How to play Nintendo Switch games on PC and Android?

Nintendo Switch has become the standard for portable gaming. However, it can no longer run the latest games properly due to its limited hardware. So, this is how you can play Nintendo Switch games on PC and Android using Yuzu emulator.

You can also use other emulators like “Ryujinx or Cemu” to play Nintendo Switch games on PC. These emulators are fairly stable, but we found Yuzu to be the best in our tests. On the other hand, Android emulation can be tricky due to compatibility and hardware issues. You may experience frequent game crashes.

Check out our other articles for more emulator guides.

Yuzu emulator settings

1. Download and install the latest versions of Microsoft Visual C++ from here (if you haven’t already).

2. Download the latest version of Yuzu emulator from here.

3. Install the emulator by running the yuzu_install.exe file in your download section.

Run Nintendo Switch games on Yuzu emulator

1. To load Nintendo Switch games on Yuzu emulator, you will need Yuzu keys.

Note: To get Yuzu Keys, you can empty them from your Nintendo Switch console or search “Yuzu Keys” on Google (although we don’t recommend it).

2. Once you get the keystore from Yuzu, move it to C:Users*Username*AppDataRoamingyuzukeys.

3. To add games, press Ctrl+O or double click on the emulator.

4. Now navigate to the folder where you downloaded your Nintendo Switch games.

5. You can get game files by emptying the Nintendo Switch game cartridge. You can also download them online by searching for them on Google (although we don’t recommend them). These files will be in the form of .xci files

6. You can also download mods for Nintendo Switch games from the Official Yuzu Mod Site.

Note: You can check which Nintendo Switch games are working properly on the Yuzu emulator by going to its Game compatibility list.

Yuzu emulator hardware requirements

CPU:

Any x86_64 processor that supports the FMA instruction set. 6 or more threads are recommended.

• Minimum: Intel Core i5-4430 / AMD Ryzen 3 1200
• Recommended: Intel Core i5-10400 / AMD Ryzen 5 3600

Dedicated letter:

Hardware and drivers compatible with OpenGL 4.6 and Vulkan 1.1 are required. Semi-floating media and 4 GB of VRAM are recommended.

• Minimum for Linux: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2 Go / AMD Radeon R7 240 2 Go
• Minimum for Windows: NVIDIA GeForce GT 1030 2 Go / AMD Radeon RX 550 2 Go
• Recommended: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1650 4 Go / AMD Radeon RX Vega 56 8 Go

Notice: Change the Yuzu graphics settings to Open GL or Vulcan if you are using an Nvidia or AMD graphics card, respectively.

Integrated graphics:

Integrated graphics will produce very poor performance. A dedicated GPU will produce better results in all scenarios. This is just to list iGPU support.

• Minimum for Linux: Intel HD Graphics 5300 / AMD Radeon R5
• Minimum for Windows: Intel HD Graphics 520 / AMD Radeon Vega 3
• Recommended: Intel UHD Graphics 750 / AMD Radeon Vega 7

RAM:

Since an integrated GPU uses system RAM as video memory (VRAM), our memory requirements in this configuration are higher.

• Minimum with dedicated graphics card: 8 GB
• Minimum with integrated graphics card: 12 GB
• Recommended: 16GB

How to emulate Nintendo Switch games on Android

NS Egg Emulator

Android emulation is a bit tricky because most games don’t work properly. It’s rare to see more than 30 FPS in most titles, even with a high-end smartphone. You will need a smartphone with a powerful chipset to run these games (Snapdragon 845 or higher).

Currently, the emulator is not available on any app store and needs to be downloaded from its official website. You can learn how to install the emulator by reading this Quick Start Guide where to look this video. As this is a closed source application, we recommend that you use it only after evaluating the risks.