Switch Emulator Ryujinx Might Not Be Dead, Despite Nintendo's Takedown

It's Tuesday with emulators and such stuff. There's almost always someone picking up the torch, and they're usually more discreet and proportionally safer from the legal strikes, barring whacky accidents like being publicly reported by the same outlets that get official review codes from console makers... oops.😳

Nintendo should do a full DMCA on those Github repositories. And fine anyone who is involved.

As long as Nintendo continues to sit on its library and do nothing with it, holding some of their games hostage instead of releasing them on their own platform, emulators will always pop up to set them free.

Fingers crossed Nintendo see this and do a 'Bowser' style execution!

@Ravenmaster I san see your issue with all the unavailable switch software!

@Ravenmaster It's a Switch emulator. And every single Switch game Nintendo (or any company) released on Switch is either still available or removed from the eShop for legal reasons.

There is not one valid or legal reason to emulate Switch games.

If you want 3DS & Switch emulators to continue, stop reporting on them. Y'all have even posted articles from the lawyer saying it's news sites like these reporting on fan games and emulators that get them taken down.

It's like everyone's forgotten how to do things underground.

I love to hear this kind of news.
Emulation is a hydra that no gaming company will ever defeat.

@Ravenmaster What are you on about? Are you even paying any attention at all??? This is a Switch emulator. Not a Gamecube or Wii or whatever emulator.

@sanderev
My valid and legal reason is dumping my legally purchased games with my legally modified switch to run with mods and improved performance on my PC…

@solarwolf07 At least two of those actions aren't legal. It's not legal to make copies of Switch games since they are copy protected. Also you are not allowed to modify games or run them on hardware that is unsupported by Nintendo. It says so on the box of every Switch game.

I'm sure Nintendo is reading NL... so yeah... now they know

@sanderev Writing something on a box does not make it law.

@sanderev game boxes aren't lawbooks.
going against instructions on a box is at most a TOS violation, which is not illegal.

but the DMCA circumvention of protection measures section could indeed still apply.

As long as they stay in hiding and only focus on the Wii U part of the emulator then they should be alright for now. The Switch part of the emulator is what got them in hot water in the first place so that part needs to chill for a while. It'll probably just be for around 5-8 years then once Switch emulation is no longer focus by Nintendo then Ryujinx could slowly bring it back.

Switch emulation is straight out piracy. You can walk the nearest game shop and pick up these games no excuse.

@sanderev aw man, guess I have to stop emulating the games I own because the plastic box I also own says so…

@RupeeClock Never finished eow but if emulators actually fix the frame drops I’ll have to try that out to finish it

I think emulation is extremely necessary for game preservation....BUT!...I think people should also only develop emulators once official support for the console has ceased. I honestly can't blame Nintendo for going after an emulator of their current console as it's really only serving as a method for piracy. If these emulator devs were smart, they would develop these in secret and only do a public release after the console support is over.

@Dinglehopper Nah, emulating current consoles is great when those consoles can't run their games at 60fps and 1080p... -_-

@fenlix I mean, if that's what you want to use it for, go right ahead. I get wanting to emulate something to essentially overclock or mod it, but I don't think it means you shouldn't be buying the games either. But that's just me. I'd rather buy and play the games on the official hardware until support stops then later switch to emulation for after market stuff and general convenience.

Anyone know how to personally report these things to Nintendo themselves?
(Might be redundant given the fact that famous fansites report on them themselves)

@Ravenmaster What planet do you live on that thinks Nintendo aren't doing anything with their library??? Unbelievable.

@Joom Sorry, didn't mean to touch a nerve.

Thought Nintendo acquired Ryujinx as part of the agreement (of course, it was never really explained)? I mean, anything related to the creator's portion of the software.

Pretty sure the legal ninjas will be lying in the wait.

@fenlix good for you, but the majority of the Switch customer base doesn't care for it. They want to turn it on and play. Not play around with a handheld PC or SBC handheld and having to manage the software themselves.

@Joom lmaoo only one mad here seems to be you
Relax, it's just a comment.

