Maciej Kobus' PicoBoot Turns the $4 Raspberry Pi Pico Into an IPL Modchip for Nintendo's Gamecube
Designed for homebrew enthusiasts, this Raspberry Pi Pico-based modchip takes over during initial program load (IPL).
Developer Maciej Kobus has offered a new lease of life to Nintendo Gamecube hardware, opening up the possibility of a low-cost "modchip" add-on to run homebrew code — built around a Raspberry Pi Pico microcontroller board.
"This is a long awaited IPL [Initial Program Loader] replacement modchip for Nintendo GameCube," Kobus writes of the PicoBoot project. "It's open source, cheap and easy to install. PicoBoot uses completely different approach [to most modchips] — [it] injects [a] custom payload during [the] console boot sequence. This means it can load any application instead of a built in GameCube menu. It will work even if your disc drive is not working."
Designed as an alternative to closed-source and drive-based modchips, a key feature of the PicoBoot is that it is built on low-cost commodity hardware: The $4 Raspberry Pi Pico or the $6 Wi-Fi-enabled Raspberry Pi Pico W. The only other hardware required is an adapter to convert a microSD card into a Gamecube memory card for software storage.
Kobus says the PicoBoot is easy to install, requiring only five wires to be soldered to the Gamecube's motherboard, and is programmed over USB via the Raspberry Pi Pico's micro-USB port — making it easy to update in the future.
The project may, however, attract the attention of the notoriously litigious Nintendo. As it does not include any original Nintendo code or assets, however, it would be hard for the company to argue in favor of a take-down — even though the PicoBoot will load pirated games just as easily as it will legitimate homebrew software.
The PicoBoot source code and installation instructions are available on Kobus' GitHub repository under the reciprocal GNU General Public License 2.