Lemon Emulator: Android-Only Switch Emulator Forked From Eden, for Adreno and Mali

Lemon is an Android-only Switch emulator forked from Eden (Yuzu → Eden → Lemon) and maintained by Team Lemon (Ghael and others). It first came out on GitHub on September 18, 2026, and as of November 1, 2026 the latest version is 1.3.0 (October 28). It needs an arm64 phone on Android 12 or newer, was built for Snapdragon (Adreno) first, has supported Mali GPUs since 1.1, and includes frame generation, community online play, cheats and quick save/load. It's very new, and its compatibility hasn't been independently tested.

Origin and the Eden connection

• Where the code comes from: the site says Lemon is built on "the open-source emulation core developed by the yuzu community and the projects that followed it." The project's copyright header lists Lemon-Project (2026), Eden Emulator Project (2025) and yuzu Emulator Project (2018), and the v0.3.1 notes (Sep 23) mention "cleaning up remaining 'Eden' branding." So it's an Eden fork, not a direct Yuzu fork.
• Not official Eden: a separate team maintains it; the site lists Ghael, Seak, Sidgey and BitRanger. The project says it isn't actively looking for outside code contributions, and feedback goes through Discord.
• License: GPL-3.0-or-later, with public source. Code and builds live on the project's own server; GitHub is a mirror.
• The team's other project: the site also promotes CapyPS5, which it calls a PS5 emulator for Android. No outlet has verified that claim.

Version history

There's no release newer than 1.3.0 as of November 1. For background, see our Lemon launch story.

Supported devices and requirements (as of November 1, 2026)

For general hardware guidance see hardware requirements; for swapping drivers on Snapdragon, see the Turnip driver guide.

Which build to pick

All three come from the same code, install side by side with separate data, and Lite can import keys, firmware, games and saves from Lemon on its migration screen. Every default can be changed.

Main features

• Lemon FG frame generation (since 1.2): built-in frame generation that inserts computed frames between real ones for smoother motion, globally or per game. It costs some GPU power and can add a little input lag. You can switch the engine to Lossless Scaling, but only with your own Lossless.dll.
• Online play (since 1.1): Nextendo Network, a community service. Register at nextendo.network and sign in to race in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe online. You can also host and join multiplayer rooms.
• Cheats (since 1.2.2): Atmosphère format, pasted or imported, each toggleable mid-game; one-tap downloads for your game version since 1.3.0. Lemon Cheater, a Cheat Engine-style tool, searches, edits and freezes integers and floats.
• Controller hotkeys (since 1.3.0): RetroArch-style. Pick a Hotkey Enable button and combine it with others for quick save, quick load, pause, exit and the performance or device overlays. Requires a physical controller.
• Quick save/load (experimental): survives dying since 1.0.1, and loading across scenes no longer gives a black screen since 1.3.0. If a load can't be undone safely, it tells you and changes nothing. States only last while the app is open, so keep using in-game saves.
• Other: per-game on-screen layouts, input macros, an Adreno driver manager with per-game drivers, motion controls that follow all four screen rotations (foldables and tablets work), direct .nsz/.xcz loading including bundled updates and DLC, and save import from Eden, Citron and Yuzu.

The site also lists rendering bugs it says it fixed at the root, such as TotK's vanishing grass and shadow squares on Adreno, Splatoon's miscolored Inklings on Mali, spikes in Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 on Adreno, and missing prompts and text in FIFA. These are the project's own claims; we haven't tested them.

Getting started

1. Download the right build for your phone (Lemon or Lemon Lite) from the official site, lemon-emu.org, and install it.
2. The first-run setup asks for prod.keys and firmware (the firmware must be a ZIP). Keys and firmware should match, and newer games need newer keys. See keys and firmware explained.
3. Use Add game folder to point Lemon at your games. It reads NSP and XCI as well as compressed NSZ and XCZ files.
4. Install updates and DLC with Install game content; base games just go in your games folder.
5. Coming from Eden, Citron or Yuzu? Import your saves from the first-run setup or the top of Settings.

For general Android setup tips, see the Android setup guide. Lemon checks its own server for updates at launch, falls back to the GitHub mirror, and lets you turn this off in Settings.

Known issues

• No independent compatibility testing: as of November 2026, Android Authority is the only major outlet we found covering it.
• First-run stutter: new effects need their shaders compiled once, causing brief hitches. Keep Disk shader cache on so they don't repeat.
• Accurate GPU mode by default since 1.2: the full build may lose a few frames in heavy games. Switch a game to Fast in its properties if it looks fine there.
• Mali support is newer: some games may behave differently than on Adreno.
• Quick save/load is still experimental, and in FIFA 23 some players' faces can show wrong colors; the project is investigating.
• Odd behavior after tweaking: the project suggests Reset all settings at the bottom of Settings first. It doesn't touch games, saves, keys or firmware.

Who it's for

• Snapdragon users who want to try new features: frame generation, Nextendo Network online play, cheat downloads and controller hotkeys are all Lemon's own additions on top of Eden's code.
• MediaTek (Mali) users: Lemon explicitly lists Mali as supported and ships texture conversion and PanVK drivers for it. Start with Lite and keep expectations modest.
• Anyone who wants stability: start with Eden, which has better docs and more users.

More Android options are on the Android platform page and in our best Switch emulators of 2026. For the legal side, see are Switch emulators legal?