Well, Nintendo aren't going to be happy about this one are they. A developer going by Mr-Wiseguy released an open source tool for bringing Nintendo 64 titles to any platform, and released a PC port of Zelda: Majora's Mask.
The tool is called N64: Recompiled available under the MIT license on GitHub:
N64: Recompiled is a tool to statically recompile N64 binaries into C code that can be compiled for any platform. This can be used for ports or tools as well as for simulating behaviors significantly faster than interpreters or dynamic recompilation can. More widely, it can be used in any context where you want to run some part of an N64 binary in a standalone environment.
Using the tool they've made Zelda 64: Recompiled, which brings Majora's Mask (and soon Ocarina of Time) to PC with Linux and Windows versions available. This also makes use of another open source project called RT64, which is a Modern N64 renderer built on Vulkan and Direct3D 12. It of course doesn't supply the assets needed to play the game, you need to buy a copy of Majora's Mask yourself.
Zelda 64: Recompiled trailer:
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Amazing stuff for game preservation. Exciting!
Article taken from GamingOnLinux.com.
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18 comments
Now quickly download the source code before Nintendo sends the DMCA
11 Likes, Who?
Oh this is super-cool. 
Shame they had to go with Majora's Mask as an example, though (excellent game though it is!) - that's going to be like a red rag to a bull, as far as Nintendo is concerned! 
... Now I'm wondering how well the excellent and criminally-overlooked Bomberman 64: The Second Attack! (whose story-director was Naoki Yoshida/"Yoshi-P", who's at Square-Enix these days) would fare...
Shame they had to go with Majora's Mask as an example, though (excellent game though it is!) - that's going to be like a red rag to a bull, as far as Nintendo is concerned! ... Now I'm wondering how well the excellent and criminally-overlooked Bomberman 64: The Second Attack! (whose story-director was Naoki Yoshida/"Yoshi-P", who's at Square-Enix these days) would fare...
1 Likes, Who?
Mountain Man May 14
It of course doesn't supply the assets needed to play the game, you need to buy a copy of Majora's Mask yourself.Right, "buy". ((nudge nudge wink wink))
2 Likes, Who?
Runs nice in my case
and dont need decompile rom (usa version in my case), only need in uncompressed format
and dont need decompile rom (usa version in my case), only need in uncompressed format
2 Likes, Who?
everybody: making open source things to run Nintendo things
Nintendo: going mad
Nintendo: going mad
6 Likes, Who?
Well, Nintendo aren't going to be happy about this one are they.
When has Nintendo ever been happy about any of this stuff? This is no different than any other fan project and funny thing is that this developer does a better job at making older N64 titles look great with these enhancements than Nintendo. They would rather lazily put out N64 games as is and continue to rake in the money from those poor souls that pay to play these games with their crappy subscriptions.
Anyways, the project does look cool and it would be interesting how far it'll stay up before it vanishes due to the obvious reasons
Last edited by ToddL on 14 May 2024 at 1:18 pm UTC
4 Likes, Who?
They would rather lazily put out N64 games as is and continue to rake in the money from those poor souls that pay to play these games with their crappy subscriptions.They don't even emulate those correctly! The N64 has a pretty distinct look*, and they do it a disservice on that subscription library of theirs. You can upscale these games and retain hardware-accurate filtering - it's just that Nintendo themselves, who are often all about leaning on nostalgia, don't seem to be bothered about getting it right on this occasion.
*I'm quite fond of that look in spite of it not being one of my favourite consoles by a long shot, and seeing N64 games rendered by the company who released the hardware looking all jagged and with incorrect colours (presumably they used 4-point bilinear filtering, instead of 3-point as the original hardware did, which typically makes these games look "off"), really bugs me.
Last edited by Pengling on 14 May 2024 at 1:42 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
instead of 3-point as the original hardware did, which typically makes these games look "off"
And this is what it looks like.
2 Likes, Who?
And this is what it looks like.Yep! I bloody love it.
