is a series of stealth action-adventure video games, the first of which was released in 2002, and their tie-in novels that were endorsed by Tom Clancy. The series follows Sam Fisher, a highly trained agent of a ...
'', had been created to execute a persistent softmod installer without modification of the hardware. This method utilizes modified font and sound files to cause the Xbox to cause a
stack buffer overflow In software, a stack buffer overflow or stack buffer overrun occurs when a program writes to a memory address on the program's call stack outside of the intended data structure, which is usually a fixed-length buffer. Stack buffer overflow bugs ...
and load a homebrew dashboard. Once in this condition, the Xbox is able to execute homebrew games and applications upon boot up. Due to the Xbox using standard PC libraries, writing homebrew games is relatively easy and the vast majority of libraries available for a PC programmer are available to an Xbox homebrew programmer. One of the more common type of homebrew games for the Xbox are ports of PC games whose source has been publicly released or leaked. Many classic PC games have been released for Xbox, but most are created with the XDK which limits their availability. The only places to find these ports are through
IRC IRC (Internet Relay Chat) is a text-based chat system for instant messaging. IRC is designed for group communication in discussion forums, called '' channels'', but also allows one-on-one communication via private messages as well as chat ...
or
peer-to-peer Peer-to-peer (P2P) computing or networking is a distributed application architecture that partitions tasks or workloads between peers. Peers are equally privileged, equipotent participants in the network, forming a peer-to-peer network of Node ...
browsers. The Xbox system is also very adept at running
emulators In computing, an emulator is hardware or software that enables one computer system (called the ''host'') to behave like another computer system (called the ''guest''). An emulator typically enables the host system to run software or use perip ...
ported from the PC given its high processing power. It is able to emulate systems up to the previous generation, including the
Nintendo 64 The (N64) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released in Japan on June 23, 1996, in North America on September 29, 1996, and in Europe and Australia on March 1, 1997. As the successor to the Super Nintendo E ...
and the
PlayStation is a video gaming brand owned and produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment (SIE), a division of Japanese conglomerate Sony. Its flagship products consists of a series of home video game consoles produced under the brand; it also consists ...
. For this reason, many different emulators have been created for or ported to the Xbox.


Game Boy Advance

Homebrew development for the
Game Boy Advance The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console, manufactured by Nintendo, which was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, and to international markets that June. It was later released in mainland China in 2004, under the name iQue Game Boy Advanc ...
has been popular due to the availability of C compilers and ready-made, high-quality code libraries, as well as debugging features for several Game Boy Advance emulators like VisualBoyAdvance-M, mGBA, NO$GBA, and Mesen. Adding to the popularity of homebrew for the GBA is the immense Pokémon
ROM hacking ROM hacking is the process of Modding, modifying a ROM image, ROM image or ROM file to alter the contents contained within, usually of a video game to alter the game's graphics, dialogue, Level (video games), levels, gameplay, and/or other elemen ...
community and the wide availability of Flash ROM cartridges and cartridge writers for the system, as well as nostalgia for the system overall (of which the latter also applies to all other retro game systems in general regardless of the generation and brand).


