Switch 2 Zelda remake runs on Android phones days after launch

A new Switch 2 game already runs on Android

Nintendo released The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Remake for the Switch 2 only days ago, and it is already running on Android phones. According to Android Authority, community testers have the game booting and playing through BananaNative, a native translation-layer tool that converts the console code for mobile chips.

Earlier projects brought older Zelda titles such as the original Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask to Android through native recompilation. Getting a brand-new, current-generation console remake running this quickly is described as unprecedented.

How the tests performed

The most complete demonstration came from a Reddit user who ran the game on a POCO F7 Ultra with a Snapdragon 8 Elite processor. After enabling frame generation and swapping in custom GPU drivers, the game held frame rates of roughly 25 to 30fps.

Android Authority credits the speed to the Switch 2 sharing an ARM-based architecture with modern smartphones. Because the processor designs are similar, the translation layer avoids much of the overhead that normally slows console emulation on mobile hardware.

Heavy demands on memory and graphics

The results are far from polished. Testers report that the game frequently needs more than 12GB of RAM during heavy scene transitions, and phones with less than 16GB of RAM crash immediately.

Visual problems are also widespread. Missing foliage, blown-out lighting shaders and long shader-compilation stutters on first boot are all reported. Even flagship phones are pushed to their thermal and memory limits.

What it means for players

Anyone hoping for a smooth console-grade experience should keep expectations low for now. The current builds are early demonstrations rather than a finished way to play, and only the most powerful phones with large amounts of memory come close to running the game.

Still, the speed of this port shows how quickly the Switch 2 emulation and translation scene is moving on Android. A new console title running on mobile within days of release is a notable milestone, even with the crashes and graphical faults.