As the Nintendo Switch becomes Nintendo’s best-selling console of all time and slowly creeps towards becoming the best-selling console of all time, the gaming community has set themselves the challenge of creating Nintendo Switch emulators to preserve their collections.
Everyone knows about Nintendo’s hybrid hero by now, the console that has replaced the Wii in many people’s hearts, and the device that offers seamless transition of gameplay from handheld to the TV and vice versa. But how about playing Nintendo titles that you have purchased on your laptop or gaming PC? What if you want to play a 4K/60FPS version of Tears of the Kingdom or to get your Animal Crossing fix on your phone?
As of the 1st of October 2024 the final “good” Nintendo Switch Emulator Ryujinx has been removed, due to Nintendo pulling out the ban hammer and threatening legal action against the creators of these emulators.
It seems in 2024 Nintendo has taken emulation seriously for once, and it’s now near impossible for anyone to build Nintendo Switch emulators without being threatened with legal action. So, as of now there isn’t actually any Nintendo Switch Emulator for you to download that works safely and reliably.
Some may come out of the woodworks and attempt at doing so, but either they’re very low quality, feature lots of bugs or spam you with advertisements, so as a emulation expert there is not a single Nintendo Switch emulator I would recommend right now.
Nintendo Switch emulation is dead.
The only one that “kinda” works is CEMU, but that is technically a Nintendo Wii U emulator that cannot play Nintendo Switch games, but it can play Nintendo Wii U games that have also been ported to Nintendo Switch… that’s all we got right now. Depressing I know.
** N.B Please refer to your own research on how to install ROMs to find out the legal implications of downloading copyrighted content. This article and all comments forthwith are intended only to inform the reader about the processes behind game emulation and their practical applications in the world of gaming.
Cemu (Windows)
Cemu might not be everyone’s first thought when it comes to picking the best Nintendo Switch emulator for their set up. Still, it was one of the first to consistently run Nintendo Switch games. The problem is that it just doesn’t run many of them.
In all honesty, Cemu is actually a Wii U emulator. The fact that two of my favourite games, Mario Kart 8 and Breath of the Wild, also dropped on Wii U is, as Bob Ross would say, a happy little accident.
Still, Cemu is capable of running Nintendo Wii U games that are also Nintendo Switch games.. oh and GameCube games too. So it’s a double edged sword, and you’ll requir Wii U game files, not Switch files.
One thing I like about Cemu is that it’s stable. The developers have been working on it consistently for 8 years, making sure that performance issues have been dealt with in good time and constantly improving the user experience. Most of the games play at 1080p and 60 frames-per-second with ease. There have been examples of BotW running at 4K and Mario Kart 8 running at 8K too. That’s some sharp Bokoblins and Yoshi’s right there!
Modding can be carried out right from the game launch screen too, with other settings such as shading, anti-aliasing, and resolution available to tinker with to your hearts content. You can find out more by visiting the Cemu website.
I will update this article when and if a new, reliable Nintendo Switch emulator becomes available, but as of now, I don’t think that will happen for a long time.
