Video game emulation of every console starts shortly after the systems release to the public, since the most recent consoles are a new project for hobbyists. The Nintendo Switch has had a difficult road with emulation, thanks to Nintendo squashing the most prominent efforts.
That’s why Eden, a Switch emulator for Windows, Linux, and Android (with Mac coming soon), caught my eye recently. As I haven’t tried emulating Switch games before, I was curious to try this newcomer and see what it offered.
Eden was on the Play Store—until recently
While game emulation has been common on PC for a long time, emulation on Android and iPhone has gotten more accessible in recent years. Android emulators for various systems are freely available on the Play Store. Meanwhile, iPhone video game emulation used to require workarounds until the excellent Delta emulator was released on the App Store in 2024.
That’s why Eden was compelling to see. In addition to the GitHub downloads that you’d expect, the app was also present on the Play Store.
And it wasn’t hiding, either—the description read:
Eden is a Nintendo Switch emulator, forked from Yuzu, focusing on high performance without compromising aesthetics, compatibility, or stability.
If you’re not aware, Yuzu was one of the most popular Switch emulators. In 2024, Nintendo sued the developers, which resulted in the end of Yuzu’s (official) development and the team having to pay Nintendo $2.4 million. You’d thus think any future Switch emulator developers would want to keep quiet, but not this team.
The past tense I used above is for a reason—as I started to write this on September 26, I saw the news that Eden was removed from the Play Store mere hours before. The link is still on the developer’s website, so it likely wasn’t planned. Its listing first appeared on August 19, so it lived for over a month.
Google may be proactively removing Switch emulators to avoid legal trouble, or maybe Nintendo came knocking. Either way, Eden isn’t on the Play Store anymore. You can still download the Android version from the developer’s GitHub page and sideload it if you’re interested.
Though this raises another important point: Google is cracking down on Android sideloading. That could hurt the existence of apps like this, which don’t have a home on the Play Store but won’t be able to get certified for sideloading either.
Trying Eden on desktop
I had planned to try Eden on my Windows PC regardless, since my old Android phone probably wouldn’t be able to handle it, and I’m not someone who can replace console gaming with my phone. The setup was slightly more involved than old-school console emulators, but not terribly tricky.
After downloading the archive and running the portable app, I was told that I had to install decryption keys. These are tools that the Switch uses for copyright protection; if you don’t have the keys, you can’t decrypt the data to run games.
Not including these keys means the developer is less likely to get in legal trouble. Without them, the emulator is only code to mimic a console, not a ready-built piracy tool. Putting the onus on the player to download decryption keys and find games helps the developer technically deny any wrongdoing.
I only wanted to try Eden as an experiment for an article, which is why I tested it with a free game. We don’t condone piracy and thus won’t link to anything you need to play games with Eden.
That said, I was able to easily find the keys with a quick search. To test Eden out, I downloaded the file for a free game: Pokémon Quest. Eden showed a warning about NCA verification when I tried to run it, but it otherwise started with no issue.
The gameplay experience
Before I started, I plugged in my Xbox controller and found that it worked perfectly. The controller menu showed every button press as I made it.
The game booted up fine, despite the Not Tested status for the game under Compatibility. Eden’s bottom-right screen shows performance stats, and the game kept at a smooth 60FPS as I ran through the intro. As a nice touch, you can type with your physical keyboard when the game prompts you to use the software keyboard.
I played 10-15 minutes of Pokémon Quest on Eden, and it worked flawlessly. There were no common PC gaming problems like stuttering, crashing, or similar. It felt like I was playing the game on official hardware, not an emulated copy.
Otherwise, I found the game incredibly dull, which isn’t the emulator’s fault of course. This title was clearly designed for mobile platforms first, with its touch-friendly controls and awkward mapping of the cursor to a control stick. However, it did the job as a free test game for me to examine the emulator with.
Eden’s options and other features
Eden has options to dig into if you want to change how the CPU, graphics, and other elements work. There’s a built-in Multiplayer menu, allowing you to create or join online lobbies for playing various games.
The tool is still in its early stages, as evidenced by some in-app links going to pages for Yuzu and other Switch emulators. The Installation Guide and Troubleshooting links on the website are both Rickroll links instead of anything useful. The menu has options for amiibo support, but these don’t seem to work yet.
From my brief look, Eden seems like a promising Switch emulator. But given how Nintendo has handled these matters lately, I expect a tricky road ahead for the program. If you don’t mind that it could disappear at any moment and aren’t afraid to navigate the world of emulation, it’s worth a try. You might consider other ways to make your PC an emulation center, too.
