Nintendo's latest $60 retro console, the NES Classic Edition, is an inexpensively adorable and easy way to play a ton of classic Nintendo games. From the entire original Super Mario Bros. trilogy to the first two Legend of Zelda games, and much more are all on one Nintendo console.
Hackers infiltrates NES Classic
Though its featured games were more than impressive, to say the least, for some folks - namely, hackers - it wasn't enough. By plugging the console into a computer via USB, they started to infiltrate the system.
First, they added a ton more games to the console. One particular hacker even more than doubled the number of games on the system - from 30 to 60.
Hidden message inside NES Classic discovered
Then, these hackers discovered a hilarious message hidden within the system's code. This one's a bit of a deep reference, so please bear with us:
"This is the hanafuda captain speaking. Launching emulation in 3...2...1. Many efforts, tears and countless hours have been put into this jewel. So, please keep this place tidied up and don't break everything! Cheers, the hanafuda captain."
Okay, maybe it doesn't make any sense at the start. But here's out interpretation about this secret message.
What the message meant
First and foremost, "hanafuda" is a Japanese playing card used for a variety of games - think of it as a standard playing card used for, example, poker, but covered in flowers and used for different card games. A hanafunda is very common in Japan, and Nintendo has been known to also be making them. Here are some that Nintendo still produces today:
Since Nintendo is a very old Japanese company (founded in the late 1800s), it didn't immediately get its start in video games. Instead, it first made hanafuda cards, then upgraded to toys, then, eventually, video game consoles as well as video games.
Nintendo's message to hackers
So this message is perhaps intended for the most hardcore Nintendo fans as well as the hackers breaking into the NES Classic Edition. More directly, this message is intended to tell the fans to "keep this place tidied up."
