Every fact on this page applies to update 2.0.59001, the one version tested. Other versions may behave differently.
No emulator needed: Sea of Stars runs natively on the Apple chip. How nxnative compares with emulators
Running through nxnative
How Sea of Stars runs
Sea of Stars runs on the Mac at 60 fps, the same frame rate it targets on the Switch. The project developers have built the iPhone app, about 5.1 GB, but have not yet tested it on a device.
How it runs
The game asks for 60 fps itself, so nxnative needs no frame-rate change for it. On the Mac, testing covered the logos, the title, a new game with its leader and difficulty choices, the Great Archives framing story and the Mooncradle prologue: dialogue, walking, climbing, scene changes, and saving and continuing from the title. That covered a 40-minute session and four shorter ones.
An early build crashed about six minutes in, because the game's memory regions took up twice the address space they needed. This is fixed, and a 20-minute session afterwards stayed well within bounds.
Controls
The Packed app starts in the 3D touch layout, which adds the D-pad and the right stick.
Good to know
- The prologue has no enemies, so no battle has been reached yet, and none of the cinematic movies has played.
- Tested with update 2.0.59001. Other versions may behave differently.
Known issues
- The iPhone app is built but has not been tested on a device yet.
- Battles and the cinematic movies have not been tested yet.
Packing command
Run this in your nxnative folder on the Build Mac. Replace the game folder and the keys path with your own. Add --platform mac-app to get a Mac app instead of an iPhone and iPad app.
python3 scripts/build_ipa_from_nsp.py ~/Games/sea-of-stars -k ~/keys/prod.keysFAQ
Does Sea of Stars work with nxnative?
Yes. Sea of Stars is tested with nxnative on update 2.0.59001.
Which iPhone, iPad or Mac do I need to play Sea of Stars?
An iPhone 15 Pro or newer (A17 Pro chip or later) or an iPad with an M1 chip or later, on iOS or iPadOS 26 or later, or a Mac with Apple silicon. iPads with the A17 Pro chip (iPad mini) have the iPhone 15 Pro's chip but are untested by nxnative. Packing needs a Mac with macOS 26.6 or later and Xcode 27.1.
Is Sea of Stars included?
No. Neither this site nor nxnative includes any game. You Pack Sea of Stars from your own copy of the game, with keys dumped from your own Switch.
Does online play work in Sea of Stars?
Online play in Sea of Stars is not confirmed to work, so do not count on it.