Seventh generation consoles


PlayStation Portable


Nintendo DS

Since the release of the Nintendo DS, a great deal of hacking has occurred involving the DS's fully rewritable firmware, Wi-Fi connection, game cards that allow SD storage, and software use. There are now many emulators for the DS, as well as the NES, SNES, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive, Neo-Geo Pocket, Neo-Geo MVS (arcade), and older handheld consoles like the Game Boy Color. There are a number of cards which either have built-in flash memory, or a slot which can accept SD, or MicroSD (like the DSTT, R4,
AceKard Homebrew, when applied to video games, refers to software produced by hobbyists for proprietary video game consoles which are not intended to be user-programmable. The official documentation is often only available to licensed developers, and th ...
and ez-flash V/Vi) cards. These cards typically enable DS console gamers to use their console to play MP3s and videos, and other non-gaming functions traditionally reserved for separate devices. In South Korea, many video game consumers exploit illegal copies of video games, including for the Nintendo DS. In 2007, 500,000 copies of DS games were sold, while the sales of the DS hardware units was 800,000. Another modification device called
Action Replay Action Replay is the brand name of a cheating device (such as cheat cartridges) created by Datel. The Action Replay is available for many computer and gaming systems including Commodore 64, Amiga, IBM PC, Nintendo DS, Nintendo DSi, Nintendo ...
, manufactured by the company Datel, is a device which allows the user to input cheat codes that allows it to hack games, granting the player infinite
health Health has a variety of definitions, which have been used for different purposes over time. In general, it refers to physical and emotional well-being, especially that associated with normal functioning of the human body, absent of disease, p ...
,
power-ups In video games, a power-up is an object that adds temporary benefits or extra abilities to the player character as a game mechanic. This is in contrast to an item, which may or may not have a permanent benefit that can be used at any time chose ...
, access to any part of the game, infinite in game currency, the ability to walk through walls, and various other abilities depending on the game and code used. Photographer Steve Chapman, looking for other ways to continue his photography work with smaller equipment, created DS-DSLR, an application that allowed him to control his camera without his bulky laptop. When his camera was connected to the DS through the GBA cartridge slot, DS-DSLR allowed him to execute many tasks, including controlled bracketing, custom interval shots, and timed long exposures. DS-DSLR even had a noise-activated shutter control which was activated when the DS mic detected noise. With the DSi, it too has some homebrew exploits, some of which use DSiWare apps such as Flipnote Studio (aka ugopwn), sudokuhax, using a game called Sudoku by EA Games, grtpwn, exidiahax, fieldrunhax, 4swordhax, UNO*hax, and an exploit using
Petit Computer ''Petit Computer'' is a software development application for the Nintendo DSi and later systems, developed by SmileBoom in Sapporo, Japan. The application is built around a custom dialect of BASIC known as SmileBASIC (not to be confused with the 3 ...
called petit-compwner. There is also systemflaaw, which uses the DSi-exclusive game System Flaw. A user by the name of shutterbug2000 on GBAtemp has released two DSi exploits, one being called Memory Pit, an exploit using the
DSi Camera The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console released by Nintendo. The console launched in Japan on November 1, 2008, and worldwide beginning in April 2009. It is the third iteration of the Nintendo DS, and its primary market rival was ...
app, and the other known as the Flipnote Lenny exploit (aka ugopwn), using
Flipnote Studio ''Flipnote Studio'', known in Japan as , is a free downloadable 2D digital animation application available through the Nintendo DSi's DSiWare digital distribution service. Developed by Nintendo EAD Tokyo, ''Flipnote Studio'' allowed users to c ...
.


