Hacker gets Windows XP and Space Cadet Pinball running on Nintendo’s Switch console

Getting Windows XP running on a Nintendo Switch is impressive, but what about running Space Cadet Pinball? Mind blown, right? Users of Microsoft’s Windows XP operating system will probably remember this game, which shipped with the OS while it was the mainstay of most PC users. 

Alfonso Torres, who tweets under the name @DingoTech, has managed to get this classic PC game running on Nintendo’s console hardware, bringing to the mobile platform the OS’ classic green hills through the powers of emulation. 

When speaking to PCGAMER, Torres claimed that it took six hours to reach the desktop, running Linux on the console’s Nvidia Tegra X1 chip while using the i386 (x86) emulator to simulate a 1GHz 32-bit single core processor which is then used to run Windows XP. This is how the modder managed to get an x86 OS to run on an ARM-based console.

Sadly, the desktop performance of this emulated XP system isn’t great, but the touchscreen functions as expected and Space Cadet Pinball runs at full speed, albeit without audio, which is a neat achievement in and of itself. The Switch’s dock can also be used to connect a keyboard to the system and to utilise the dock’s HDMI output, creating a neat mini PC system.