How to Play Nintendo Switch Games on PC with Ryujinx Emulator

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.

What is the Ryujinx Emulator?

Ryujinx is an open–source 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 your dumped firmware or game cartridge untrimmed XCI
• Your dumped Nintendo Switch games or homebrew
• Windows 10.0.17134 or higher / macOS 12 / Any modern Linux distribution

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 the Download button near the top-right.
   

   

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.
   

   

3. Once the file is downloaded, extract it using 7–Zip or WinRAR anywhere you want.
   

   

4. Next, open up the folder you just extracted and double–click on “Ryujinx.exe“.
   

   

5. Congratulations! You’ve now got Ryujinx installed on your PC.
   

   

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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.
   

   

2. Next, open up the “system” folder from the pop-up that appears before you.
   

   

3. Now, copy the “prods.key” file that you extracted from your Switch and paste it here.
   

   

4. Close the window and return to Ryujinx. Click on Tools>Install Firmware>Install a firmware from a XCI or ZIP file.
   

   

5. Then, browse and select the firmware file you extracted from your Switch and click on Open.
   

   

6. A pop-up should appear before you, asking for confirmation for installing the firmware. Click on Yes and wait for a few minutes.
   

   

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 on OK. You should see an indicator regarding your firmware version on the Ryujinx home screen in the bottom-right corner.
   

   

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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 on Options>Settings.
   

   

2. Once the Settings pop-up appears, click on Add under the Game Directories section.
   

   

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.
   

   

4. On the Settings pop-up, click on Apply and then OK.
   

   

5. Finally, you’re ready to play your games as all the games you extracted will appear before you. Double–click on any game to start it up.
   

   

6. Enjoy!
   

   

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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.

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.

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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!