How to Play Nintendo Switch Games on PC with Ryujinx Emulator (2024)

Key Takeaways

  • The Nintendo Switch, released in 2017, remains popular due to its diverse game lineup, driving many PC gamers to emulate it using Ryujinx, a leading emulator.
  • Ryujinx, an open-source project, has evolved since its 2018 launch to run around 3,400 Switch games, but it requires decent hardware and regular updates to handle new releases and game updates.
  • Despite legal challenges that shut down competitors like Yuzu, Ryujinx continues to be actively developed and serves as a reliable option for Switch emulation, provided users legally own their games.

The Nintendo Switch was released in March 2017 as the successor to the Nintendo 3DS; more than 7 years ago. While Nintendo has said they will announce a successor to the Switch next year, it still going to be a long wait. Thankfully, Nintendo is still keeping us pre-occupied with new game releases on the Switch.

One thing’s for sure; the Switch has a great game lineup. First-party exclusives, ports of popular franchises, and delightful indie releases; all combine to create one of the most diverse game libraries any console could hope for. That’s why many PC gamers want to emulate the Nintendo Switch; because the exclusives are just so good. So if you’re one of those gamers, you must’ve come across the name Ryujinx.

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Table of Contents

  • What is the Ryujinx Emulator?
  • The State of Switch Emulation
  • How To Play Games on the Ryujinx Emulator
    • ↪ Requirements and Prerequisites for Ryujinx
    • ↪ Running Ryujinx on Windows
  • Ryujinx vs. Competitors
  • Conclusion

What is the Ryujinx Emulator?

Ryujinx is an opensource emulator developed to run Switch games. First released in February 2018, Ryujinx could initially just run a few homebrew apps and just one game. Now, Ryujinx is able to run approximately 3400 Switch games. Ryujinx is completely free and available for Windows, macOS, and Linux based systems.

The State of Switch Emulation

The Switch is still receiving new releases to this day. And since no emulator can ever be a perfect copy of the device it’s trying to emulate, that means that no new game will work on an emulator right off the bat. Thankfully, Switch emulation has come a long way and now it takes around a month and a half to run a new release without any major issues.

Nonetheless, Ryujinx being an emulator for a current generation console has to put up with a lot of issues. This applies to newer and older games alike, since older can games receive updates for bug fixes and the like. Therefore, you have to make sure to keep the emulator up-to-date to avoid running into problems. If you do run into one, you can consult Ryujinx’s compatibility page on GitHub.

READ MORE: The Best Emulators for Nintendo Switch in 2024 ➜

How To Play Games on the Ryujinx Emulator

While Ryujinx may emulate Switch games, which don’t demand as much beefy hardware than the average AAA-tier game nowadays, that doesn’t mean that you can slack off on the requirements for running the emulator on your setup. Ryujinx is by no means close to being as perfect as an emulator can get, and that means that it will require decent hardware to run Switch games on your system.

↪ Requirements and Prerequisites for Ryujinx

Before running Ryujinx, you need to satisfy some conditions:

  • Your“prod.keys”and either yourdumped firmwareor game cartridge untrimmed XCI
  • Your dumped Nintendo Switch games or homebrew
  • Windows 10.0.17134 or higher / macOS 12 / Any modern Linux distribution

NOTE: Extracting your firmware, extracting the “prod.keys” file and extracting your games from the Switch and its cartridges, goes beyond the scope of this article. For further information on this refer to the Ryujinx setup guide or YouTube tutorials.

Additionally, these are the hardware requirements for running Ryujinx:

  • CPU: Ryzen 5 3600
  • RAM: 16GB DDR4
  • GPU: NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB

↪ Running Ryujinx on Windows

Once you’ve fulfilled the requirements mentioned above, it’s time to install Ryujinx and finally get your Switch games running on your setup.

Step 1: Downloading and Installing Ryujinx

  1. ; In order to download Ryujinx, you need to make your way to the Ryujinx official website. Click on theDownload button near the top-right.
    How to Play Nintendo Switch Games on PC with Ryujinx Emulator (3)
  2. Now, multiple options will be presented to you. Choose the file with respect to your operating system. Since we’re doing the setup for Windows, we’re going to go with Windows.
    How to Play Nintendo Switch Games on PC with Ryujinx Emulator (4)
  3. Once the file is downloaded, extract it using7ZiporWinRARanywhere you want.
    How to Play Nintendo Switch Games on PC with Ryujinx Emulator (5)
  4. Next, open up the folder you just extracted anddoubleclick on“Ryujinx.exe“.
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  5. Congratulations! You’ve now got Ryujinx installed on your PC.
    How to Play Nintendo Switch Games on PC with Ryujinx Emulator (7)

