Despite this, the one fork that continues, and will continue without takedown is Ryubing - by Greemdev. This is created by an original member of the Ryujinx team. It's safe, the code is beyond reproach (and violates zero laws or Nintendo code) and actually brings helpful updates.

Still...shitty news. And more indication that the Switch 2's architecture will be damn similar to that of this current Switch. Them taking emulators down means the upcoming games have a solid chance of being emulatable on release. But...that's my own (and others') conjecture, so we'll see when the time comes.

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[–] [email protected] 37 points 1 day ago (2 children)

What gives them the right to take down emulators? It's just code someone wrote that happens to be able to interpret bytes from a switch cartridge?

Why wouldn't they take down a company like analogue for example for making a hardware level gameboy emulator?

[–] PM_Your_Nudes_Please 3 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

IIRC, part of the argument is that Switch games are encrypted, and the emulator uses real Switch keys to read the games. So Nintendo claims that by using official Nintendo Switch keys, it is violating Nintendo’s copyright and is subject to DMCA claims.

The argument is shaky at best. But the problem with DMCA is that combating it actually requires taking the claimant to court. So that’s a prohibitively long and difficult process, just to be able to go “hey Nintendo doesn’t actually have any claim here. Restore my repo.” Especially when Nintendo has a known history of drawing out long legal battles to exhaust defendants’ time+resources.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 hours ago

From my understanding the repos wouldn't include the keys (or if they did then they definitely shouldn't). But yeah I understand the long legal battle thing.

[–] ampersandrew 10 points 18 hours ago

The patents on the Game Boy hardware expired years ago, so that's what gives Analogue the right to do what they do. As for these Switch emulators, I have no idea, but I'll guess it's just Nintendo trying to scare people without their own legal departments into complying.

[–] [email protected] 99 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Why are they hosting their code on Github? Switch to Codeberg or maybe self host. And yes I know Github has the most users but they're dealing with something radioactive.

[–] [email protected] 34 points 1 day ago

Codeberg can suffer from the same DMCA requests but at least is not managed by Microsoft. To really avoid(or ignore) DMCAs you need to self-host/use a vps for your own version control tool like Forgejo/GitLab or use a decentralized one like Radicle.

[–] jroid8 21 points 1 day ago

Nintendo playing whac-a-mole with these forks

[–] [email protected] 58 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Just a reminder don't have emulators on GitHub. They work with big companies to make sure they are taken down. Forks do nothing to help since it's easy for them to find now.

[–] TheTechnician27 58 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (3 children)

Just a reminder don't have emulators on GitHub.

I don't like GitHub, but this is simply untrue. We host the PCSX2 project on GitHub, and GitHub even donated some amount at one point to the project. The following major, top-of-class video game console emulators (non-exhaustive) are officially hosted on GitHub:

PlayStation:

Xbox:

xemu (Xbox)
xenia (Xbox 360) (previous Wikipedia article deleted)

Nintendo:

Mesen (NES etc.)
bsnes-hd (SNES)
Gopher64 (N64; recently started as a successor to simple64)
Dolphin (GC/Wii) (Wikipedia article)
Cemu (Wii U) (Wikipedia article)
SameBoy (GB/GBC)
mGBA (GBA)
melonDS (NDS)

Sega:

Genesis Plus GX (libretro core for multiple)
Flycast (Dreamcast)

Atari:

Stella (Atari 2600) (Wikipedia article)
Atari800 (Atari 8-bit/Atari 5200)
A7800 (Atari 7800)

Misc:

Keep in mind that I've only chosen what I believe is the top one or one of the top ones from major consoles. If I could pick multiple per console, this list would be a mile long.

[–] [email protected] 28 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

We are literally in a thread about a takedown in GH. But if you go to other sites, they have the repo up.

Suyu, Nuzu, Uzuy, Torzu, and Sudachi have all been taken down. Youtube-dl got taken down until public outcry. The number of takedowns since 2022 have only increased over the years. 2024 being the highest amount.

I'm glad the repos above are not yet being taken down, I truly am. But GitHub is just Microsoft at the end of the day.

We are also on platforms (Lemmy/piefed) that have chosen codeberg over GitHub for their main git hosting.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA 0 points 15 hours ago

duckstation works damn fine on my pixel. favorite psx emulator

[+] [email protected] -9 points 1 day ago (3 children)

Probably just a case of the corporate lawyers haven't noticed those ones yet.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 19 hours ago

Nah… I suspect that Sony simply doesn’t want to anger hackers again. The cost of downtime is likely to be higher than the imaginary profits they get from harassing emulator communities. I doubt they think their reputation is worth much but maybe they have started to see some value on it.

Japanese gaming companies often don't seem to understand the value of the reputation / honor which is really weird considering that it's one of the things japanese culture is supposed to value.

[–] TheTechnician27 22 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Bruh what? 💀 I chose the highest-profile and arguably best emulators for each major system, let alone that almost every other modern one uses GitHub too. If all of these emulators are flying under the corporate radar, I will deliberately inject myself with rabies and die a slow, agonizing death. I couldn't come up with this shit if I got cross-faded on meth and fentanyl.

Legitimately shocked that this abject fucking nonsense got three upvotes. Want to know how I know Sony knows PCSX2 exists? Two former PCSX2 developers are working on "ports" (read: shitty, subpar emulation) of PS2 games to the PS5. They got their jobs because of their work on PCSX2.

