Horizon Linux: arm64 Linux patched to run programs for the Nintendo Switch

[Worldblender]

This is a project (not one that I created) that patches the mainline arm64 Linux kernel to let it natively run Nintendo Switch games and programs natively, like what Wine does for Windows programs. The goal of this project is to enable Nintendo Switch games and programs to run natively on any arm64 hardware, including but not limited to, most recent Mac hardware, single-board computers, smartphones, and tablets, all if they have arm64 hardware.

The project repositories:

• https://github.com/kentjhall/horizon-linux - the patched Linux kernel based on version 5.19.0 as of this post
• https://github.com/kentjhall/mizu - the middleware loader, based on a stripped-down Yuzu emulator

The author of this repository, kentjhall, has an extensive writeup about this project at .
I'll summarize some main points from that post here.

• The author made this software in hopes of finding a way to run Nintendo Switch games on his MacBook (that likely uses either Apple's M1 or M2 architecture) without the x86 translation layer.
• It's alpha quality software, not yet suitable for daily usage.
• So far, it can run some homebrew demos/games, and one commercial game, Puyo Puyo Tetris.
• Part of this project is based on the Yuzu emulator, removing the kernel/CPU emulation, but keeping the system services, GPU emulation, and program loader. This result is called Mizu - it runs as a systemd service under this patched Linux kernel.
• It seems that this project uses preemptive scheduling from the Linux kernel, rather than the cooperative scheduling from the official Horizon OS found on real Nintendo Switch hardware. This may break any games that rely on this cooperative scheduling.

Some demo videos:

• Horizon apps running under virtualized Fedora Rawhide - https://reddit.com/link/wntio3/video/cpnn7kdyrkh91/player
• Horizon apps running under virtualized Fedora Rawhide with software rendering - https://reddit.com/link/wntio3/video/1scb5csmtkh91/player
• Puyo Puyo Tetris running an Nvidia Jetson Nano - https://reddit.com/link/wntio3/video/iyltghcrk8h91/player

If these videos don't work, here are some YouTube videos:

I've been hoping for a project like this for a while, and I'm glad someone has decided to take initiative with such an idea. I look forward to seeing where this project will go next.

 

[Imancol]

It won't take long before Romstation used this.

 

[Cybereu]

Such a great project !
Congrats