MacNativeGames (Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Mac, iPhone and iPad)

Tears of the Kingdom came out on Switch in May 2023. Yong Li, a developer in Germany whose GitHub account dates from 2012, published MacNativeGames on 17 October 2026. Within five days it had about 4,200 stars, 590 forks and more than 380 commits from over 30 contributors, and it added Breath of the Wild along the way (see Breath of the Wild on Mac). Notebookcheck covered it on 19 October, reporting about 90 fps on an M4 MacBook Air.

This site is not affiliated with the MacNativeGames developers or with Nintendo.

What it is

The Switch and Apple silicon both use ARM64 processors, so almost every instruction of the game runs as it is. The project’s own docs describe three parts:

• A rewriter changes, ahead of time on your Mac, the few things macOS does not allow: the x18 register, the thread pointer, system calls and counter registers. Each becomes a short jump into a stub. The build checks that the result matches, byte for byte, the hashes the repository lists for your version.
• A host stands in for Horizon, the Switch’s operating system: threads, memory, files, saves, controllers, audio and the movie decoder.
• An NVN layer replays the game’s Nintendo graphics commands on Metal 4. Shaders are translated with the Ryujinx shader translator (MIT), SPIRV-Cross and Metal, and cached.

The rewriter, host and NVN layer started from D2R Mobile, which first used this approach for Diablo II: Resurrected. Mush8 does the same for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. It is a game-specific port, not a Switch emulator.

What you need

• Your own game files: the base game 1.0.0 (0100F2C0115B6000) as XCI or NSP, and prod.keys from your own Switch. For 1.1.2, 1.2.1 or 1.4.3 add that cumulative update as NSP or NSZ; no intermediate update is needed. An NSP has no system fonts, so it also needs an unpacked firmware folder (or fonts from an earlier build). DLC and combined packages are not supported. We do not explain how to dump or obtain files.
• A Mac: Apple silicon on macOS 26 or newer (macOS 27 works); the graphics need Metal 4. 16 GB of memory is recommended. The README notes an 8 GB M1 MacBook Air gets through the build but swaps heavily. About 25 GB free for the work folder, more for updates (about 40 GB for a fresh update build).
• Tools: the Xcode command line tools, Homebrew (opus, libvpx, [email protected]) and an internet connection for build dependencies. Xcode’s optional Metal toolchain compiles the startup shaders into the app.
• For iPhone and iPad: full Xcode 26 or newer with the iOS and Metal toolchains, plus xcodegen, cmake and ninja, and at least 45 to 60 GB free for the first build. The device needs iOS/iPadOS 26 and must be an iPhone 14 or newer.

How it is built and installed

One Python script, build_app.py, takes your game file and keys and makes the app. It extracts and decrypts your files, rewrites the code modules, checks every step against the hashes in the repository and prepares the shaders. The README times a clean base build at about 6 minutes on an M4 Mac mini, before shader preparation was added; shader preparation adds a few more minutes. The README itself suggests using an AI coding assistant to help with the build.

• Mac: the script makes Tears of the Kingdom.app; you open it from Finder. No Apple developer account is mentioned for the Mac build.
• iPhone and iPad: the script makes an unsigned IPA. You sign and install it with your own sideloading tool and must keep its entitlement for the increased memory limit. The author tested on devices “signed with a personal development team in Xcode”. The README doesn’t say whether a free Apple ID is enough or a paid developer account is needed; we couldn’t confirm.

The finished app contains the game built from your files, so the README says it is for your own use only and must not be shared.

How well it runs

• Mac: tested on an M4 MacBook Air and M4 Mac mini at about 90 fps after shader warm-up and 120 fps in menus. For 1.4.3, scene loading, movement, menus, saves, shrines, 2K output and MetalFX upscaling and frame generation have been tested. Extra keys switch frame interpolation, MetalFX, 21:9 ultrawide and anti-aliasing. Controllers (DualSense, Xbox and others) and the keyboard both work.
• iPhone and iPad: only 1.4.3 tested, on an iPhone 14 (iOS 26.6.1) and an A16 iPad (iPadOS 26.7.1), in handheld mode at 1280×720 with touch controls laid out like a Switch controller. The first launch takes about 3 minutes. The phone cannot translate new shaders while playing, so objects can be missing in places no player has reported yet. On an iPhone 14 the game uses close to 4 GB and was closed by iOS twice, about 8 minutes into busy areas.
• Known issues: shader compile stutters in new places, no online features, no amiibo. Players share a list of shader IDs through GitHub issues so the next build is smoother; the list holds identifiers only, no game data.

Is it official, and will it stay up?

• MacNativeGames is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo. The README says the repository has no game content: no game program, art, audio, shaders or keys. It holds the port’s code, addresses and hashes for checking your files, and a list of shader identifiers. There are no releases; the only ready-made binary is the shader translator, built from the Ryujinx code in the repository.
• We found no takedown. On 22 October 2026 the repository was online, and GitHub’s public DMCA archive had no notice naming MacNativeGames or its author. Nintendo’s two notices there from 1 October 2026 targeted Ryujinx and Yuzu copies, and Nintendo has acted against Switch projects quickly before. This project needs prod.keys and includes Ryujinx code, so it is more exposed than most.
• Get it only from the official repository. Sites offering ready-made apps or IPAs with the game inside are not the project.

Was it made with AI?

Mostly, from what the history shows. About two thirds of the commits carry a “Co-Authored-By: Claude” line, and the README recommends Claude Code, Codex or another AI assistant for building the app.

Other ways to play

A second native route exists on Apple hardware: the separate multi-game engine nxnative, which shares MacNativeGames’ D2R Mobile roots, lists Tears of the Kingdom 1.4.3 as tested on iPhone (15 Pro or newer), and LumaDock is a Mac launcher for it. Looking for Windows? Since 25 October 2026 there is a native Windows port too, UltraTears, which reuses parts of MacNativeGames: see Tears of the Kingdom on PC. It is early, needs version 1.4.3 and doesn’t run on Linux or Steam Deck yet. The legitimate ways to play remain a Switch or Switch 2.

Related

• Tears of the Kingdom on PC (UltraTears): the native Windows port, built on parts of this project.
• Breath of the Wild on Mac: the same project’s early port of the first game.
• Link’s Awakening on PC and The Wind Waker on PC: other Zelda games as native ports.
• Mario Kart 8 Deluxe on iPhone and Mac and Diablo II: Resurrected on iPhone: Switch games run natively on Apple devices the same way.
• nxnative and its Mac launcher LumaDock: a multi-game native engine that also runs Tears of the Kingdom 1.4.3 on iPhone.
• More Apple-device ports: iPhone and Mac ports.

Unofficial. This page is written by an independent directory. It is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Nintendo or Yong Li (ly05010419) (MacNativeGames (Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom on Mac, iPhone and iPad)'s author). We do not host any files, and we never link to game files, ROMs or ISOs.