nxnative
Play your own Nintendo Switch and Switch 2 games natively on Apple silicon Macs, iPhone and iPad. One script packs your game into a Mac app or an unsigned IPA that you sideload.
It is not an emulator: the game's own code runs directly on the Apple chip, with Switch graphics rebuilt on Metal. Nothing from any game is in this repository, and the project is not affiliated with Nintendo or any game publisher.
Games · Community front ends · Requirements · How to play · Discussions · For developers
Games
The full tested games table includes original Switch games, tested builds, engines and graphics APIs. Each game's note records its tested platforms, progress and known issues.
These Switch 2 games have passed Mac gameplay testing. Build them from a .nup file or a dump folder:
Community front ends
Community projects build on nxnative with tools to turn your games into apps for your iPhone, iPad or Mac without the command line, and libraries to organize and launch them. They are separate projects: questions and bugs about them go to their own pages.
- NX2Apple — Mac builder with a shared iPhone/iPad game library.
- NX Play — Mac library with device installs and save sync.
- NxNative Launcher — Mac launcher with guided builds and controller mapping.
- LumaNX — Mac game builder with IPA export.
- GameCase — iOS game library based on LiveContainer.
Requirements
- Mac: Apple silicon, macOS 26.6 or later. Building games requires Xcode 27.2.
- iPhone: A17 Pro chip or later, with iOS 26 or later.
- iPad: M1 chip or later, with iPadOS 26 or later.
The games' textures are BC-compressed, which older iPhones cannot read. Switch 2 builds are tested on the Mac; check each game's note for device-specific validation.
For a game without a profile, the script writes a survey and tries a provisional build with guessed settings. That build may not start; see Port another game.
How to play
Switch 2 games are built from one .nup file or a folder of their files, not from NSPs, and are tested on the Mac only: see Switch 2 games.
Build from the command line
You need a Mac with macOS 26.6 or later, Xcode 27.2, Homebrew and Python 3.12 or newer (an arm64 one, not an Intel Homebrew's). An iPhone build also needs Xcode's iOS platform (Xcode → Settings → Components).
The shaders are built with Xcode 27.2's Metal compiler. Select it before step 1: sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode.app. With several Xcode versions installed, name this one Xcode-27.2.app and select it with sudo xcode-select -s /Applications/Xcode-27.2.app.
1. Install the tools (only once), in Terminal:
xcodebuild -downloadComponent MetalToolchain
git clone https://github.com/seedds/nxnative.git && cd nxnative
brew install xcodegen zstd glslang
python3 -m pip install lz4 "capstone>=5,<6" fonttools nsz zbic "backports.zstd; python_version < '3.14'"
2. Put your game in a folder: the game, plus its update and DLC if you have them (.nsp, .xci, .nsz or .xcz):
~/Games/MarioWonder/
Super Mario Bros. Wonder [010015100B514000][v0].nsp
Super Mario Bros. Wonder [010015100B514800][v327680].nsp
3. Build, with your game folder and your prod.keys:
python3 scripts/build_ipa_from_nsp.py ~/Games/MarioWonder -k ~/keys/prod.keys
The IPA appears in the game's folder. The first build takes 30–60 minutes and needs free disk space of about twice the game's size plus 10 GB; building again is much faster.
To play on the Mac instead, add --platform mac-app: you get a Mac app of the game to open from Finder. All options: The packing script in detail.
Install
Install the IPA on your iPhone or iPad with a sideloading tool such as AltStore, Sideloadly or LiveContainer. If your tool offers Increased Memory Limit, turn it on: the bigger games need it.
Game too big to install? Build again with --romfs separate, and run the command the script prints once to copy the game files to your phone (Quick reinstalls). With AltServer, also add --shader-files: it cannot install a file of 2 GiB or more.
Controls, saves and settings: Playing.
Switch 2 games
A Switch 2 game is built from one NUP container (a .nup file) or a folder of its files, not from NSPs. Neither needs prod.keys. A game this project has no profile for is surveyed and gets a provisional profile, as NSPs do (Port another game), which may not boot. You get a Mac app; iPhone and iPad are untested.
This is the beginning of the README. Read the rest at the original. Read the full README ↗
