In February, Nintendo filed a lawsuit against the creators of the Switch emulator Yuzu, accusing them of illegally bypassing the technological safeguards designed to prevent piracy on the Nintendo Switch console. Instead of going to trial, Yuzu settled the case, agreeing to cease development and pay Nintendo $2.4 million, a significant victory for the company.
This raised questions about whether Nintendo would target other emulators, such as Ryujinx, Yuzu’s primary competitor. Now, we have our answer.
Nintendo has a long history of aggressively defending its intellectual property. Over the years, it has shut down numerous unofficial PC ports of its classic games and sent cease-and-desist orders to content creators, fan game developers, and others it views as infringing on its brand.
Yuzu, in particular, was criticized for monetizing early access to preview builds through Patreon, while Ryujinx, which often provided better compatibility with the Switch library, remained free and avoided exploiting Nintendo’s proprietary code.
The Ryujinx repository on GitHub has been deliberately taken down by its uploader. The reason became clear after an official statement on Ryujinx’s Discord server, where developer gdkchan revealed that Nintendo had contacted him with a proposal to cease work on the emulator.
And now the project has been completely removed.
Gdkchan, a Brazilian developer, comes from a country often associated with economic challenges and high crime rates. Given the circumstances, it’s speculated that if Nintendo approached him, either offering a settlement or financial compensation in exchange for halting development, he might have accepted.
However, it’s just as plausible that Nintendo’s approach involved legal threats, pressuring him to shut down the project under the weight of potential lawsuits or criminal charges.
This takedown marks the second major Switch emulator Nintendo has targeted, following Yuzu’s shutdown. Without clear legal protections for emulation and game preservation, Nintendo seems intent on continuing its efforts to dismantle emulator projects. The company, often criticized for its reluctance to preserve its own historic game library, shows little tolerance for such initiatives.
It’s easy to understand why Nintendo would target Switch emulators. Even though the system is nearing the end of its lifecycle, it remains a highly successful product, a modern supported system despite launching in early 2017.
The argument could be made that there’s little justification for emulating a platform that’s still available and thriving, beyond the desire to pirate games or run them on more powerful hardware with enhanced graphics, better performance, or custom modifications.
Personally, I don’t care about the moral debate. The fate of the Switch is bound to follow the same path as its predecessors. In 2023, Nintendo shut down the Wii U and 3DS eShops, making it impossible to purchase games exclusive to those systems, some of which may never be released on future consoles.
Nintendo has also aggressively targeted websites that host ROMs to preserve older, unsupported systems, as seen when they pursued legal action against EMU Paradise and ROM Universe. This deliberate effort to suppress game preservation, even for consoles dating back to the NES, paints a clear picture of their stance.
One day, the Nintendo Switch and its exclusive library will become obsolete, much like previous Nintendo consoles, leaving hundreds of games inaccessible through legitimate means.
Whether an emulator is created before or after the console’s retirement is ultimately irrelevant. The Ryujinx developers were working on several promising projects that will now never come to fruition, including a highly functional iOS port, an in-progress Android version, and other improvements aimed at enhancing performance, compatibility, and the overall user experience.
Nintendo’s aggressive protection of its intellectual property has a notorious history. The case of Gary Bowser is a prime example, he spent over a year in prison for selling “circumvention devices” and now owes the company over $14 million in damages, which Nintendo is actively pursuing.
More recently, Nintendo filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against PocketPair, the creators of the indie hit Palworld, over patented game mechanics. Additionally, the company has returned to targeting YouTube content creators, issuing copyright strikes for videos that showcase emulation of its handheld systems.
Retro Game Corps, a popular YouTube channel with over half a million subscribers, covers a wide range of retro gaming systems, with a particular focus on modern handheld devices from brands like AYANEO, Anbernic, and Retroid, which can emulate classic games from previous generations.
As Nintendo continues to phase out the Switch and shut down its remaining mainstream emulation software, it has now shifted its attention to content creators who showcase Nintendo games and systems being emulated on other devices.
As Russ, the channel’s host, lamented, “I love using those games for my hardware demonstrations.” He also noted that he is now “blurring out any Nintendo game content in the videos I’m working on, even harmless content like NES games, just to be safe.”
This precaution will affect the channel’s future content and output.
Nintendo has a notorious reputation for sitting on its intellectual property and doing very little with it, only to slowly release older titles through a subscription model, rather than offering consumers a direct way to purchase them.
A recent example is Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue Team, which was re-released for the Switch in August but is only accessible to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers who opt for the more expensive “Expansion Pack,” which doubles the annual cost of Nintendo’s service subscription for the handheld unit.
The end of Ryujinx’s development will undoubtedly be a loss for many, but it’s unlikely to stop Switch emulation altogether. Ryujinx, which worked across platforms like Windows, macOS, and Linux, made over 3,000 Switch games playable on alternative devices. It was also a key tool for PC gamers looking to pirate games, particularly those protected by Denuvo anti-tamper DRM, as these titles are frequently shared on torrent sites bundled with appropriate emulation software.
This move will no doubt be celebrated by the many Nintendo loyalists on social media who defend and praise the billion-dollar company with religious fervor, much like the uproar over Palworld allegedly stealing Pokémon’s spotlight.
Despite this, Ryujinx, in its most recent iteration, remains highly compatible with the vast majority of the Switch’s library. With forks of Yuzu, such as Suyu and Sudachi, continuing development, the “hydra effect” may soon extend to Ryujinx, where new versions and alternatives spring up in its place.
For the few Switch titles that can’t yet be emulated, it’s only a matter of time before solutions emerge, although disruptions to large-scale community projects like Ryujinx will slow progress.
In the meantime, it’s wise to download and preserve a backup of the latest Ryujinx version, as Nintendo’s relentless pursuit of emulators could soon target others, like Dolphin though, at this point, Dolphin is so mature that it hardly requires further updates.
