We've said it before: it's a matter of time and of how much public interest there is. The Nintendo Switch has become the new and great goal of the emulation world, and one of the most advanced projects is Yuzu, developed by the creators of Citra (Nintendo 3DS). Its latest "Prometheus" build represents a massive evolutionary leap thanks to the brand-new Multicore support, which unlocks greater performance in every game that makes good use of the available cores.
The Nintendo Switch is one of the hottest items of the moment, to a point that it has reached ridiculous prices (a perfect storm of quarantine, Animal Crossing, and FOMO), and has led users to adopt extreme strategies to get a console. However, even if the situation were "normal," there's something that doesn't change... the interest in emulating the Switch. All Nintendo systems are popular in that regard, and beyond the technical difficulties, the results end up being astonishing.
Yuzu and the Prometheus Build
That brings us to Yuzu, a project that essentially sets the pace for Nintendo Switch emulation. Its developers are the same ones who created Citra (the Nintendo 3DS emulator), from which they took several elements to make their first steps. The problem is that the technology applied to Citra isn't necessarily optimal for Switch emulation. One of the deepest drawbacks has been its dependence on single-core performance, that is, a single core with high frequency and good IPC (instructions per clock)... but all that changes with the launch of the Yuzu Prometheus build, which welcomes Multicore support:
The video published by BSoD Gaming helps us better appreciate the optimizations that Yuzu Prometheus brings to the table. Super Mario Odyssey isn't the most efficient multithreading example on the Switch, but with the help of this build, load times are much shorter, and the 60 FPS lock is practically guaranteed. Pokémon Sword and Shield doubles its performance, going from an unbearable 15-20 FPS to full speed. The situation is similar in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, a game that by its very nature needs to be close to 60 FPS.
Some of the games shown here use a 60 FPS patch (as is the case with Luigi's Mansion 3), and in the video description you'll find the corresponding links, but they're not perfect. Sometimes they double the speed of every aspect, which leads to audio corruption (the Audio Stretching feature should help). Other games require specific attention (Animal Crossing: New Horizons is one of them), and then there are the emulator's own prerequisites, among which stand out extracting files from an unupdated Switch, installers, tools, and a half dozen extra zips. Don't hesitate to visit the official page for a step-by-step guide.
In summary, Yuzu is still an exercise in patience, but it looks very good, and it has the potential to comfortably surpass the original system. It's likely that in the future it will have fewer dependencies, and that it can run on even more humble hardware.
Official site and download: Click here
