Nintendo Switch 2 emulation is progressing rapidly, with the experimental PC emulator Eglantine reportedly running Mario Kart World at full speed on compatible hardware, just over 1 week after the console's first publicly documented software jailbreak. The achievement follows the release of experimental Switch 2 support for the Eden emulator by developer Takoroka, whose work has already enabled other developers to begin testing Nintendo's latest games on PC. According to the Eglantine GitHub project, Mario Kart World can achieve playable performance depending on system specifications and configuration, although significant graphical and compatibility issues remain.
Eglantine is a free and open source emulator derived from Eden, Yuzu, and Sudachi, with development focused on Windows, Linux, and macOS. The project builds upon Takoroka's experimental Eden NX2 implementation, released on October 29, 2026, which introduced preliminary support for Switch 2 software. Initial demonstrations show Mario Kart World running on PC, with the developers reporting performance approaching the game's intended 60 FPS target under favorable conditions. Another gameplay demonstration featuring Splatoon Raiders confirms that additional Switch 2 titles are beginning to run, although frame rates remain inconsistent.
Despite this progress, the emulator is still far from offering a complete gaming experience. Missing geometry caused by unimplemented shaders, graphical corruption, and occasional performance drops continue affecting gameplay. A separate Mario Kart World optimized build released on October 30 introduces improvements to video memory management, shader compilation, and application stability. The developer reports that texture recompression can help prevent crashes on graphics cards with 8GB of VRAM, although demanding courses can still fall below 60 FPS and experience temporary stuttering. No comprehensive independent benchmarks have established consistent performance across different PC configurations.
The breakthrough follows the Nintendo Switch 2 jailbreak that recently enabled homebrew applications and game modifications. Released publicly in October, the ns2jb exploit demonstrated that researchers could execute unofficial code on the console, creating new opportunities for reverse engineering and emulation development. However, the exploit remains experimental and requires reactivation after restarting the console. It does not provide unrestricted access to the system or represent a complete custom firmware solution.
Nintendo has historically taken aggressive legal action against Switch emulation projects, including Yuzu and Ryujinx, raising questions about the future of Eglantine and its derivatives. While the emulator's early progress is technically significant, compatibility, rendering accuracy, and long term stability will require substantial additional development before Switch 2 emulation becomes practical for everyday PC gaming.
Achieving playable Mario Kart World performance so soon after the Switch 2 jailbreak demonstrates how quickly modern emulation development can progress when researchers collaborate through open source projects. However, reaching 60 FPS is only part of the challenge. Accurate shader translation, graphics compatibility, memory management, and stable gameplay across different hardware configurations are equally important. The biggest achievement is not that Mario Kart World can reportedly reach full speed, but that developers have already established a functional foundation for Switch 2 emulation. Whether these projects can mature under Nintendo's legal scrutiny remains another question entirely.
Could Nintendo Switch 2 emulation become as advanced as original Switch emulation, or will Nintendo's legal actions prevent these projects from reaching their full potential?