Xbox 360

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...
has released a version of its proprietary Software Development Kit (SDK) for free, to would-be homebrew programmers. This SDK, called
XNA Game Studio Microsoft XNA Game Studio is a discontinued integrated development environment (IDE) for building video games on the Microsoft XNA platform. Such video games can run on Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows, Windows Phone and the Zune. XNA Game Studio is t ...
, is a free version of the SDK available to professional development companies and college students. However, to create Xbox 360 games one must pay for a premium membership to the XNA Creators Club. Once the games are verified, the games written with XNA Studio can be made available for 80, 240, or 400 Microsoft Points to all
Xbox 360 The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the Xbox (console), original Xbox, it is the second console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12, 2005, with detail ...
owners (through
Xbox Live The Xbox network, formerly known and commonly referred to as Xbox Live, is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft Gaming for the Xbox brand. It was first made available to the origina ...
). This allows creators of homebrew content access to their target audience of Xbox 360 owners. This content is available under the Indie Games section of the New Xbox Experience. On March 20, 2007, it was announced that a hack using the previously discovered hypervisor vulnerability in the Xbox 360 kernel versions 4532 and 4548 had been developed to allow users to run XeLL, a Linux bootloader. The initial hack was beyond the average user and required an Xbox serial cable to be installed and a flashed DVD Drive firmware. Felix Domke, the programmer behind XeLL, has since announced a live bootable Linux CD suitable for novice users, with the capabilities to be installed to the SATA hard drive of the Xbox 360. Despite the availability of such a distribution, the Xbox 360 still isn't considered a popular platform for homebrew development, given the dependence of the exploit on the DVD-ROM being able to load a burnt DVD game, a modified version of the game ''
King Kong King Kong, also referred to simply as Kong, is a fictional giant monster resembling a gorilla, who has appeared in various media since 1933. The character has since become an international pop culture icon,Erb, Cynthia, 1998, ''Tracking Kin ...
'', and two older kernel revisions of the console itself. A group independent of Microsoft was working on the means to run homebrew code, as part of the Free60 project. ''Note: The hypervisor vulnerability in the Xbox 360 kernel versions 4532 and 4548 was addressed by Microsoft with the release of the NXE system and dashboard update in 2008.'' Homebrew was since re-enabled on any Xbox 360 with dash 2.0.7371.0 or lower via an exploit referred to as the JTAG / SMC hack but was promptly patched again by Microsoft with the 2.0.8495.0 update. Homebrew has now become available on most Xbox 360 consoles due to the Reset Glitch Hack. It works on all current dashboards up to the latest revision. Because the Reset Glitch Hack required a modchip, soldering skills are a necessity when attempting to use this exploit. This exploit was patched in the late Winchester revisions of the Xbox 360 E variant with mitigations in the hardware. In recent years, a new software-based exploit called Bad Update was introduced, which allows the ability to run homebrew without the need of a modchip nor directly modifying the console's hardware (as what was previously done with the (still popular) Reset Glitch Hack), albeit with some limitations. It works on all Xbox 360 consoles up to the latest revision. Since Bad Update relies on winning
race condition A race condition or race hazard is the condition of an electronics, software, or other system where the system's substantive behavior is dependent on the sequence or timing of other uncontrollable events, leading to unexpected or inconsistent ...
s with a 33% success rate (and each attempt taking between 10 and 20 minutes), hardware-based solutions such as the aforementioned Reset Glitch Hack are still preferred by many users. Currently, this exploit is the only way to allow homebrew to work on the late Winchester revisions of the console, which patched the RGH exploit.


