- What is Emulation?
- Best Nintendo Switch Emulators on PC
- Best Nintendo Switch Emulators on Android
- The Curious Case of the Valve Switch emulator for Steam Deck
- Best Switch Exclusives to Emulate
Ever since its inception, the Nintendo Switch has been one of the most successful consoles that the Japanese corp has produced, both in terms of sales, the innovation in software and hardware.
It is no surprise then, that it has also seen some of the best games of our generation locked to the platform.
Classics like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Animal Crossing: New Horizons have made the platform absolutely invaluable to the video gaming culture.
So if you are wondering if you can enjoy these games and more without owning a Switch, you need to learn all about the best Nintendo Switch Emulators around right now.
Here is all you need to know about Emulation on the Nintendo Switch including –
- Required Software
- How to Emulate
- Best Emulated Switch Games that you can play right now
And more!
What is Emulation Really?
To put it in simple terms, emulation involves running software meant for a different platform on your platform of choice.
And much like the more popular PS2 and Xbox emulation, Switch works quite the same way.
You’ve got your standard emulator and the game files in a readable format for the emulator software.
Now that you understand the core fundamentals of emulation, let’s take a look at how to emulate some of the best Switch exclusives on your PC or Android phone.
Best Nintendo Switch Emulators on PC
Yuzu
Yuzu is an experimental Switch emulator that is also quite popular among members of the community.
Yuzu has been written in C++ and runs on almost any kind of PC. The software has an immensely dedicated team running the show behind the scenes and has seen big changes and improvements made to emulation in the past year.
Among these, the biggest one has to be Project Hades, a brand new shader/recompiler rewrite, which optimizes the software immensely, fixing thousands of Switch games for better compatibility with both stronger and weaker hardware.
You can download Yuzu from their official website.
How to Install and Setup Yuzu
Although the Yuzu emulator and pretty much the whole Switch emulation thing demands a lot of CPU power, you should be good to go if you have a decently specced PC setup.
- Go to Yuzu’s official website and download Microsoft Visual C++ (the latest version.)
- Download and install Yuzu.
- Download prod keys, which is basically firmware and a few other things. You can find necessary prod keys here and put them in the directory where the software is installed (make a new folder called ‘keys.’)
- Run the program where it will ask you for the decryption keys you just downloaded.
- Double Click on the center of your Yuzu app to set the game directory. Just select the directory where all of your Switch games are.
- Open a game and you are good to go!
Ryujinx
The most popular emulator on Windows, Ryujinx comes from the Japanese word for a mythical dragon god – Ryujin, and the codename of the Switch back when it was in development, NX.
The emulator is written in the programming language C#, and boasts a wide range of support for titles in the thousands.
One of the best qualities of the emulator is that it is open source, meaning the original code of the software is available for free access (on Github), support for over 2,700 titles that are perfectly playable, and cross-platform compatibility.
You can download Ryujinx here.
How to Install and Setup Ryujinx
Downloading Ryujinx is pretty simple, just go to their official site and download it from there.
Next, just extract the folder onto your main desktop screen into a separate folder. This is now your main Ryujinx folder.
After that, you need to find the prod keys for Ryujinx, which is the same with Yuzu and every other emulator.
Put the keys file into your main Ryujinx folder, repeat the steps from the Yuzu section and you are good to go!
Best Switch Emulators on Android
On Android, emulating Nintendo is leaps and bounds ahead of any other platform emulation. But it is still vulnerable in terms of security, heating and performance, so we suggest you take this with a grain of salt.
EggNS
EggNS is becoming increasingly widely recognized in the Android sphere as the go-to Switch emulator.
It has shown great stability and success when running games like Pokemon Sword and Shield, but supports only 81 games, with most of them unplayable.
With this one, you need at least an 865 SoC from Snapdragon or the Exynos equivalent of it if you are on Samsung to be able to play it.
The Curious Case of the Valve Switch Emulator
Valve released the Steam Deck to a considerable amount of success, with people now buying into the portable powerhouse PC (ironically, a trend that started from the design of the Switch).
But a while back, an official video released to the public via Valve seemed to show Yuzu running on the Steam Deck. This caused a ruckus, and Valve had to take it down. But the evidence is there.
Is Valve planning something for the market the Switch has built for itself or was it a harmless dev build that went out to the public by mistake? Stay tuned, we’ll find out soon! And we can bet that’ll be one of the best Nintendo Switch Emulators around.
Best Emulated Games for Nintendo Switch
Bayonetta 3
- Release Date: 28 October 2022
- Developer: PlatinumGames
- Metacritic Rating: 88/100
- Get it here: Nintendo Store
The 3rd installment in the long-running stylish hack-and-slash shooter series, Bayonetta 3 was a curious platform exclusive when it was announced. A platform exclusive nonetheless, it can be emulated on the PC platform.
PlatinumGames have really outdone themselves with this one. If you must have huge action set pieces, great combat and cheeky dialogue like your favorite action-adventure flick, Bayonetta is one that you must get.
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
- Release Date: 3 March 2017
- Developer: Nintendo EPD
- Metacritic Rating: 97/100
- Get it here: Nintendo Store
Considered to be one of the greatest games of all time period, Breath of the Wild was the injection of fresh air that the adventure RPG genre so desperately needed.
The Switch came with a bang when this game was announced as a launch exclusive, and fans hurried to take this off the shelves and into their homes.
Breath of the Wild strips Link of his memories when he wakes up a century later, with no idea of what to do, but only that he must stop the volcano of evil power rising in the distance.
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
- Release Date: 20 March 2020
- Developer: Nintendo EPD
- Metacritic Rating: 90/100
- Get it here: Nintendo Store
Giving an early hint about the kind of consumer base this console was aimed at, New Horizons is still a very good game in its own right. It takes you off to your very own private island, where you farm, fish, and solve mysteries.
New Horizons is the sort of chill, casual game that Nintendo is famous for doing so well, and it is a console exclusive that will be talked about until the next one comes out.
If you are tired of the Battlefields or Devil May Crys, New Horizons offers a slightly different kind of enjoyment.
Luigi’s Mansion 3
- Release Date: 31 October 2019
- Developer: Nintendo EPD
- Metacritic Rating: 86/100
- Get it here: Nintendo Store
Not much of a mansion as it is a hotel, eh Luigi? Whatever the property type may be, you’ll have loads of fun with Luigi’s Mansion 3. The cartoony horror casual genre is often left unexplored, but Nintendo somehow have got the formula just right.
The proof is in the pudding; with the numerous puzzles, interesting support and antagonist character and a good story, Luigi can shine outside of his more famous plumber brother. Another must-have console exclusive.
Super Mario Odyssey
- Release Date: 27 October 2017
- Developer: Nintendo EPD
- Metacritic Rating: 97/100
- Get it here: Nintendo Store
And speaking of his more famous brother, Super Mario Odyssey takes the poster boy of Nintendo’s modern success to new levels.
Aside from his cameo appearance in almost every Nintendo property, Super Mario got one of his best games yet with the release of Odyssey.
The open-world adventure game has Mario out of the Mushroom kingdom for the first time and equips him with a lot of new special moves that rejuvenate the genre as well as the series.
If nothing else, BotW and Odyssey are two exclusives you simply must try if you are into Switch emulation on another platform. Want more? Check out the best RPGs to play on the Switch now, and the best fighting games if you’re more of a brawler fan.
Onward!
