Earlier this year, Citra, the 3DS emulator, was officially released for Android devices. If you thought that this was the biggest emulator news for Android this year, then you thought wrong. Enter Egg NS: a working Nintendo Switch emulator for Android.

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While it was made publicly available a few days ago, Egg NS was developed over a period of two years by the NXTeam Studios according to the official website. The website also claims that the team is based in the U.S. but that remains to be confirmed especially considering the typos and Chinese texts on the website. The video above is one of the few that are available at the time of writing and have been posted on the official website but GBAtemp member @mattyxarope noted that YouTuber Taki Udon confirmed the existence of Egg NS on Discord (under #android-devices) and shared additional videos (some of which you can see here, here and here). Another YouTuber, ETA Prime, also said that it's a "a legit Switch emulator for Android" and shared a picture of the emulator running Hollow Knight with a video planned for a later release.

GBAtemp member @bylaws who worked on getting Android to run on the Switch noted that Egg NS "uses stolen code from yuzu for the GPU emulation".

According to the official website, Egg NS works on Snapdragon 855, 855+ and 865 phones, with a list of compatible phones available on their website. The catch is that the emulator works specifically with the $100 GameSir X2 controller which is available for preorder, since it apparently provides a code required to run the app. Upon closer look, the Egg NS logo bears some similarity to GameSir's Happy Chick app (the chick inside a cracked egg) which itself runs a number of emulators.

NXTeam Studios has also shared a games compatibility list, detailing the performance of each game they tested. Understandably, less graphically-demanding games like Cuphead and Enter The Gungeon seem to run better in Egg NS, with the exception of Pokemon Sword & Shield which is said to have a "perfect" compatibility.

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Given that Egg NS is an emulator, not all games will run as well as on the native console. You might be better off with a Switch for now but it does show the potential of mobile phones and with time, Egg NS might improve and similar emulators with better performance might even pop up.

@mathew77 already started a discussion thread linked as the source material below. As for Egg NS' website and download links, you can find it from the YouTube videos but aren't shared in this post as they contain links to illegally-shared files.

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[Jayro]

I have phone with snapdragon 855 (one plus 7t) and im not having much issues with Citra... About what games we are talking ? Im using Citra official.

Pokemon Ultra Sun is very laggy for me on Android 10. And on PC it's laggy until I've traversed an area at least once.

 

[GhostLatte]

Sounds like this was made just to squeeze $100 out of people.

 

[Chary]

Following up--the Samsung 8+ seems to like the emulator even less. It crashes on loading the game, and now the emulator refuses to see the XCI after reloading the app. Going to try an NSP now...

Sounds like this was made just to squeeze $100 out of people.

It is actually a very nice mobile controller. It feels good, it's got a solid build. The buttons are really clicky and satisfying, too. When I got it, I assumed it was like $40 at most, though.

 

[mattyxarope]

Following up--the Samsung 8+ seems to like the emulator even less. It crashes on loading the game, and now the emulator refuses to see the XCI after reloading the app. Going to try an NSP now...


It is actually a very nice mobile controller. It feels good, it's got a solid build. The buttons are really clicky and satisfying, too. When I got it, I assumed it was like $40 at most, though.

Could you get us some insight about how the controller generates the code that is needed to start the emulator?

 

[relauby]

View attachment 223481 View attachment 223482 View attachment 223483 View attachment 223484 View attachment 223485

Attempt on the Huawei failed. It notices the game, it tries to play it. but then it crashes back to the menu after playing it for 0fps.

Isn’t playing at 0fps pretty standard for the Switch?

 

[catlover007]

Nah, those never hold up in court.

except they do: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNU_General_Public_License#Legal_status

 

[Chary]

Could you get us some insight about how the controller generates the code that is needed to start the emulator?

In the first screenshot a few pages back I showed. You get this screen that shows “not connected” or something. And the games won’t load or show. Then when you plug the controller in, it says “connected: gamesir” and it shows all the XCIs. I’d like to see what happens when you unplug the controller midgame. But I need something to boot first. Working on that part.

 

[mattyxarope]

In the first screenshot a few pages back I showed. You get this screen that shows “not connected” or something. And the games won’t load or show. Then when you plug the controller in, it says “connected: gamesir” and it shows all the XCIs. I’d like to see what happens when you unplug the controller midgame. But I need something to boot first. Working on that part.

Taki Udon's video shows that it doesn't work once you unplug it and plug it back in again. You have to restart the emulator.

I'd be interested in knowing what the information of the USB device is when it's plugged into the phone.

You should be able to display it using:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=aws.apps.usbDeviceEnumerator

 

[Chary]

Taki Udon's video shows that it doesn't work once you unplug it and plug it back in again. You have to restart the emulator.

I'd be interested in knowing what the information of the USB device is when it's plugged into the phone.

You should be able to display it using:

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=aws.apps.usbDeviceEnumerator

Let me know if there’s anything else I can provide.

 

[Justinde75]

Man this is great. Still remember the day that DraStic released for DS games back then. Played so many games on my phone back then

 

[Deleted User]

An Android running through an Android? That's pretty interesting.

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Someone needs to mod it to remove that controller requirement.

Yeah, never liked GameSir very much. I'd rather take HORI or MadCatz (RIP).

 

[diggeloid]

I don't like this. This is going to lead to a huge increase in piracy for a current-gen, relatively young console.

also...

The catch is that the emulator works specifically with the $100 GameSir X2 controller which is available for preorder, since it apparently provides a code required to run the app.

Holy shit. That is some next level scumbaggery. They're making people pay to use an app built to play stolen games. I hope Nintendo sues the hell out of these people.

 

[bodefuceta]

I'll say this as many times as I need to, until it's as clear as purified water:

You can't "steal" software. That's like stealing those AOL CDs that grocery stores gave out for free. Or stealing the newspapers that say "free, take one."

 

[matpower]

Okay, it is not stealing, it is copyright infringement, you know what those people meant.

 

[Bladexdsl]

FAKE

it's REAL. do you know how easy it is to emulate the switch? it's just a dumbed down fucking nvidia shield the switch is basically a portable android tablet with two crappy joycons stuck to the side that break easily!

 

[LightBeam]

I'll say this as many times as I need to, until it's as clear as purified water:

You can't "steal" software. That's like stealing those AOL CDs that grocery stores gave out for free. Or stealing the newspapers that say "free, take one."

You can repeat it as much as you want. it doesn't mean that's true. I mean, at most it could be as clear as morning pee but that's it.

 

[gudenau]

Nah, those never hold up in court.

They have.

 

[RedBlueGreen]

You can repeat it as much as you want. it doesn't mean that's true. I mean, at most it could be as clear as morning pee but that's it.

Technically he's right, nothing is being stolen since the Yuzu team doesn't lose their code. At most it's a license violation.

 

[Silent_Gunner]

So you are saying I can put Android onto the Switch to emulate the Switch?

Big brain time!

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Still, are they that lazy that they can't support more than one controller?

 

[Tom Bombadildo]

Big brain time!

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Still, are they that lazy that they can't support more than one controller?

It's not laziness, they're forcing you to buy their controller so they can make money.