Well, there it is. After what happened with yuzu, many wondered if it would happen, and now it has. Nintendo has shut down the Nintendo Switch emulator Ryujinx.
Earlier today the GitHub page vanished into a 404 not found error, with some confusion amongst contributors. But it has now been confirmed on the official Discord and on social media that it's not an error. As stated in the post the original creator was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement if they stopped working on it and removed everything related to Ryujinx.
It should be noted, this announcement comes from another contributor riperiperi, not the original Ryujinx creator gdkchan:
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.Yesterday, gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo and offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of. While awaiting confirmation on whether he would take this agreement, the organization has been removed, so I think it's safe to say what the outcome is. Rather than leave you with only panic and speculation, I decided to write this short message to give some closure.
These words are my own. I don't want to speak for anyone else here, so just remember that while reading.
Thank you to @everyone who has contributed code, documentation or issue reports to the project. Thank you all for following us throughout the development. I was able to learn a lot of really neat things about games that I love, enjoy them with renewed qualities and in unique circumstances, and I'm sure you all have experiences that are similarly special. I'm extending my own massive thanks to our moderation team, who have been here through some rough circumstances and always found ways to make light of it.
ShadowXeldron about 5 hours ago
Yet I'm nowhere near as furious about this takedown as the last one? Don't get me wrong, I'm still mad, but I guess it's because I was actually affected last time on account of actively being a Citra user when it happened. I have got Lime3DS installed, but it's only really a matter of time until they go after it.
Quoting: Mountain ManIf you want to play Nintendo games, then buy a Nintendo console. It's as simple as that.
Lol, are they still making game boys? My Nintendo console died and I can't play the Nintendo games I own, and I can't find new game boys anywhere. It is all collector copies or battered down stuff for parts.
Claude_Lib about 3 hours ago
Microsoft doesn't have total control over MS-DOS game development, and MS-DOS games can be found in places other than the Microsoft Store. In fact, many classic DOS games are available on GOG and Steam, and there are even some newfangled DOS games on itch.io.
Emulating MS-DOS requires DOSBox or a fork of it. No illegally-ripped console firmware, cartridge ROMs, or keys from a TPM are needed to run DOS games with DOSBox.
Microsoft doesn't restrict Windows game developers either. I believe that's a significant attraction for independent game developers, since they don't have to pay a fee or sign a non-disclosure agreement to develop for Windows.
The organizations and companies that support individual Linux distributions don't place restrictions on third-party developers either. However, most proprietary software developers don't release for Linux because the market share and fragmentation of Linux is generally not profitable.
In addition, emulation and API copying is 100% legal under United States law.
PC game developers can still sell their old games on modern digital storefronts, and many do! And even if players experience some technical issues playing the game on modern hardware, that doesn't make the game unplayable.
I don't have a Switch, but I've heard Nintendo is now making their beloved retro classics only available through the Nintendo Switch Online subscription service. In addition, console game developers generally have to re-release their games for each new console generation, due to the backwards incompatibility.
Furthermore, while some companies like Capcom may try to stop modders from making mods for their games, that doesn't make game mods as a whole illegal, and some very cool companies like id Software actually encourage it!
Modding a console game entails getting access to the game data from whatever storage medium the console uses. The act of ripping a game from a console disc or cartridge may be illegal under the laws of your country, and I've also heard that devices that rip game data from console cartridges are illegal.
I wish video games were easier to preserve! Unfortunately, the interactive nature of video games means that most video games are going to be tightly coupled to one computer hardware/software platform or another, unless the game in question has a public source code release (most do not).
Last edited by Talon1024 on 2 October 2024 at 3:12 am UTC
Quoting: Mountain ManIf you want to play Nintendo games, then buy a Nintendo console. It's as simple as that.
I HAVE been buying Nintendo Consoles all the way back starting with the Nintendo 64. I am even one of the 5 people who bought a WiiU.
But they don't really make TVs with composite slots anymore, everything's HDMI now. So it doesn't matter if I have physical hardware (Which I DO by the way), CRTs are dying one by one, I won't be able to play the games I grew up with forever unless emulators are allowed to exist. A future without emulation is horrifying. Entire generations of culture lost because of hardware that is not compatible with modern TVs.
There is no good argument in favor of removing emulators from existence. If you approve of this, I literally see you as no better than people who burned books under fascist regimes.
Additionally, let's say in a completely hypothetical scenario (which isn't our reality, let's be crystal clear) that all games were still readily available and that I didn't need an emulator to play Geist on modern TVs because N-Space is currently defunct and therefore cannot sell their game on virtual consoles while receiving money for the game. There's still a strong argument in favor of emulation due to being able to remaster games yourself. For example: On a WiiU emulator, you can play Breath of the Wild at 8k 240fps given powerful enough hardware. On a switch, it barely hits 720p 30.
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