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Nintendo Pokemon Mini LCD Game Hacked

Posted by simoniker on from the home-mini-brew dept.

Team Pokeme writes "Nintendo's Pokemon Mini LCD mini-handheld has been hacked by us - you can check out the videos on our site for more information. The cartridge pinout has been reverse engineered by using logic analyzers (thanks to DarkFader), and also the instruction set by disassembling (thanks DaveX!) the Pokemon Mini emulator that is built into Pokemon Channel, a GameCube game. DaveX wrote the first homebrew game, SokoMini, after finding out the tilemap stuff."

51 of 179 comments (clear)

  1. But at the end of the day... by Tezkah · · Score: 5, Funny

    ... you realize that you spent your time hacking *pokemon minis*.

    1. Re:But at the end of the day... by Raven42rac · · Score: 4, Funny

      Why not hack a Pokemon mini, everyone has to start somewhere, not everyone starts out hacking Crays and Beowulf clusters. Speaking of, here is the obligatory "imagine a Beowulf cluster of these".

      --
      I hate sigs.
    2. Re:But at the end of the day... by John+Starks · · Score: 4, Insightful

      I'm a little annoyed by the attitude here. This is a pretty impressive reverse engineering job, but most of Slashdot is just laughing it off because the device was originally created for Pokemon related games.

      I mean, I doubt any of the mad PHP coderz around here could do anything these guys just did. I know I couldn't.

      Really, give them some credit.

      (Cue posts saying "man, it was a joke.")

    3. Re:But at the end of the day... by sryx · · Score: 2, Funny

      "imagine a Beowulf cluster of these".
      You mean like a GameBoy? :P
      -Jason

    4. Re:But at the end of the day... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

      "such a major waste of time"
      From what i read in the source code of Sokomini, it took less than 1 week to reverse-engineer all the CPU architecture, opcodes, hardware registers and make the 1st game, and the assembler that assembles it (all this by one guy)... I don't think it's such a major waste of time then, even if I agree with the gist of your post, it should be in the "fun and bizzare" section :-)

    5. Re:But at the end of the day... by Kalrn · · Score: 2, Funny

      There are a lot of stories about hacking for hacking's sake that show up on Slashdot; most of them I just shrug off and don't even bother reading, because they're really just irrelevant.

      And yet you've posted a reply to an "irrelevant" article that you never read...

    6. Re:But at the end of the day... by kmhebert · · Score: 4, Insightful

      This seems like a pretty pointless rant, you might as well say, "why do anything"? I think the story of the reverse engineering of the Pokemon Mini is worth the 100kb of disk space on some web server it takes up. As far as how relevant it may be as "tech news", I can say that I constantly read up on some new, cool technology that I don't plan on owning anytime soon. Does that make it irrelevant? The parent post seems to suffer from a lamentable anti-Pokemon bias, which is too bad because the games are great. I myself am only familiar with Pokemon Mini from the emulator used in the Pokemon Channel GC game. The games are not great but I applaud the reverse engineering of this clever device.

      --
      Regular Meta Moderators are not more likely to get mod points.
  2. Hacked? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Cool! I always wanted to play Pokemon vs Street Fighter.

  3. looks pretty cool.. by dave1212 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I checked the videos, it seems like an interesting idea, but also somewhat confusing. How many games were on it at one time, and what all can you play on it now?

    Nice site, btw.

  4. Shout-outs by iswm · · Score: 5, Funny

    Something about the 'shout-outs' in this article that keeps me from taking it a bit more seriously.

    --
    Buckethead
    1. Re:Shout-outs by Exiler · · Score: 5, Funny

      The fact that it's the shout outs and not the child marketed cartoon-based franchise from Japan that prevents you from taking this article seriously keeps me from taking you a bit more seriously.

      --
      Banaaaana!
    2. Re:Shout-outs by Kithraya · · Score: 2, Informative

      I was with you on that for a few minutes, and then I realized that a person who used "professional" (for lack of a better word) language wouldn't probably spend their time on a project like this.