PlayStation 3

The
PlayStation 3 The PlayStation 3 (PS3) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment (SCE). It is the successor to the PlayStation 2, and both are part of the PlayStation brand of consoles. The PS3 was first released on ...
was designed to run other operating systems from day one. Very soon after launch, the first users managed to install Fedora Core 5 onto the PlayStation 3 via the 'Install Other OS' option in the PlayStation 3's XMB (Xross Media Bar), which also allows configuring the PlayStation 3 to boot into the other OS installed by default. So far, several Linux flavors have been successfully installed to the PlayStation 3, such as Fedora Core 5, Fedora Core 6, Gentoo,
Ubuntu Ubuntu ( ) is a Linux distribution based on Debian and composed primarily of free and open-source software. Developed by the British company Canonical (company), Canonical and a community of contributors under a Meritocracy, meritocratic gover ...
and
Yellow Dog Linux Yellow Dog Linux (YDL) is a discontinued free and open-source operating system for high-performance computing on multi-core processor computer architectures, focusing on GPU systems and computers using the POWER7 processor. The original develop ...
(YDL). The latter comes installed with the Cell SDK by default, allowing programmers a low cost entry into Cell programming. See also:
Linux for PlayStation 3 OtherOS is a feature of early versions of Sony Computer Entertainment's PlayStation 3 video game console, allowing user installed software, such as Linux or FreeBSD. Software running in the OtherOS environment has access to 6 of the 7 Synergisti ...
Originally, graphics support was limited to framebuffer access only (no access to the PlayStation 3's graphics chip RSX), yet some access to the RSX graphics processor was achieved (but Sony blocked this with firmware release 2.10). As of firmware release 3.21, consumers are no longer able to access the 'Other OS' due to Sony removing the facility from the software in an update. Sony said this was in response to several 'security concerns'. Homebrew developers do have access to the
Cell microprocessor The Cell Broadband Engine (Cell/B.E.) is a 64-bit multi-core processor and microarchitecture developed by Sony, Toshiba, and IBM—an alliance known as "STI". It combines a general-purpose PowerPC core, called the Power Processing Element (PPE), ...
, including 6 of its 7 active Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs). The Game OS resides under a
hypervisor A hypervisor, also known as a virtual machine monitor (VMM) or virtualizer, is a type of computer software, firmware or hardware that creates and runs virtual machines. A computer on which a hypervisor runs one or more virtual machines is called ...
and prevents users from taking full control of the PlayStation 3's hardware. This is a security measure which helps Sony feel secure enough to allow users to install other operating systems on the PS3. The Sixaxis controller has also been exposed to Linux and Windows, but no driver seems to have been successfully created yet that exposes its
accelerometer An accelerometer is a device that measures the proper acceleration of an object. Proper acceleration is the acceleration (the rate of change (mathematics), rate of change of velocity) of the object relative to an observer who is in free fall (tha ...
functionality, except for Motioninjoy. However other drivers have successfully used it as a controller for gaming and other applications. In May 2008, a vulnerability was found in the PlayStation 3 allowing users to install a partial debug firmware on a regular console. However, the debug functionality is disabled, so neither homebrew applications nor backup games can be run yet. Another exploit was found on August 14, 2008, allowing users to boot some backup games from the PlayStation 3's HDD, although the exact instructions on how to do this were not released at that time. However, a different person posted instructions 10 days later, which explained the exploit. On January 6, 2009, a hacking ring known as the "''Sh4d0ws''" leaked the jig files needed to launch the PlayStation 3 into service mode. Although the PlayStation 3 can be triggered into service mode, it is not yet of any use because the files needed to make changes to the console have not been leaked. On August 31, 2010, PSGroove, an exploit for the PS3 through the USB port, was released and made open source. This exploit works on all of the PS3 models released up until then. A guide for the creation of the PSGroove is available through several online sources. George Hotz, better known under his nickname "geohot", appeared on ''
Attack of the Show ''Attack of the Show!'' (''AOTS'') is an American live television program that aired on G4. AOTS features segments on pop culture, video games, and movies. After an initial run from 2005 to 2013 (which originally aired from 2005 until 2013, we ...
'' because he released the PlayStation 3's encryption keys, therefore any homebrew or custom firmware can be signed. Once signed, homebrew can be natively run. It would be difficult for Sony to fix this because it would most likely require a voluntary recall and the most expensive parts would have to be replaced. In 2011, Sony, with help from law firm Kilpatrick Stockton, sued Hotz and associates of the group fail0verflow for their jailbreaking activities. Charges included violating the
DMCA The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) is a 1998 United States copyright law that implements two 1996 treaties of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO). It criminalizes production and dissemination of technology, devices, or ...
, CFAA,
copyright law A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive legal right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, e ...
, and California's CCDAFA, and for
breach of contract Breach of contract is a legal cause of action and a type of civil wrong, in which a binding agreement or bargained-for exchange is not honored by one or more of the parties to the contract by non-performance or interference with the other part ...
(related to the
PlayStation Network PlayStation Network (PSN) is a digital media entertainment service provided by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Launched in November 2006, PSN was originally conceived for the PlayStation video game consoles, but soon extended to encompass smartp ...
User Agreement),
tortious interference Tortious interference, also known as intentional interference with contractual relations, in the common law of torts, occurs when one person intentionally damages someone else's contractual or business relationships with a third party, causing ...
,
misappropriation In law, misappropriation is the unauthorized use of another's name, likeness, identity, property, discoveries, inventions, etc. without that person's permission, resulting in harm to that person. Another use of the word refers to intentional a ...
, and
trespass Trespass is an area of tort law broadly divided into three groups: trespass to the person (see below), trespass to chattels, and trespass to land. Trespass to the person historically involved six separate trespasses: threats, assault, battery ...
.


