A wrapper/port of NetherSX2 to the Nintendo Switch. It loads the original Android emulator core libemucore.so, patches it, and runs it inside a minimal Android-like environment natively.

Everything ships as a single NetherSX2.nro: it bundles both emulator cores (Patched 4248 + Classic 3668), both renderer backends (OpenGL + Vulkan/NVK) and each build's data files, and extracts the ones you pick to the SD card at launch. An SDL cover-art launcher chooses the game, the renderer, and per-game settings, then chainloads the emulator.

The launcher supports multiple library folders across SD, USB mass storage, and SMB shares.

L + R + Plus to open the quick menu for save states, controller rebinding, selectable per-game PNACH cheat codes, RetroAchievements progress, frame-limiter control, reset, and exit. The cheat browser reads /switch/nethersx2/cheats/<CRC>.pnach, recognizes PNACH [sections] and legacy // code name blocks.

No emulator core, BIOS, or game assets are included in this repository.

1. Copy NetherSX2.nro into /switch/ on your SD card.
2. Put your own PS2 BIOS dump into /switch/nethersx2/bios/.

The launcher creates the rest of the folder tree on first run:

/switch/NetherSX2.nro
/switch/nethersx2/
  .emu/         <- extracted when selected
  bios/         <- your PS2 BIOS dump           (you supply)
  resources/    <- shaders / GameIndex / fonts  (auto-extracted per core)
  covers/       <- cover art (<game-key>.png)
  gamecfg/      <- per-game launcher settings
  lsfg/         <- optional user-supplied Lossless.dll
  forwarders/   <- HOME shortcut launch records
  hidden.ini    <- hidden library entries
  launcher.ini  <- the launcher's saved config

This will not run in applet/album mode — it needs the full memory of a game override. Launch it by holding R while opening an installed title, or use a forwarder.

A PS2 BIOS dump is required and must come from your own console; the launcher warns at startup when bios/ is empty.

Casual RetroAchievements are available from Settings > RetroAchievements. Sign in once in the launcher, then enable achievements before starting a game. Successful sign-in stores the returned account token in launcher.ini. Achievement progress and descriptions can be viewed during play from L + R + Plus > Achievements.

LSFG 2x Frame Generation is available for the Vulkan renderer in Settings > Frame Generation. You must provide your own Lossless.dll at /switch/nethersx2/lsfg/Lossless.dll. LSFG must be enabled before launching a game so the Vulkan session can be prepared. Frame Generation starts Off in every game and must be enabled manually from L + R + Plus > Frame Generation. Skip Duplicate Frames is automatically enabled for prepared LSFG sessions so only unique game frames are interpolated.

Install the devkitPro Switch toolchain and portlibs:

pacman -S devkitA64 switch-tools libnx switch-sdl2 switch-sdl2_ttf \
          switch-sdl2_image switch-curl switch-mesa switch-libdrm_nouveau

Provide a compatible Mesa NVK package under vulkan/include and vulkan/lib. Extract the 4248 and 3668 APKs into sibling folders named NetherSX2-v2.2n-4248 and NetherSX2-v2.2n-3668, or set CORES_DIR to the folder containing them. CMake, Ninja, and Git are required; the build downloads pinned libsmb2 and libusbhsfs revisions.

./build_all.sh

• The AetherSX2 / PCSX2 developers for the emulator.
• The NetherSX2 maintainers for the patched Android builds.
• fgsfds for the Switch so-loader groundwork reused here.
• TheOfficialFloW for the original Android so-loader lineage.
• Dantiicu for Switch Vulkan driver.
• Slluxx for IconGrabber.

If you enjoy my work and want to support me :

This project has no affiliation with the AetherSX2 or PCSX2 developers. No BIOS, game images, or the emulator core are distributed here; you must supply your own BIOS dump and legally-owned game images. We do not condone piracy.

Unless noted otherwise, the source in this repository is under the MIT License (see LICENSE). The vendored LSFG-VK subset under third_party/lsfg-vk is GPL-3.0-or-later.