Why Did Ryujinx Shut Down? Nintendo's 'Agreement' and What Happened to Ryubing, MeloNX and Kenji-NX

Ryujinx didn't shut down because of a lawsuit. Its creator took a deal. On October 1, 2024, the Ryujinx source code suddenly disappeared from GitHub, with 1.1.1403 as the final build. Contributor riperiperi explained on Discord that "gdkchan was contacted by Nintendo yesterday and was offered an agreement to stop working on the project, remove the organization and all related assets he's in control of." He accepted. The terms have never been published, and nobody outside knows whether money changed hands.

What Ryujinx was

gdkchan started Ryujinx in C# in 2018. It was known for accuracy and avoided per-game hacks. By May 2024 it had tested about 4,300 games, around 3,550 of them playable. It had Vulkan and OpenGL backends and local wireless multiplayer, and on Apple Silicon Macs it used the system hypervisor to run game ARM code directly. The team had internal Android and iOS builds that were never released.

Unlike Yuzu seven months earlier, there was no lawsuit and no public settlement figure. The project closed after Nintendo reached out.

The forks that followed

Ryubing: first to step in, first to tire

Developer GreemDev forked the code within days. He framed it as quality-of-life improvements for Ryujinx users, not a revival. The fork moved under the Ryubing name in early 2025 and later set up its own code server, multiplayer server and update server. When Nintendo sent a DMCA notice against Ryujinx forks on February 26, 2025, Ryubing stopped developing on GitHub but kept going.

On February 16, 2026, GreemDev said he would no longer maintain it: "This is not a phoenix project, this is a maintenance project." Others kept it ticking over. The Canary channel shipped 1.3.347 through 1.3.351 between August 24 and 26, 2026, and the official repository has had no new commits since. Its site, ryujinx.app, still calls the app Ryujinx.

MeloNX: the iOS workhorse

Developer Stossy11 announced MeloNX on December 24, 2024, bringing Ryujinx to iPhone and iPad. It needs no jailbreak but does need JIT. Version 2.4 in July 2026 was rebuilt on Ryubing, and 2.7 arrived on October 11. Its GitHub repository was named in Nintendo's February 2026 DMCA notice, and the project now lives off GitHub.

Kenji-NX: the one with an Android build

Kenji-NX, maintained by KeatonTheBot, keeps an interface closer to the original Ryujinx and also ships for Android. The Android 2.1.0 pre-release in February 2026 fixed a batch of Snapdragon 8 Elite issues. Days later its GitHub release repository was blocked by DMCA. Automated builds have been paused since, and downloads are limited.

What this means for players

• The original Ryujinx has no official download. Sites like ryubing.org that show up for "Ryujinx download" are not official. See how to spot fake emulator sites.
• On PC, the Ryujinx line means Ryubing: stable, but don't expect big new features. Eden, from the Yuzu line, is updated far more often on PC and Android. Compare them in Eden vs Citron Neo vs Ryubing.
• On iPhone and iPad, use MeloNX with the iPhone / iPad setup guide. Apple Silicon Mac users can also look at Astris and the Mac setup guide. Kenji-NX on Android is getting old.