Wii

In advance of the Wii's release, WiiCade was the first site to host
Adobe Flash Adobe Flash (formerly Macromedia Flash and FutureSplash) is a mostly discontinuedAlthough it is discontinued by Adobe Inc., for the Chinese market it is developed by Zhongcheng and for the international enterprise market it is developed by Ha ...
homebrew games specifically designed for the Wii and its remote, which could be played without any exploits using the Wii's
Opera Opera is a form of History of theatre#European theatre, Western theatre in which music is a fundamental component and dramatic roles are taken by Singing, singers. Such a "work" (the literal translation of the Italian word "opera") is typically ...
web browser. The Wii Opera software development kit lets developers make their own games for the Wii via JavaScript. The Wii was hacked via a custom serial interface in December 2007. The goal of most Wii exploits today is to install The Homebrew Channel, a custom channel that lets users run homebrew software on the console. Its first full release was in December 2008; earlier that year, Team Twiizers (now known as fail0verflow) released an exploit called the Twilight Hack which uses a malformed save file ( Buffer overflow) to load an
ELF An elf (: elves) is a type of humanoid supernatural being in Germanic peoples, Germanic folklore. Elves appear especially in Norse mythology, North Germanic mythology, being mentioned in the Icelandic ''Poetic Edda'' and the ''Prose Edda'' ...
file (boot.elf) into memory (if present in the root directory of the SD card), which will then install The Homebrew Channel via unsigned code. Though Nintendo has successfully patched various older exploits to install The Homebrew Channel, many exploits to run the channel on current firmware exist. Note that only exploits that use disc games are compatible with installing The Homebrew Channel on the vWii (virtual Wii) mode on a Wii U (with the exception of "wuphax", an exploit that installs the channel via Wii U-specific system permission exploits). The console's controller was also a popular target for modification. , there are many other exploits that can hack the
Wii The Wii ( ) is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo. It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, f ...
for homebrew aside from the Twilight Hack, allowing the installation of The Homebrew Channel from supported games and on specific system software revisions. This includes exploits such as (but not limited to) Smash Stack (using an exploit found within the game's stage editor in
NTSC NTSC (from National Television System Committee) is the first American standard for analog television, published and adopted in 1941. In 1961, it was assigned the designation System M. It is also known as EIA standard 170. In 1953, a second ...
releases of ''
Super Smash Bros. Brawl ''Super Smash Bros. Brawl'' is a 2008 crossover fighting game developed by Sora Ltd. and published by Nintendo for the Wii. The third installment in the '' Super Smash Bros.'' series and the successor to '' Super Smash Bros. Melee'', it wa ...
''), BannerBomb (using a malformed Channel; patched in firmware version 4.3), LetterBomb (using the Wii's Messaging Board), WilBrand (alternative to Letterbomb that supports firmware versions 3.0 to 4.3), FlashHax (using the Internet Channel), str2hax (using a DNS exploit in the Wii's EULA), BlueBomb (using Bluetooth), and ModMii (an exploit for PC users). Note that most of these exploits above requires the use of an SD card, since they expect the ELF loader file (boot.elf) to be present on the root of the medium. However, both FlashHax and str2hax (and even BlueBomb for that matter) do not require the use of an SD card in order to exploit the Wii as they can download the ELF loader file directly off the internet (depending on the console model) if the SD card itself or the ELF loader file on the SD card is not present. BlueBomb also allowed for the Wii Mini to become hackable for the first time, which was a hardware revision of the Wii that was deemed "unhackable" by many users prior to the release of the exploit, mainly due to the lack of an SD card slot and internet connectivity on the Wii Mini.


