Nintendo takes down 144 GitHub projects behind Switch modchips

A repository is a folder of code stored on GitHub, where developers share and update projects. Nintendo went after the repositories that hold firmware for Switch modchips.

Firmware is the small program that runs inside a chip and tells it what to do. Without it, a modchip is just a piece of silicon.

The notice names firmware for four products:

• SX Core
• SX Lite
• Picofly
• HWFLY

By the numbers: all 144 repositories were in one network, so removing the parent took the rest with it.

Early original Switch consoles shipped with a flaw in recovery mode. It sits in the hardware, so no software update can fix it.

Later models closed the gap, including the Switch Lite and the Switch OLED. On those, the only way in is hardware: you solder a small chip, such as a Picofly, HWFLY or SX Core, onto the motherboard.

The chip needs firmware to do its job. That code performs voltage glitching during start-up. In plain words, it briefly disturbs the power to the processor at exactly the right moment, so the console skips a security check.

In real life Think of a guard who checks tickets at a door. A modchip does not argue with the guard. It makes the guard blink at the exact second you walk past.

The hack does not work on the Switch 2.

Nintendo's notice says the repositories "offer, link to, or otherwise provide access to mod chip firmware." It says the firmware lets modchips "illegally circumvent Nintendo's TPMs in order to run illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games."

TPM here means technological protection measure. It is the lock that makes a console play only legitimate game files.

Nintendo also argues the firmware bypasses the boot sequence, the steps a console follows when it turns on. It says distributing code made "primarily" for that purpose is unlawful trafficking in circumvention technology.

Nintendo's argument rests on a US law that treats tools built to get around copy protection as illegal to distribute, even before anyone uses them to copy a game.

To support its claim, Nintendo cited the US Department of Justice case against Team Xecuter. The group made and sold the SX Pro, SX Core and SX Lite.

The Justice Department said the group sold its devices from about June 2013 to August 2020. Gary Bowser, the group's public voice and a main salesperson, was sentenced to 40 months in prison and agreed to pay about $4.5 million to Nintendo.

Prosecutors said the group earned at least tens of millions of dollars from selling its devices.

The big picture: Nintendo is using a criminal conviction as a building block in a copyright takedown. The two cases were separate, but the notice treats the first as proof for the second.

Nintendo focuses on pirated games. Modchips can be and are used for that, but they also unlock other things.

• Homebrew: custom apps and tools that Nintendo never approved.
• Emulation: running old games from other consoles on the Switch.
• Other operating systems: loading a different system on the hardware.
• Themes and mods: custom looks for the menu and changes inside games.
• Overclocking: pushing the processor to run faster than Nintendo set it.

Nintendo's notice does not discuss these uses. It talks only about running copies of Switch games.

The Justice Department's case ran for about two years. Bowser and another member were taken into custody in 2020. Bowser pleaded guilty in November 2021, and prosecutors asked for 60 months in prison while his lawyers asked for 19.

The judge chose 40 months in 2022. That is why Nintendo now treats the group's devices as settled law, and why the SX name shows up in this notice.

Here is the practical side, and it is less dramatic than the headline.

• Chips already installed: they keep working. Nothing in the notice reaches into a console you own.
• Updates and reflashing: this gets harder, because the firmware is no longer in those repositories.
• New modders: anyone planning to hack a Switch the same way loses a main source of the code.

Copies of the firmware may still sit elsewhere on GitHub, so the takedown may not be the end of the story. A developer can also file a counter-notice, which is a formal reply saying the material does not break the law.

Yes. Nintendo has used the same tool, the DMCA notice, many times.

• February 2024: Nintendo sued the makers of the Yuzu emulator. A week later, on March 4, they settled. The company behind Yuzu, Tropic Haze, agreed to pay $2.4 million and stop distributing it.
• Later in 2024: a takedown aimed at 12 mirrors of Yuzu removed about 8,500 copies.
• February 26, 2025: two notices removed 4,238 and then 113 repositories linked to the Ryujinx emulator and related projects.
• August 2026: a sweep removed 401 Switch emulation repositories.

An emulator is a program that lets one device pretend to be another, so a PC can run Switch games.

This week's wave also included notices aimed at two emulators, Yuzu and Citron Neo, which makes four notices in total.

Game makers have a new worry. AI tools now help people recreate and port games faster than before.

Some projects this year show the trend. A remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time recently began running in emulators on PC. Last month, Rockstar had a browser version of GTA 5 taken down, and Bethesda removed an AI-generated Fallout New York game.

Other examples came up in recent months. Nintendo's Zelda remake was dumped online on the same day it launched on Switch 2. In July, Mario Kart Wii was recompiled for PC in 4K with more than 200 tracks. A developer also used AI to bring the Nintendo 64 version of a Zelda game to iOS.

Nintendo has not said that AI is behind this notice, and the notice itself is about modchips. Still, it arrives at a time when copying and porting games has become easier.

What's next: if developers do not push back, more repositories may come down. If someone files a counter-notice, GitHub may restore content after a waiting period.

• If you own a Switch: nothing changes. Your console, your games and your online play are untouched.
• If you have a modchip: it keeps working, but plan for fewer updates and harder reflashing.
• If you like open-source projects: a single notice can remove a whole network of repositories at once.
• If you plan to mod a console: the legal risk is real, because Nintendo treats the code as illegal to share.