Switch 2 emulation being worked on – oh boy, Nintendo is not going to play nice with this one

It was always going to happen. Nintendo has come down hard on hackers and pirates, so those particular communities are going to always double down in their efforts to hit back. To what ultimate endgame is unclear, but news that so soon after the Switch 2’s arrival on the hardware scene, that active progress “appears” to be being made to emulate the system is not good for Nintendo.

We say “appears” because, besides an unverified video on a post from an account we have never heard of, it has gained some traction in the last few hours.

The post, which we are not linking to – everybody saw what happened to this dude, says:

After lot’s, and I mean LOT’s of work, we finally have made the world’s first Switch 2 Emulator, and it is now booting actual games, this isnt just a big step torwards switch 2 emulation, but emulation as a whole.

The emulator in question seems to be going under the name of “Hassaku Emulator,” and what is unclear, other than for internet clout, is why the people behind it would want to bring heat on themselves at this early stage.

Having seen how heavy-handedly Nintendo and its lawyers dealt with Switch emulation, effectively hammering Yuzu and Ryujinx at least underground, and delivering knocks on the doors of their developers, why would you stick your head above the wall right now?

Which is kind of why I am a little skeptical. Of course, if I am wrong this is a big problem for Nintendo, who, rather than successfully managing to shut down whoever was leaking its major AAA titles weeks ahead of launch, chose to go after the software that could run the ROMs instead.

Eyebrows raised

There were lots of rumors in the run-up to Switch 2 that Nintendo was so keen to hammer the emulation for the console because Switch 2 architecture could be gotten at in a similar way, leading to fears it would not take long before we saw working Switch 2 emulation.

This was a similar case with the Wii and Wii U.

I also don’t understand the rather too grandiose line in the post, “this isnt just a big step torwards switch 2 emulation, but emulation as a whole.” (sic)

At the moment, there is no known exploit for the Switch 2 that allows hackers to get any homebrew onto the machine, so the whole thing seems a little off.

I don’t doubt there are people going hard at the Switch 2, but it would be hugely embarrassing for Nintendo if their new flagship hardware has been breached so quickly.

What is more likely to happen is that Mr. Hassaku Emulator is going to find that this little stunt doesn’t turn out as well as they would have liked.