The Nintendo Switch Homebrew Scene Is Evolving, Multiple Emulators Now Running

There's a large group of dedicated coders and hackers working around the clock to crack open the Nintendo Switch. A while back we reported (see here) that the Nintendo Switch was on the verge of being hacked, and according to some more recent video footage, it appears that it has been indeed been hacked. Check out this video of someone using RetroArch on the Nintendo Switch:

Yeah dudes. That's Pokemon Ruby (or maybe Sapphire, we don't know) running on a Nintendo Switch. This proves that the floodgates have been pushed wide open, and you better believe that there's more to come.

Those of you who know and use RetroArch already -- we're looking at you Raspberry Pi owners -- you know that it's not a single emulator, but an entire suite of emulators! At the moment, RetroArch is compatible with this hacked Nintendo Switch, but that doesn't mean that everything works perfectly. Far from it, in fact. At the moment, several RetroArch emulators still need a lot of work, but most of you just want to know how snes9x is running. It's running very well, for your information.

This isn't something you're likely to see yourself, unfortunately. Your Nintendo Switch at home is running a later firmware version that has yet to be prodded open. As far as this author knows, it's firmware version 3.0 that the hacking community has been able to exploit, and no successful attempt has been made on later versions. Good luck finding a 3.0 Nintendo Switch out there.

I know. It's not fair. It's hard seeing people out there with compromised Nintendo Switches, knowing that they're able to poke, prod, and add all kinds of interesting homebrew to their system. Here's another lucky Joe running a port of DOOM on his Switch. How sick would it be to have this game running along with the reboot from Panic Button?!

Hopefully one day we'll all be able to tinker as freely. One day it could lead to save file mods, custom emulators, or even streaming apps like Netflix that we've yet to see release natively on the eShop. We've been keeping a close eye on the Nintendo Switch hacking scene, and we'll be sure to update you as soon as advancements are made.

(via ResetEra)