Popular Switch emulator YUZU has officially launched on Android.
What You Need to Know:
- Two versions of YUZU are available on Android operating systems.
- One version is free, the other costs $4.99.
- The paid option is an ‘early access’ version and has different features.
- High-end phones are the best way to play YUZU on Android.
The Full Story
Switch emulation on Android wasn’t in a great position. Although there was the Skyline emulator, that version could only really manage low-spec indie titles. Plus the team behind Skyline is no longer working on it.
The arrival of YUZU, however, could potentially change the state of Switch emulation. YUZU on PC and Steam Deck, along with Ryujinx, is considered one of the best options out there. It’s not 100 percent perfect, but it does a good job with a large array of Switch titles.
“Like our sister project, Citra, YUZU has always been developed with multi-platform support in mind,” reads the YUZU blog post.
“We’ve supported major desktop operating systems, such as Windows and Linux, since the earliest builds of YUZU. YUZU’s core code has, by design, been kept modular and frontend agnostic to ensure any future efforts to expand supported platforms does not run into unwanted dependency issues.”
In terms of compatibility, the team at YUZU recommends a device with a Qualcomm Snapdragon that houses an Adreno GPU. The YUZU Android app also uses a fair amount of RAM, so more is always going to be better. Ideally, anything with 8GB of RAM is what you should be looking at. That puts both the Razer Edge and the Logitech G Cloud out of the running, though I’ll be sure to test them both out and report back.
“Regarding other specs, RAM is crucial” continues the post. “The recommended value is 8GB or more, big emphasis on more, and the absolute minimum is 6GB, but this will lead to many resource-intensive games crashing. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom requires 12GB at the moment.”
It’s also worth noting, to get the Android version of YUZU running as well as it can, you’ll need to install specific drivers (which the app can do) and you’ll need your Switch firmware and prod keys – the latter two of which you’ll need to refer to the YUZU post for fairly obvious reasons.
Conclusion
Any movement in the emulation scene is a good sign. How well YUZU will run on Android remains to be seen, but more options are always a good thing.
I’m interested to dive in and see how it handles. Although given how YUZU struggles on more advanced hardware like the Steam Deck, I wouldn’t expect perfect, full-speed emulation.
I also have to question how much value there is in YUZU on Android. It’s cool as heck, don’t get me wrong, but is playing on a smaller screen better than playing on an actual Nintendo Switch? I’m not sold.
On the Steam Deck, sure, the extra power combined with the larger 16:10 screen improves the experience. But playing Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on a smaller, phone-like screen surely can’t be enjoyable, right?
Still, it’s a marvelous feat of engineering and I’m super intrigued by the move, even if it’s not for me.
