Switch emulator for Android: Download, compatibility and games

The power of mobile phones, especially the high-end ones, has nothing to envy to that of consoles like the Nintendo Switch. Therefore, if we add that both work under the same ARM architecture, it was logical that sooner or later a switch game emulator for android. So, if you're interested, this is all you need to know about EGG NS Emulator, the emulator that allows you to turn your mobile phone into a Nintendo hybrid console.

Is it possible to play Nintendo Switch games on Android?

With so many emulators out there, many of them already with fully functional versions for Android devices, there are many users who wonder if there isn't an application capable of emulating them. nintendo switch games. Especially since the power of current phones has reached such heights that it has little or nothing to envy the NVIDIA Tegra processor that mounts the Nintendo console.

Well, yes, there is a Nintendo Switch emulator for Android. The name of this is Egg NS Emulator and with which you can play all those titles that you like so much on the big N console. Well, almost all of them, because at the moment there is a list of more than 500 titles that have been tested, others may not go as they should or not be executed at all. Although before you start searching the internet for a download link, you have to know some other important detail.

What is EGG NS Emulator?

EGG NS Emulator is an Android app that allows you to load and emulate Nintendo Switch game backups. Taking advantage of the fact that the Switch uses a processor with ARM architecture, the developers of EGG NS Emulator thought that a relatively powerful mobile would be able to emulate the Nintendo console as long as the software was good enough to translate the original instructions of the hybrid console. .

Unlike other software like Citra for 3DS or Yuzu (the Switch emulator for PC), EGG NS Emulator uses closed source. This is a disadvantage for its progress, because by not being transparent with the code, the development does not have a large community, so its progress will be slower than that of other projects.

Egg NS Emulator Requirements

The first thing you need to know is that Egg NS Emulator is a Switch emulator for Android devices that only works with those that have a Qualcomm processor. The minimum requirement is the terminals that equip a Snapdragon 855. However, for reasons of power, there are titles that are only compatible with smartphones equipped with more recent processors, such as the Snapdragon 855+, Snapdragon 865, Snapdragon 888 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 1.

This is the first drawback, although it makes sense since you will need as much power as possible so that the experience is as similar to that of a Nintendo laptop. The second requirement is a specific driver.

GameSir X2: the controller you'll need to have to play Egg NS Emulator

El Game Sir X2 is controller for games that you will have to acquire if you want to be able to run this Switch emulator for Android. A controller that, as you can see in the images, allows, once the terminal is placed, to practically transform it into a Nintendo Switch.

Thanks to the controller, you will not only have a better grip, but also each and every one of the controls and buttons offered by the console. Nintendo. Thus, you will not lack anything at all. Because you will have the two analog sticks, the four buttons on each of the sides, the L and R, triggers and even those that are used to take screenshots, etc.

El price The official price of this controller is 99,99 euros, although there are online stores that currently sell it with an extra discount. So you can go to the manufacturer's website and from there link to those existing purchase options.

Buy GameSir X2 USB-C

How to download the Nintendo Switch emulator for Android

Now that you know the requirements to be able to use this Nintendo Switch emulator on Android devices, what you are surely wondering is where to get it. Well, the emulator is available for download through different websites and servers that have been downloading it and making it available to any interested user.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h9z8KZQmBZI

However, the best option is always the official one. That is, download it through the Google Drive link that those responsible for the project make available to everyone. Of course, we anticipate you since you are not only going to need said file with the Android emulator, but also an additional application called SwitchDroid Folder.

Here are the two links to the emulator and the mentioned app:

Once you have both files downloaded to your computer, the installation process is not complicated at all. It basically consists of connecting the phone to the computer, copying the files to a folder and following the rest of the followed that you can find in the Egg NS Installation Guide.

Done, from that moment you can start enjoying various Nintendo Switch games on your Android phone in the same way as you can see in the video above. With a fluidity that in the case of somewhat less graphically demanding proposals allows everything to go very smoothly.

What games are compatible with Egg NS Emulator?

The Egg NS Emulator developers themselves quite often publish a list of titles and the requirements for its operation. They are established around some parameters:

Bachelor's Degree: is the rating given to the title regarding the gaming experience. It has four levels:
- A-Excellent: It means that you will be able to play this video game with a performance practically identical to what you would have on a real Nintendo Switch.
- B-Playable: It can be played, but we are going to have problems when loading cinematics or sudden drops in frames per second. The experience will not be identical to playing on the original console, but it will be close.
- c-good: The execution of the game is acceptable. However, we will have to live with more frequent drops in frames, as well as bugs and crashes. You can play, but the experience will be quite different from the original. If you are desperate for jerks, forget about playing a game that has this rating.
- D-Nothing: game execution is not possible. Therefore, there is no compatibility between the emulator and the video game.
FPS: This parameter marks the average number of frames per second that has been achieved by the test. The ideal is to have 30/30 FPS. 25 is quite an acceptable parameter. Below that number, playing will be quite cumbersome, so you should wait for better emulator optimization or use a more powerful terminal.
test device: refers to the SoC that equipped the smartphone on which the video game was tested. It does not speak of terminal, but of processor.
Version: version of the emulator in which the test has been done. Every time a new stable version of the emulator comes out, the ideal is for the community to repeat all the tests to give the most realistic image possible of the improvements. Normally this is only released with stable builds. Still, you are free to try beta builds of the emulator and test the performance of different titles.