I hate switch emulation scene, while I like retro games emulation (I really like my analogue pocket), current gen emulation is just piracy, at least wait until switch 2 release or 10 years before making switch emulator. I don't want retro emulation scene affected by nintendo suing at it while trying to take down switch emulation scene.

Comment section-ly reminder that emulation is legal, emulating currently sold consoles is legal, the people emulating them are also the ones spending the most money on Nintendo, and encryption keys are not intellectual property.

@HugoGED

Factually wrong.

I own a Switch, but there's certain titles I dupe, YES, I dupe from my own console and bought copy to play them later at 4K60 on my OLED monitor. While in handheld the graphics and perfomance is tolerable, docked mode is straight disgusting to look at in most games. That is where emulation comes handy. You don't know how well TOTK plays at 4K60 my dude, plus I can migrate save files.

@Denoloco And that's the minority of switch emulator users, most people just want to play free games.

@RupeeClock Some people are already playing that game without issues in both Yuzu and Ryujinx. It had random crashes, but most problems were resolved when disabling automatic updates and tweaking some options.

@HugoGED

Minority or not. The argument stands. Emulation is legal.

I hear a lot of reasons why people support emulation, such as game preservation, the desire to tweak the specs, or simply being short on money. While I understand those arguments, it's still very entitled to believe that this warrants an act of piracy.

For a big publisher as Nintendo it may not hurt that much in the grand scheme of things, but there are also tons of small developers for which every penny counts.

@GrailUK You mean the part where they got rid of the Virtual Console instead porting it over to their next consoles? Then locked those games behind a monthly subscription service? Then sat on a bunch of titles like WW HD and TP HD + others never letting them see light of day? Yeah that was pretty annoying.

@JohnnyMind
That's the point, emulation shouldn't be the problem, but the same people (not all people of course) make it so because they always use it as an excuse and defense for playing the games for FREE and not even paying for the console (and I'm referring to the current ones obviously), and this act IS considered piracy; and that makes Nintendo take action on the matter and as we know how Nintendo is when acting legally, it ends up affecting emulation in general.

If people were honest and bought the games and the console, and with that they used the emulator and the roms, there wouldn't be any problems, but, I repeat, that unfortunately isn't totally true and the worst thing is that many defend this tooth and nail, excuse the expression, but they hypocritically defend piracy...

And the worst, worst thing is that, still in their defense of those, they will say that it is to show that mega corporations are not defensible, that they deserve it and a long etcetera of excuses, but forget about the companies, the ones that end up being affected are the workers who, without owing it or fearing it, are affected in many ways when their jobs are not remunerated as they should be there...

@BTB20 Have you seen how much better Switch games look on an entry level gaming PC? Better frame rates, high res texture packs, HDR colours, no hitching/stuttering due to extremely dated specs. Take a look here at BotW running on a bog standard RTX 3060Ti in 4K 60fps and tell me Nintendo doesn't do this to themselves by cheaping out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxXR5tTpqx4&t=308s

@sanderev You know what is a valid reason to emulate Switch games? Being tired of crappy aged hardware holding back frame rates and visuals.

Look how much better BotW runs at 4K 60fps on a bog standard entry level PC. Nintendo have been cheaping out on their hardware for years.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxXR5tTpqx4&t=308s

@dew12333 Its Switch hardware that's letting the console down more so. I have a Switch so i'm speaking from experience when I say low frame rates and jitters are emersion-breaking. But look how much smoother BotW runs on a bog standard gaming PC at 4K 60fps.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxXR5tTpqx4&t=308s

Always funny in these comments sections regarding emulation, the usuals immediately go to bat in the name for “game preservation” acting like this wouldn’t STILL happen even if Nintendo had every game they ever had in existence on the current platform.

We all know that is nonsense. Vast majority of people are not “emulating” old games from several generations in the past. No no no. By far it’s people that just don’t want to spend money and play their video game earlier on new release games. It’s not some guess work either.

