In your opinion what hacked/modded consoles bring the most value

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I have a couple modded consoles in my cave right now but I’ve never really thought about how valuable they’ve been until now. If I had to make a personal list of the most useful ones for me so far it would go

1: the switch - it has a ton of games and it’s somewhat modern meaning it can run fate/samurai remnant. I got it for like 200$ and just went with the good old paper clip method so in total the console only costed like 205$ to get access to tons of modern games. Unironically it’s the best value you can get out of a modded console right now. The only (joy)cons are the controllers, battery life and inconsistent firmware (my switch just loves to randomly crash and turn into a space heater until I find out it crashed)

2: The 3ds - (obligatory did you know it’s surprisingly easy to hack your 3ds) I’ve modded two 3ds’s and they’re still a good time but they aren’t better than the switch. The games on the 3ds aren’t anything to ignore and I’m definitely nostalgic for a bunch of them but if I’m being honest it’s hard to find a game that’ll really interest me on the 3ds in the big 25. The value is there but I just don’t really appreciate it. I don’t regret doing it because it’s still fun to play games on it sometimes and the battery life is amazing. It’s just not a daily console for me though.

3: the Wii U - if I’m being completely honest this console was way better in my memories. I’ve hacked two wiius and it’s been a fun time both times. What I do with the console after I mod it is the problem area though. When I look back at the wiiu there is just nothing I actually want to play. I get what people were saying when they said the wiiu has no games. I enjoyed the console a lot when I was younger but going back to play the games I loved nowadays just results in me thinking “damn this game fucking sucks I used to like this?” I could just have shit taste but it feels like the Wii U doesn’t have a ton of good games that aren’t already better on the switch. Even though I don’t like the console, I don’t regret modding it. It’s a good YouTube machine :smugnako:

4: the wii - I genuinely forgot I modded this. I literally never use it unless if I want to play melee and I don’t want to play melee a lot. The only real pros is that modding it only takes but 5 minutes. Everything else it does just feels gimmicky at best. The Wii U just gives more value than a Wii. A modded wii just feels like a paperweight to me.

Im curious to hear what your experiences are and what your list of best modded consoles would look like though
 
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A good PC can emulate all that Nintendo stuff and much more, in fact nowadays there are consoles made to emulate more than XX century games if you want. Among people I know, they usually hacked PS1 & PS2 + XBox 360.
 
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the 3DS. (probs massive personal bias speaking)
the WII-U has like 1 or 3 games that are unique to the system/justify the console besides the specs.
the 3DS even without hacking in games from the e-shop, still has street pass exclusive games that would require you to hack in encounters/pieces to play them to the full extent.

besides, it has the most unique tech out of all the consoles.
 
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I never was brave enough to mod any console i've even possess. Didn't want to be unable to play legaly acquired games by accident.

But i remember a few classmate had the PS1 mod chip.
 
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the PS3. and unlike nintendo, sony won't file a 3 billion dollar lawsuit/send a SWAT team after you for doing it despite still officially supporting it
I actually want to get a modded ps3 bad. Is it easy to mod these days?

(I also want to mod my ps4 since it’s gathering so much dust but don’t tell Sony that)
 
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I actually want to get a modded ps3 bad. Is it easy to mod these days?

(I also want to mod my ps4 since it’s gathering so much dust but don’t tell Sony that)
The mod is called custom firmware (CFW Cobra) for both ps3 and ps4, not all hardware support this, but you can look them up if you're curious, just ask gemini/grok what is custom firmware cobra for ps3/ps4
 
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Retroid Pocket

The one that can run linux. I have the 3 Plus, which cannot do linux gaming outside of a container, yet.

But for the biggest range of various gameplay from a "Handheld" perspective your best bet as an individual is (no particular order, but under 400 USD used:
tariffs though

Nintendo/Sony
1. 3DS (best way to play 3DS/DS games without set up, especially if you have an R4 card. Can emulate handheld consoles (no not PSP/Vita) along with home consoles of the early 90s and a few older ones https://3ds.hacks.guide/)
2. PSVita (Best way to play Vita/PSP games period similar to 3DS for DS games with little to no set up https://vita.hacks.guide/)

PC handhelds
3. Steam Deck (Can play Wii/GameCube/PS2 games when using community configurations at great speeds https://www.emudeck.com/)
4. Odin 2 (Can play PS3 emulation once booted into Linux. It's an android device but since it's using a samsung board that's been properly documented by open source using the EDK II loader helps boot into linux and windows https://retrogamecorps.com/2025/03/03/linux-on-the-odin-2-rocknix-guide/)
5. ASUS ROG Ally 1 (Big boy, technically stronger(?) than the Deck and Odin, can run bazzite (fedora linux), which means less required services than windows and can run like an android https://docs.bazzite.gg/Handheld_and_HTPC_edition/Handheld_Wiki/ASUS_ROG_Ally/)
 
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5. ASUS ROG Ally 1 (Big boy, technically stronger(?) than the Deck and Odin, can run bazzite (fedora linux), which means less required services than windows and can run like an android https://docs.bazzite.gg/Handheld_and_HTPC_edition/Handheld_Wiki/ASUS_ROG_Ally/)

I don't feel like editing. I meant ca run like a handheld, shit.
A good PC can emulate all that Nintendo stuff and much more, in fact nowadays there are consoles made to emulate more than XX century games if you want. Among people I know, they usually hacked PS1 & PS2 + XBox 360.

You're not wrong, that's why people promote linux and it's open source software:



There's a bunch of "Frontends" like heroiclauncher, lutris, etc
 

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