Skip to content

Nintendo Switch™

Nintendo Switch logo

Solarus on Switch

Solarus has been ported to Nintendo Switch, and at least one game using this port has been released on this system: Ocean's Heart.

The Nintendo Switch port of Solarus is kept private, though, even if Solarus is free and open-source software.

This is because of Nintendo's Non-Disclosure Agreement. They don't release their development kit as open-source software, so we can't make the port's source code public. It's the law.

However, the Nintendo Switch repository does not contain anything more than slight modifications to make it build and run on Switch. We made sure that the public repository has benefited from all the general-purpose improvements made in the private Switch one.

If you want to release your game on Switch, you need to get access to the Nintendo Development Kit.

How to get a Development Kit

To get a Nintendo Switch Development Kit (software and hardware), you need to get in relation with a publisher that has an agreement with Nintendo, or Nintendo themselves (but it's harder if you're a small and unknown indie dev).

You will have to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA) that imposes that you will keep all the information about Nintendo Development Kit secret.

What you will get:

  • The software tools to build a game for Nintendo Switch.
  • The hardware (a specialized Nintendo Switch) to debug the game directly on the system.
  • Access to private forums to speak with other Nintendo Switch devs.

And then?

Once you have signed this paper, you can show it us and we will give you access to the Solarus Switch port repository. Contact the Solarus Team on Discord.

The process to build a Solarus game for Switch is explained in this repository.

Summary

How to get your game on Nintendo Switch:

  1. Get access to the Nintendo Devlopment kit.
  2. Ask the Solarus Team to get access to the private Nintendo Switch port of Solarus.