Nintendo removes over 400 Switch emulator repositories from GitHub in one day.

Nintendo filed seven DMCA takedown notices on GitHub in one day, resulting in the simultaneous removal of over 400 Nintendo Switch emulator repositories. The targets include forks of ' Yuzu ,' a well-known emulator that has been removed in the past, and copies of ' Suyu ,' which is derived from Yuzu.

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Nintendo Wipes Out 400+ Switch Emulator Repos in Single-Day GitHub Sweep * TorrentFreak
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The conflict between Nintendo and emulators that allow some Nintendo Switch games to be played without a Nintendo Switch console has been ongoing for some time. In February 2024, Nintendo sued the development team of 'Yuzu,' an open-source Nintendo Switch emulator, for copyright infringement, and Yuzu ceased development and distribution.

Nintendo sues Nintendo Switch emulator 'Yuzu' - GIGAZINE

Immediately after Yuzu was taken down, Nintendo Switch emulators such as 'Suyu,' 'Sudachi,' 'Lemonade,' and 'Lime' appeared. 'Suyu' had rules in place to avoid lawsuits from Nintendo, such as generating revenue from the emulator and explicitly prohibiting copyright infringement, but in March 2024 it was removed from GitLab, in April its Discord server was shut down, and in July a mass removal request was made for it along with other emulators.

Nintendo requests the removal of Nintendo Switch emulators such as Suyu, Nzu, Uzuy, Torzu, Sudachi, and Yuzu-vanced - GIGAZINE

Even after that, several derivative repositories called 'forks' were created, which were copies of the source code of the deleted emulator, but Nintendo continued to remove them repeatedly.

Then, in August 2026, Nintendo filed seven DMCA takedown notices with GitHub in a single day. The repositories targeted this time totaled over 400, including multiple Yuzu forks and emulators that had previously ceased service.

The largest of these was Suyu, a successor emulator that gained popularity after Yuzu's service was shut down. The reported network of forks spanned over 100 repositories, so GitHub processed notifications for the entire network of 311 repositories, including Suyu's parent repository.

In addition, 29 repositories related to the Android Switch emulator 'Skyline,' 14 forks of 'Yuzu,' 8 related to 'Android version of Yuzu,' and 21 early access builds of 'Yuzu' were also targeted for deletion.

When I tried to access the repository for 'Suyu,' which was targeted for deletion, I received the message, 'The repository is unavailable due to a DMCA deletion request.'

Nintendo argues that all of these removals violate the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) because emulators exist to circumvent the encryption protecting its games. In its DMCA notice, Nintendo states that the emulators in question 'use copies of encryption keys without Nintendo's permission to decrypt illegal copies of Nintendo Switch games or ROMs.'

In its notice, Nintendo cited two court rulings, including one against the developer of Yuzu, as the basis for its claims. However, in neither case did the court conduct a thorough examination of the circumvention of technical protection measures by emulators.

Many of the networks that were removed this time had already ceased operations, but GitHub sometimes retains open-source code even after a service has been discontinued. In such cases, forks and mirroring are more likely to occur, so it is believed that Nintendo took strict measures to crack down on this.