As you might have heard already, dataminers working on the Nintendo Switch found a fully functioning NES emulator in the system known as “Flog.”
Flog, or Golf backwards, only plays the classic NES game Golf, while adding in motion control support via the Joy-Con. This is a tribute to the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata, who passed away over two years ago.
While the way to play Golf on the Switch has been found, accessing the easter egg is easier said than done. If you want to play it yourself, you’ll probably have to wait a bit.
The method of unlocking the game requires that the system’s date is set to July 11th. As soon as you connect the console to the internet, however, the system also checks the date via network time sync, even if the user turned off time sync in the settings. This does mean, however, that consoles that never connected to the internet can simply change the time in settings and perform this.
When July 11th, 2018 rolls around, you can access Golf by doing the following:
- Going to the home screen with your Joy-Con detached from the system
- Pointing both Joy-Con downwards
- Quickly moving both Joy-Con to a vertical position and holding them still until Golf loads
Why this specific date and motion? As previously mentioned, it’s all a tribute to the late Satoru Iwata. Golf was one of the first games he programmed for Nintendo, the motion you perform is based on the hand motion Iwata commonly used during Nintendo Directs, and Iwata died on July 11th, 2015.
While Nintendo hasn’t said anything publicly about this, Nintendo has announced that updated NES and SNES games are coming to the console when their paid online service launches in 2018. Alongside this, Nintendo and Hamster are also releasing Nintendo Arcade Classics for the Switch starting this month.