  5. The real questions is... by iserlohn · · Score: 5, Funny

    Can NetBSD run on it yet? :)

    --
    :. Ultimate Control Dedicated/VM Servers
  6. Awesome... by herrvinny · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Definitely going to try this stuff out. I'm a what people would call a Pokemon fanatic, have all the Pokemon Game Boy, GameCube and Nintendo 64 games (and occasionally duplicates of the same cartridge ;-) ), with all of them beat. (Okay, ladies and gentlemen, start your jokes).

    But anyway, this looks _extremely_ nice, this might be useful as a screen to display quick stats on a server, or just as a game platform. Again, very nice job.

    1. Re:Awesome... by Quarters · · Score: 4, Funny
      (Okay, ladies...)

      Um...well, I guess I can respect your optimism.

    2. Re:Awesome... by foidulus · · Score: 4, Funny

      given the current state of trolling, maybe gentlemen is also a bit optimistic :P

    3. Re:Awesome... by aurispector · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Well, hacking a little box like this isn't (to me) particularly interesting. It does make me think that in 5 years or so, when your cell phone is also your camera, pda, MP3 player, portable wireless broadband storage device, etc., and Microsoft, the RIAA, etc. have bribed congress to allow them to hard-wire draconian DRM into a device that no sane person would want to live without, some nerd somewhere will figure out how to hack it.

      Warms my heart.

      --
      I have mod points. The reign of terror begins now.
  7. Improvement! by xsupergr0verx · · Score: 5, Funny

    Maybe they are hacking it to make the game fun?
    Otherwise, I am impressed that a team of 8 year old girls had the know-how to hack their toys.
    /sarcasm

    --

    Click here for a free picture of an iPod!
  8. Chatbox by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Informative

    Check out the chatbox on the right:

    @ p0p: mhhh, taking the videos offline until that slashdot flood is over..maybe we survive one more day then :-(

    I'm guessing they'll be taking the chatbox down too, to begin with. Maybe even the whole server :)

  9. 1MB Max Cartridge Size by Dan+East · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Looking at the pinout to the cartridge, it appears up to 1 MB is addressable.

    The address bus is 10 bits, selectable to represent the high or low byte of the address.

    2 ^ 20 = 1048576 bytes

    Not too shabby.

    (Well, I tried to post the pinout since their website is responding very slowly, but Slashdot wouldn't accept it - "Lameness filter encountered. Post aborted! Reason: Please use fewer 'junk' characters.")

    Dan East

    --
    Better known as 318230.
    1. Re:1MB Max Cartridge Size by AmunRa · · Score: 5, Informative

      Thers's actually only 19 Address bits therefore it has only half as much (512K) - still perfectly reasonable...

      --
      " To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research. "
  10. Re:23 Comments and the video is pulled. by tokachu(k) · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Did people just visit this site and Slashdot it because there was a link on the front page? I mean, I know kids who friggin' collect the cards and everything, have all the Game Boy games, but don't own or even care about the Pokemon-Mini. I'm guessing that this is something huge in Japan, but not in the U.S. suburbs. (Also, I think they'll be pulling the "Shout Box" soon.)

  11. pokemon by ogewo · · Score: 3, Funny

    pretty hardcore...i'll be sure to tell my eight year old brother that he'll probably have pong on his pokemon mini

  12. oo by mattyrobinson69 · · Score: 4, Funny

    port linux to it
    port bochs86 to it
    run windown on it
    play the windows version at an astonishingly bad fps/resolution

    1. Re:oo by SYFer · · Score: 3, Funny

      For god sakes, someone stop this guy from working his way this far down the thread!

      --
      "...all the labours of the ages, all the devotion, all the inspiration, all the noonday brightness..." yada yada
  13. hmm by spamchang · · Score: 3, Informative

    the site looks /.'ed. anyone got a mirror?

    looks like the sort of project a less than legally-conscious prof might have handed to me in digital systems classes this year =P

    1. Re:hmm by fpga_guy · · Score: 5, Funny
      the site looks /.'ed. anyone got a mirror?

      This is starting to shit me - I'm all for shameless self-promotion but goddammit make sure you've got a server that will last more than 10 seconds!

