Contenuti
Intro
In recent years we have witnessed a huge success of the latest console produced by Nintendo, namely the Nintendo Switch. This console was released on March 3, 2017, and because of its features it has impressed many gamers from all over the world.
The reasons for this success lie in the Japanese company’s ingenious idea of developing a console of a hybrid nature, that is, a console that is both home and portable equipped with an electronic cartridge-based media. It can then be used anywhere as a handheld console, and it is also possible to connect it to a monitor or TV in order to display games on the screen.
This eighth-generation console has managed to compete in trade against the giants of Sony and Microsoft and consoles such as the Xbox One and PlayStation 4. This is explained by taking a look at the catalog of titles developed by Nintendo for this console, many video games are in fact true masterpieces of the video game industry in recent years, such as The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
On the other hand, as far as criticisms are concerned, one of the most discussed features of this console concerns the lack of 4K resolution and HDR technology; another major criticism concerns the economic side, namely its price. This console has attracted a lot of criticism for its cost of about €300, which even at the moment, makes it cost practically as much as the PlayStation 4.
Other issues of a corporate nature this time, then emerged for Nintendo, due to a series of security breaches, in this way some of the company’s best-kept secrets were uncovered, regarding the firmware of this console. This stimulated the creation of custom Firmware, and also opened the door for the first Nintendo Switch & Nintendo DS emulators.
In this article, therefore, we are going to analyze how Nintendo Switch emulators work and what they are, which simulate the use of the console with a very good performance despite being fairly recent projects.
On the other hand, if you are looking for a Playstation 1 emulator, our article PS1 Emulator will surely help you.
What is a Nintendo Switch emulator
An emulator, in computing and in the most general sense of the term, is a component or software that replicates the functions of a given system on a system different from the original one. The use of these applications basically allows us to use programs that should not run on the operating systems found on personal computers or smartphones.
Clearly, it is important to know which operating system the emulator program is written for, since each operating system is different from the other. A program written for a PC with a Windows operating system, for example, cannot run on a PC with a different operating system such as a Linux distribution.
Typically, a common practice in such cases is to create a virtual machine on the host machine, which simulates the environment understood to be the operating system that was intended to run that program.
In any case, once we install the Nintendo Switch emulator inside our PC or Smartphone we will be able to use it to play virtually all the titles available for the Japanese company’s console. Clearly, however, before installing it, we need to make sure that our device can support its minimum requirements, which allow us to have optimal enjoyment.
Minimum requirements for Nintendo Switch emulators
Emulating an eighth-generation console requires fairly significant minimum requirements, so we will need to have a fairly powerful, high-performance computer or smartphone.
To play the emulator optimally, it is recommended to have a fairly high-performance processor; a good idea may be to have at least a sixth-generation Intel processor such as the Intel Core i3, or its equivalent Ryzen 3 produced by AMD. As for RAM, at least 8 GB of RAM will be needed to load the game quickly and optimally.
If we are talking about graphics cards, we can use, for example, an NVIDIA GTX 1060 or a Radeon RX 470, or at least video cards that have a lot of GB of built-in RAM, for a good experience.
Once we have made sure we have these requirements we can consult the emulator guide and then start with the installation. We will clearly download the games digitally; if we want to avoid the risk of running into piracy problems, it is advisable to purchase the titles we want to play.
Let us now look at which are the most reliable emulators available on the net and examine their main features, as well as see what they have in common and what is different.
Yuzu – Nintendo Switch Emulator
Let’s start by looking at the most advanced Nintendo Switch emulator that can be found on the net at the moment, it is Yuzu, a completely free open source experimental emulator created by the developers of Cintra, a famous 3DS emulator and developed in 2018. This emulator is written in C++ and emulates the essential hardware components of Nintendo Switch to run.
Because of this, some games may not work and performance may leave a little to be desired in some titles; in any case, most games work. On Yuzu’s site, however, you can find a compatibility list so you know for sure which games work, and which work better than others.
This emulator is updated every month, so if there are bugs or problems regarding the use of certain games, it is possible that over time they will be corrected and fixed.
Let us now see what are the minimum and recommended requirements for this emulator so that we can use it in the best way.
Minimum requirements for Yuzu
As for the processor, any x86_64 CPU that has support for FMA instructions is fine.
- Minimum requirement: Intel Core i5-4430 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200
- Recommended requirement: Intel Core i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
For graphics card requirements, hardware and drivers compatible with OpenGL 4.6 or Vulkan 1.1 are recommended. Half-float format support and at least 2GB of RAM built into the graphics card recommended.
- Minimum requirement for Linux: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB / AMD Radeon R7 240 2GB
- Minimum requirement for Windows: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB / AMD Radeon RX 550 2GB
- Recommended requirement: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB / AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB
On the other hand, if we talk about the graphics processing unit, we should know that the integrated one will unfortunately produce a very low level performance. A dedicated GPU, on the other hand, will surely provide better results in all possible scenarios.