Games tested with Egg NS Emulator

If you are curious about the performance of the games in this emulator, here we link a series of videos in which you will be able to appreciate the performance of multiple titles using this Nintendo Switch emulator for Android

Does EGG NS Emulator use stolen code?

If you look around the Internet, especially YouTube, you may have seen many videos advising against the use of EGG NS Emulator. For what is this? Do they do something illegal? Well, the truth is that this software has a somewhat controversial history.

Apparently EGG NS Emulator is not genuine software. The developers of Yuzu (the Switch emulator for PC) discovered long ago that EGG NS Emulator uses a huge amount of stolen code to work. In other words, they have used the Yuzu code (which has a GPLv2 license) and have turned it into paid software, thus bypassing the license. But the thing does not stop there. On the Android emulator's own website, they tell us that the development team behind EGG NS Emulator originates from the United States. Once again, they are deceiving us. The website has tons of bits in Chinese, and you don't have to be Sherlock Holmes to deduce that it's a team of Chinese developers who have dedicated themselves to stealing the software.

Where is the business then? The Chinese team is apparently stealing Yuzu's code and turning it into closed and proprietary software without permission. Technically, the developers of EGG NS Emulator would be committing an illegality by distributing a product that plagiarizes another and making money from the process. Obviously, you are free to use it or not. However, since there are so many videos about it, it seemed almost mandatory to mention this phenomenon in the article so that later you don't get a surprise.

Other Nintendo Switch emulators

skyline

Skyline is the alternative to EGG NS Emulator for Android. It is a project that has used the free code of the Ryujinx emulator that is already available for Windows. It also has pieces of code from Yuzu, but unlike EGG NS Emulator, the Yuzu team has given permission for it to be included in Skyline.

Skyline's performance is decent, but still far from what we've seen with EGG NS Emulator. Its development is not that long, so there is still a long way to go. Unlike EGG NS Emulator, Skyline is compatible with several gamepads, so we won't be forced to buy a specific controller.

If you are interested in taking a look at this emulator, the code is available on GitHub, as well as the entire compatibility list. For now, this app is only compatible with Android devices that have an ARMv8. Regarding the games, don't expect much yet. The team is working hard so that Sonic Mania, Celeste and Super Mario Odyssey run perfectly on the emulator.

In addition, there is a Discord server open to the public where you can download the APK, as well as interact with other users and contribute whatever you consider necessary to this project.

Emulators for Windows

This Nintendo Switch emulator for Android is not the only one out there. There are other options that, yes, are designed for other operating systems. There are especially very good Switch emulators that run on computers PC Windows.

Some of these Nintendo Switch emulators for Windows are:

yuzu, for many the best and most advanced option when it comes to playing Switch titles on a PC. It is free, although it has a payment method that allows access to the most recent developments of the emulator.
ryujinx, It is another of the options and in addition to having a version for Windows, it also offers it for macOS

So if you don't have a high-end phone that supports Egg NS Emulator or you do, but you don't want to buy the controller for whatever reason, these are good alternatives. It is true that you lose portability, but as a general rule you will have more power on a computer than on a mobile.

Is it worth emulating the Nintendo Switch?

The Egg NS Emulator developers themselves set a bad example with this image. never hack games indies.

The issue of emulation always generates many doubts and not only in the legal field. We already know that the emulation is not a crime as long as you have the necessary rights. Also, to enjoy old titles for which it is very difficult to find the computers where they ran natively, it has always been the best option.

However, emulating the Nintendo Switch may not be such a good idea. The experience that you are going to get with the console will always be much better than with any emulator. In addition, you do not lose the portability offered by all its current versions or that of connecting it to a larger diagonal screen in the case of the original model or the recent OLED version. Emulation is a resource that makes a lot of sense in order to be able to take advantage of any current hardware to enjoy old games, or also as a method to preserve the video game culture, since many companies —such as Nintendo itself— do not take this point very seriously. , and allow many works published for their platforms to fall into oblivion.

The real Switch just keeps doing better

When it comes to emulating Switch, things are different. Is it worth spending 100 euros on a controller to try your luck playing games that will possibly go to jerks? The truth is that no, since for a little more you can get the second-hand console. Also, there's not much point in warming your head and playing a poor quality game when playing a decent game is as simple as going to the store and buy the original.

The same goes for the other emulator we've talked about, Skyline. The emulation in this case is far from the experience offered by the original console. Therefore, it is much more interesting to invest in a second-hand Nintendo Switch —or a Lite— rather than playing with emulators in the hope of having a good result.

So it's up to you to decide. If you don't want to complicate yourself or limit yourself to the games that are compatible, because some will not work or will work inappropriately, it is better to buy a Switch. What's more, in its Lite version it is even more economical and attractive to always carry with you.

Emulation on Switch could have its days numbered

Despite the fact that there are modchips that have managed to unlock the Nintendo Switch, the true enemies of the Nintendo handheld are not the players who have the console hacked, but rather the users who get better results emulating the Switch on other hardware.

When it came out Metroid dread, the middle Kotaku he made the mistake of saying that on Yuzu, Samus's game looked better than it did on the original console. Since then, multiple comparisons have been made to many games. And the developers have decided to take action on the matter now that consoles like the Steam Deck can make use of this type of software.

For this reason, many developers will now use a version of Denuvo anti-piracy software for Nintendo Switch. The idea is to add a DRM to the games so that they cannot be used in emulators.

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This is how the Nintendo Switch emulator for Android works