It’s that time of year again when Nintendo is going after Switch emulators on GitHub

Wind the clock back to 2024 and Nintendo’s legal attack on Switch emulators RyuJinx and Yuzu. The emulators had incurred the wrath of the notoriously litigious company by, in some cases, openly flouting that Tears of the Kingdom was playable in a better state than a Switch user could ever hope for, before the game had actually even hit the retail shelves.

This is in no part due to the inability of Nintendo to keep its big games from leaking ahead of launch.

Games coming on easily-dumpable carts needing to be sent out to retailers and the like ahead of release always meant it took just one bad actor, and the ROM would find its way onto the internet into the hands of gleeful pirates keen to poke fun at Nintendo.

So obviously, it went after the developers of the emulators and won. Sort of. Despite seemingly vanishing for a short period of time, it’s not like Switch emulation died that day. You can still get an easily updated version of both IG emulators, along with the flurry of new ones that were forked in protest at Nintendo’s actions. So now, in 2026, Nintendo finds itself not with two main players to go after, but at least 12. And that’s not clones and tweaks but actual “branded” software such as the popular Eden and Sudachi.

Nintendo is trying a similar tactic to before by targeting repositories on GitHub with a DMCA takedown order.

“The reported repositories offer, link to, or otherwise provide access to Nintendo Switch emulators, including but not limited to Citron, Eden, Kenji-NX, MeloNX, Pine, Pomelo, Ryubing, Ryujinx, Skyline, Sudachi, Sumi, Suyu, and Yuzu,” the DMCA notice reads.

“Nintendo Switch emulators are primarily designed to play Nintendo Switch games. Specifically, these Nintendo Switch emulators illegally circumvent Nintendo’s [technological prevention measures] and run illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games.

“Nintendo Switch games are encrypted using proprietary cryptographic keys (prod.keys) which protect against unauthorized access to and copying of the copyrighted games. During operation, these emulators necessarily use unauthorized copies of these cryptographic keys to decrypt unauthorized copies of Nintendo Switch games, or ROMs, at or immediately before runtime without Nintendo’s authorization.

“Thus, they are primarily designed to and unlawfully ‘circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under’ the DMCA, and distribution of these emulators constitutes unlawful trafficking in technology that is ‘primarily designed or produced for the purpose of circumventing a technological measure that effectively controls access’ to copyrighted works.”

By this stage, Nintendo clearly knows that the emulators can’t be extinguished, but what it can do is make life more difficult for the more casual players to get hold of.

As much as I am a huge advocate of game preservation and emulation across the board, holding a solid defence for emulators that directly replicate current on-sale hardware is much more difficult to argue for coherently.

At the moment, we only have a couple of proof-of-concept emulators for Nintendo’s newest console, the Switch 2, but you would be foolish to think that they won’t happen at some point.

With the increase in sales of PC handhelds far beyond the likes of the Steam Deck, installing a Switch emulator and playing Nintendo’s finest titles at better resolutions and frame rates is literally in more hands than ever before, no Switch required. This is awkward, and at the very least, Nintendo needs to be seen to be doing at least something to placate people who have spent hard-earned cash on a Switch or Switch 2.

This move won’t eradicate the Switch emulation scene; it will likely cause it to spawn even wider as more people kick back against the move while shouting “FU Nintendo!”. Maybe it removes one or two of the less popular emus, which would not be any measure of success. In reality, once again, it is just highlighting to the masses that there is perhaps a different way to play Switch games. Nintendo will be hoping it drives it a little further underground than it currently is.

Switch emulators hit by Nintendo takedown notice

You will notice this list contains Ryujinx, Citron and Yuzu, indicating that 2024’s attempt was merely a bump in the road for the emus, but one that caused the sprouting of the likes of Eden, which is now one of the more popular offerings.