Switch (Nintendo)
Introduction
FlatRedBall can be used to develop games for the Nintendo Switch. To develop games for the Nintendo Switch, your game should be using the FNA platform. To deploy to the Nintendo Switch you must:
Target .NET 7 or newer
Verify that your project compiles and runs using Native AOT
Have Nintendo Switch hardware. You must register with the Nintendo Developer Program: https://developer.nintendo.com/
FNA vs MonoGame
Both FNA and MonoGame can technically be used to develop games for the Nintendo Switch; however, the FNA path has a number of benefits:
FNA allows the use of modern .NET versions (7+). MonoGame requires translating code to C++ using BRUTE which does not support modern .NET and C# features. This is currently being worked on by the MonoGame team, but as of May 2024 there is no AOT solution.
As of December 2023, FlatRedBall MonoGame has yet to run on the Nintendo Switch. FlatREdBall FNA demos have been successfully deployed to switch.
The MonoGame team which was responsible for console support has been less active since 2021. The FNA team continues to be active as of December 2023.
More games have been deployed to consoles recently using FNA rather than MonoGame as of December 2023.
Internally, the FlatRedBall team is testing FNA and will provide support to any games which run into problems with FNA.
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