https://gbatemp.net/threads/ryujinx-emulator-taken-down-after-devs-reach-agreement-with-nintendo.661497/

In what could possibly be the worst way to start October for emulation enthusiasts, as of just a few minutes ago the Ryujinx repository appears to be down, with the usual "404" message being given when trying to enter any of their related GitHub pages. Not even the main Ryujinx developer account seems to be active.

Nintendo hates innovation, news at 11

I'll be completely honest, the emulation scene has been insufferable for years. There's so much petty lunch table drama every time I check into an emulation megathread. If it doesn't just boot up and play at a stable framerate with no BS I consider it un-emulateable and look for a legit copy. I empathize with the people who just want to play those goddamn video games.

When Nintendo went after Yuzu and Citra it was like, "Bro what do you expect? You were literally putting early access to updates behind a paywall. The No$GBA guy got his shit rocked for trying to do that before Nintendo was even known to be crazy litigious." It's a bummer that they're taking Ryujinx down as well but it's inarguably within their legal rights to do it, so... eh.

I wanna say "If you just need to play that Nintendo game, buy secondhand whenever possible" but then I remember that scalpers exist, so I don't know man... Borrow from a friend? Maybe form some complex underground circle of trusted friends to lend Nintendo games amongst each other. Abuse that family plan. idk.

Ah bummer, looks like i was wrong, they did go after ryujinx. :(

That doublesucks, because what ryujinx did was entirely legal, but they just went straight and 'had a talk' with the main dev...

Borderline mafia behaviour.

That's what happens when you make an emulator for a console and games that are sold brand new in stores.

Nintendo being Nintendo again. Not big surprise.

I mean yeah, that's true, but since now selling old games at full price is an accepted practice (guess we can thanks gog and bethesda for that one unfortunately), I don't know if old emulators are safe either...

I wish companies would sell the entire libraries of old console games on new hardware and not just the best and most well known game.

There is a bunch of reasons why they don't do this, chiefly with licensing rights and simple demand. While there may be plenty of workarounds with the former, the latter is the main killer of such an idea. (And that's just the tip of the iceberg)

Unless you're a preservist purist, nobody is going go out of their way to bother with low-effort shovelware titles.

nobody is going go out of their way to bother with low-effort shovelware titles.

The AVGN does.

I know. But it would be still great if companies would do it even if it's pretty much not possible in reality

Hydra situation, more will come. just like when adblock plus went to shit

Reminds me when Wizards of the Coast sent the Pinkertons after a card reviewer because he got his hands on a boxset early because of their mistake.

Welcome to the black market.

wowza!!! an emulator got taken down??? nooooooo!!! what ever will i do now that nintendo deleted the emulator files off of my various devices??????? its SO over bros

Why does Nintendo hate fun so much? I don't emulate my switch games and I buy all my switch games from official sources, but this makes me want to pirate my entire library. Hopefully someone forked the project before the take down. Maybe if we're lucky the next switch emulator will be good, because no matter how much nintendo tries there will be switch emulators whether they like it or not. Very disappointing but not surprised.

I mean is it even surprising at this point?

specially since we know they'll do to the switch what they did to the wii and DS. better test how well it works while they still can.

What did they do to the Wii and DS? Do you mean the eshop closing down?

"Cut off one head, two more shall take its place."

— Arnim Zola, Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Nintendo might take down one project, but others will rise. There's no way for them to prevent it—forks are inevitable.

Well first of all, Nintendo is a business. Even if they make happy bouncy funny silly family friendly games, their biggest concern will always be the bottom line. Owning an emulator may be technically legal, but piracy isn't, and you're not going to find a lawyer who's crazy enough to argue that everyone who uses emulators are playing their own legally obtained backups (which also wouldn't make a difference because it's illegal to make backups of games in Japan). Not only that, but Nintendo's been fighting against rental services since the 90s. If there's a way to play their games without giving them $60-$70USD, they'll do everything in their power to put a stop to it. They're not your friend.

Secondly, I saw someone suggesting that the reason they've taken down Ryujinx and Yuzu is because the Switch 2 will use the same/similar hardware as the Switch 1 meaning Switch 2 games would get pirated on day 1. Similar to how it was really easy to get Wii emulation working in the Gamecube emulator.

Don't think people are gonna want to play on underpowered hardware. But people gotta buy the console in order to use the emulator unless they search for the firmware by non legal means

And you know damn well 95% of emulator users do it the non legal way. I'm not against emulation at all. I just wish there was a way that doesn't devolve to illegal ways or ways that ends up me paying a lot for scalpers

I'd say it's worse than this. Nintendo isn't even a game company at this point but an IP holding company. They literally just buy other things and slap the Nintendo name on it.

Software: The lack of first party titles is a well deserved meme at this point. There is literally a generation of kids who have never played a Nintendo game. They've played the hell out of some Monolith Soft and Retro Studios games to be sure, but have never played a Nintendo game. They're so butt hurt about this they've stopped properly crediting partner studios.

Hardware: Like an "RCA" boombox your mother gets duped into buying from an endcap at a grocery store, the Switch is literally just a rebadged Nvidia reference design with added Nintendo branded accessories. And the accessories are what break! Just look at drift. They didn't even bother to remove the evaluation/debug mode from the Nvidia design. That's how on-device piracy works, you activate a boot mode that Nvidia never meant to be part of a retail product because it was--again--a reference design, but Nintendo was too stupid to remove it.

Of course Nintendo engages in patent trolling against competitors and aggressively tries to remove brand adjacent content from the Internet, they are literally just a logo. Competitors have actual technical moats around their products but Nintendo never will again because they are limited to tech that competitors will sell them, which will never be their best or even current stuff. Similarly partner-wise they are limited to those who simply lack capitalization or who feel that their game wouldn't sell without the existing IP veneer.

Nintendo is just a few steps removed from cashing in their brand with a "Mario coin" crypto token.

exactly that.

and their history of making their games available on desktop isn't stellar either (somebody correct me if i'm wrong)

To be honest I don't really think there will another Switch Emulator, until the Switch lifetime is over, because I always think that once Nintendo is done with it, it then becomes the perfect time to hack and emulate it. Just like when GBA emulators came out once the GBA lifetime is over.

I'm hoping that's what the so-called "agreement" is. Scrub the Switch emulator off the internet until the Switch 2 has sold 500 million units.

The realist in me knows that the agreement is something along the lines of "Give us a cut of your paycheck for the rest of your life or face jailtime", but let me make-believe.

I hope the former as well, but knowing Nintendo, the former is more likely.

The fantasy version of the deal for me is Nintendo actually using the emulator codebase in the future instead of the shitty late 90's era emulators they officially use.

And @chdonga you hit the nail on the head about the Switch 2. This is all because if it even happens it will be two not very large patches to the emulator to support it because the S2 is going to be a whole lotta nothing.

How likely do you think Nintendo is secretly using a portion of the code of third party open-source emulators in their own emulators?

100% without a doubt. Every giant social media platform and streaming service likely has some version of ffmpeg as their backbone so I don't see how this would be any different for video game giants emulating their old games for their new hardware.