Looking ahead: Despite Nintendo’s aggressive efforts, PC users were often able to play games released for the original Switch through emulation just days after release. Generative AI coding could help recreate a similar situation with Switch 2 games, although things are still in early, experimental stages. The latest target is a remake of The Legend of Zelda, which received rave reviews this week.
The Nintendo Switch 2 remake of arguably the best Nintendo 64 game was wiped and running on a PC emulator within hours of release. However, users should probably stick with the console version for now.
A recent video from Unreal Gaming PC shows Nintendo’s remake of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time running on the recently released Lichii emulator. Centro Leaks has also shared screenshots of a character model and other assets extracted from a downloaded copy of the game, while X user NotRexed claims to have begun preliminary work on a PC recompile.
— Centro LEAKS (@CentroLeaks) November 4, 2026
However, since the emulator is barely a week old, the game is still far from playable. The video demonstration is plagued by visual glitches and the frame rate often drops into the 20s on a system with an RTX 4080 and Ryzen 7 9800X3D. For comparison, the Switch 2 version maintains 60 fps at dynamic 1440p when docked and dynamic 1080p in handheld mode with AMD FSR 1 enabled.
Still, the success offers another glimpse into the rapid pace of Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 hacking over the last month. A free, fan-made PC port of 2019’s remake of The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening entered public beta in October. Later that month, the first proof of concept for jailbreaking the Switch 2 was released, and hackers began running Switch games natively on Apple Silicon devices.
— NotRexed (@NotRexed) November 5, 2026
The enthusiasm for Ocarina of Time is expected to be one of the main drivers for further development of Lichii and other Switch 2 exploits. The original 1998 release remains Metacritic’s highest-rated game of all time with a Metascore of 99, while the remake debuted with a Metascore of 96.
The Switch 2 remake received perfect reviews from The Guardian, Eurogamer, GamesRadar, Destructoid and several other media outlets, while IGN, GameSpot and Forbes rated it 9/10. Critics say the groundbreaking classic that helped popularize several conventions of modern 3D gaming still holds up 28 years later. They also praise the new quality of life improvements, with several media outlets recommending the remake to both long-time fans and newcomers.