      Can I also please make the Ob/. joke that the page is clearly being hosted on the pokemon-mini they've hacked?

  14. Call me crazy... by gertsenl · · Score: 4, Funny
    ... but isn't this a violation of the DMCA? And isn't /. in violation for posting it? And aren't we in violation for reading it?

    DAMN YOU, I'M A WANTED MAN! ::runs and hides under bed::

    --
    --Leo
  15. another site slashdotted by tearmeapart · · Score: 4, Informative

    caches: index gallery links projects Please note these links are not very thorough, but the site is not either. Please also note the "@ Safrax: HI SLASHDOT" and "@ Poo Poo Head: Slashdot can suck my ******" on the right panel.

  16. Nutty base for a HUD by vik · · Score: 4, Funny

    And who is going to be the first sad person to use this as a basis for a wearable head-mounted display then?

    Vik :v)

  17. IRC Channel by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    For those that care.

    #pmdev on EFnet

  18. misspelled by SuperBanana · · Score: 5, Funny
    Can NetBSD run on it yet?

    Hey, I think you misspelled "Linux"...

    --
    Please help metamoderate.
  19. Re:23 Comments and the video is pulled. by dave1212 · · Score: 4, Informative

    BT takes too long to set up. nah, let's see how spymac's storage holds up.
    Video 1
    Video 2
    Video 3

  20. What the heck by pcmanjon · · Score: 4, Funny

    1) post your website on slashdot to boast it
    2) change your website to "bah come back later"
    3) everyone who wants to see the page from slashdot doesn't get to due to said message, thus defeating the purpose of being posted on slashdot
    4) ????????
    5) profit!!!

  21. Down for the count by __aafkqj3628 · · Score: 3, Funny

    What a great idea! Plug your own site on slashdot, when you have no idea what you're in for.

  22. I envision.... by irokitt · · Score: 3, Funny

    a game involving all of the above, as well as Natalie Portman/grits. Use ASCII characters, and call it SlashHack. Make it massively multiplayer, and get this: at random intervals, everyone else who's playing begins thrashing your box with corrupted packets...

    At the end, you have to defeat CowboyNeal...

    --
    If my answers frighten you, stop asking scary questions.
  23. Re:Not so fast... by clarkcox3 · · Score: 2, Informative

    IANAL, but I don't think that there is a DMCA issue here, considering that they didn't have to circumvent any protection measures (i.e. no encryption, locks, etc)

    --
    There are no tiger attacks in my area and it's all because this rock I'm holding keeps the tigers away.
  24. Re:Ack by Exiler · · Score: 2, Funny

    You've lost me. Why would the Dept. of Homeland Security be in charge of getting rid of stupid people?

    --
    Banaaaana!
  25. Next to put clustering GNU/Linux on there... by Yaa+101 · · Score: 2, Funny

    So we can have a pokemon mini beowulf funfest...

  26. Why's everyone dissing on Pokemon...? by Bryan+Gividen · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Ouch, seriously, ouch.

    So I was about 12 when Pokemon Red/Blue came out. It was the driving force behind me learning how to build better webpages. And for a lot, the communities online turned into mini-hacking projects. It introduced kids to how to break open coding in a game and search for things. I friggin scanned the stripped coding along with tons of others who wanted to know how it worked. From there, tons of kids began to learn some variable formulas and indepth logics from the second set of games that led to new projects.

    I agree, its a fad, but for some of us, it was our segway into learning more about technology, programming, and how to pick up women...

    Okay, maybe not the last one, but the other two stand.

  27. Re:but wait! by Luigi30 · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can combine that into one healthy line.

