Switch 2 Uses Emulation :p

[Skeet1983]

Hi guys. I read an article recently, and found it funny with what Nintendo did with the Switch 2: For Switch 1 games, the article stated that they don't run natively on the Switch 2 due to the Hardware, so the big N had to make their own Emulator inside the Switch 2 to be able to run Switch 1 games. I just found that funny since Nintendo is so against Emulation

Your guy's thoughts on this?

 

[linuxares]

It was kind of obvious?

 

[ut2k4master]

have you been living under a rock? theyve used emulation on every system since at least the n64

 

[grootus]

Switch 2 uses emulation for Switch 1 games and Gamecube/Wii games.

 

[Deleted member 702243]

people keep saying "nintendo against emulation" like it's some kind of gotcha

 

[fst312]

Eventually we will probably find out the emulator is yuzu, just got to wait till it the system gets hacked but Nintendo version of it.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

Hi guys. I read an article recently, and found it funny with what Nintendo did with the Switch 2: For Switch 1 games, the article stated that they don't run natively on the Switch 2 due to the Hardware, so the big N had to make their own Emulator inside the Switch 2 to be able to run Switch 1 games. I just found that funny since Nintendo is so against Emulation

Your guy's thoughts on this?

I feel I need to fill in a bit here as this is rather misleading. It's not the full kind of emulation we are seeing on PC. According to their website they are basically using what is known as HLE or High Level Emulation.

See most emulators use LLE or Low Level Emulation, which is the process of creating software that mimics the functionality of hardware. The major downside of LLE is it requires significantly more powerful hardware to run than what you are trying to emulate. But iut has the positive of being much more accurate.

However if you read their website (which it seems nobody did) they clearly state they are 'translating" them on a software level which is basically what HLE is. HLE instead of mimicking the original hardware is basically translating the instruction sets to something that the new hardware can understand. This results in less accurate emulation and requires a lot more game specific work but takes significantly less processing power.

And for those who want proof... they quite literally say it on their website and go rather in-depth on the topic:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/ask-the-developer-vol-16-nintendo-switch-2-part-4/

 

[Skeet1983]

I feel I need to fill in a bit here as this is rather misleading. It's not the full kind of emulation we are seeing on PC. According to their website they are basically using what is known as HLE or High Level Emulation.

See most emulators use LLE or Low Level Emulation, which is the process of creating software that mimics the functionality of hardware. The major downside of LLE is it requires significantly more powerful hardware to run than what you are trying to emulate. But iut has the positive of being much more accurate.

However if you read their website (which it seems nobody did) they clearly state they are 'translating" them on a software level which is basically what HLE is. HLE instead of mimicking the original hardware is basically translating the instruction sets to something that the new hardware can understand. This results in less accurate emulation and requires a lot more game specific work but takes significantly less processing power.

And for those who want proof... they quite literally say it on their website and go rather in-depth on the topic:
https://www.nintendo.com/us/whatsnew/ask-the-developer-vol-16-nintendo-switch-2-part-4/

View attachment 497198View attachment 497199

Thank you for the clarification. I didn't know that there were different types of Emulation.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

Thank you for the clarification. I didn't know that there were different types of Emulation.

Basically nobody refers to a compatibility layer has HLE but in this case it was stated as such likely just due to poor understanding from reporters.

 

[linuxares]

Basically nobody refers to a compatibility layer has HLE but in this case it was stated as such likely just due to poor understanding from reporters.

Yuzu uses HLE, so no surprise there. Ryujinx is suppose to be more LLE but it seem to use HLE as well.

 

[Viri]

I'm pretty sure Switch 2 is going to use something for Switch 1 that is more similar to WINE or ProtonDB than a random emulator. Sometimes the games running on ProtonDB run better on that, than Windows. lol

Someone tried to do something similar for Vita -> Switch, but made little to no progress.
https://github.com/xerpi/vita2hos

 

[Moogley]

Nintendo is not against emulation. This is important to understand. They're against people accessing any of their content without the permission of their current revenue model.

This was the case with Iwata too btw. The difference was that Iwata believed in making the official experience preferable to emulation and current Nintendo believes in being the only option so quality is no longer a factor.

Case in point: Mother 1 getting an official ENG translation and being released on Wii U's virtual console for people to OWN, vs modern Nintendo "leasing" Japanese Roms to people on NSO WITHOUT TRANSLATIONS lol.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

Yuzu uses HLE, so no surprise there. Ryujinx is suppose to be more LLE but it seem to use HLE as well.

Yeah a mix of HLE and LLE is expected from modern emulators since we are working with at most ARM vs x86.

Post automatically merged: Apr 12, 2025

Nintendo is not against emulation. This is important to understand. They're against people accessing any of their content without the permission of their current revenue model.

This was the case with Iwata too btw. The difference was that Iwata believed in making the official experience preferable to emulation and current Nintendo believes in being the only option so quality is no longer a factor.

Case in point: Mother 1 getting an official ENG translation and being released on Wii U's virtual console for people to OWN, vs modern Nintendo "leasing" Japanese Roms to people on NSO WITHOUT TRANSLATIONS lol.

Yeah this is 100% it. It's just they don't do an amazing job of keeping a lot of their content accessible.

 

[MysticStarlight]

Wait i'm a little lost, so the Switch 1 games don't run natively on Switch 2?

 

[linuxares]

Wait i'm a little lost, so the Switch 1 games don't run natively on Switch 2?

No, they will run through some kind of emulation layer. Probably a translation layer.

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

Wait i'm a little lost, so the Switch 1 games don't run natively on Switch 2?

Different GPU architecture Maxwell -> Ampere. From their article it appears they are using a translation layer to convert the calls designed for the Maxwell chip into something the Ampere chip can understand. Basically identical to how the PS5 backwards compat works

 

[balemoc]

Hi guys. I read an article recently, and found it funny with what Nintendo did with the Switch 2: For Switch 1 games, the article stated that they don't run natively on the Switch 2 due to the Hardware, so the big N had to make their own Emulator inside the Switch 2 to be able to run Switch 1 games. I just found that funny since Nintendo is so against Emulation

Your guy's thoughts on this?

...reverse engineering that NS2NS1 emulator would be nice for the community.
The titles and hardware renew so fast ...my backlog goes back at least 20years.

I've bought too many Nintendo Switch titles I can't even be bothered to play them now ...(I pretty sure I'm just a hoarder of games ...and I like the cover art - just like I do records - and also book covers)

 

[RyanTheArchivist]

...reverse engineering that NS2NS1 emulator would be nice for the community.
The titles and hardware renew so fast ...my backlog goes back at least 20years.

I've bought too many Nintendo Switch titles I can't even be bothered to play them now ...(I pretty sure I'm just a hoarder of games ...and I like the cover art - just like I do records - and also book covers)

That's not exactly how that works. This compatibility layer is designed to specifically run on the Switch 2 hardware. The most it could be used for is running Switch 1 games on a future Switch 2 emulator.

 

[DuoForce]

have you been living under a rock? theyve used emulation on every system since at least the n64

Wii had native GC support. Wii U had a Wii inside for native support

 

[balemoc]

That's not exactly how that works. This compatibility layer is designed to specifically run on the Switch 2 hardware. The most it could be used for is running Switch 1 games on a future Switch 2 emulator.

Oh really. Pity

I've always wondered: If the hacking/modding community gets a hold of a dev kit, would that open up some better homebrews.

I just want a new music player with a visualiser like the PSP/PS3 did.