Fake Switch 2 Emulators and 'Pokopia PC' Downloads: Copied Eglantine and pokopia-recomp Repos, 'Axiom' Scams

As of November 3, 2026, the only public emulators that run Switch 2 games are a few unofficial forks of Eden: eden-nx2, Eglantine, Eden-NS2, PokeDinner and the Android port Eden SX2A. They started appearing on October 29, they're all experimental, and none of them are connected to the Eden team. As soon as real projects existed, the scams changed shape: instead of inventing a "first Switch 2 emulator," they now borrow the real projects' names, like the fake GitHub repo EglantineEmu/Eglantine-Switch-Emulator. So the rule today is simple: only these few forks are real, so be careful with any download outside these names. The late-October "Axiom" and mass-copied "Splatoon Raiders PC port" repos are still scams. When pokopia-recomp, a PC recompilation of Pokémon Pokopia, went public on November 2, scammers got a new name to borrow: in search results as of November 3, there are already copied repos of it and download sites that want you to run a "fix script" as administrator.

Which ones are real (as of Nov 3)

All of these are free and open source, and none have an official website. How each one runs and what's broken is on our Eden Switch 2 forks page; how they came about is in the first emulators that run Switch 2 games.

Note that being hosted on Eden's code server, or having "Eden" in the name, doesn't make a project official. Eden's own Switch 2 code is still an unmerged draft; see Eden's Switch 2 pull request.

The new scam: impersonating real projects

Impersonators and suspicious downloads we found while searching between October 29 and November 1:

• EglantineEmu/Eglantine-Switch-Emulator (GitHub, created Oct 30): the description is stuffed with keywords ("Eglantine Emulator v0.2.1 is the switch 2 line…"), the version number doesn't match the real Eglantine's build numbering, it offers a single zip and asks for keys. Its first issue is literally "is this real or malware?"
• "Mario Kart World MKW Recomp" on SourceForge: it's called a recomp (static recompilation), but it actually packages a Switch 2 emulator build of unknown origin.
• "Mario kart world for pc" on itch.io: it tells you to download and run "Loader.exe" from an unknown GitHub repo, a textbook malware-delivery trick.
• A copy of TotK Recomp on SourceForge: the original instructions were rewritten to have you run "Launcher.exe" and click past Windows SmartScreen warnings.
• "Eden-NX2 download" pages on assorted file sites, plus X posts using Eglantine and other fork names to push file-host and Discord links: none of these can be verified.

"Pokopia PC": copied repos and "fix scripts"

On November 2, pokopia-recomp, a Windows static recompilation of Pokémon Pokopia, released its first test build, and "Pokopia PC" quickly became a hot search term. The background is in the first Switch 2 game PC recompilation. As of November 3, two kinds of things had crept into the search results:

• Copies of the pokopia-recomp repo: other accounts copied the project under the same or nearly the same name. The original is by GitHub user drakolordx7, and its builds are published on the original repo's releases page.
• Download sites that want you to run a "fix script" as administrator before the game will start. The original project has no such step. Its instructions are to unzip the build, run the launcher, PokopiaLauncher.exe, pick your game folder there and let it compile locally.

pokopia-recomp contains no game content. It needs the game files for version 2.0.1a, the first local compile takes about 7 minutes, and building the shader cache takes another 1–2 hours. Any "Pokopia PC" that claims to be ready to play out of the zip, with the game bundled, doesn't match this project.

"Switch 2 ROM" posts on X

Since November 1, X has seen a dozen or more posts a day advertising "Switch 2 ROMs" with Discord invites or file-host links, some of them using the Eglantine or Pokopia names to draw clicks. None of their sources can be verified.

On October 30, Modern Vintage Gamer (MVG) warned publicly on X that downloads for this new batch of emulators are likely to contain malware and to only use trusted sources. The same week, Engadget reported that NordVPN researchers found fake PS5 emulators on GitHub spreading password stealers that add Windows Defender exclusions.

The older scams: "first Switch 2 emulator" and fake ports

"Axiom"

Emulation General Wiki lists Axiom as a notable scam. It showed a slowed-down Mario Kart World video and claimed it was sped-up emulator footage; later, scammers used the name to charge people for a Patreon "early access build." The wiki says the Maxim emulator was probably made by the same people.

"Splatoon Raiders PC Port"

Splatoon Raiders launched on Switch 2 on July 23, 2026, and Nintendo hasn't announced a PC version. When we searched on October 30, several different GitHub accounts were hosting near-identical "Splatoon-Raiders-PC-Port" repositories: similar READMEs, descriptions stuffed with keywords like "switch 2 emulator" and "official free download," and every one pointing to a zip file.

Timeline: how the scams kept up

• Oct 22: ns2jb, the first public Switch 2 jailbreak, was released. It's tethered (gone after a reboot), has no kernel access and does not expose console keys.
• Oct 27–28: Will Faust ran Mario Kart World on a Mac and an iPhone 18 Pro with a private nxnative fork he won't release, and another developer got Splatoon Raiders to character select in a private Eden build. Searches for "Switch 2 emulator download" spiked, and made-up scams like Axiom and fake PC ports were everywhere.
• From Oct 29: unofficial forks like eden-nx2 and Eglantine went public, and XDA, DSOGaming and others covered them on Oct 31. Scammers immediately switched to borrowing those names.
• From Nov 1: a dozen or more "Switch 2 ROM" posts a day on X, pointing to Discord servers and file hosts.
• Nov 2: pokopia-recomp, a PC recompilation of Pokémon Pokopia, releases a test build and "Pokopia PC" searches take off. By Nov 3, search results already include copied repos and download sites demanding an admin "fix script".

Why these downloads are dangerous

• In March 2025, Trend Micro found fake GitHub repositories with AI-written READMEs posing as game mods and cracked tools. Their zip files delivered SmartLoader, which then installed the Lumma stealer.
• On October 8, 2026, BleepingComputer reported that the "FakeGit" campaign had restarted with 17,610 GitHub repositories. Researchers said 97% of the commits they sampled touched only the README, and 88% pointed the "Download" button at a zip that installs SmartLoader.
• In late October, TechPowerUp and Engadget relayed NordVPN's finding that fake repos posing as PS5 emulator projects were spreading a stealer that checks for a real gaming PC and then adds Windows Defender exclusions.

Back in 2017, the US Federal Trade Commission warned that no working Switch emulator existed and that sites claiming otherwise were scams.

How to spot a fake

What this means for players

• For real Switch 2 emulation progress, see the state of Switch 2 emulation and our Eden Switch 2 forks page. These forks can be renamed or disappear at any time, and that's exactly when impersonator repos multiply.
• For original Switch games, only use official sites, such as eden-emu.dev for Eden. The full list is on the emulators page, and how to spot fake emulator sites covers impostor sites.
• nxnative has officially been adding Switch 2 support since October 31. It turns games into native programs rather than emulating them, and it's only officially tested on Mac; see nxnative adds Switch 2 support. For the native Windows build of Pokémon Pokopia, see the first Switch 2 game PC recompilation.
• Be wary of any "ready to play" download.