Handhelds · ROG Ally · Legion Go · MSI Claw · Steam Deck
Switch 2 emulator on ROG Ally, Legion Go, MSI Claw and Steam Deck
Can a Windows handheld run the Switch 2 Ocarina of Time through an emulator? Not proven yet. This page says what is known, what is only reported by others, and how your device can become data.
The honest answer
Handhelds are the target, and not one has been measured by the maintainers yet. Switch 2 emulation is heavy: it needs a lot of memory and GPU time, and a handheld shares both with the CPU inside 15 to 30 W. If you hope to play on one, expect to tune, and expect some games not to be playable. What we can give you is the one result we have, the setup that produced it, and a way to turn your attempt into data for everyone.
Handheld status
| Device | GPU | Status | Report |
|---|---|---|---|
| ASUS ROG Ally X | Radeon 780M class (Z1 Extreme) | Untested | Send a report |
| ASUS ROG Xbox Ally X | Radeon 890M class (Z2 Extreme) | Community report: about 30 fps in Ocarina of Time, third-party build, upstream issue 1433 | Send a report |
| Lenovo Legion Go 2 | Radeon (Z2 Extreme or Z2) | Untested | Send a report |
| MSI Claw 8 AI+ | Intel Arc 140V | Community report: 22-24 fps in gameplay, another build | Send a report |
| MSI Claw A1M | Intel Arc (Meteor Lake) | Untested | Send a report |
| Steam Deck | RDNA 2, 8 CUs, 4-15 W | Untested; SteamOS is Linux and Guarana is tested on Windows 11 only | Send a report |
Community reports are third-party numbers from other builds and scenes. We have not verified them. Details and sources: device pages.
Starting point for a handheld on Windows
This is the setup from the one tested laptop. It is not tuned for your device. Change one thing at a time.
Install
Follow the 5-minute path with your own keys, firmware and game.
Power
Plug in and use turbo or the highest performance mode. Close the handheld’s overlay apps. On 16 GB, enlarge the page file.
Settings
Enable Frame Generation, multiplier 3, target 60. The shader fix is on for Ocarina of Time by default. Judge smoothness on the second pass through an area, after shaders have compiled.
Controls
Handheld mode and controller hotkeys are on the roadmap. For now see controller setup.
Report
Send the game fps (not the total with generated frames), the driver version, the wattage or power mode and a screenshot of the scene.
Have a handheld? Send a device report
One report turns a page of guesses into data and puts your device on the leaderboard.
- Device, CPU, GPU and RAM
- Graphics driver version and Windows version
- Plugged in or on battery, and the power mode or wattage
- The Guarana build, every setting changed and every
EDEN_NX2_*switch (or “none”) - The scene, and average game fps measured after it settled
Never attach keys, firmware, game files, saves, shader caches, or logs that show your user name or folder paths.
Questions people ask
Can the ROG Ally, Legion Go, MSI Claw or Steam Deck run Switch 2 games?
We do not know yet. No handheld has been measured by the maintainers. There is one third-party report of about 30 fps in Ocarina of Time on a ROG Xbox Ally X (Radeon 890M-class GPU, upstream Lichii issue 1433) and one of 22-24 fps on the Arc 140V in the MSI Claw 8 AI+ on another build. Every other handheld is untested.
How is this different from Ocarina of Time on Steam Deck as a native port?
Native N64 ports and recompilations of the original game are a different thing: they run the old game as a PC program. Guarana emulates the Switch 2 console to run the Switch 2 remake, which is far heavier, and the Steam Deck is the lowest-powered device on our list.
How much memory does a handheld need?
Switch 2 titles use a large guest memory layout and the integrated GPU takes its share from the same RAM. 16 GB is below the comfortable floor. An upstream report has Ocarina of Time running out of device memory on a ROG Ally with a Radeon 780M, so close everything else and enlarge the page file.
Does Guarana run on Android handhelds or SteamOS?
Release builds are Windows x64. Nothing outside Windows is tested here. We do not have an Android build, and the Steam Deck on SteamOS is untested.
How do I help get my handheld supported?
Run it, then open a device report with the device, GPU, driver, power mode, build, the scene and game fps. A failure is useful data too. Each device page below links a prefilled form.
Which power mode should I use on a handheld?
Plug in and use the highest performance or turbo mode. The CPU and GPU share one power budget, and our only measured results are with the charger connected.
Play it, then help it get better
Guarana is free and open source (GPL-3.0-or-later). It ships no keys, firmware or games: you bring your own, dumped from hardware you own.
- Download: the latest release is the only official download.
- Stuck? Ask in the Discord (bugs and device reports stay on GitHub so they are tracked).
- Test: a device report needs no code and puts your device on the leaderboard.
- Contribute with your AI agent: one sentence gets Claude Code, Codex, Gemini CLI, Cursor or Copilot to a pull request. Start at the agents page, or see open wins with numbers.
Related
Updated 2026-11-13. Home · FAQ · Benchmarks · Legal