'Zelda: Breath of the Wild' emulator: Fans are playing 'BotW' on PC using Cemu and ROMs

Impact
By Xavier Harding

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is the premiere launch title for the Nintendo Switch and it's available on Wii U too, but the game is probably even more cross-platform than you think. Fans of the series have ported the game to PC as well. We're, of course, talking about emulators and read-only memories files — commonly referred to as ROMs.

Breath of the Wild emulator and ROM: How do you play Zelda on PC?

Using the Cemu emulator, fervent Zelda fans who can't wait until the Switch is back in stock have brought the game to their computers. All it takes is grabbing the Cemu emulator software and digging up the Zelda: Breath of the Wild ROM. Before we go any further, we should note that there are some legal risks here. Using an emulator is fine, but downloading and playing a pirated copy of Nintendo's game could definitely get you in hot water if the company decides to go after digital thieves.

While we haven't used the Cemu emulator ourselves, gameplay appears largely similar to the experience on the Switch and Wii U. Fortunately for ROM players, the Joy-Con now work on PC too.

Zelda: Breath of the Wild emulator and ROM: What to expect from gameplay?

Playing Zelda on PC appears mostly similar to playing on the proper experience on one of Nintendo's consoles. With a few hiccups.

As shown by Youtube user CryZENx, the ROM experience on Cemu 1.7.3 may lead to characters seeming to sink into the ground when idle. Folks on Reddit like TwisterAuthor have experienced other issues like game freezes and lower than usual frame rates. So keep that in mind.

As with most ROMs, the best experience will likely be on the console itself and not PC. Though if you're willing to stomach minor hiccups, Cemu may be worth a try.

Check out more Zelda: Breath of the Wild news and coverage

Find out all there is to know about Zelda: Breath of the Wild, including how to preserve your items, how to beat bosses like the Stone Talus and Lynel, the best recipes for Link and how to take on the game's shrines. Check out a map of every single shrine in BotW and find out if we can expect amiibo to come to the game soon. You'll also want to find out where all the great fairies are in the game, how to use amiibo with your version of Zelda and what went into making Breath of the Wild.