Eighth/Ninth generation consoles


3DS

The first public homebrew exploit for the Nintendo 3DS, ninjhax, originally called ssspwn, allowed the user to scan a QR Code to exploit the game Cubic Ninja. Other ways to run The Homebrew Launcher have been discovered since then, including freakyhax, an exploit in the Deluxe edition of Freakyforms: Your Creations, Alive!; Doodlebomb, an exploit in the 1.1.1 and older versions of Swapdoodle; browserhax, broswerhax-xl, SSloth browser, and super-skaterhax (all of which used the 3DS'
Internet Browser A web browser, often shortened to browser, is an application for accessing websites. When a user requests a web page from a particular website, the browser retrieves its files from a web server and then displays the page on the user's scree ...
with the latter exclusive to New 3DS models); soundhax, using the
Nintendo 3DS Sound The is a foldable dual-screen handheld game console produced by Nintendo. Announced in March 2010 as the successor to the Nintendo DS, the console was released originally on February 26, 2011 and went through various revisions in its lifetime, ...
app; pichaxx, using
Pokémon Picross is a freemium puzzle video game featuring ''Pokémon'' characters developed by Jupiter Corporation and published by Nintendo and The Pokémon Company for the Nintendo 3DS. The title is part of the "''Picross''" nonogram series that use number-bas ...
; unSAFE_MODE, which injects a corrupted WiFi profile into the SAFE_MODE firmware; kartdlphax and Kartminer7, both using
Mario Kart 7 ''Mario Kart 7'' is a 2011 kart racing video game developed by Nintendo EAD in cooperation with Retro Studios and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 3DS. In ''Mario Kart'' ''7,'' the player takes control of one of seventeen ''Mario'' series ...
; MSET9, which utilizes an exploit in the System Settings application; ntrboot, using an NDS/DSi flash cart; and smashbroshax, a New 3DS exclusive exploit for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS. The majority of system updates that have "Further improvements to overall system stability and other minor adjustments have been made to enhance the user experience" in their changelog are simply to patch Homebrew Launcher (userland) exploits. Those that require a specific version of a game or application are often patched in these updates by adding exploited application versions to the "IsTitleAllowed" blacklist, which prevents outdated applications on the list from launching and forces users to update those applications to the latest version to launch the application. For example, notehax only works on outdated versions of Flipnote Studio 3D. In the 11.6.0-39 system update, all regions of Flipnote Studio version <=1.0.1 in USA, <=1.2.0 in EUR, and <=1.3.1 in JPN were blocked from launching the application, patching the exploit on current firmware. Unsigned software can be launched from the SD card without having to install custom firmware on the device by using an exploit to run The Homebrew Launcher. The Homebrew Launcher itself can be launched on system versions 9.0-11.16 on any 3DS system. However, without installing custom firmware, the user will need to run the exploit each time they want to access The Homebrew Launcher. To directly install custom software onto the 3DS home menu,
custom firmware Custom firmware, also known as aftermarket firmware, is an unofficial new or modified version of firmware created by third parties on devices such as video game consoles, mobile phones, and various embedded system, embedded device types to provide ...
is needed. There are several custom firmware releases available, the most popular being Luma3DS. Requirements to install
custom firmware Custom firmware, also known as aftermarket firmware, is an unofficial new or modified version of firmware created by third parties on devices such as video game consoles, mobile phones, and various embedded system, embedded device types to provide ...
involve using various exploits to run a boot ROM exploit called boot9strap, which executes custom code before boot ROM lockout. In December 2020, an exploit was released that used an oversight in
DSiWare This is a list of games and applications, collectively known as DSiWare, for the Nintendo DSi handheld game console, available for download via the DSi Shop and unplayable on earlier DS models. An update released for the Nintendo 3DS in June 20 ...
, which can run custom code from the DSiWare menu in the 3DS settings app to install the 3DS hacks. Many of the software homebrew exploits that were used to install custom firmware have been blocked in system version 11.17.0-50 (which released in May 2023). Despite this, other methods to exploit the 3DS for homebrew, such as the aforementioned MSET9 for all 3DS models and ntrboot as a fallback for the aforementioned exploit, are still available.


PlayStation 4

In 2015, an exploit for the PlayStation 4 was released for firmware 1.76 and below which grants kernel access. The userland exploit was WebKit via the PS4 Web Browser. This opened the door for unsigned code on the system and a homebrew community began to emerge. Over time, further exploits have been found that grant kernel level modifications to the system. The firmware versions for these are 4.05, 4.74, 5.05/5.07, 6.72, 7.02, 7.55, 9.00 and up to 11.00 using the PPPwn exploit developed by TheFlow. Most of these use the PS4 Web Browser as the entry point, but the PPPwn exploit uses a vulnerability found in the Playstation 4 network settings and a computer to send payloads. Homebrew on the PS4 includes being able to boot the PS4 into a
Linux distribution A Linux distribution, often abbreviated as distro, is an operating system that includes the Linux kernel for its kernel functionality. Although the name does not imply product distribution per se, a distro—if distributed on its own—is oft ...
, although this is not permanent and the console will revert to Orbis OS on reboot. Some payloads can patch games on the fly, such as 60 FPS for games that were never given official patches, character mods, and removal of intros and cutscenes. These patches can even work on physical retail discs inserted into the console; they are done at runtime in RAM and such leave the physical disc data intact.


