Zelda fans working on day-one Tears of the Kingdom PC port
As Nintendo prepares to release The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, emulator fans are working on a day one PC port.
26th Apr 2023 14:13
Images via Nintendo
Zelda fans working on day-one Tears of the Kingdom PC port
As Nintendo prepares to release The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, emulator fans are working on a day one PC port.
26th Apr 2023 14:13
Images via Nintendo
2023 is another year of big games, with the likes of Starfield, Star Wars Jedi: Survivor, and The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom duking it for game of the year. Zelda is sure to see Nintendo soar this year, but if you don't have a Switch, you might be in luck.
As Sony learns to share former exclusives including The Last of Us and God of War on PC, Nintendo is keeping its titles locked up in the Hyrule Castle dungeon - well, unless emulator fans have anything to do with it.
Zelda players are working on day one Tears of the Kingdom port
Speaking to PC Gamer, several experts guessed how long it'll take Tears of the Kingdom to release on popular emulators Ryujinx and Yuzu. Nintendo favourites like Metroid Dread and Shin Megami Tensei 5 quickly found a home on emulators, with the former getting a day one release.
Discussing the potential of Tears landing on PC the same day as Switch, Yuzu Lead Developer Bunnei explained, "We anticipate that there will be significant attention on Switch emulation in the lead up to the TotK release."
Seeing the obvious problem of Nintendo's notorious legal eagles, they added, "We are not concerned as emulating the Switch is completely legal and we have successfully navigated many high-profile Nintendo releases in the past."
When asked about a day one release like Metroid Dread, Bunnei added, "Yuzu continues to mature, and we've had good success with running recent Switch releases on or shortly after launch.
"If TotK doesn't deviate too much from BotW, it's possible that we may not encounter any significant issues. However, with some recent titles such as Pokémon and Xenoblade, it took us some time to work out major issues, and thus, we cannot be certain about TotK until it's released."
The problems with a Tears of the Kingdom PC port
Although it's disappointing there isn't a solid 100% confidence, we can see where the team is coming from. As PC Gamer points out, emulation is a sticky wicket and it struggled to get Breath of the Wild running because it spent most of its life being developed for the Wii U.
On whether Tears could use the Denuvo anti-emulation software, Bunnei concluded, "Trailers for TotK have showcased new physics interactions that may pose a challenge for emulation, as similar mechanics were difficult to emulate in the early days of Yuzu with BotW.
"Although the team does not expect it, there is always the possibility that TotK could use Denuvo anti-emulation software, which could present unexpected obstacles." Emulation is no longer a dirty word, and these days, both emulators have Patreon pages that can pull in between $2,000 and $18,000 a month.
Unsurprisingly, emulation is a big business, meaning Tears of the Kingdom will be a priority for both teams. You only have to look at the buzz surrounding Xbox players getting GameCube games before Switch owners to see emulation is a clever way to dodge Nintendo's notoriously tight-fisted approach.
About The Author
Tom Chapman
Tom is Trending News Editor at GGRecon, with an NCTJ qualification in Broadcast Journalism and over seven years of experience writing about film, gaming, and television. With bylines at IGN, Digital Spy, Den of Geek, and more, Tom’s love of horror means he's well-versed in all things Resident Evil, with aspirations to be the next Chris Redfield.
