Citron, a relatively new Switch emulator, has released version 0.7, and it’s a complete rewrite of the app.
Citron, as its name would somewhat suggest, is an offshoot inspired by the naming of Citra, a 3DS emulator that was discontinued after mounting legal pressure from Nintendo back in early 2024. The Citra emulator specifically honed in on the 3DS, while the same company building the app worked on Yuzu, its Nintendo Switch sister app.
Most of the Nintendo emulators we see today are named after fruits, or the contents of those fruits; let me explain. Citra is named as such because it’s a fleshing out of the internal codename for the 3DS, CTR. The app Yuzu keeps the same tradition going by staying with the fruit naming, but doesn’t highlight any specific codenames or otherwise. However, follow-up apps and other inspired titles pay homage to Citra by using fruit-based naming as well. Some of these include MelonDS, Suyu, Sudachi, Eden, and of course, Citron.
Citra 3DS, Citron Switch
Citron is the one most closely named to the original Citra, but it aims to emulate games from the Switch as opposed to the 3DS, its base inspiration was named after. However, the developers are now branching further out by introducing a complete rewrite of the app.
Image via Nintendo
Over the past few years, there have been many Switch emulators sprouting in the wake of the discontinuation of Yuzu and Ryujinx. While Yuzu had been the de facto for many years, Ryujinx took the role shortly after it was removed from GitHub, and all public download links were removed. Now, we have different emulators attempting to claim the vacant throne like Eden, Suyu, Torzu, Sudachi, and, of course, Citron.
Rewrite, Rewrite, Rewrite
A complete rewrite of an app essentially signifies that an app has the same primary goals, but the developer restarts development and tries to either achieve them by using fewer resources than previous builds, or it could simply be because they believe the code within the app may be too strenuous to work through on future builds. It could be a league of reasons, but it does signify good news, as it means development of the app is fresh, stable, and utilizes the combined current efforts of its dev team.
Citron 0.7 Changelog
This release represents a complete ground-up rewrite of the Citron emulator by Zephyron. This is 100% original work – no AI assistance was used in the development process.
🔧 MAJOR IMPLEMENTATIONS:
- Complete Vulkan rendering pipeline overhaul
- Advanced ZBC table management with GPU memory integration
- Enhanced Nintendo SDK crash detection and recovery system
- Optimized descriptor update queue performance
- Adaptive timeout and auto-disable for Vulkan turbo mode
- Missing kernel event handle and service function implementations
- ISBERD instruction implementation in shader recompiler
- QueryPointerBufferSize service with proper IPC buffer calculation
- Network stability improvements for HDR multiplayer
- Cross-platform compilation fixes (Linux/Android/Windows)
- Authentication system integration for beta testing
- Complete rewrite of core emulation components
⚠️ IMPORTANT NOTES:
FSR2 IMPLEMENTATION STATUS: The FSR2 (FidelityFX Super Resolution 2) implementation is currently HALF-BAKED and experimental. Users should expect:
- Visual artifacts and rendering glitches
- Inconsistent frame rate improvements
- Potential crashes or instability
- Memory management issues
- Compatibility problems with certain games
This feature is provided as-is for testing purposes only. Use at your own risk.
🐛 EXPECTED BUGS: As this is a complete rewrite, users should anticipate:
- Game compatibility regressions
- Performance inconsistencies
- UI/UX issues
- Platform-specific bugs
- Memory leaks in certain scenarios
- Audio synchronization problems
📋 TESTING RECOMMENDATIONS:
- Test with a variety of games across different genres
- Monitor memory usage during extended play sessions
- Report any crashes or significant performance issues
- FSR2 should be disabled for stable gameplay
With all current emulators looking to build out their Switch emulation prowess, there’s still a lot of work to be done. This can also be noted by the less-than-1.0 release numbering. While obvious to some, it should signify that the app has not yet reached its primary, mainline release, but is slowly reaching it with each release.
While Switch emulation seems like a game of cat and mouse between Nintendo and developers, it’s also a realm of development that can be incredibly exciting and invigorating. With so much competition within the space, each emulator does one thing slightly better than the next, but it encourages its developers to continue adding new features, increasing stability, and ensuring that their code performs well on the platforms they support. Citron, clearly, is aiming to do that with their newest release.
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