How to install new games on your NES Classic

The NES Classic — you saw our first vid on it, right? — is a cool little piece of nostalgia. But it's sorely lacking in the games department. Or, rather, it REALLY needs a way to add games.

Fortunately the NES community has answered, and in a big way. And after a few rounds of tinkering we now have a super easy way to add games to the NES Classic.

I used the "hakchi2" method. You'll want to read through the instructions yourself, but here's the gist of how I did it, boiled down from a reddit post ... and another Reddit post. Full props to those folks!

You'll need at least Windows 7 to get this done.

OBLIGATORY WARNING: You're doing this at your own risk. If your teeth loosen and your eyes start to bleed, I didn't do it.

  1. Download hakchi2 and unzip: direct download link
  2. Browse to your saved ROMs, and decide what you want to install on the NES Classic. (I kept the original 30 games, too.)
  3. Find box art — either use your own, or just hit the handy Google button in the GUI to automagically search. (Nice touch!)
  4. Plug your NES Classic into your PC using the Micro-USB cable. Leave the console turned off. We're going to enter FEL mode.
  5. Hold down the reset button on the front. Then press (and release) the power button. After a few seconds, release the reset button. You won't actually see anything happen.
  6. You should now be able to hit the sync button in the hakchi2 program. (If you didn't get the FEL mode thing right, it'll tell you. I didn't do it right the first time and nothing blew up.)
  7. Reboot the NES Classic.
  8. Profit!

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Phil Nickinson