Similar to Sony, Nintendo has a habit of not including important features on their most recent devices and one of these is a browser application on the Nintendo Switch. As usual, the homebrew scene had to step in to fix this deficiency and so, BrowseNX was born. In this article, we’ll be looking at an important update to BrowseNX and two homebrew game ports to the Switch which are Super Mario War and Sonic Robo Blast 2!
BrowseNX 0.3 released with NRO support
For some reason, Nintendo didn’t include a browser application so if you’re a Switch owner, you have to use workarounds to surf the web… Image from Games and Consoles.
To remedy the Switch’s lack of a browser, crc-32 decided to create BrowseNX which is a launcher for loading up the hidden browser built into the Nintendo Switch’s firmware. Now, BrowseNX has been updated to version 0.3 which brings about some important features namely:
- An NRO version of the homebrew which is less likely to get you banned compared to the NSP version
- Currently, it doesn’t support HTML5 video playback and when using it, you must override a game/app and not the gallery application
- You’ll no longer get the Supernag when you use the browser because BrowseNX bundles a sysmodule that hides “Supernag” when CFW is active.
- If you don’t know what Supernag is, it’s a firmware update notification displayed when you get online on older firmware versions which can’t be bypassed as easily as the original update notification
- If the sysmodule that hides the Supernag is not active, you’ll get a message informing you that Supernag is active and telling how to disable it
To grab BrowseNX 0.3, follow this link and download the ZIP file provided which contains both an NRO and an NSP version.
Super Mario War ported to the Switch
Just two days after Rinnegatamante released his port of Super Mario War for the PSVita, P-Sam released yet another port of Super Mario War but for the Nintendo Switch.
If you have friends that like to play fun multiplayer games, then Super Mario War is surely a game that will occupy you for a while!
Super Mario War is a fan-made multiplayer Mario game with Super Mario Bros 3 graphics and sounds. Unlike classic Super Mario Bros games, this one isn’t a platforming game but it’s a deathmatch game in which you must stomp on a maximum of 3 other Marios on screen.
These 3 other Marios can be controlled either by other people or by the computer itself so you can play Super Mario War even when alone. To keep things from getting boring, Super Mario World comes with a wide variety of maps to choose from and different game modes like jail, coin collection, capture the flag and many others!
According to reports on GBATemp, the game works pretty well in portable mode but for now, network and split joycon support isn’t included but they’re in the port’s to-do list. To grab Super Mario War and jump on some Marios, simply check out this link to download the game’s NRO and data files.
Sonic Robo Blast 2 and SRB2 Kart ported to the Switch
Sonic Robo Blast 2 is a pretty odd Sonic fan-made game that is based on the DOOM (yes, the 1993 DOOM FPS game) engine. Unlike Super Mario War, SRB2 has similar gameplay to the Sonic game series since in it, you speed through levels, collect coins and race through enemies with Genesis-esque graphics.
Sonic Robo Blast is a pretty unique Sonic game and now, it’s made its way to the Switch so you should certainly check it out when you have time!
Other than Sonic Robo Blast 2, the Switch also got a port of SRB2 Kart which as you probably guessed is a kart racing game similar to Super Mario Kart when it comes to gameplay. Amazingly enough, SRB2 Kart is also based on the DOOM engine but it manages to look quite good and it apparently has a somewhat active online following with many servers being online.
These ports, by “HeyJoeWay”, are largely based on carstene1ns’ initial ports of these games and they run at 35FPS which is the framerate they’re intended to run at. Currently, these ports have some issues including:
- GPU accelerated rendering is not supported so they run at 800×450 with software rendering
- Online multiplayer features don’t work
- Split joycons aren’t supported
- Remapping the buttons can only be done manually by configuration file editing
- Local multiplayer doesn’t work in SRB2 Kart but it does in SRB2
- While these seem like a lot of issues, the ports’ author says that the ports are mature enough for single player gaming which is why they were released.
To grab these ports, follow this GBATemp link and download them through the provided Google Drive links. Source code for the Switch ports of SRB2 and SRB2 Kart is also available.
Conclusion
Without a doubt, the Switch’s library of homebrew games is still expanding and it doesn’t look like it’ll stop anytime soon as many developers seem to be interested in porting their favourite open-source titles to the console. Hopefully, ports of SRB2 and SRB2 Kart also end up on the PSVita (like some other Switch homebrew game ports) as the only way to play SRB2 on the PSVita is through a PSP port that doesn’t work too well!
If you encounter any bugs, they should be reported to the homebrew’s respective GitHub/GitLab repository in the Issues tab.
The post Switch Releases: BrowseNX 0.3 with NRO support and Supernag fix, Super Mario War and Sonic Robo Blast 2 + Kart ports! appeared first on Wololo.net.