kaiHEN can also be opened on Switch 2 with a Civilization VII cartridge, even without SmileBASIC
On November 13, 2026, a project was published that starts kaiHEN from Civilization VII, rather than from SmileBASIC. Anyone who has the Switch 1 Civilization VII cartridge can, according to the author, open kaiHEN and the homebrew menu on Switch 2 even without SmileBASIC. The effect goes away when the console restarts: after each restart, the process has to be done again. The README says the method was tested only on firmware 23.0.1 and, for now, does not work on older versions. Switch2Unlock has not tested it.
s8n/civ7-fs-kaihen · GitHub
Context
The project builds on tools already covered here: [kaiHEN](/en/news/kaihen-homebrew-enabler/) and the [Civilization VII entry path](/en/news/civswitch-gezine-civilization-7/). The README warns that a remote block can prevent Civilization VII from being used. As we already reported, since November 12 an outdated Switch 2 connected to the internet does not open SmileBASIC or Civilization VII ([November 12 block](/en/news/nintendo-bloqueia-smilebasic-civ7-23-0-1/)). The warning is worth repeating: a malicious homebrew program can write to the internal memory and permanently brick the console, and there is no recommended safe method. Switch2Unlock does not provide games, keys or firmware, does not publish step-by-step guides and does not encourage installation.