## What Nextendo Network is
Nextendo Network is a from-scratch reimplementation of the online services behind several Nintendo Switch games. Its stated goal is to let people keep playing together online on a community-run network. It's a fan project and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo. The project describes itself as the first private server for the Switch and for the Ryujinx emulator, and says there's no Nintendo account and no tracking involved.
Instead of a Nintendo account, you create a free Nextendo account. That account is required for online play and comes with a permanent friend code. The same identity works on the emulator and on a real Switch, so your friends list and profile follow you between them.
## The pieces of the ecosystem
- The servers: replacement versions of the services the games normally talk to, covering matchmaking, rooms, friends and presence.
- Ryujinx-Nextendo: a fork of the Ryujinx emulator with the Nextendo account system and online client built in, so no hosts file edits or SSL bypass are needed. It's configured through environment variables, and an unconfigured build behaves like stock Ryujinx offline.
- Prelude (the .nro): the homebrew app that connects a real Atmosphère console to Nextendo.
- The website, nextendo.network: handles accounts, friends and profiles.
The project says your game history is synced across the Switch, the emulator, the Nextendo app and the website, and that you can see what friends are playing from your console.
## How the network works
A Switch game normally contacts Nintendo's hostnames to sign in, find matches and fetch data. Nextendo works by answering those same requests itself. A console or emulator is pointed at Nextendo's servers through host redirection, and the servers then take over each job the original service did:
- Accounts: an account service handles Nextendo accounts and issues signed ID tokens, standing in for Nintendo's account system.
- Device and application authentication: a separate dauth server handles the device and application sign-in step. The repo describes it as using a self-signed chain rather than Nintendo's.
- Per-game servers: each supported game has its own server, because each game uses its own backend. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and others use NEX secure servers, Splatoon 3 uses a gRPC/HTTP2 service, and Diablo III and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled use Demonware-style servers.
- Routing: an SNI router carries the Demonware traffic to the right place.
- Friends and presence: the in-game "friends online" indicator comes from a Nextendo presence service. Game servers report who is connected to the account service, and consoles read presence from there.
Games also check certificates on their connections, which is why real-hardware setups need patches or trusted certificates so the console accepts Nextendo's servers. The Nextendo servers themselves are stated to ship no Nintendo code or data.
## Supported games
The project's own pages list Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2 (Turf War, Salmon Run, private battles, Splatfests) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The Prelude README also configures Splatoon 3, Super Mario Bros. 35 and Wonder, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled and Diablo III, with explicit entries for several other titles. A Demonware server covers Diablo III, with Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled support contributed by another developer. It has been tested for co-op between a modded Switch and an emulator.
## Running your own server
Nothing about the network is hard-wired. In the emulator, server addresses and the account signing key come from environment variables or a key file, so a build can be pointed at any server. Prelude keeps its redirect addresses in a single file, `source/nextendo_hosts.h`. A related testing project by nx-mod, which rewrites Prelude around new servers for BCAT, title versions and push services, can run the whole stack on a local network. That points to how the project is meant to be hosted by others.
## Where Prelude fits
Prelude is the real-console entry point. You run it from the homebrew menu, choose Nextendo or Nintendo, and it reboots with the matching configuration. Nextendo mode redirects traffic and sets up certificate trust. Nintendo mode removes all of it, so the change is reversible. It's actively developed, with releases roughly weekly, and is licensed under PolyForm Shield 1.0.0, which bars using it for a product that competes with Nextendo Network.
Nextendo Network is a from-scratch reimplementation of the online services behind several Nintendo Switch games. Its stated goal is to let people keep playing together online on a community-run network. It's a fan project and isn't affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo. The project describes itself as the first private server for the Switch and for the Ryujinx emulator, and says there's no Nintendo account and no tracking involved.
Instead of a Nintendo account, you create a free Nextendo account. That account is required for online play and comes with a permanent friend code. The same identity works on the emulator and on a real Switch, so your friends list and profile follow you between them.
## The pieces of the ecosystem
- The servers: replacement versions of the services the games normally talk to, covering matchmaking, rooms, friends and presence.
- Ryujinx-Nextendo: a fork of the Ryujinx emulator with the Nextendo account system and online client built in, so no hosts file edits or SSL bypass are needed. It's configured through environment variables, and an unconfigured build behaves like stock Ryujinx offline.
- Prelude (the .nro): the homebrew app that connects a real Atmosphère console to Nextendo.
- The website, nextendo.network: handles accounts, friends and profiles.
The project says your game history is synced across the Switch, the emulator, the Nextendo app and the website, and that you can see what friends are playing from your console.
## How the network works
A Switch game normally contacts Nintendo's hostnames to sign in, find matches and fetch data. Nextendo works by answering those same requests itself. A console or emulator is pointed at Nextendo's servers through host redirection, and the servers then take over each job the original service did:
- Accounts: an account service handles Nextendo accounts and issues signed ID tokens, standing in for Nintendo's account system.
- Device and application authentication: a separate dauth server handles the device and application sign-in step. The repo describes it as using a self-signed chain rather than Nintendo's.
- Per-game servers: each supported game has its own server, because each game uses its own backend. Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and others use NEX secure servers, Splatoon 3 uses a gRPC/HTTP2 service, and Diablo III and Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled use Demonware-style servers.
- Routing: an SNI router carries the Demonware traffic to the right place.
- Friends and presence: the in-game "friends online" indicator comes from a Nextendo presence service. Game servers report who is connected to the account service, and consoles read presence from there.
Games also check certificates on their connections, which is why real-hardware setups need patches or trusted certificates so the console accepts Nextendo's servers. The Nextendo servers themselves are stated to ship no Nintendo code or data.
## Supported games
The project's own pages list Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2 (Turf War, Salmon Run, private battles, Splatfests) and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The Prelude README also configures Splatoon 3, Super Mario Bros. 35 and Wonder, Metal Gear Solid: Peace Walker, Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled and Diablo III, with explicit entries for several other titles. A Demonware server covers Diablo III, with Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled support contributed by another developer. It has been tested for co-op between a modded Switch and an emulator.
## Running your own server
Nothing about the network is hard-wired. In the emulator, server addresses and the account signing key come from environment variables or a key file, so a build can be pointed at any server. Prelude keeps its redirect addresses in a single file, `source/nextendo_hosts.h`. A related testing project by nx-mod, which rewrites Prelude around new servers for BCAT, title versions and push services, can run the whole stack on a local network. That points to how the project is meant to be hosted by others.
## Where Prelude fits
Prelude is the real-console entry point. You run it from the homebrew menu, choose Nextendo or Nintendo, and it reboots with the matching configuration. Nextendo mode redirects traffic and sets up certificate trust. Nintendo mode removes all of it, so the change is reversible. It's actively developed, with releases roughly weekly, and is licensed under PolyForm Shield 1.0.0, which bars using it for a product that competes with Nextendo Network.
