If you’re interested, head on over to the GBATemp thread, where there are download links for the APK and a temp ROM. That’s enough to test homebrew games and apps for those who want to break into Nintendo Switch development, without needing the console. And barebones it is, with no graphics and “only console output” currently. That makes most flagship devices, and probably some midrange ones, able to run the barebones emulator. As the emulator is ported to work on Android, it doesn’t actually require an Nvidia processor to run, just any ARM64 CPU/OS with at least 4GB of RAM.

More about the emulatorīuilt on the base of Ryujinx, an open-source emulator for the Nintendo Switch written in C#, MonoNX is currently the pet project of ctrninja, a user on GBATemp, an independent gaming community with a thriving emulator crowd. While some consoles have resisted emulation, the Cell processor in the PS3 a notable standout, having the Nintendo Switch built on hardware that was already known to developers should give emulator makers a head start. With both of the Shield devices having thriving development communities over on XDA, it was only going to be a matter of time before someone figured out how to run the Nintendo Switch software on an Android device.

After all, the Nintendo Switch uses the Nvidia Tegra X1, the powerful mobile processor that also powers the Nvidia Shield Android TV console and Shield tablet. When the Nintendo Switch first came out, modders and emulator-lovers all wondered how long it would take before an emulator of the console arrived.

Switch emulator