PlayStation Vita

In 2016, an exploit for the PlayStation Vita was released named "HENkaku". This exploit used a bug found on the 3.60 system firmware, allowing users to run unsigned software. It was installed by visiting a website and clicking on the install button on the PlayStation Vita web browser. This had to be done every time the user turned the system on, and was patched in firmware version 3.61. However, in 2018,
computer science Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
student TheFloW (Andy Nguyen) found a kernel bug in firmware versions 3.65, 3.67, and 3.68 that allowed unsigned code to be run. Eventually, he developed an exploit called "h-encore" which allowed one to install the HENkaku hack on later PS Vita versions. The kernel bug was patched in firmware version 3.69, but the userland bug still works. Because HENkaku needs to be reinstalled every time the device is turned on again, an optional flasher program named ensō can be used alongside HENkaku to flash it into the system, making the plugin stay permanently even after shutdown and reboot, until uninstalled through the ensō installer. On February 13, 2019, TheFloW released a downgrader tool that can downgrade any Vita console to an older firmware down to its factory firmware. On December 26, 2022, TheFloW released HENlo, a
WebKit WebKit is a browser engine primarily used in Apple's Safari web browser, as well as all web browsers on iOS and iPadOS. WebKit is also used by the PlayStation consoles starting with the PS3, the Tizen mobile operating systems, the Amazon K ...
-based exploit chain for developers and security researchers on his GitHub page; a working implementation of the exploit which can be used on all Vita firmware versions was released by SKGleba.


Wii U

The most common way to execute code on the Wii U for 5.5.6 and below is through vulnerabilities in the Wii U's built-in web browser. Websites specifically made to exploit these vulnerabilities usually use them to run the Homebrew Launcher from the user's SD card, allowing for other unsigned programs to be run. The Homebrew Launcher could also be used to run or install custom firmware, such as Mocha or Haxchi. Haxchi could optionally be enabled on boot using Coldboot Haxchi, a modified version of Haxchi that runs the Virtual Console game it is installed to on boot. In January 2022, Tiramisu and the EnvironmentLoader were released. EnvironmentLoader allows custom firmware, such as Tiramisu, to be automatically loaded on boot, similar to Coldboot Haxchi. However, it uses the system's built-in Health and Safety Information app to run the exploit instead of a Virtual Console game. This removes the requirement to purchase a compatible Virtual Console game and reduces the risk of bricking the console. Later in September 2022 the first public beta for the Aroma environment was released. Aroma used the same exploit that allowed EnvironmentLoader to run Tiramisu, enabling easy migration between the two. Aroma also introduced Modules, a new Plugin System, and a new Homebrew app format, in the form of .wuhb files. In addition, Aroma dropped support of .elf-based homebrew applications, including the Homebrew Launcher, in favor of Launching Homebrew from the Wii U Menu directly using .wuhb and .rpx files. Many homebrew applications that run via the Homebrew Launcher (or Wii U Menu on Aroma) have been collected and hosted o
fortheusers.org
These hosted applications can be downloaded directly on the Wii U using The Homebrew App Store app in the repository. The Wii U's built-in Wii sandbox environment (often nicknamed vWii or Wii Mode) is capable of running Wii homebrew, such as The Homebrew Channel. However, due to changes made to the Wii operating system that runs in vWii mode, previous exploits that utilized the Wii Menu to load the HackMii Installer, such as Letterbomb, do not work. The only way to hack the vWii without using one of the exploit games is by using Wii U homebrew applications, such as wuphax or Compat Installer. The operating system changes also prevent some homebrew applications from functioning properly, requiring developers to create alternate versions to run on vWii.


