First Nintendo Switch 2 Emulator Released for PC and Mac

Following a recent jailbreak of the Nintendo Switch 2, the first emulators for the console have been released, allowing games to run on PC and Mac hardware.

PC Emulation and NVIDIA DLSS 5

According to reports from Wccftech, the Nintendo Switch 2 was jailbroken last month, which enabled game dumping and subsequent emulation on PC. One developer, ChillyWillMD, shared a video of "Mario Kart World" running on PC using NVIDIA DLSS 5 neural rendering.

While the game was shown running at 60 FPS on PC using an Intel Core i9-13900K and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5060 Ti, the visual results of the neural rendering were noted as significant. Wccftech reports that the lighting changes provided by NVIDIA DLSS 5 make the game look "almost as if the gameplay belonged to a sequence from one of the Super Mario movies, and not from a Nintendo Switch 2 launch game."

However, some visual issues remain. Wccftech notes that "Nintendo's weird aversion to anti-aliasing delivers some jagged visuals, especially in character models," and that light from kart headlights can look "very noisy."

Eden-NX2 and Early Testing

On October 31, 2026, DSOGaming reported the release of Eden-NX2, which appears to be the first Nintendo Switch 2 emulator for PC. The tool is a fork of Eden, which was previously used for the original Nintendo Switch.

According to John Papadopoulos of DSOGaming, the emulator is currently in an "early test stage" and is not yet ready for smooth play or high image quality. The following games have been reported to run on the emulator:

• Mario Kart World: Can be launched and run, though it reportedly has "a lot of stutters" and "speed is also far from ideal."
• Donkey Kong: Bananza: Can be launched and run, but suffers from "poor speed" and cannot reach 60 FPS at this time.

DSOGaming notes that the development of these emulators may be linked to the recent jailbreak of the console, which reportedly involved the use of AI to assist in the hacking process.

Nxnative and Mac Compatibility

In addition to PC, Nintendo Switch games can now run on Mac via a tool called Nxnative. According to XDA-Developers, Nxnative runs Switch game ARM64 code on iPhone, iPad, and Mac by rebuilding Switch graphics on Metal.

Nxnative acts as a compatibility layer that uses high-level emulation (HLE) to recreate Horizon system services, such as memory management and filesystem access. It also utilizes work from other projects, including Ryujinx for its shader translator and Yuzu for its "Maxwell instruction encodings for the shader reference tool, and a cross-check for kernel behavior."

Key details regarding Nxnative include:

• Compatibility: Approximately 85 Switch titles are already compatible, including "Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Super Mario Odyssey, and Tears of the Kingdom."
• Performance: Some games support higher frame rates and render scaling, though most run at the same frame rates as the original Switch. For example, "Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom runs at 30fps and drops frames frequently."
• Requirements: Users must build each .app or .ipa via the command line, Xcode 27.1, and Homebrew.
• Switch 2 Support: A fork of Nxnative recently successfully ran the Switch 2 title "Mario Kart World" on a Mac.

As noted by seedds on the project's GitHub repository, "Nothing from any game is in this repository, and the project is not affiliated with Nintendo or any game publisher."

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Sources

• wccftech.com: NVIDIA DLSS 5 In Mario Kart World Shows A Glimpse Of The Future, As Nintendo Switch 2 Emulated Game Looks Almost Like An Animated Movie
• dsogaming.com: The First Nintendo Switch 2 Emulator for PC Has Just Been Released
• xda-developers.com: Nintendo Switch games can now run on Mac thanks to a Wine-like tool, and 85 titles are already compatible

This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.