Nintendo Switch Emulator: Introducing Yuzu
Yes, it’s true don’t worry this ain’t clickbait just emulation history in the making.
First, I feel I should say I can understand why this could piss people off.
Especially any young people who saved up all that pocket money to buy Nintendo Switch games only to find out that you can play them for free on a computer but I’ll get into the politics later, right now I want to focus on bringing you guys the lowdown.
Emulators popping up straight after the related console is not uncommon. The Playstation 2 was released in March 2000 and games were being emulated on PCSX2 by March 2002.
People had already begun modding their switch games and creating homebrews so emulation was an inevitable step.
This is a big deal, it’s all over YouTube, lots of blogs and even some news outlets.
What is Yuzu?
Citrus Junos or Yuzu is a fruit commonly found in Japan and Korea.
The software is being brought to us by the same people who made Citra the Nintendo 3DS emulator so it’s a cool play on words.
This is open-source software and all the files are on the internet via GitHub so anyone can work on it. There are builds for Windows Linux and Mac OS.
At the time of this post Yuzu doesn’t run any commercial switch games as the developers have said it is tricky trying to get this all to work using their C++ coding skills. However, this is the creators top priority and they hope to get less graphically intense games to work such as Shovel Knight or Puyo Tetris instead of Zelda Breath Of The Wild.
So How do I use it?
The emulator is still in the development phase so there is no instructions on how to use the software at the time of this article.
I do know that they plan to make the JoyCon controllers compatible with the games even if running on a computer which would be incredible!
The Nintendo Switch isn’t the most powerful console compared to the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One but that said their games still look amazing and run flawlessly.
When the emulator matures I would say you still need a beasty rig to make the most of it.
I would recommend something like the following:
System Requirements –
- Intel Core series CPU or equivalent, at least 3.0 GHz
- ATI Radeon Graphics Card or Similar
- 8GB RAM DDR3
- 1TB Hard drive
This type of machine would be ideal and will probably set you back around £300.
Heres a machine I had my eye on (affiliate link).
Is this Shit legal?
Ok I think now is a good time to tackle the elephant in the room.
Emulator creators have been taken to court before and usually come out on top. The software itself is not illegal, the problem comes when people abuse it and play games they do not own.
As long as the software does not contain the original programming from the console then it is not breaking any rules.
Think of it this way…
If you watch a movie on a DVD Player and one day the player breaks. You can easily pop the DVD into your laptop and watch the movie through software that runs DVD’s such as VLC Player.
The makers of the DVD Player like the game console makers can’t really have any beef with the person using the DVD on their laptop or the makers of the software.
Conclusion:
I think the Yuzu emulator is a great idea.
Now before you say that’s because I can play Nintendo Switch Games for free you should know I got the console for Christmas 2017.
So instead of being mad about it I see it as another way for me to run my switch games.
I can now play my copy of Mario Kart on the go, on my TV and on my beasty computer, plus this could lead to playing the game at a better frame rate or resolution not possible on the console itself.
Despite this website being about emulators I don’t think people should just pirate games, they should still support the developers and like me just see this as another outlet for their games.
So that is about all I wanted to say on the Yuzu Emulator, I think once it is out there I will do another updated post on how it performs.
Be sure not to miss that by subscribing and following us on social for more from the Lowdown.
