Please ensure that JavaScript is enabled in your browser to view this page.
Data sniffing is one of the most effective tools available to hackers. Most consumer devices lock down their hardware and software to keep us from peeking behind the curtain. But a lot of them need to transfer data — either to other devices or from one of their components to another. Unless they encrypt that data, we can take a look at it, reverse-engineer it, and use it to our advantage. If you're a fan of Nintendo's Game Boy series of handhelds and want to sniff out their data, then this device from breadcodes can help. Rs485 Level Shifter
Nintendo released a handful of different peripheral devices over the years and integrated data cables into some gameplay. It was, for example, possible to transfer Pokemon between two Game Boys through a data cable. You could also attach devices like the Game Boy Printer. Nintendo never bothered to encrypt that data, because why would they? That data was very low-stakes and Nintendo could rely solely on technical difficulty to prevent 10-year-old kids from spoofing Pokemon transactions. This device from breadcodes lets you intercept (read) data sent over the cable, or inject (write) data.
The data connection used for the Game Boy was a serial connection similar to SPI, with a primary-secondary hierarchy. This device, based on a Raspberry Pi Pico development board, spoofs both sides. So data coming from the Game Boy goes into the Pico, which reads that data. It can either simply pass along a copy of that data, or it can block the original data and send new data of its own. Other than the Pico, this only requires a couple of level shifter IC chips to handle the transition from 3.3V to 5V.
This device has numerous applications. You can, for instance, send any image to the Game Boy Printer. As far as it knows, the image data is coming from the Game Boy like it should be. You can also give yourself whatever Pokemon you want. As far as your Game Boy and the game knows, you're receiving that Pokemon from a friend's Game Boy.
While it is still in development, breadcodes is even making a desktop app that makes it easy to send images to print or specific Pokemon to trade.
Level Shifter Op Amp Circuit Hackster.io, an Avnet Community © 2023