    *big breath of air*

    In Soviet Russia, CP/M thinks of the children illegally while Windows XP is stable and unreliable and profits from insensitive clods who live near Iraq and Brazil.

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  28. /index.php still works... they forgot to remove it by ace123 · · Score: 2, Informative

    It appears that if you directly go to /index.php instead of just the main index.page, the site is still up.

    PokeMe main page

  29. Hack the Leap Pad by PetoskeyGuy · · Score: 3, Insightful

    If only someone would come up with a way to hack the Leap Pad or a similar device. I really like how durable the things are, they can take a beating, but the books for it just suck. Most books seem one step removed from the "Mattel and Mars Bar Quick Energy Chocobot Hour".

    I would like to put my own lessons into it. Printing pages, recording, would all be fun. I don't see any other really durable hardware for kids that can be expanded. A 4 year old can do a lot of damage to things.

  30. Re:Pokemon is Cartoon Cockfighting by youknowmewell · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Because I am actually training small yellow mice and large fire-breathing dragons to make each other faint.

    I know, it's not quite as dramatic as your post.

  31. Re:23 Comments and the video is pulled. by n0wak · · Score: 2, Funny

    Looks like their web server was running off of a Pokemon mini.

  32. summer project? by Jicksta · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Yeah. I'm too impatient to wait for their servers to be back online, so I'm asking anyway...

    Do we ("we" as in just about everyone not mentioned in the article) get the benefit of a tutorial or perhaps a just few elaborate hints on how to do this ourselves?

    If nothing explaining how to do this was/is ever written, there is absolutely no point in slashdotting this.

    On the other hand, if a tutorial is available, I'd love to get started on it. It'd certainly make a great summer project and even a great gift to a fellow geek...

    ...not to mention the final product's value in kicks and giggles.

  33. If you actually want one..... by Akai · · Score: 2, Informative

    I found the "Deluxe" package (with three games) for $9.95 at Pokemoncenter.com.

    The "Blue mini' (I did a search for "mini") is priced at $9.95 for both the regular and the "deluxe" package, where the other colors still want about $30 for the deluxe.

    For shits and grins I put in an order, we'll see if they honor the $10 price....

    --
    Please send all UCE to scally@devolution.com so I can f
  34. Quit your whinin', it's a good hack! by omarin · · Score: 2, Interesting
    I don't know why some ./ers are whining about this hack. We are here because we're geeks and hackers, right? The fact that someone has used their brainpower to create a cool hack should be commended, not derided!

    Speaking of which, if I had these folks' technical savvy, I would have immediately bought Sony's Librie eBook, and hacked the hell out of it until I could put my own content in it! (Please, please, someone hack it!!) ;-)

  35. Well, at least it took out Hasbro... by Electrawn · · Score: 2, Insightful
    I spent 5 years hating Pokemon. It ensured that kids and 32 year old virgins would be forever stupid. I was very worried about how this country could possible survive the shock and awe of Pokemon.
    Actually, while the country survived pokemon...Wizards of the Coast retail stores didn't. http://www.gamingreport.com/article.php?thold=-1&m ode=flat&order=0&sid=11286 Billions and Billions to suddenly long term leases and big stores with no one coming in. RUH ROW!
  36. Re:What the hell is the Pokemon-Mini? by WWWWolf · · Score: 3, Informative

    Basically, it's a portable game console - er, a cheap toy for really small kids who aren't old enough to be trusted a real Game Boy. Has bright colored plastic, lo-rez display, d-pad and two buttons, and IR port. It uses cartridges.

  37. Site working now by hattig · · Score: 2, Informative

    Looks like this device is a simple portable game console, which is pretty neat.

    24x16 tile graphics (each tile is 4 by 4 pixels, looks like 3 level greyscale) leads to a 96x64 resolution. It probably has 4x4 pixel sprites as well. All in all, probably a cut down Gameboy

    4MHz CPU, most likely 8-bit but this type of information wasn't on the webpage and I'm not downloading the assember packages to find out. Not much else online either about this device.