The literal subreddits for these emulators is full of users alone that shamelessly admit they do it so they don’t give Nintendo a dime and play new games early. The “preservation” is often used as a shield so they can act like what they are doing has an ounce of moral righteousness.

@sanderev better performance, modding

I think this emulator is cool but I also think they should wait until the switch has been out of circulation for a while before continuing to work on it. It’ll be less of a priority to Nintendo by then which means they won’t be under the scornful eagle eyes of their cyborg lawyers 24/7 as well!

@Ravenmaster I get it. You want everything now lol.

Nothing wrong with emulating your purchased games in 4k 60 FPS

@Oni tbh I play much more switch games on the steam deck rather than my switch

Emulation always seem to stir up a storm.

You have to go through some real mental gymnastics to be opposed to it.

@RupeeClock I'm playing Brothership on my Steamdeck now using Ryujinx. Works pretty good, a few stutters during cutscenes is only issue I had.

@Ravenmaster What does any of this have to do with what you said in your previous comment?

"As long as Nintendo continues to sit on its library and do nothing with it, holding some of their games hostage instead of releasing them on their own platform, emulators will always pop up to set them free."

That has nothing to do with Switch games not running in 4K with HDR and whatever. The Switch games are fully available right now not "held hostage" on an older platform.

Well now i'm giving you 2 reasons for emulators. And they both stem from Nintendo's shortcomings. Also, emulation is technically not illegal in many countries so long as you own the original version of the games.

@GrailUK If Switch 2 doesn't deliver, there's gonna be a whole bunch of tech geniuses working on new emulators. Nintendo need to step up their game and bring some decent hardware this time around. They can't afford to mess up with so many more handhelds on the market now

@Ravenmaster It's their games that need to deliver. Always has been.

@GrailUK Yeah but when their hardware is sub-par then people are gonna emulate their games and run them on better hardware. That's my point.

@Ravenmaster With ya. Yeah, it's a good point.

Good news for gamers! Guess we gotta protect devs better to protect against the criminals of Kyoto.

As much as I like my switch for the form factor (after getting Nitro Deck for it, joycons are crap), I have to admit that the performance is hot garbage. I can't blame people for choosing to emulate switch games if the only alternative is to play them on an ancient tablet chipset. I would never have finished BotW if it wasn't for Ryujinx because playing it on switch literally gave me motion sickness. I know that the big N doesn't care if I play it or not after I already bought it, but my experience trying to play it on its native platform was so bad that I straight up skipped TotK and don't plan to check it out until I can buy it on something that can run it correctly. My experience with Pokémon Violet was quite similar, though I was able to push myself to play it on an actual switch as at least it doesn't depend on real time inputs all that much. But shadows flickering and models constantly popping in and out of rendering distance as I moved around weren't kind to my eyes either. It's a shame that only small indies run well on switch as they can already be played on other platforms, while 1st party titles aren't optimised at all to run well on switch despite being the only real reason to get switch over a handheld pc. I feel like this (along with the fact that switch is nothing more than an ARM tablet which have been around and reverse engineered for ages) is the reason why switch emulation was way easier and more widespread very early into the console's life cycle. Not many people bothered emulating 3DS when it was still an active platform because 3DS games ran perfectly fine on 3DS, but switch titles are a choppy, pixelated mess on the system they release on. I understand that Nintendo is not fond of people emulating switch, but they are partially responsible for the problem when they keep releasing games that are too demanding for their own system. Either reduce the scope/fidelity of the games or release more powerful hardware. If not people will emulate these games to play them comfortably, no matter how many projects Nintendo tries to kill.

@sanderev Maybe in the US, in the EU or is perfectly legal to circumvent drm for personal use.

@sanderev ok Nintendo simp, what to explain why

@HugoGED tell me which store I can go in and buy a ps1/2 game and the money I use does to the publisher/developer

@RupeeClock Such a tired failed argument that this isnt for piracy.. when 99% of use is piracy. Pathetic, like a 12 year old lying to his Mom and she just nods and allows it .. thats how you want Nintendo to act.

