Nintendo Switch scene exploding with emulators: GameBoy Colour, Advance and Nintendo DS emulators for FW 5.0.0 have been released!
With all hacked consoles and devices, the first pieces of homebrew that start popping up are emulators. Now, thanks to some talented developers, hacked Switches on FW 4.0.0+ acquired emulators for Nintendo’s older portables!
Jakibaki ports a GBC and GBA emulator to the Switch
The GameBoy Colour and Advance are on the top of the emulation list for many people, including myself, due to the great games that these two portables offer. With jakibaki’s work, those who have a hacked Nintendo Switch on higher FWs can enjoy the emulators khedgb and gdkGBA which let you play GBC and GBA games respectively.
If you’re a fan of older GBC Pokemon games, you can now play them on your Switch running FW 4.x and 5.x but remember, this emulator is meant to become obsolete pretty soon so don’t expect very high amounts of polish!
khedgb is a GameBoy and GameBoy Colour emulator developed by ‘Khedoros‘ which was ported with the sole intention of playing GBC Pokemon games and not much more! Currently, it’s in a pretty rudimentary state without a proper GUI but it has the basic features you need to play games such as sound, saving and controller support so you’ll be able to get away with playing some Pokemon and maybe some other GBC games. Remember, this emulator will become obsolete once RetroArch gets ported to Switch FW 5.0.0 so the developer doesn’t intend to waste too much energy on it!
gdkGBA was developed by ‘gdkchan’ and is one of the numerous GBA emulators around.
You can now play GBA games on your Nintendo Switch running firmwares 4.x and 5.x, if you don’t mind the lack of polish!
Like the GameBoy Colour emulator, the reason why it exists is to fill the gap until RetroArch gets updated to work on firmwares higher than 3.0.0. Like khegdb, it has a rudimentary GUI and only has the basic features that are required to get your games running. According to some users, the emulator performs pretty well and sound has also been greatly improved in a recent update so your ears won’t start bleeding due to garbage audio!
The game directory for khedgb is sd:/switch/roms/gbc and the one for gdkGBA is sd:/switch/roms/gba.
DeSmuME gets ported to the Switch by MasterFeizz
Like he did with the PSVita, MasterFeizz has decided to port a Nintendo DS emulator to the Nintendo Switch.
You can now run Metroid Prime Hunters on your Switch, although it is far from being playable since it only runs at 5FPS according to Proto-Propski of GBATemp.
This emulator is currently in a WIP state and its interface is pretty rudimentary like the one found in the PSVita port. However, unlike the PSVita port, this port performs better but it must be noted that it runs pretty slowly on most games however with some further work, performance may actually become somewhat decent since the Switch’s hardware is much better than that found in the PSVita!
Users have reported that it works on both 4.x and 5.x and that the touchscreen works as an input method so perhaps you can go give some of your favourite DS games a go even if just for the thrill of seeing them run on your Switch! ROMs for this go into sd:/switch/desmume/roms
Conclusion
To get these emulators and learn more about them, simply head over to the links below, download the NRO files and get on testing out your favourite retro games!
GBC emulator GBATemp thread: https://gbatemp.net/threads/gbc-emulator-port-khedgb-works-on-5-0.503969/
GBA emulator GBATemp thread: https://gbatemp.net/threads/gameboy-advance-emulator-port-gdkgba-works-on-5-0.504186/
NDS emulator GBATemp thread: https://gbatemp.net/threads/desmume-nx-wip-ds-emulator-for-switch.504248/
N.B: Please note that I could not test the software mentioned in this article as I currently do not own a Switch. The best efforts have been made to report accurate information through online research! – Aurora.
I don’t want emulators,I want PIRACY.
I am first, go away!!!
So buy Team Xs release or wait for it to be reverse engineered.
Buy your games you cheap piece of ***.
Soon.
First
“However, unlike the PSVita port, this port performs better but it must be noted that it runs pretty slowly on most games however with some further work, performance may actually become somewhat decent since the Switch’s hardware is much better than that found in the PSVita!”
Everything about this “sentence” is gross. Seriously, this is a blog. I don’t expect perfection, but I do expect journalism better than your average forum post.
I’m more of a fan of longer sentences if I had to be perfectly honest with you although I agree that using however twice doesn’t sound too nice. It’s a matter of personal preference more than anything else, in my opinion that is 😉
I believe TehCupcakes is pointing at a run-on sentence. A good writer will strive to improve how they communicate with their readers. For many who aren’t well-versed in English, seeing it written correctly is of great assistance.
However, unlike the PSVita port, this port performs better but it must be noted that it runs pretty slowly on most games. With some further work, performance may actually become somewhat decent since the Switch’s hardware is much better than that found in the PSVita!
Ending one thought before starting another helps the reader follow your message with ease. Removing the second ‘however’ assists the user as the contrasting tone was already previously set and is redundant.
If you want journalism then maybe go buy a newspaper, rather than criticizing Aurora’s writing style which you’re getting for free. I don’t recall her asking you to proofread her work.
Didnt know that Game Boy “Colour” ever existed
Some countries spell it differently.
Us English spell it properly.
“Color (American English) or colour (Commonwealth English) is the characteristic of human visual perception described through color categories, with names such as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, or purple.” <== from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Color . No matter what, it gets the point across…and that comment coming from the guy that says "Us English…." so either you wanted to say United States English (US) or you were trying to say "USE", in that case you lost an E in the freak-out over an alternative form of spelling… Thank you for using Literal Airlines, have a great day.
thats why UK english sounds better . not like a farmer redneck talking english .
English UK spell it properly because they were first to spell it like that in English. USA does what it does best, copies everyone else and messes it up.
1st
Damn beat again!
no love for poland? heh
Does this work with 5.0.2 also?
GBA not working for me
Yes all of the emulators mentioned in this post work on 5.0.2, but be aware that these emulators are a WIP, so compatibility is shakey, and some games will work better then others
As a regular reader, I approve this message… 😉 I’m excited to see the future of this DS emulator, and hopefully we can expect more compatibility to be made as patches are implemented, that better take advantage of the Switch’s Power, I mean if the Nvidia Sheild which has the same SoC Tegra-X1 has anything to say about it then we can expect a bright future for emulators going forward 😛 I hope we get to PSP before the end of it cause I’d love to finally replace my Vita as my Main Portable Emulation Machine, and that would do it for me on top of the Ocean that is the DS Library
Why abandon standalone emulators for retroarch? I’ve used it, it isn’t that great – just more complicated because it’s a swiss army knife when I need a fork.
Interested to see a local GameCube emulator/dolphin port, maybe even a 3ds emulator way off in the future? Not quite sure where the switches limit would be in terms of emulation
Emulation is the ice cream of gaming, it has a flavor for everyone.
I’ll have Genesys, PSX and N64 please.