yuzu - Emulation General Wiki (2024)

yuzu

Developer(s)	yuzu Team
Latest version	git [+]
Active	No
Platform(s)	Windows Linux Android
Emulates	Nintendo Switch
Compatibility	Official List
Website	yuzu-emu.org
Programmed in	C++
License	GNU GPLv2
Source code	GitHub
BIOS/Keys	Required

yuzu is a discontinued open-source Nintendo Switch emulator and debugger written in C++. Prior to its discontinuation, it was the most popular Nintendo Switch emulator and was easier to set up than its main competitor, Ryujinx. It is no longer officially available for download, but archived downloads are available.

Archived Downloads[edit]

	Early Access Builds (built by pinEApple) Patreon releases
	Latest Archived Builds
	Latest Archived Builds

Overview[edit]

As of March 2022, an estimated half of the Nintendo Switch library can be played from start to finish, like Super Mario Odyssey, which had correct graphics and speed after 1 year of it getting to boot up.

History[edit]

yuzu reached in-game on several Nintendo Switch exclusives in November 2019,^[1] and has been improving in compatibility by the day with active developers ever since.

The Binding of Isaac: Afterbirth+, Puyo Puyo Tetris, and Cave Story+ were the first games to boot.^[2] In late April 2018, yuzu booted its first Switch exclusive, 1-2-Switch. Three months later, yuzu was able to run its first 3D rendered game, Minecraft: Story Mode.

This progress report from July 2018 details the extensive work required to research the Switch and get yuzu up and running, chronicling the compatibility status of a small bundle of games and apps over time. The post also covers a surprising number of similarities between the hardware and firmware of the 3DS and Switch, and why portions of Citra were reused in yuzu.

Yuzu started showing some 3D rendering on Super Mario Odyssey in early August 2018.^[3] This long-awaited exclusive brought a lot of interest in the project. The team covered all the changes that month in another progress report from September 2018.

In May 2020, multicore CPU emulation was implemented, improving framerates on many titles. This feature appears to cause audio slow down, so the developers recommend enabling audio stretching in order to mitigate it.^[4]

In July 2021, yuzu's shader decompiler was rewritten, allowing the generation of pipeline cache for Vulkan users and providing a considerable performance boost.

In October 2021, resolution scaling was added to the emulator that allowed it to render games up to 6x the original resolution or 0.5x on the low end. It also added AMD FidelityFX™ Super-Resolution as a window adaptation filter among others.^[5]

On May 30, 2023, the emulator was ported to Android. This version was in early access, with a free and a paid version available.

Lawsuit[edit]

Nintendo sued Yuzu (TROPIC HAZE LLC) on February 26, 2024^[6][7], over copyright infringement. On March 4, 2024, Nintendo and Tropic Haze settled out of court, with US$2,400,000.00 in Nintendo's favor, along with an injunction preventing Yuzu's management from continuing development of Yuzu or assisting Citra with development.^[8] Distribution of Yuzu and Citra ceased after the lawsuit's conclusion,^[9] and a statement was put on the websites of both emulators and the official Discord. Also see Legal Status of Emulation.

[1]

System requirements[edit]

See Computer specifications#Yuzu/Suyu

External links[edit]

• Official compatibility list (archived)
• Official website (archived)
• Twitter news feed (abandoned due to the lawsuit)
• Donation email link (archived), (No longer avaliable to donate due to the lawsuit)

References[edit]