- Minimum requirement for Linux: Intel HD 5300 / AMD Radeon R5 Graphics
- Minimum requirement for Windows: Intel HD Graphics 520 / AMD Radeon Vega 3
- Recommended requirement: Intel UHD Graphics 750 / AMD Radeon Vega 7
Because an integrated GPU, uses RAM as if it were its own video memory (VRAM), the memory requirement for this type of configuration is higher. But let us compare the two different configurations:
- Minimum requirement with dedicated video card: 8 GB
- Minimum requirement with integrated video card: 12 GB
- Recommended requirement: 16 GB
Other useful information:
- For Windows users, it is recommended to use Windows 10 1803 or a more up-to-date version for the best possible performance.
- CPUs without the FMA instruction set could produce very low quality results. Intel Core generation 3 or older, AMD phenom II or older, and all Pentium, Celeron, and Atom CPUs will not produce optimal results.
- Clearly, mobile processors are very unlikely to achieve the same performance as PC processors, given the technical differences usually observed such as power, speed, and technical limitations.
- GPUs must necessarily support Vulkan 1.1 or OpenGL 4.6 and its compatibility profile.
How to Download and Install Yuzu
This emulator can be installed mainly on Windows and Linux, for other operating systems and smartphones, the process is more complex and articulated.
Yuzu for Windows
This emulator for operation on Windows requires installation of the latest versions of Microsoft Visual C++, which can be downloaded from Yuzu’s site. Once this program is installed, you can proceed to download the actual emulator.
Yuzu for Linux
As for the Linux version, to use it in the form of AppImage, you must first download it from the site and then enter this command in the terminal: chmod a+x yuzu-*.AppImage
If you want to use the FlatPak version, it must instead be downloaded and then installed using the FlatHub site.
Yuzu for macOS
If we want to install the Yuzu emulator for macOS, i.e., the operating system of Apple computers, a much more complex and intricate installation awaits us, but still possible.
First, we should know that there is currently no native build for macOS, so the only way to be able to use this emulator on Apple computers is to use a virtual machine.
We need the virtual machine to recreate a virtual environment with a Linux or Windows operating system. On this virtual environment we will download and install Yuzu and then we can use it. Since this process is quite lengthy and complex, the simplest solution is to follow a recent video tutorial covering this topic on YouTube, so that the instructions are carried out correctly.
Yuzu for Smartphone or Tablet
It seems that there are methods to install this emulator even on smartphones, however, as in the previous case, this process can also be very complicated for an inexperienced person. As in the previous case, the best method is to follow a reliable and recent step-by-step video tutorial, depending on the type of phone or tablet we use.
Guide and Installation
Properly installing and starting this emulator can be a complex task for those not used to working in the IT field. For these reasons, there is a very simple and curated guide on Yuzu’s website that follows the user step by step from download to proper installation of the program. In addition to this guide, it is always a good idea to consult the FAQs on the site to avoid having problems or to solve them.
Alternatively, we can use the video guide on the site, or follow the many video tutorials on Youtube that will show us the procedures to be carried out.
Ryujinx – Nintendo Switch Emulator
Let us now look at another very interesting emulator, called Ryujinx, which differs from Yuzu in having a simpler and more user-friendly interactive interface. Like Yuzu, this Nintendo Switch emulator is also completely free, open source, experimental, and instead of C++ it is written in C#. Its development is focused on providing the best possible gaming performance, as well as being very easy to use.
The GPU emulator emulates Switch’s Maxwell GPU using the OpenGL API (version 4.5 minimum) through a custom build of OpenTK.
Given the programming language used, again some games may have problems and others may not work. So even on Ryujinx’s site you can find a compatibility list so you know for sure which games work, and which work better than others.
This emulator is updated every month, so if there are bugs or problems regarding the use of certain games, it is possible that over time they will be corrected and fixed.
Let us now see what are the minimum and recommended requirements for this emulator so that we can use it in the best way.
Minimum requirements for Ryujinx
As for the processor, any x86_64 CPU will do.
- Minimum requirement: Intel Core i5-4430 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200
- Recommended requirement: Intel Core i7-6650u / AMD Ryzen 5 3600
For video card requirements, hardware and drivers compatible with OpenGL 4.5 or higher are recommended. Half-float format support and at least 2GB of RAM built into the graphics card recommended.
- Minimum requirement: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2GB / AMD Radeon R7 240 2GB
- Recommended requirement: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4GB / AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8GB
On the other hand, if we talk about the graphics processing unit, we should know that the integrated one will unfortunately produce a very low level performance. A dedicated GPU, on the other hand, will surely provide better results in all possible scenarios.
