The Nintendo Famicom Mini has a hidden message for hackers nestled in its code

It was only a matter of time before the mini consoles were hacked. Nintendo thought so too and left a surprise message in the code.

The Nintendo Classic Mini: Famicom released in Japan last year, alongside the NES Classic Edition in the west.

Both shipped with a list of games pre-installed, with no legitimate way to add more to the library. Obviously people were going to try to find a workaround, and they have.

It's entirely possible to hack the mini NES as demonstrated in this YouTube video, although you do so at your own peril.

Nintendo knew people would start poking around too, and one hacker posted a message they found in the mini Famicom's code over on Reddit.

"This is the hanafuda captain speaking. Launching emulation in 3..2..1. Many efforts, tears and countless hours have been put into this jewel. So, please keep this place tidied up and don't break everything!

"Cheers, the hanafuda captain."

For the young whipper snappers amongst you, Nintendo used to make Hanafuda playing cards - in fact it was the first 'game' the company made when it started up over 100 years ago - so that's what the "hanafuda captain" reference is all about.

Frankly, it's adorable.