Edit: I'm going to go off a bit more, actually, because I'm sick of living in an era where zero-information dipshits can just say any unresearched, unsubstantiated bullshit online and put it into immediate contention with obvious, demonstrable facts presented with sourcing by a subject matter expert:

I've included a Wikipedia article where applicable; these articles will often have links to these emulators being discussed in popular gaming outlets.
This doesn't even count emulators like Snes9x, PCSX-Reloaded, and Project64 which are no longer top-of-class but which have their own Wikipedia articles, were wildly popular in their day, and host their code on GitHub.

[–] PerfectDark 13 points 1 day ago

Simply untrue.

These are known, and you'd better believe Nintendo knows everything there is to know about each and every emulator that exists. They tried pressuring the team behind Cemu years ago, but it ended up being pointless.

Some of these are years and years and years old.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Self host, codeberg, make mirrors everywhere

[–] mesamunefire 4 points 1 day ago

I can't wait for federation with codeberg/forgeo. PRs from different instances sound great. Git is already set up. It will hopefully be a game changer.

[–] Lexam 32 points 1 day ago (2 children)

Didn't Nintendo just come out and say emulators weren't illegal?

[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 day ago

Correct. Nishiura said that emulators are not illegal. Depending on how it is used ;P

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

Yah cuz they use them on official hardware hahaha

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 day ago

Why is Ryubing beyond reproach? I don't see them doing anything differently than Ryujinx.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 day ago

Anybody got a link to a codeberg fork that looks reliable ?

[+] SolidShake -62 points 1 day ago (4 children)

I have no issue with emulating games. But I also have no issue of a company trying to stop their games from being emulated.

[–] [email protected] 54 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You have no issue with a company trying to illegally prevent people doing something legal?

Is it only for emulation? Stopping emulation is the illegal part.

[+] SolidShake -27 points 1 day ago (2 children)

how is pirating games legal?

[–] chronicledmonocle 25 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Emulation isn't piracy and you're allowed to back up physical games you own. That's legally your right.

[–] CrazyLikeGollum 2 points 1 day ago

Technically, you're allowed to make copies for personal use unless doing so requires bypassing DRM, encryption, or some other lockout mechanism.

Emulation is still not piracy and neither is making a personal backup, but if making that backup requires anything more than a standard disc drive or a cart reader then it is a DMCA violation.

[+] Noite_Etion -1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

[deleted]

[+] SolidShake -23 points 1 day ago (3 children)

yep. why? do you understand the only reason people get an emulator is to pirate roms?

[–] Mistic 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Emulation itself doesn't constitute piracy.

Now, it does facilitate it because all you need is a ROM from any source.

However, saying emulators should be prosecuted for it would be the same as arguing that Steam's Proton should be banned because you can launch pirated games through it.

The real perpetrators are those who distribute pirated content. But going against those would be much more difficult, so they target emulators instead.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

If that’s the limit of your knowledge, I can’t help you. Read more on the subject maybe.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Fuck Nintendo

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 day ago

Indeed

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

Why?

Genuinely asking. Why do you think companies should do this?

[+] SolidShake -15 points 1 day ago (1 children)

lets say you have spend 10 years making a game. and you put it on steam for $10. but wait. you are making $0 dollars because everyone is just pirating it, and then demanding you make a second one.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (2 children)

Show me how this is happening to Nintendo.

[–] ampersandrew 2 points 18 hours ago

The reality is that Nintendo removed your ability to buy those old games for $10, because they'd rather rent you those games forever on their subscription service. If they were on Steam for $10, I'd have bought those old ROMs.

[–] lowleveldata 1 points 22 hours ago (1 children)

Didn't tears of the kingdom got pirated in like 1 week within release? That must have affected sales in some degree

[–] [email protected] 2 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

Emulation =/= online piracy. You need to stop equating them. I emulate games I bought all the time. They were legally acquired ROMs and emulation is legal. I’m not doing anything wrong, legally/ethically/whatever metric you want to use.

Emulation is the legal act (in the US and many countries) of running games on a virtual instance of their respective consoles. Piracy is in no way required to participate in this activity. You can download emulators from the Apple App Store, that’s how legal it is.

I also find it laughable that you want to compare Nintendo to some scrappy artist spending a decade on their game. You need data to show the harm here.

[–] lowleveldata 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

Emulation = online piracy

Did I say that? I did not. I said the game was pirated in 1 week which it definitely happened unless everyone who emulated it was using it legally.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 19 hours ago* (last edited 19 hours ago) (1 children)

I have no issue with emulating games. But I also have no issue of a company trying to stop their games from being emulated.

This was literally your starting argument and what I was objecting to. You have talked about piracy in all follow ups. How else am I supposed to read this? You are equating them. You use them interchangeably to defend Nintendo’s behavior.

[–] lowleveldata 1 points 19 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not that person you're referring to tho

[–] [email protected] 1 points 18 hours ago* (last edited 18 hours ago)

Ok? My mistake aside, this entire conversation was about how someone thought companies are right to stop people from emulating. Then you started talking about online piracy which is not the same thing.

[–] MichaelScotch 10 points 1 day ago

If you’re going to sit on a fence, what’s the point in doing it on a public forum? What does that do?