Nintendo Switch

The
Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...
was first exploited by a team called ReSwitched. On March 14, 2017, about 11 days after the console's release, the team released their exploit to the public. This exploit was called PegaSwitch. It did not allow true homebrew to run on the system at the time, but it did let developers look for other security bugs in the system. Later that year on October 1, ReSwitched announced new exploits and tools that allowed homebrew developers to start working on homebrew programs for the system before they could be launched. At the 34th Chaos Communication Congress, hackers Plutoo, Derrek, and Naehrwert announced a kernel exploit for the system (which they explicitly said they would not release it to the public) and said that a homebrew launcher was coming soon. Currently, the Nintendo Switch has both a homebrew launcher and custom firmware. Access to a Japanese copy of '' Puyo Puyo Tetris'' is needed to install CFW on version 1.0.0. The ability to install homebrew on the Nintendo Switch is also dependent on the version of the console. As consoles that were released after June 2018 with version 4.1.0 shipped have their boot ROMs patched against the full control TrustZone exploit that would allowed for homebrew to be installed, it is currently not possible to install homebrew to the HAC-001(-01) revision of the Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo Switch Lite, and the Nintendo Switch – OLED Model without the purchase and installation of a specialized modchip which replicates the vulnerability of the Tegra X1 chip.


Xbox One, Series X, and Series S

The
Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...
and Series X/S have a Dev Mode which, though intended to be used for retail game development, can be used to run unsigned homebrew software. It can be enabled on any retail Xbox console. Dev Mode disables retail games and software while enabled. Homebrew software can be developed as
Universal Windows Platform Universal Windows Platform (UWP) is a computing platform created by Microsoft and introduced in Windows 10. The purpose of this platform is to help develop universal apps that run on Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile (discontinued), Windows 11, Xbox ...
applications, allowing many programs designed to run on desktop editions of
Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...
to run on the console including console emulators. In order to activate developer mode, one has to first register for an app developer account, which has a fee of $19.


PlayStation 5

The
PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...
is capable of running unsigned code on lower firmwares. A userland, kernel (and optionally hypervisor) exploit chain is required to be able to load homebrew on the PS5. As of April 2024, firmware 3.00 to 4.51 is exploitable using an IPv6 kernel exploit that was originally patched on the PS4 but later resurfaced on the PS5. This exploit chain does not contain a hypervisor exploit, although a payload was created that works as a partial bypass to defeat enough security to run homebrew, dubbed libhijacker. Homebrew on the PS5 consists of unofficial 60/120 FPS patches for backwards-compatible PS4 games and cheats, as well as adjusting the console’s fan speeds.


See also

*
Fangame A fan game is a video game that is created by fans of a certain topic or IP. They are usually based on one, or in some cases several, video game entries or franchises. Many fan games attempt to clone or remake the original game's design, game ...
*
Hacking of consumer electronics The hacking of consumer electronics is a common practice that users perform to customize and modify their devices beyond what is typically possible. This activity has a long history, dating from the days of early computer, programming, and elect ...
*
Mod (video gaming) Video game modding (short for "modifying") is the process of alteration by players or fans of one or more aspects of a video game, such as how it looks or behaves, and is a sub-discipline of general ''modding''. A set of modifications, commonly c ...
*
Modchip A modchip (short for modification chip) is a small electronic device used to alter or disable artificial restrictions of computers or entertainment devices. Modchips are mainly used in video game consoles, but also in some DVD or Blu-ray players ...
*
ROM hacking ROM hacking is the process of Modding, modifying a ROM image, ROM image or ROM file to alter the contents contained within, usually of a video game to alter the game's graphics, dialogue, Level (video games), levels, gameplay, and/or other elemen ...
* Jailbreaking *
Softmod A softmod (short for software modification) is a method of using software to modify the intended behavior of hardware, such as computer hardware, or video game consoles in a way that can overcome restrictions of the firmware, or install custom f ...


References


External links


Retro Video Gamer - publisher of Homebrew Heroes book

SSEGA Sega Genesis Homebrew section

SEGA retro video games

gbadev.org

Skeetendo

VGB

Main Page
- N64Brew Wiki, which provides accurate documentation of the Nintendo 64, its peripherals, and related software.
Awesome N64 Development
- A maintained list of N64 development resources, toolchains, and N64 homebrew-related programs.
Libdragon
- Official website for the Nintendo 64 opensource SDK, known as LibDragon. {{DEFAULTSORT:Homebrew (Video Games) Custom firmware Video game development Dedicated consoles