The emulation landscape has always been contentious, and last year proved challenging, with Nintendo targeting emulation projects like Yuzu, Citra, and Ryujinx. At the recent Tokyo eSports Festa, top legal experts from renowned gaming companies—including Capcom, Koei, Sega, Konami, and Nintendo delved into the intricate legalities of emulation and intellectual property (IP) rights.
Koji Nishiura, Nintendo’s deputy general manager of intellectual property, made a striking admission: “Technically, emulators are completely legal.”

Nishiura explained that Nintendo consoles, such as the Switch, employ “technical restriction measures” to prevent unauthorized access to games. Any emulator designed to bypass these measures could face legal challenges under laws like Japan’s copyright regulations and the U.S. Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). As stated in DMCA Section 1201(a)(1)(A), “No person shall circumvent a technological measure that effectively controls access to a work protected under this title.”
This law, dating back over 26 years, highlights how modern gaming issues are still governed by decades-old frameworks. Additionally, emulators that replicate proprietary elements of a console’s user interface, such as home screens or menus, may infringe copyright, further complicating their legal standing.

Nishiura emphasized that Nintendo’s actions against emulators aim to protect developers, drawing parallels to their 2009 collaboration with 54 companies to shut down a device enabling pirated DS games. Emulators that facilitate piracy—either by bypassing protective measures or directing users to illegal ROMs—are in clear violation of the law. For example, Yuzu developer Tropic Haze faced allegations of internally distributing pirated Nintendo Switch ROMs, showcasing the gray areas that often lead to enforcement actions.
The timing of Nintendo’s increased vigilance may be linked to the anticipated 2025 launch of the Nintendo Switch 2 console. Ensuring robust protections against piracy and unauthorized emulation for their next-generation hardware could be driving these efforts.