How Many Dudes - Switch Port

[besk]

How Many Dudes? – Nintendo Switch Port

An Android ARM64 / GameMaker wrapper running natively on Horizon OS​

Hello everyone!

I’m back with another Android wrapper project for the Nintendo Switch. After working on ports such as Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit, this time I wanted to bring How Many Dudes? by Butterscotch Shenanigans to the Switch.

The game is a great fit for handheld play, and I’m happy to say that the port is now fully playable!

What is this?

This is not an Android installation, Linux build, emulator, decompilation, or recreation of the game.

The port loads the original Android ARM64 GameMaker runner, libyoyo.so, and executes it natively on the Nintendo Switch through a lightweight Android/JNI compatibility layer.

The wrapper provides replacements for the Android functionality required by the game, including:

• EGL/OpenGL ES rendering
• ASTC texture support
• Native Switch audio output
• Video and cutscene playback
• Touch-screen input
• Local save data and preferences
• Suspend and resume handling
• Android filesystem and JNI compatibility

The game runs directly under Horizon OS. Android or Linux is not required.

Touch-screen controls

How Many Dudes? is played entirely using the Nintendo Switch touch screen.

The original mobile interface is designed around tapping, dragging, and directly placing units. I considered adding controller support with a virtual cursor, but it would make the game slower and less comfortable to play.

For this reason, touch input is the intended control method for this port.

• Handheld mode is strongly recommended.
• Joy-Con and Pro Controller input are not implemented.
• Docked output may render, but the game is not practically playable without access to the touch screen.

What works?

• Complete gameplay
• Touch-screen input
• Correct ASTC texture rendering
• Music and sound effects
• In-game videos and cutscenes
• Local saves and preferences
• Suspend and resume
• Automatic handheld and docked resolutions
• High-unit-count battles
• Performance mode during gameplay
• Crash and frame-time logging

The wrapper was also optimized to prevent unnecessary SD-card logging and reduce audio polling overhead. Performance mode remains enabled while the game is in the foreground and is released when the application is suspended or closed.

Requirements

This port currently targets the Android ARM64 version:

Package: com.bscotch.hmd
Build: 100.0.890

Other versions may contain a different GameMaker runner or import surface and are not guaranteed to work.

You must legally obtain the Android version of the game yourself.

Official Google Play page:

How Many Dudes? on Google Play

Installation

The release does not contain the original APK or any copyrighted game assets.

From your legally obtained Android APK, extract:

• lib/arm64-v8a/libyoyo.so
• The complete assets/ folder
• The APK itself, renamed to game.apk

Create the following folder on your SD card:

sdmc:/switch/hmd_nx/

The final folder layout should look like this:

sdmc:/switch/hmd_nx/
├── hmd_nx.nro
├── libyoyo.so
├── game.apk
└── assets/
    ├── game.droid
    ├── options.ini
    ├── localization/
    ├── fonts/
    └── ...

An automatic PowerShell preparation script is also included in the repository:

.\tools\prepare_game.ps1 C:\path\to\how-many-dudes.apk

This extracts the required files and creates a ready-to-copy sd_card/hmd_nx/ folder.

Important: Do not launch the port through Album/Applet mode.

Hold R while opening an installed game to launch the Homebrew Menu using a full title override, then start hmd_nx.

Known limitations

• Controller input is not implemented.
• Google Play Games services are unavailable.
• Cloud saves and Android achievements are unavailable.
• Billing, advertisements, and in-app updates are unavailable.
• Only Android ARM64 build 100.0.890 has been tested.

None of these limitations affect the main offline gameplay.

Download and source code

Download How Many Dudes? NX v1.0.0

Source code and complete installation instructions

NRO SHA-256:

8CA8DFF643C3AC9DFA97C9710887459E23ED035E6C016F71A1FC9F3C14E45EA0

Credits

• Bora Eskicioğlu – Nintendo Switch wrapper and compatibility work
• Butterscotch Shenanigans – creators of How Many Dudes?
• fgsfdsfgs for max_nx
• NaGaa95 for ct_nx
• TheOfficialFloW for pioneering Android .so loading on PlayStation Vita
• Sonic Triple Trouble 16-bit NX, which served as the starting point for this wrapper

Legal notice

This is an unofficial fan-made compatibility wrapper and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Butterscotch Shenanigans, Nintendo, Google, or YoYo Games.

How Many Dudes? and all original game code, artwork, audio, names, and assets belong to Butterscotch Shenanigans and their respective rightsholders.

No APK, libyoyo.so, game.droid, or other copyrighted game asset is included in the release or source repository.

Users must legally obtain the original game from its official source. Piracy is not supported or condoned.

I hope you enjoy it!