A new Nintendo Switch emulator has arrived! Yuzu Android dropped onto Google Play today, and those mourning the loss of Skyline’s development might yet find a new home sooner than they thought.
Not long ago we covered the end of development of the popular Nintendo Switch emulator for Android, Skyline. The end of the project was a disappointment for many emulation fans. We’ve covered a new project working on Skyline’s framework, Strato, though that’s still very much in development.
An Established Emulator Makes The Jump To Android
Now, the established emulator Yuzu has released an Android version. It’s open source, has an extensive list of titles already tested, and is available via Google Play.
If you want to make use of Yuzu, you’ll need a fairly good device. A minimum of Android 11 is needed for the app itself, and you will need around 8GB of RAM to run much, such is the price we pay for emulation.
Yuzu takes a similar approach to Skyline in terms of free and paid content. The base version of Yuzu is available for free via Google Play. You can pick it up and you don’t need to worry about ads or in-app purchases.
If you want to be on the cutting edge though, you can opt for the premium option. Yuzu Early Access is a paid-for option that is fairly modestly priced but gives access to the newest features before they hit the main build.
Emulation Needs A Bit More Than Downloading An App
If you’re not clued in on the world of emulation and its pitfalls, it’s worth clarifying what the Yuzu site and Google Play listings point out. If you want to play Switch games on an Android emulator, you need to dump your own game files from legal copies of Switch games.
This itself is perhaps a thorny legal issue, as Nintendo’s DMCA claim against lockpick_RCM that we mentioned in our Skyline piece, demonstrated. The release of the Android version implies that the Yuzu team feels confident that the emulator development won’t stop in the immediate future.
If you want to read more about the Yuzu Android version, the official site has a great blog post that explains its capabilities and plans for the future.
If you’d like to hear about other promising Switch projects, check out our news piece on the development of Strato.
