The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening DX HD
Alek's Ultimate NX Edition
Native Switch homebrew port · 60 fps · Flip Grip + touch second screen
Hey everyone. After Minish Cap and A Link to the Past, here's the third Alek's Ultimate edition: a native Switch homebrew port of bighead's Link's Awakening DX HD (the fan HD remake, v2.0.8). Not an emulator — it's the game's own C# code compiled with NativeAOT for the Switch.
Features
- 60 fps in handheld, no overclock — renders at 720p (the screen's real resolution). 1080p mode available for dock (30 fps).
- Flip Grip / portrait mode (
L + R + X): game on top in 4:3, DS-style companion panel below. - Touch companion panel with four tabs:
- Quest — instruments, seashells, golden leaves, heart pieces, photos, the 14-step trading sequence, and a "next step" story guide worked out from your inventory.
- Map / Dungeon — auto-switches to the dungeon map when you enter one.
- Items — tap an item to put it on A, or drag it onto any button (A/B/X/Y, L/R with 6-button mode).
- Settings — fps limit, resolution, HUD, blur, Flip Grip, and an "optimized settings" preset.
- Switch options inside the game's own menu — Pause → Settings → Video.
- Panel in English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, German and Italian.
- Zero new art — everything on the panel is drawn from the game's own sprites and fonts.
Requirements & install
- Switch with Atmosphère. Launch via title override (hold R on a game), not from the Album.
- Your own copy of Link's Awakening DX HD v1.0.0 + bighead's LADXHD Patcher v2.0.8. No game assets are distributed.
- Run the patcher with Platform: Windows, Target: OpenGL →
Content/andData/. - Copy
ProjectZ.Switch.nro+Content/+Data/tosdmc:/switch/zelda-ladxhd/. Done.
Download
Release v1.0.0: https://github.com/Alexgg1014/The-L...lek-s-Ultimate-NX-Edition/releases/tag/v1.0.0
Repo, README (EN/ES) and source: https://github.com/Alexgg1014/The-Legend-of-Zelda-Link-s-Awakening-DX-HD-Alek-s-Ultimate-NX-Edition
Known issues
- 1080p mode holds 30 fps (GPU bound); 720p is the default and hits 60.
- Story guide and the Video-menu options are EN/ES only (the panel itself has 6 languages).
- Docked mode is untested; Flip Grip is a handheld feature.
Transparency
This was built with Claude (Anthropic) as a coding assistant — the Switch layer, the NativeAOT/libnx crash hunting and the render fixes came out of pair-programming sessions, with me directing, testing every build on real hardware and making the calls. The cover was AI-generated and hand-edited. If something breaks it's on me, please report it (GitHub issues or this thread).
Credits
bighead — ladxhd_updated, the HD remake and its patcher · delsonazevedo — Zelda-LA-DX-HD-Updated, the first Switch port of LADXHD, which this edition started from · MonoGame, devkitPro/libnx, SDL2, Mesa · The Alek's Ultimate editions of Minish Cap and ALttP, donors of the second-screen design.
Not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.
