SNES Classic Mini microSD mod

I wanted to make the all-in-one mini console for everyday use without having to deal with flaws from the individual variations. The hardware of most of the mini consoles share similar specs, with an ARM-based quad-core processor with a Mali-4XX GPU. Then there is the C64 Mini, which has weaker specs, and the PlayStation Classic Mini, which has some great specs and a lot of storage space (16GB), compared to the others that only have around 256–512 MB.

The games that I want to play on the system are, for the most part, 8- and 16-bit games. This includes primarily games for the PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16, Nintendo NES / Famicom and Super Nintendo.

The specs on the Nintendo Classic Mini, Famicom Mini, and Super Nintendo Classic Mini are similar. Because of this, I chose the SNES Mini to be the platform to build upon, mainly because of the controller, which has all the buttons needed, compared to the NES / Famicom Mini, where I couldn't have used the controller on a lot of 16-bit games. I could have used the PlayStation Classic because of the specs, but since the purpose mainly was 8- and 16-bit games, I wanted to keep the aesthetic from this era.

Often 8- and 16-bit games don't take up much space and only take up a few MB. This is also the case for a lot of great PC Engine games stored on HuCards, but if I wanted to play some of the CD-based games, I would run out of space before I could add a single game to the system. This is why I chose to add more space on the system!

There are different options regarding adding space to the mini consoles. The easiest and probably the most popular method is using an OTG adapter and a USB flash drive. The downside to this method is that it is an external mod, where the USB drive is visible. Besides that, it has been some time since I last used my soldering iron, so this was a great opportunity to do some soldering again.

The mod itself is both easy to perform and cheap. I bought a 32GB microSD card, which included an SD adapter. The SD adapter is needed for the mod, and therefore it's very convenient that these 2 items are bundled together. Besides that, I used some thin Kynar wire and a 100nF 50V SMD capacitor. The capacitor is basically not required, since I will never hot-swap the microSD card with the system on, but I added one just for good measure and for the fun of hand-soldering an SMD component that my old eyes can barely see :D

With the hardware modding done, the next part was to get the software up and running. The SNES mini was already hacked with Hakchi2 CE (v3.93). With the SNES Mini connected to my PC through Hakchi, i used the "Tools -> Format SD card" feature. After completion, the Mini was now booting up, using the SD card as storage.

From now on, there are a lot of free space to play with, and should i need more space in the future, i can just replace the micro SD card with a larger one.

 

Time to play some Gate of Thunder with my modded Score Master!