For most of the last two decades, emulation has been the default answer for game preservation. Games can be lost to time if no work is done to preserve them properly and, fortunately, software emulators, FPGA solutionsand (to a lesser extent) official re-releases through services such as nintendo switch Online each one has carried part of that burden.
In most cases, emulation has done enough to keep retro games playable, but in recent years, fans have rebuilt some of these games as native PC ports, and the result is something that emulation, by its very nature, cannot match.
Native ports have gone from being a novelty to the best way to play
The decompilation and recompilation efforts are nothing short of impressive.
While native ports of retro games for PC have been in the works for decades, the first major decompilation of a 3D console game began with Super Mario 64. To better understand the inner workings, fans completely reverse engineered the compiled ROM back into readable C code and then used it to build a PC executable that allowed the game to run natively on x86 hardware. This was part of the n64decomp project, which has since grown to include other popular N64 titles. The popularity of feature-rich forks of these decompilation efforts, such as sm64ex and sm64coopdxopened the floodgates to decompilations of all kinds.
Porting these games to PC natively enables features that simply aren’t possible with an emulator: widescreen rendering support, uncapped framerates, high-resolution texture modifications, mouse and keyboard controls; The sky really is the limit when the game is running without an operating system.
There are two main types of ports.
Full decompilation and static recompilation.
Not all portability efforts are handled the same, and the difference between the two main approaches helps explain why we’ve seen a flurry of activity on this front recently.
The first is full decompilation followed by a hand-built source port. Humans painstakingly reverse engineer the game’s compiled code into readable C, function by function, until the rewritten code matches the original ROM byte for byte. A custom PC port is then built around that codebase. This is the approach taken by harbor masters with Harkinian Shipthe popular ones native port of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, as well as evening lighta port of Twilight Princess.
The second approach is static collection, which is responsible for the rapid pace of disembarkation at ports in recent months. Instead of humans translating each function by hand, users like wise lord have created tools like N64Recomp that automate the process. The tool reads the original ROM and translates it in advance into native C++ that a normal compiler can compile for any platform. However, there is still a lot of work to do in each match. Graphics rendering, audio, input mapping, timing quirks, and other hurdles still need to be overcome, but the brute force translation step is automated here.
In both cases, the result is fundamentally different from emulation. There’s no virtual N64 running inside your PC like there would be with something like Project64. The game logic runs as native code on your real CPU.
Why this is important for preservation
Software can get old
Emulation is software and software ages over time. Emulators lose maintainers, accumulate compatibility regressions, fall behind on OS changes, and sometimes face legal action. Nintendo’s removal of the Yuzu Switch emulator in 2024 is the most relevant example of this.
A native port completely avoids most of those problems because it doesn’t depend on a single person to maintain it. Once a port is finalized and running on x86 and ARM, it doesn’t depend on anything more than a handful of well-supported modern APIs, most of which have stood the test of time across generations of hardware.
The practical advantages are obvious, and most of them I’ve already mentioned, but full ports also allow for much more creative additions to these games. “ROM hacks” have been around for years, but these preservation efforts allow for features like online cooperative multiplayer, which I never thought I’d see integrated into an N64 game.
It’s not just Nintendo games
Other platforms are getting similar treatment right now.
The N64 has had greater visibility, but the techniques are becoming more widespread. ReXGlue, a newer compilation project inspired by Sonic Unleashed Recompiled, applies the same static compilation approach to Xbox 360 games. It’s still early days and still relies heavily on parts of the emulation to run, but it’s impressive how much progress has been made.
This approach has also already produced a playable game. Battle Ace 6 compilation, a game that had been stuck on Xbox 360 since 2007. The broader open source port world has been doing something similar for decades, of course: DevilutionX for devilsOpenMW for Morrowindand OpenRCT2 for Roller Coaster Tycoon 2just to name a few.
It’s still in a legal gray area
Unfortunate for true fans of the IP.
While it would be really nice if these preservation efforts were praised by both publishers and developers, they are generally not seen as friendly efforts by a particularly passionate group of fans.
These projects are careful. They do not distribute copyrighted assets, the code is designed to be reverse engineered in a clean room and users have to provide their own. legally obtained ROM or disk image. In theory, that puts them on defensible legal ground, but in practice, the legal precedent is not established and the rights holders most likely to prove it have a long history of aggressive action against fan projects.
Nintendo is known for controlling the use of its intellectual property with an iron fist and is a great example of what can go wrong with these types of projects. It has a long history of DMCA takedowns and sending cease and desist notices to various ROM piracy sites, emulation projects, fan games, and even tournaments.
In 2020, infamously closed one of the greatest Super Smash Bros. Melee tournaments during the COVID-19 pandemic because organizers opted to use Project Slippi, a mod for the Dolphin emulator that revitalized online play to Melee with the appropriate rollback netcode. Although Slippi does not include any game data Melee As such, Nintendo’s official statement said that the tournament required “illegally copied versions of the game along with a mod called Slippi,” and that the organizers refused to remove Slippi when asked. He Last The support was canceled as collateral damage, even though it didn’t involve Slippi at all, as Nintendo asked for the entire event to be cancelled, not just the Melee part.
While Slippi has nothing to do with efforts to port classic games to PC, it does show that these types of projects can be killed at any time, and Nintendo (and other publishers) have absolutely no qualms about protecting their intellectual property, even if it is detrimental to their image. It is very possible that one of these projects will end up in court in the coming years and produce jurisprudence that will change the entire landscape.
A new way to play your favorite classics has arrived
Emulation will continue to do what it has always done. Covers entire libraries with the breadth type no port project will ever matchbut for the specific games that get the native port treatment, the result is longer lasting than anything an emulator can produce. It is a real piece of software that can be ported, modified, fixed, and continued indefinitely. The most important version of a 1998 game in 2050 might not be the original cartridgebut the native port made by hardcore fans.
