The sd2sp2 is Freakin' Neat

This solderless "mod chip" makes dumping and running your games a breeze!

Let's go on an adventure with Ness!

I'm a GameCube superfan. As you may have seen on the latest episode of Off The Console, I've been playing a lot of GameCube games lately.

Emily and I have been perusing my rather large collection of GameCube titles. And, frankly, I was tired of busting out those miniature discs while playing on my original hardware. So I had seriously been thinking about getting a modchip for my console to solve this issue.

My modchip desires have been inspired by videos from Macho Nacho Productions and others and, well, I found that this would be a great first step:

An sd2sp2 adapter populated with a 16 GB micro SD card — I'm actually now using a 64 GB SD card. The SD card pictured here was not big enough (nor fast enough).

The sd2sp2 is a fantastic little board that goes in the GameCube's Serial Port 2 interface. You just pop this little door off...

Insert the PCB into this socket...

You need to have a Serial Port 2 on your GameCube to use this mod chip. Later models lack this port.

And you're ready to go!

Make sure you also put your SD card in there and replace the cover. If you've got a Game Boy Player, you can also reinstall that as well...

You might be wondering where I got a matching indigo Game Boy Player. I actually imported it from Japan. And since they're not region locked, it just works!

From here, you'll need a way to boot the homebrew launcher Swiss...

I'm using an ActionReplay and this inexpensive GC Memory Card to SD adapter plus a 2GB SD Card.

Boot up your GameCube and use the homebrew app CleanRip to copy your disc-bound collection to your SD card.

This will usually take ~20 minutes, depending on the game. Once it's done, you can launch the game from your SD card using Swiss.

Mario Kart: Double Dash running from a dumped ISO through my sd2sp2

🎁

By the way, I've got a second one of these sd2sp2 adapters and I'm giving it away. It's just the PCB, so there's no SD card that comes with it. If you'd like a chance at winning it, just become a member here and leave a comment. (If you're already a member, just leave a comment). I'll pick one commenter at random to be the winner!

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I've also configured Swiss to listen for a special button combo to reboot the Cube back into the homebrew launcher.

I've gotta say, I love this little sd2sp2 adapter. The homebrew community supports it so well and the games are none-the-wiser. I haven't found a single title that doesn't work with it.

Of course, you've gotta get your Smash Bros Melee on!

Additionally, it's nice to have my games available at my fingertips without needing to swap discs.

Finally, I want to touch on one last thing. You can use Swiss (the homebrew launcher I mentioned earlier) to unlock a more advanced (pun very much intended) Game Boy experience with the Game Boy Interface (GCI) app.

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