Zelda without an emulator: SkyboundTOTK brings native PC port to Tears of the Kingdom
While official ports from Nintendo remain rare, fans continue to find ways to bring console hits to PC. Developer NotRexed has released the source code for SkyboundTOTK, a project designed to run The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Windows without the need for a traditional emulator.
Static Recompilation vs. Emulation
Unlike emulators that mimic console hardware, SkyboundTOTK utilizes static recompilation. This process involves translating the original machine code designed for the ARM64 architecture of the Nintendo Switch into C, which is then compiled for Windows. A custom runtime environment provides the system services the game expects from the Switch, while WebGPU handles graphics output. On Windows, this interface is mapped via wgpu-native to Vulkan or Direct3D 12.
It is important to note that this is not a general-purpose emulator; the project is specifically targeted at Tears of the Kingdom. Some shader and graphics translation still occurs at runtime, which may cause stuttering when entering new areas. To mitigate this, the developer intends to implement a cache for processed graphics pipelines.
Technical Requirements and Features
Currently, there is no ready-to-download Windows build; users must compile the project themselves. Requirements include Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit), Python, Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools, Clang, and other development tools. Users must also provide extracted ExeFS and RomFS data from a legally obtained, unmodified version of Tears of the Kingdom (version 1.0.0). Other versions or updates are not currently supported. At least 45 GB of storage space is required for the process.
Regarding visual features, the project supports AMD FSR 1 (spatial upscaling with adjustable sharpening). It also features an experimental frame interpolation method based on Optical Flow, which aims to double the frame rate, though it may increase input latency and cause visual artifacts. Support for ultrawide monitors and keyboard/mouse controls is also in development, while gamepads are already supported.
Competing Fan Projects
SkyboundTOTK is not the only project in this space. Another developer, Kuraeow, is working on UltraTears, an independent native PC port. UltraTears takes a different approach by using direct Vulkan output and supports the more recent game version 1.4.3. The beta version reportedly allows players to navigate the prologue and the Great Sky Island at a baseline 30 FPS, though stuttering remains an issue. Similar to SkyboundTOTK, no standalone installer is provided; instead, a helper tool is available to assist with the compilation process.
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