Launched in early 2018, Yuzu quickly became the most popular Switch emulator, offering high-performance gaming with enhancements like resolution scaling and 60 FPS mods. Its success was bolstered by its open-source nature and a robust Patreon that funded rapid development.

The project met its end when Nintendo filed a lawsuit against its lead entity, , alleging that Yuzu facilitated massive piracy, specifically citing over one million illegal downloads of The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom before its official release. Tropic Haze settled for $2.4 million and agreed to Nintendo's demands to shut down all operations, including their website, code repositories, and sister project, the 3DS emulator Citra.

The Yuzu emulator was a premier open-source tool designed to run Nintendo Switch games on Windows, Linux, and Android. However, as of , official development and distribution of Yuzu ceased permanently following a major legal settlement with Nintendo. The Rise and Fall of Yuzu