Update 3rd November, 11:14: Yuzu developers have officially removed all online functionality from the emulator indefinitely. The staff says it apologizes for the "confusion and disappointment" and that it was "genuinely excited about something we thought we could offer". The developers don't go into any more detail about exactly why they removed this feature. Original story follows below.
Original story: Nintendo Switch emulator Yuzu now has beta support for Nintendo Switch online emulator play and services. The feature was developed in conjunction with Raptor Network (no relation) and means that certain emulated Switch games can connect to the internet and take advantage of their online component.
How does Yuzu online service emulation work?
This news comes to us via the official Yuzu website. The developers say they have leveraged Raptor Network (link replaced with archived version as site is now down) in order to provide Switch online emulation. Raptor Network effectively acts as a replacement for the official Nintendo Switch online servers, meaning emulated Switch games with an online component don't need to contact Nintendo's servers to go online.
At the time of writing, the Switch online emulator supports only two games with online services: Super Mario Maker 2 and Super Mario Odyssey. In the former, you can make and share custom levels, while in the latter you can play the Luigi's Balloon World minigame and share high scores in leaderboards. The Yuzu staffers say reverse-engineering new Switch games to take advantage of online services is "an arduous task", but that players should "keep [their] eyes peeled" for more updates.
How do you access Switch online emulator services on Yuzu?
In order to access Raptor Network services on Yuzu, you'll need an active Early Access subscription. Download the latest Early Access build and sign into your account. Once you've done this, you'll need to scroll down to "Your other services", where you'll find a Raptor option. Activate that option and you'll be prompted to agree to Raptor Network's terms of service. You must do this if you want to access the network. Once you've done that, you'll be given a login token, which you'll need to copy and paste into Yuzu's "Emulation > Configure > Online" menu. After you've been verified, you can connect to Raptor Network and start playing your Switch games online.
Remember that this service is still in very early days, so in addition to only two games being supported, there may be other teething problems with the network. You can check the status of Raptor Network servers right here and keep up with any news relating to the network over here.
Which Switch games would you like to see get online Yuzu support next? Let us know in the comments below!
