Nintendo Switch Can Supposedly Run PS Vita Games Now

Gaming has come a long way from the early days of its inception. We got consoles, machines able to run video games, but with them, we also got console exclusivity. Some games would only be made and released for specific consoles by specific companies, to boost their own sales and rake in larger profits. That did not stop the community from thinking up its own solutions, and then came emulation, which allowed people to run said exclusives outside of their locked hardware.

In recent years, emulation has progressed by leaps and bounds, and now we have even been seeing emulation of consoles on other consoles. Only recently did the Steam Deck release and people were already trying to run Nintendo Switch games on Steam Deck. Today, we are introduced to something new. Spanish developer Sergi ‘Xerpi” Granell just a couple of hours ago released vita2hos (Vita to Horizon OS), which, as the developer puts it, is not emulation but a translation layer, that runs Vita games natively on the Switch.

vita2hos works by redirecting the module imports of PS Vita (ARMv7 CPU) executables to “jump to routines that implement the same behavior.” This enables the Switch’s ARMv8 CPU to natively run the PS Vita’s ARMv7 CPU-based executables in 32-bit execution. For further details about the project, you can head over to the project’s page on GitHub, where you’ll also find that this is not the developer’s first stint with console modding and programming and not his first project for the Switch or Vita either.

The advent of smartphones and a new age of handheld gaming may have brought down the Vita but it enjoyed a fair share of glory with cult titles such as Gravity Rush, Velocity 2X, Persona 4 Golden, Guacamelee, Spelunky, and many more. And now, we may be able to relive them again, albeit on the Nintendo Switch.

What do you think about this? Do tell us your opinions in the comments below!