After a period of hiatus, Lakka's L4T-based Switch port has been updated once more with some brand new goodies for everyone to enjoy!

Four additional cores are now available, specifically Mame 2010, OpenLara, Genesis Plus GX (previously removed due to technical issues) and, last but not least, Play! PS2 emulator. About the last one, while having a PS2 emulator running on a Switch is very, very interesting even in itself, you shouldn't expect it to run your favourite games flawlessly or at full speed just yet as it's still slow and experimental. Talking about more stable stuff, a good number of other cores have also been updated, with mupen64plus-next sporting better game compatibility thanks to a recent rebase, Dolphin and PPSSPP getting more options (and improved compatibility for the latter, plus the default audio driver has been changed to avoid freezes while running it), PRBoom adding support for John Romero's Sigil and miscellaneous fixes for PCSX-ReARMed. RetroArch has received a general update as well.

But it doesn't stop there! A couple of quality of life features have also been thrown into the mix, as Lakka L4T is now able to shut down the system without going back to RCM and the battery charges more quickly - both of which can be handy if you like to carry your Switch around.

Here is the full official changelog, quoted from the official thread:

Core updates:

• New core: Play! PS2 emulator (experimental, quite slow for now)
• New core: mame2010
• New core: Genesis Plus GX; the core is back and now default for Sega consoles
• New core: openlara, an open source Tomb Raider engine
• mupen64plus-next: the core has been rebased against latest GLideN64, fixing compatiblity with the few games that were still broken (including Yoshi's Island 64)
• Dolphin: the core has been updated with new core options (BBOX, texture cache accuracy)
• PPSSPP: the core has been updated with a new core option, IO Timing, as well as an improved games compatibility
• PCSX-ReARMed: the core has been updated
• FBAlpha has been renamed FBNeo
• Reicast has been renamed Flycast
• PRBoom: the core has been updated and now supports sigil.wad

System:

• There is now a Shutdown menu entry to properly shutdown the console from Lakka without the need to go back to RCM
  
• RetroArch has been updated
• The default audio driver is now alsathread - that fixes PPSSPP hard freezing when opening the menu / closing content
• The Switch now charges faster in Lakka

A download link can be found in the sources below. You can find a guide on how to install Lakka L4T on your Switch here, while you should follow these instructions to update it. It's recommended to delete the old config before booting (located at microSD:\lakka\storage\.config\retroarch\retroarch.cfg) or you may run into issues.

Source
Official GBAtemp thread

 

[Josshy0125]

No controller bug fixes? :/
Xbox One S controller does not work, wired or wireless. My 3rd party controller I bought for this doesn't work wirelessly, only wired.
With the XboneS controller (wired) or the 3rd party controller (wireless), the analog input rails so navigating menus is impossible. Oh well.

How are you wiring a controller to it, if it can't be docked?

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Kind of sucks that the compatibility list doesn't list if it is an ARM device that is being used or an X86. that would make it much better.

Yes it would haha! Seems like the core is completely broken to me. It hasn't loaded any game I've tried. Let me try another and I'll report back.

 

[IncredulousP]

How are you wiring a controller to it, if it can't be docked?

Ah, I missed the switch part. Dang, I thought Lakka itself was updated.

 

[Cryzzgrantham]

Worth the wait imo. So this ps2 emulation, will it one day play our favourite games at a playable speed?

 

[Josshy0125]

Worth the wait imo. So this ps2 emulation, will it one day play our favourite games at a playable speed?

The switch is more than capable of doing so, so id assume yeah. But there are other hurdles that need to he overcome. But as long as its being worked on, it has the potential to be playable at full speed.

 

[rufuszombot]

I'm still having a problem with a black screen after trying to load Lakka with the latest Hekate.

 

[Cryzzgrantham]

The switch is more than capable of doing so, so id assume yeah. But there are other hurdles that need to he overcome. But as long as its being worked on, it has the potential to be playable at full speed.

That’s all I needed to hear, thanks matey!

 

[Josshy0125]

That’s all I needed to hear, thanks matey!

You got it! I know right now most (excluding, I suppose, Play!*?) aren't compatible with ARM or whatever, so it'll take some work, but as far as feats go, the switch is more than powerful enough to do so. We just need someone to put in the effort.

 

[Working_Goose]

I cant play with my 8bitdo controller over bluetooth, right?
My left joy con is broken.. i guess no lakka for me

 

[Josshy0125]

I cant play with my 8bitdo controller over bluetooth, right?
My left joy con is broken.. i guess no lakka for me

Unfortunately not yet:/

Anyone try some ps2 games yet? None of mine worked at all

 

[spotanjo3]

Wow. I can't wait to use Dolphin on Switch. For now, I will stay away from it until it is further more improvement. Keep up the good work!

 

[Josshy0125]

Wow. I can't wait to use Dolphin on Switch. For now, I will stay away from it until it is further more improvement. Keep up the good work!

It works well on lakka.

 

[spotanjo3]

It works well on lakka.

Yeah. That's good to know but I will wait a little bit longer. Thanks.

 

[Josshy0125]

Yeah. That's good to know but I will wait a little bit longer. Thanks.

Whatever floats your canoe!

 

[spotanjo3]

Whatever floats your canoe!

Right. It is getting better and better. That's amazing!

 

[EmulateLife]

Worth the wait imo. So this ps2 emulation, will it one day play our favourite games at a playable speed?

I wouldn't hold your breath, but anything is possible I guess. Play! is in it's early stages. I feel like PCSX2 would have a better chance of running games at full speed, but it may not be possible to port that to Lakka.

 

[Josshy0125]

Right. It is getting better and better. That's amazing!

I agree!

 

[spotanjo3]

I wouldn't hold your breath, but anything is possible I guess. Play! is in it's early stages. I feel like PCSX2 would have a better chance of running games at full speed, but it may not be possible to port that to Switch.

I think they will once they are force to change from 32bit to 64 bit.

 

[Basketto]

Edit:
no PS2 games i have tried work so far, ive freshly installed both files on a reformatted FAT32 micro usb. It just gets a black screen for a few seconds and returns to retroarch. Possibly a RAM issue? Or possibly you need a certain microsd/cluster size? Can anyone list anything they have managed to run?

 

[silver95]

did someone do a test of tenkaichi 3 ?? How does fat32 work?

 

[Josshy0125]

Edit:
no PS2 games i have tried work so far, ive freshly installed both files on a reformatted FAT32 micro usb. It just gets a black screen for a few seconds and returns to retroarch. Possibly a RAM issue? Or possibly you need a certain microsd/cluster size? Can anyone list anything they have managed to run?

Me too! This is what I'm saying. I mentioned somewhere elsewhere, and I got a bunch of people being assholes for no reason. Fucking horrible internet assholes. Fucked me off.

And to the other guy, I'm testing Tenkaichi 3 now. I'm not optimstic based upon the other games not working, either..

Edit. NOPE. Black screen then crash to menu, too. Fuck those idiots who told me I'm an idiot and stupid for saying it isn't working. It fucking isn't.