Breakdown
- Suyu will continue what Yuzu did, while also avoiding their mistakes
- Suyu won't monetize its efforts, which is what brought Yuzu down
- Suyu also won't support any piracy discourse, something Yuzu was too quick to capitalize on
The recent closure of Switch emulator Yuzu brought by Nintendo has garnered a mixed reaction from fans, mourning the loss but acknowledging the hubris. SuYu will attempt to continue what Yuzu did by giving fans a source for Switch emulation, while also avoiding Nintendo’s lawyers.
In an interview with Ars Technica, the developers of SuYu (pronounced “sue you” haha) are going out of their way to avoid any confrontation with Nintendo. One of the smarter things these devs will be doing is avoiding monetization, which was the major case against Yuzu since they profited from their acts.
Sharpie, one of the contributors to this emulation project, has said that the team didn’t want to see all of Yuzu’s hard work thrown down the drain. However, to avoid angering Nintendo, the devs are making it a point not to support piracy, saying any discussion about it will warn fans of its Discord page.
"Suyu currently exists in a legal gray area we are trying to work our way out of," Sharpie told Ars in a recent interview. "There are multiple plans and possibilities for what to do next. Things are still being organized and planned."
While fans did enjoy having Yuzu, that project was consistently doing things that would anger the folks at Nintendo. The devs would constantly tell players about leaked games and if they were playable on their emulator, with Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom being the biggest example. Unsurprisingly, Tears of the Kingdom was brought up in their lawsuit, hence, the site’s eventual takedown.
Regardless of how you feel about Yuzu, the project’s closure did scare off some fans who were working on much-needed emulators and jailbreak apps. FBI, a must-have app for a jailbroken 3DS, was recently removed from Git Hub. While FBI was never mentioned, one of its devs did help out with Yuzu.
Suyu is still in early development and doesn’t seem to be in a usable state, at least not yet. Those who previously downloaded Yuzu should be fine, though future Switch games might not work on it.