READ MORE: What’s the Best Game Boy Advance Emulator OutThere in 2024 ➜

Step 2: Placing prod.keys and installing firmware

  1. ; Now, let’s get started with the tiresome part. Open up Ryujinx and near the top-left corner, click on File>Open Ryujinx Folder.
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  2. Next, open up the “system” folder from the pop-up that appears before you.
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  3. Now, copy the “prods.key” file that you extracted from your Switch and paste it here.
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  4. Close the window and return to Ryujinx. Click onTools>Install Firmware>Install a firmware from a XCI or ZIP file.
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  5. Then, browse and select the firmware file you extracted from your Switch and click onOpen.
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  6. A pop-up should appear before you, asking for confirmation for installing the firmware. Click onYes and wait for a few minutes.
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  7. Soon enough, a message should appear informing whether the installation was a success or not. If it wasn’t, you probably haven’t extracted the firmware file properly from your Switch. If it was successful, click onOK. You should see an indicator regarding your firmware version on the Ryujinx home screen in the bottom-right corner.
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READ MORE: How to Play 3DS Games on the Citra Emulator After ItsShutdown ➜

Step 3: Setting up the game directory and starting up the games

We’ve reached the final stretch now. All that’s left is to add the games directory and we’re all set!

  1. From the Ryujinx home screen, click onOptions>Settings.
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  2. Once the Settings pop-up appears, click onAdd under the Game Directoriessection.
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  3. A pop-up window should appear before you. Browse and select the folder where your Switch games are being stored after you extracted them.
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  4. On the Settings pop-up, click onApply and thenOK.
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  5. Finally, you’re ready to play your games as all the games you extracted will appear before you.Doubleclick on any game to start it up.
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  6. Enjoy!
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NOTE: The Ryujinx emulator will not be set up properly. Follow a YouTube tutorial to configure the settings based on your requirements and get the best possible performance.

READ MORE: The Best Nintendo DS Emulators in 2024 for All Games ➜

Ryujinx vs. Competitors

Up until March 2024, Ryujinx faced fierce competition from Yuzu, another free and open-source emulator. When compared side-by-side, both had their own set of advantages and disadvantages and ultimately it came down to user preference. That is until, Nintendo decided to move against Yuzu for copyright infringement in the form of a lawsuit.

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Naturally, the developers of Yuzu couldn’t hope to win this case and reached an agreement with Nintendo to stop development on Yuzu, in exchange for not being fined. Everyone jumped ship to Ryujinx and it’s been smooth sailing since. Yuzu still lives on (unofficially on the Internet), but since it hasn’t been updated since March 2024, it can’t ruin the most recent titles.

That’s where the Yuzu clones come in. Since Yuzu was open-source, many people copied the code before it was taken down and proceeded to upload multiple clones. Amongst the clones, Sudachi was able to stand out as the successor to Yuzu. Unfortunately, even Sudachi isn’t immune to Nintendo’s attacks and recently, it’s been shut down due to copyright infringement by, you guessed it, Nintendo.

READ MORE:

Conclusion

While Sudachi and Yuzu may have shut down due to legal action taken by Nintendo, it doesn’t mean that emulators are illegal. Ryujinx still standing amongst all these takedowns is testament to that fact. However, it is common knowledge that emulators are mostly used to hide the dirt of pirated games. So make sure to buy your games and stay on the right side of the law!

FAQs

What is Ryujinx?

Ryujinx is a free open-source Nintendo Switch emulator that was released in 2018. At the time of its launch, it could only run 1 game. Now it can run around 3400 Switch games. It is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux systems.

What are the requirements for running Ryujinx?

To run Ryujinx, you’ll need to fulfill the following requirements: your“prod.keys”and either yourdumped firmwareor game cartridge untrimmed XCI, your dumped Nintendo Switch games or homebrew, Windows 10.0.17134 or higher / macOS 12 / Any modern Linux distribution, a Ryzen 5 3600 CPU, 16GB DDR4 RAM, a NVIDIA GTX 1060 6GB GPU.

Is Ryujinx legal?

Ryujinx is perfectly legal to use. However, make sure to buy all your Switch games and stay on the right side of the law.

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Nintendo Switch

How to Play Nintendo Switch Games on PC with Ryujinx Emulator (2024)
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