@lexiestence Bullcrap, when the switch 2 comes out, you'll still pirate games

@Dtronicsuk I was talking about Switch emulation and switch games... Nothing wrong with PS2 emulation lol

@HugoGED And what happens when the switch stops being sold and you can no longer buy the games.

Im not trying to say people dont use emulators for piracy, people do, but emulation is vital for game preservation. Unfortually, Nintendo are against there player base, they will DMCA anyone that does anything with there IP. You want to share your honest review on the latest zelda game and tell everyone how good it is and how they should buy the game, well nintendo will DMCA you. You create a mod that improves a game made for the n64, Nintendo will DMCA you.

At the end of the day, if i want to make a backup of a game that i PAID from my hacked console that i OWN so i can play it on a another device that i OWN then i am allowed to.

UK law states that i am allowed to make a backup of any media, digital or physical for my own PERSONAL use.

Nintendo could take me to court but they would be laughed out just like Sony was when they tried taking the devs of the first playstation emulator to court and lost.

At the end of the day, in a would where you no longer own the games you buy, i should be allowed to do what i want with the things i own. Remember, NEVER buy digital, always get a physical copy of the game on disk or cartage where possible, at least then, they cant take it away from you

@Ravenmaster yeah I hear you. If YOU don’t get want YOU want, then YOU will do whatever YOU want to get your way. And no the excuses don’t wash with me.

emulation isn't illegal if you already own a copy of the original games. All you're doing is playing them on a more capable platform such as a gaming PC that can handle high res textures, anti-aliasing, HDR colours and better frame rates. If Nintendo could provide hardware that did all that then there would be no need to emulate. Also if they released Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD on the Switch there would be no reason to emulate those either. Emulation happens due to Nintendo's shortcomings.

@Ravenmaster "If Nintendo could provide hardware that did all that then there would be no need to emulate."

How much do you reckon that sort of console would cost and what do you reckon the battery life would be? They stated years ago they're not part of the graphics arms race...it's not cost effective at all and you'd have to wait even longer for games. Doesn't really sound like a mass market machine to me really...

Well now we have inexpensive entry GPU's that support DLSS so i'm that's one improvement that wouldn't cost much more to make. Plus they're low wattage too so easy on the battery life.

Even a last gen RTX 3060Ti can run BotW at 4K 60fps. Using a custom SoC i'd say Nintendo and Nvidia could make a 4K capable console for around $400-500. Which is a lot cheaper than most people pay for a mobile phone these days

@Ravenmaster portable technology has moved on in the last 8 years, if it's a Switch successor that's still on the pricy side methinks...curious to find out though.

@SecureBoot so you're mad at them for banning you for doing something you KNEW that they are heavily against?
LMAO
Sounds like someone gets mad when they get caught with their hand in the cookiejar.

@Arkay
Nintendo isn't my mom. It's my switch and I can do what I want with it. I have no more respect for Nintendo than I do for politicians. They can ban me from buying games if they want, but that's not going to stop me from playing their games. The only one losing anything is them losing a few hundred dollars from me.

When I was a jobless kid, I pirated my games because I had no other way to play them. Now that I'm an adult the only one not getting paid is Nintendo because they won't let me pay them. Sucks for them because I typically enjoy their games the most.

@SecureBoot I pirated games when I was a kid as well for the same reason: had no means of acquiring them. That and wanted to "try before I buy". That's how I got into Xenoblade.
I understand where you're coming from but I'm just saying that it doesn't make sense to be mad at them for getting punished for doing something that you knew they don't like.

@Arkay

You misunderstand. I'm not mad. I don't have that kind of mental energy. I simply saw their decision, realized it was stupid, and took matters into my own hands

@SecureBoot ahh ok, understood.

@ChakraStomps the hell do you mean "pirate games"? Every single switch game I ever played I either bought or borrowed a physical copy of from my partner.

@sanderev Yeah they should bury themselves by selling 20 year old games at 70 bucks and fining everyone who wants to protect videogame legacy