Currently, Nintendo released the Nintendo switch lite, a compact version of its wildly popular console. The main difference is that the original Switch can be used on your TV or in handheld mode, while the Lite can merely be used in handheld mode. Furthermore, you can use Yuzu switch emulator to play Nintendo games on your PC if you want to buy a new Nintendo Switch or Lite but aren’t sure if you’ll like their game catalog. The emulator is still under construction. The Vulkan backend has been left out.
Moreover, performance is spotting on all but the best processors. It does, however, work, and popular games such as Super Mario Odyssey can be played on your PC. So in this article, we will discuss the Nintendo switch emulator for PC. Let’s get started!
How to Play Nintendo Switch Games on PC
Take a glance at how to get Yuzu up and to go. After that, we’ll look at some Super Mario Odyssey success numbers.
One point to bear in mind is the following. Piracy is not tolerated here. It’s crucial that you only use Switch games that you own with Yuzu. You’ll need to extract decryption keys for them to function.
A helpful step-by-step guide can be found on the Yuzu Github page. You may want to take a look at that first before reading this guide. For whatever game you’re going to play, you’ll need the title.keys, and prod.keys. Let me now take you on a quick tour of my hardware platform before starting with the guide. Although Yuzu is playable on several platforms, it is still a resource-intensive app. If you don’t have a dedicated modern gaming system, now is an excellent time to upgrade. Framerates would not be playable.
Our Test Platform
GPU: RTX 2070 Super, overclocked to 1980 GHz
Storage: 128GB Foresee M.2 SSD + 240GB Kingston A400 SATA SSD
CPU: Ryzen 1600, overclocked to 3.6 GHz
RAM: 16GB of Dual-channel DDR4 RAM at 2733 MHz
Motherboard: Gigabyte B450 DS3H
Power Supply: Cooler Master MWE 550 Bronze
For comparison, a Haswell i5 or i7, such as the i7-4770K, is the bare minimum for comparable results. At the very least, you’ll need a 1050 Ti in the GPU department. A GTX 1070/Vega 56 is an excellent place to start if you want to run higher resolutions. Remember that this will not run well on standard laptop hardware.
Let’s get into the setup process.
Download Yuzu
Yuzu can be mounted in two separate ways. You can either get the Web installer from the Yuzu website or get the most recent update directly from Github. I will demonstrate how to do both. However, the direct Github download was quicker in my experience.
To set up the Yuzu Web Installer:
1. Visit the Yuzu Downloads page here.
2. Tap on Download.
3. When downloaded, run the installer as Administrator.
4. Tap on Install.
5. You will want to copy your prod.key & title.key files to the Yuzu AppData folder. Here you can find it: C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Roaming\yuzu\keys.
And to set up the Yuzu Github build directly
1. Firstly, visit the Yuzu Github canary release channel here.
2. Tap on the link highlighted in the below screenshot to download Yuzu.
3. Now, use a Zip extractor to extract the files wherever you need them.
4. Run Yuzu once. You can do this by right-tapping yuzu.exe and running as administrator. It set up the key folder.
5. Afterward, copy your prod.key & title.key files to the key folder in Yuzu AppData. I mentioned how to do this earlier.
It’s easier to set up the Online installer. However, the download speed was inconsistent in our experience. Even with a 50 Mbps connection, getting to 20% took well over 10 minutes. In a fraction of seconds, I had the Github version downloaded.
How to play games on Yuzu
I suggest that you read this game dumping guide before using legal copies of games you own on a Switch in Yuzu. However, if you own a game’s license and reside in a jurisdiction that allows it, you can obtain Switch game photos. The file extensions for these are.xci and.nsp. It will help you dump the file faster. We’re playing Super Mario Odyssey right now. Here’s where you’ll find the nsp. To play a game on Yuzu, follow these steps:
1. Run Yuzu as administrator
If you installed Yuzu by using the Web installer, the executable would be in your Local AppData folder, here: C:\Users\(Username)\AppData\Local\yuzu\canary.
2. Load the game image
Tap on File, after that, click on Load File, then choose your Switch game image.
3. You can start playing. Optionally, you can go to Emulation, afterward Configure to set controls up as per your preference.
How does Yuzu Perform?
I’ve attached the gameplay snipped by Yuzu. It was recorded using FRAPs. Additionally, In-game performance recording enabled is slightly higher, but the general scenario is straightforward to observe. Yuzu struggles a lot. You can tweak the emulator a little by allowing the Asynchronous GPU setting under Graphics in the configuration panel. Even so, yuzu occasionally fails to sustain a 30 FPS in-game. There is a lot of hitching and stutter because shaders are continuously being loaded in. Over time, this will go away.
But even then, it’s a seriously hindered experience. The most significant limiting factor is the stutter. If an area has finished loading, Super Mario Odyssey usually runs 50-60 frames per second. However, if you run any further, your framerate will begin to drop. Another problem is that the game’s dynamic resolution scaling causes the resolution to drop due to the low framerate. As a result, the picture becomes hazy. Overall, it’s not the best way to play the game.
Should you use it now?
It isn’t intended to be construed as a critique. It’s necessary to bear in mind that the Switch is an eighth-generation console. It can play a lot of the same games as the PS4 and Xbox One, like Doom. Yuzu is already delivering 60 frames per second in some areas after just a year of growth. For the time being, I don’t suggest using Yuzu unless you have a top-tier overclocked processor.
Another year of cumulative updates could get the switch emulator back into playable shape for the rest of us. I will keep an eye out and let you know when I find out. Also, share your experience about the Nintendo switch emulator in the comments section below!