You can now port Switch games to iPhone (Seriously)

Apparently you can now take a Nintendo Switch game ROM, run it through this program called NS Port Builder, and just like that you've got yourself a native iOS port.

This tool automates much of the process of turning Switch games into iOS apps, though keep in mind that you'll need a compatible Mac, your own game files and decryption keys, and a way to sideload the finished app.

I won't even pretend to understand how any of this works, and I won't be getting into the technical details either (my free time is very limited). If you want to dive in deeper and try this for yourself, you can check out LNPANDY's GitHub repository.

NS Port Builder is based on another project called nxnative, which is what makes all of this possible in the first place. It provides the core technology for running Nintendo Switch games on Apple hardware (Mac included), rewriting their code for Apple Silicon and translating their graphics to Apple's Metal. NS Port Builder builds on this foundation by introducing a GUI that walks you through the initial setup, a fix for games with hundreds of thousands of files that wouldn't install on iOS otherwise, and other improvements.

So far, footage of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has been shown running via NS Port Builder on an iPhone, with touch controls, somewhat stuttery performance and minor graphical glitches. The project is far from perfect at the moment, but it's a very exciting development nonetheless.

A couple of notes for both projects:

They are VERY new: nxnative first appeared on October 13, and NS Port Builder on October 21
You have to build the apps yourself - all details are in their respective GitHub repos
Not every Switch game is supported right now
I haven't personally tested whether they work or are safe, so proceed with caution

At this point it feels like every other day a new, insane app drops - to me PC game emulators for iPhones started popping up earlier this week. Not complaining though.