- Minimum requirement: Intel HD Graphics 520 / AMD Radeon Vega 3
- Recommended requirement: Intel UHD Graphics 750 / AMD Radeon Vega 7
Because an integrated GPU, uses RAM as if it were its own video memory (VRAM), the memory requirement for this type of configuration is higher. But let us compare the two different configurations:
- Minimum requirement with dedicated video card: 8 GB
- Minimum requirement with integrated video card: 12 GB
- Recommended requirement: 12 GB
Other useful information:
- Clearly, mobile processors are very unlikely to achieve the same performance as PC processors, given the technical differences usually observed such as power, speed, and technical limitations.
- GPUs must necessarily support OpenGL 4.5 and its compatibility profile.
How to Download and Install Ryujinx
As in the previous case, this emulator can be installed mainly on Windows and Linux, for other operating systems and smartphones, the process is more complex and articulated.
Ryujinx for Windows and Linux
This emulator for operation on Windows and Linux requires installation of the latest versions of .NET SDK 6.0 downloadable from Microsoft’s site. Once this program is installed, you can proceed to download the actual emulator as a ZIP or through GitHub. To build the app you must then enter this command in the terminal: dotnet publish -c Release -r win-x64 -self-contained
Ryujinx for macOS
If we want to install the Ryujinx emulator for macOS, we should know that at the moment support for this operating system has been temporarily stopped. So we are expecting a very technical and complex configuration.
First of all, we should know that there is currently no longer a native build for macOS, so the only way to be able to use this emulator on Apple computers is to use a virtual machine.
We need the virtual machine to recreate a virtual environment with a Linux or Windows operating system. On this virtual environment we will download and install Ryujinx and then we can use it. Since this process is quite lengthy and complex, the simplest solution is to follow a recent video tutorial covering this topic on YouTube, so that the instructions are carried out correctly.
Ryujinx for Smartphone or Tablet
Again, it seems that there are methods to install this emulator even on smartphones, however, as in the previous case, this process can be very complicated for an inexperienced person. The best method remains to follow a reliable and recent step-by-step video tutorial, depending on the type of phone or tablet we use.
Guide and Installation
Installing and properly booting this emulator can be a complex task for those not used to working in the IT field. For these reasons, a brief user guide from downloading to proper installation of the program can be found on the Ryujinx website.
Alternatively, we can follow the many video tutorials on Youtube that will show us in detail the procedures to be carried out.
Configuring the Emulator
Once we have succeeded in the task of downloading and installing the Nintendo Switch emulator for our PC or Smartphone correctly, we need to pay attention to the settings and some settings.
In order to get our emulated Nintendo Switch working properly, we need to enter the Switch’s Product Keys and Firmware into our emulator. Without these components, in fact, it will be impossible to boot and use this console properly.
Inserting Keys and Firmware is usually a very simple and quick process, especially with Ryujinx. To do this, all we need to do is take a look at the settings, and we will quickly understand the process of dragging and dropping the files to the right locations. Clearly, to be on the safe side, we can also rely on tutorials found online.
Once this is done, let’s move on to figure out how and where to download and install games on our emulator.
How to download Nintendo Switch games
Now that we have managed to properly set up the Nintendo Switch emulator for our PC or Smartphone, we need to think about downloading the titles we want to play.
First, since in Italy and other European countries, many of the sites we are going to use are blocked, if we don’t already own one, we will have to download or purchase a free or paid licensed VPN. The VPN will allow us to change our IP address and make it look like it belongs to another country, so we can bypass the various blocks and access the sites we want.
Once we have the VPN set up correctly, we will be able to access some sites from which a very large library of video games for the Switch can be downloaded.
The sites in question are many, among the most reliable we cannot but recommend NXBrew.com and Madloader.com, two sites that contain almost all the Nintendo Switch games currently available. These sites are obviously inaccessible without a VPN to Italian residents, and they periodically update their catalog with the latest versions of titles. In addition to the titles, of course, it is also possible to download DLC and video game expansions.
How to set up video games and controller
Once we have downloaded the files of the video games we are interested in, we need to open the Settings of our emulator and place the game files in the Game Directories, so we can then start them on the console. Of course, we are also going to include the files related to the various expansions and DLCs so that they can be played in full. If we want, we can also insert save data directly into games so that we can start the game at a certain point in gameplay.
Once we have prepared the games to play, all that remains is to set the controller. To do this we need to open the input settings and select the configuration key, so we can set the keys where we want them based on the type of controller we will be using. Since up to 8 controllers can be used at the same time, all 8 can be set up even with different controllers such as non-original ones that can be purchased online.
In the system settings, we will also be able to set other useful things such as date, time, and system region. It is also important to set the settings related to graphics, which will depend greatly on the specifications of our device.
If we want to use the downloaded games by taking advantage of their multiplayer component, we will have to move some “invisible” files into the emulator’s folders. Since this is not an easy process, we recommend following special guides based on the operating system of the device on which we installed the emulator.
Once this step is done, we can change the multiplayer settings from the eponymous settings. Once that’s fixed, too, we’ll have everything we need to enjoy Nintendo Switch video games!
