Nintendo DMCA sweep hits Yuzu, Citron Neo and Picofly

Nintendo DMCA notices on GitHub took down the Yuzu and Citron Neo emulators and Picofly modchip firmware, disabling more than 200 repositories in total.

FireGhost

November 12, 2026, 12:50 PM5 min read

Contents10 sections

Nintendo DMCA notices have hit GitHub again. The Picofly DMCA notice published by GitHub is one of four dated November 6. They target the Yuzu and Citron Neo emulators along with Switch modchip firmware.

This is not Nintendo's first move against emulation, but the focus this time is on firmware for modchips soldered onto the console. It also lands while Switch 2 keeps breaking records, as covered in our Switch 2 sales pass 26.35 million story.

Nintendo Switch, Switch OLED and Switch Lite consoles — The Nintendo Switch family (Source: Nintendo)

What do the Nintendo DMCA notices cover?

GitHub has posted all four notices in its public DMCA archive. Two go after repositories holding copies of Yuzu. One targets the Citron Neo emulator and one targets the Picofly modchip firmware. Far more repositories went offline than were named, because GitHub applied some notices to every fork of the parent repository.

Nintendo's GitHub takedowns at a glance

Notice date: November 6, 2026
Number of notices: 4
Emulators targeted: Yuzu (two copies) and Citron Neo
Modchip firmware targeted: Picofly, with SX Core, SX Lite and HWFLY support
Picofly network: 144 repositories disabled
Citron Neo network: 71 repositories disabled

The Citron Neo DMCA notice carries a similar note. GitHub says the parent repository was being actively forked when the notice arrived, so it processed the takedown against all 71 repositories. The Picofly network was larger than 100 repositories, so GitHub did the same there.

Why is modchip firmware a target for the first time?

TorrentFreak's report on the Picofly takedown notes that none of Nintendo's 90 earlier notices in GitHub's archive mention modchips. Older notices mostly went after emulators and key dumping tools. Picofly is a modchip based on the RP2040-Zero board. It is soldered onto the Switch mainboard to get around the console's boot protection.

Nintendo has fought these chips in court before. In 2020 it sued stores selling Team-Xecuter's SX Core and SX Lite chips, and members of the group then faced criminal charges in the US. The chips lived on through compatible alternatives such as HWFLY and Picofly.

Nintendo Switch 2 console and Joy-Con 2 controllers — Nintendo Switch 2 (Source: Nintendo)

Why does Nintendo say Switch emulators are illegal?

The Yuzu DMCA notice spells out Nintendo's reasoning. Switch games are encrypted with keys called prod.keys. Nintendo says emulators use unauthorized copies of those keys to decrypt games at runtime, which it argues breaks the anti-circumvention rules of the US DMCA.

The notice also cites Nintendo of America's case against Tropic Haze, the developer of Yuzu. That March 2024 ruling led to Yuzu shutting down. IGN's report on the GitHub DMCA sweep recalls that Nintendo took down 8,500 copies of Yuzu the same year by targeting 12 mirrors, so the code kept circulating long after the shutdown.

IGN also points to the timing. The takedowns came a few days after emulators managed to run the new version of Ocarina of Time on PC. You can read about the game's success in our Ocarina of Time 5.2 million sales story and see the critics' verdict in our Ocarina of Time Metacritic 96 reviews roundup.

Key art for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Switch 2 — The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (Source: Nintendo)

What does it mean for players?

Nothing changes for Switch and Switch 2 owners who play legitimate games. The notices only cover repositories on GitHub. TorrentFreak notes that the same firmware is still hosted elsewhere on the site, and it is not yet clear whether Nintendo will send more notices.

Emulation is a long-running debate for older consoles too, as our guide to the best console emulators explains. If you want to know what changed in Zelda's new release, see our eight new Ocarina of Time features story.

Frequently asked questions

Which projects did the Nintendo DMCA notices target?

The four notices dated November 6 and published by GitHub target two copies of the Yuzu emulator, the Citron Neo emulator and the Picofly modchip firmware. GitHub disabled 144 repositories in the Picofly network and 71 in the Citron Neo network.

Why does Nintendo say Switch emulators are illegal?

The notices say Switch games are protected by encryption keys called prod.keys. Nintendo argues that emulators use unauthorized copies of these keys to decrypt games, which breaks the anti-circumvention rules of the US DMCA.