Nintendo removes hidden NES game Golf from Switch firmware

Nintendo has removed the hidden NES game Golf from the Switch in firmware version 4.0.0. It is not clear why this was done. In September it was revealed that the game was present in the firmware and it appeared to be a tribute to former Nintendo director Satoru Iwata.

Developer SciresM reports on Twitter that ‘flog’ in the new Switch firmware has been overwritten and that all code to run the game has been removed. It is not clear why the hidden game was taken down and Nintendo itself has not said anything about it.

In September, it was discovered that the NES game Golf is present in the Nintendo Switch’s firmware, including an emulator to run the classic. Developers found out that the game was programmed to activate on the anniversary of former Nintendo director Saturo Iwata.

To start the game, from the main menu, players had to move the Joy-Cons the way the director moved his hands at the start of his Direct presentations. Satoru Iwata was a driving force behind the game of Golf. Nintendo had already asked other developers to make a golf game, but they refused because they didn’t believe the necessary data would fit on a cartridge. Iwata created his own compression method to make the game possible.

Demonstration of Golf on Nintendo Switch, when the game was still in the firmware