I've got Mupen64Plus-Next set up on my Steam Deck with correct filtering and anti-aliasing, but upscaled, and it looks wonderful - authentic, but freshened up a little for the higher-resolution display.
0 Likes
legluondunet May 14
If this work could help N64 emulator developers progress. Because today, N64 emulation is less accomplished than other console emulators.
0 Likes
If this work could help N64 emulator developers progress. Because today, N64 emulation is less accomplished than other console emulators.
Unless I'm wrong, I don't think this will help N64 emulator developers since this one is recompiled to worked natively without using emulators. I'm pretty sure emulators have been adding changes like the ones highlighted in the video to N64 games for some time now.
Last edited by ToddL on 14 May 2024 at 4:30 pm UTC
1 Likes, Who?
It of course doesn't supply the assets needed to play the game, you need to buy a copy of Majora's Mask yourself.Right, "buy". ((nudge nudge wink wink))
Looks like it's actually available to buy on Amazon, but at "collectible" pricing. Not exactly suitable for casual interest. Wouldn't it be grand if Nintendo officially cooperated with these projects, and sold digital ROM images? They probably think "that makes it easy to pirate" but there's plenty of evidence that piracy becomes largely irrelevant once there is a good, legal service available (Steam, Netflix, Spotify, etc.).
0 Likes
Hopefully that tool will mean more n64 ports much easier
Honestly these things are a godsend, perfect dark pc port in particular is my favourite as I loved that game growing up
Honestly these things are a godsend, perfect dark pc port in particular is my favourite as I loved that game growing up
1 Likes, Who?
Might be because I'm on my phone, but I don't see the difference between your two screenshots of the jagged texture under the stairs.instead of 3-point as the original hardware did, which typically makes these games look "off"
And this is what it looks like.
1 Likes, Who?
Might be because I'm on my phone, but I don't see the difference between your two screenshots of the jagged texture under the stairs.It's definitely your phone! They look very different, even when not viewed at full-size.
2 Likes, Who?
legluondunet May 19
New release out today, version v1.0.1, a Linux package is available.
As a long time Linux user, with new project I am used to it to download sources, compiled them, obtain compilation errors, report issues on Github etc...
But this time I just downloaded Zelda 64: Recompiled today's release, extracted it, launched it and provided it a rom, no tweaks, it was so easy.
The result is very impressive, like the game was developed natively for Linux.
My PS3 dualshock controller was recognized out the box and vibrated when I launched game.
Rendering: I didn't know N64 games could be so beautiful, it will be hard to come back to N64 emulation after that.
For the moment this project accept only USA rom, I hope I can use a rom with my native language with a future release.
Other feature that will be a must: textures packs support, imagine this project with "Henriko Magnifico" textures packs...That will be the perfect Zelda Ocarina and Majora's Mask gaming experience. But will Nintendo let do that without intervention?
Last edited by legluondunet on 19 May 2024 at 4:17 pm UTC
As a long time Linux user, with new project I am used to it to download sources, compiled them, obtain compilation errors, report issues on Github etc...
But this time I just downloaded Zelda 64: Recompiled today's release, extracted it, launched it and provided it a rom, no tweaks, it was so easy.
The result is very impressive, like the game was developed natively for Linux.
My PS3 dualshock controller was recognized out the box and vibrated when I launched game.
Rendering: I didn't know N64 games could be so beautiful, it will be hard to come back to N64 emulation after that.
For the moment this project accept only USA rom, I hope I can use a rom with my native language with a future release.
Other feature that will be a must: textures packs support, imagine this project with "Henriko Magnifico" textures packs...That will be the perfect Zelda Ocarina and Majora's Mask gaming experience. But will Nintendo let do that without intervention?
Last edited by legluondunet on 19 May 2024 at 4:17 pm UTC
3 Likes, Who?
CyborgZeta May 27
I don't like having to do any compiling and stuff. It's easier for me to just boot up a ROM in an emulator.
Last edited by CyborgZeta on 27 May 2024 at 8:01 pm UTC
Last edited by CyborgZeta on 27 May 2024 at 8:01 pm UTC
0 Likes
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