Redditor Used AI to Natively Run Switch Games on Apple TV
Reddit user u/FloatingFalafel released open-source TVPort: it recompiles Switch and Switch 2 games from a Mac for Apple TV 4K. Results vary by game.
TVPort is a fork of the nxnative toolkit, which ports games to the console via recompilation. According to the author, they used Claude Opus 5.5 in developing the project. The tool can also back up game saves to a Mac or iCloud and allows users to select a target frame rate—30 or 60 frames per second.
Super Mario Odyssey reportedly runs on Apple TV 4K at 60 frames per second. Minor stuttering occasionally occurs, and audio may malfunction near waterfalls. Animal Crossing: New Horizons is limited to 30 frames per second; the project’s author stated they encountered no issues with its performance.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom still requires refinement. During testing, the Apple TV overheated and throttled performance. The author estimates that running demanding games may require in-depth diagnostics and partial reworking of the game engine. They also did not rule out that TOTK may not be feasible on the third-generation Apple TV 4K.
The TVPort repository does not include game files. For experimentation, users must prepare their own legally obtained copies from Switch cartridges they own.
Using AI for decompilation and game porting remains controversial. Earlier, the creators of decomp.dev announced its shutdown, citing community issues due to unethical AI use. Later, Anthropic requested that Claude Code not be used to recreate existing games.
