Unlike the original Nintendo Switch, which saw both Yuzu and Ryujinx released within about a year of the console's launch, don't expect an emulator for the Nintendo Switch 2 to come out anytime soon. This doesn't seem to be in the cards at the moment unless a big step forward in Switch 2 piracy is made relatively quickly.
As first discovered by GamesRadar, the two Switch 2 emulators in development (Oboromi and Pound) have updated their GitHub pages to note that development is nowhere near complete. In particular, Pound, a self-described “early stage emulator,” wrote, “This project won't be ready for at least 10 years!”
Elsewhere, Oboromi notes that this is “based on an ongoing emulator for Nintendo Switch 2,” but there's nothing to report yet regarding actually running Switch 2 ROMs. Admittedly, 10 years may be an exaggeration, but considering how hard Nintendo fought to remove and eradicate the original Switch emulator, it's not all that surprising that pirates haven't yet made a serious dent in the development of emulators for the Switch 2.
That said, that hasn't stopped malicious actors from continuing to dump recently released ROMs. Pokémon Legends: ZA was able to keep copies of the game online for pirates to access before customers even paid for it.
At one point, pirates thought Switch 2 piracy was going to happen any minute now.
In July, a little over a month after the Switch 2 was released, a group began sharing that they had begun the process of emulating Switch 2 games and that their titles had reached the rendering stage. The Hassaku emulator claimed that it has done quite a bit of work, using Donkey Kong Bananza as an example to prove that it has become the world's first Switch 2 emulator.
Except, Switch 2 ROMs weren't available at that point, and many in the piracy community believed the “proof of work” shared online was a complete fake, supposedly rendered as a video file playing on a grainy background. Some have even gone so far as to claim that Hassaku is a rebrand of the previously exposed failed Switch 2 emulator.
Whatever the case, there's still no Switch 2 emulator, and if what these developers say is surprising, don't expect one any time soon.
- brand
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nintendo
- original release date
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June 5, 2025
- Original MSRP (USD)
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$449.99
- operating system
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ownership
- solve
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1080p (portable) / 4K (docked)
- HDR support
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yes
