Choosing an emulator can be a difficult task, especially when you’re looking for an emulator that can emulate something like the Nintendo Switch. This is a notoriously difficult task, with the Nintendo Switch being a hybrid console. That naturally brings a bunch of challenges to the table for developers, all of whom have to try and make sure that games function properly.
When choosing the best Nintendo Switch emulators, there are a few different factors that need to be taken into consideration. For starters, the number of games that can be played from start to finish is something that all gamers will consider. Then there’s the overall quality of the emulator and the graphics and audio that it offers. Luckily, we’ve rounded up some of the best Nintendo Switch emulators so that you don’t have to.
Yuzu
Arguably the best Nintendo Switch emulator, Yuzu is popular around the world. This emulator offers users high performance, a brilliant gaming experience and minimal issues, as long as their own computer specs can keep up. When you’re using an emulator, it’s worth investing in a really good graphics card so that you don’t have to worry about this.
For us, the best thing about Yuzu is the sheer number of games that are available on the platform. With an ever-updating compatibility list of games, you can find out exactly which games function perfectly. These are games that have no glitches and play just as well as they would on an actual Nintendo Switch.
Ryujinx
Nestled closely behind Yuzu, you can find Ryujinx. This open-source Nintendo Switch emulator is quickly becoming one of our favorites. Regardless of whether you’re running Windows, Linux or MacOS, you should be able to use Ryujinx with minimal problems.
While there are a few issues with certain games, we’re happy to report that the team of developers behind Ryujinx are currently working on expanding their library and fixing minor problems. Some of our favorite Ryujinx games that play perfectly include Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Maker 2 and Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX.
Cemu
While we don’t believe that Cemu is quite as good as Yuzu or Ryujinx just yet, we do believe that it will catch up with them in no time at all. This emulator is still relatively new, but it offers a modern and easy to use interface that you don’t really see with other emulators.
Please note, Cemu is actually a Wii U emulator, but it deserves a spot on this list due to the crossover with some of the games. If you’re looking to play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Cemu is the emulator that we would immediately recommend. This highly recommended game is a dream to play and it seems to work perfectly with Cemu.
NSEmu
While NSEmu isn’t as good as Yuzu or Ryujinx, we would happily recommend it to anyone who is looking to emulate a couple of Nintendo Switch games. NSEmu is still new when compared to other Nintendo Switch emulators, but it is capable of running most .nso file format games.
When playing games on NSEmu, you might encounter a couple of issues. It is a stable beta release, but there are still bugs and only a couple of games are perfectly playable. For most commercial games, we would recommend either Yuzu or Ryujinx.
SphiNX
A relative newcomer to the game, SphiNX is a very experimental Nintendo Switch emulator. We wouldn’t recommend downloading it if Yuzu or Ryujinx suit your needs, but it’s definitely worth a try if you like experimenting with new emulators.
At this moment in time, SphiNX is only available for Windows 7, Windows 8 and Windows 10. In the future, the developer is hoping to bring it to both MacOS and Linux. It doesn’t currently run any commercial games, but they are hoping to have it running them in the future. While this might not seem like the best emulator, it’s one that we’re interested in watching to see how it grows.