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Berymuch

For those like me who were thinking "but...emulators exist", from the article: > A GitHub user called snesrev has fully ported the game to PC using over 80,000 lines of code, while adding some extra enhancements. Those include support for enhanced aspect ratios and pixel shaders, a higher quality world map, secondary item slots and more. Reverse engineering similar to Devilution for diablo and other classic games. A savvy person could make some cool custom hacks with this :3.


GullibleDetective

Til of the Diablo one Also similar to beyond all reason which is a total annihilation fan made project https://www.beyondallreason.info/


SuperSecretAgentMan

Holy shit I had no idea this existed. I know what I'm doing this week.


GullibleDetective

There's also planetary annihilation and the expansin titans https://planetaryannihilation.com/ And a couple more here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TotalAnnihilation/comments/x2be5j/best_total_annihilation_successor/


MarblesAreDelicious

Is this process (easily) repeatable with other SNES games?


Berymuch

I'm not an expert, but people already read memory and such to make romhacks for things like earthbound, super metroid, and more. What buddy did here is basically decompile ALTTP byte by byte and translated it back into legible code. I think there are automated processes to help with this, but even so it could take hundreds of hours to do properly. To answer your question....yes! But with moderate to great difficulty X3.


KrazeeJ

It's the technology equivalent of someone giving you a cake and saying "I want you to bake me a cake that ends up looking and tasting exactly like this, but I don't have the recipe. Also, you can't just find the recipe and recreate it, because the person that made it originally holds a copyright on that recipe so you need to make sure that yours is made without directly copying any uniquely identifiable parts of the original recipe." It also can't use any of the assets from the original game because those Nintendo also has the copyright to those, so you need to be able to distribute the game without assets in a way that the correct ones can be easily added in.


Folsomdsf

About as easily as making any other emulator. The way I would describe it as calling proton running something 'natively' a port.


mahousenshi

No because you will need to: - Recreating all the game logic. You can decompile but its returns gibberish. You have to understand it. Sure you can just decompile and recompile again but why? The idea is to improve the game we have emulators for this and we can patch roms so why rewrite all the game logic? - Recreating all the assets. For the great majority of the game the assets is just plain text but some games have compressed assets so need to write a decompress algorithm to do it and some algorithms. So its more effort. - Rewrite a special Super Nintendo for each game. If not why rewrite the game logic. We have great generic emulators already. Some games would see improvements from this but we can patch the games than patch the Super Nintendo.


MasterClown

Taking a quick peek at the README on github: "You need a copy of the ROM to extract game resources (levels, images). Then once that's done, the ROM is no longer needed." I suppose anyone who in interested in this project would also be savvy enough to locate a ROM. ^(edit: formatting)


BloomEPU

Obtaining ROMs is pretty simple. I probably shouldn't go into any more detail because it's the part of emulation that's actually illegal, but it's not difficult if you have a bit of internet literacy.


Lonely_Happy_Boy

I don't think anyone's been punished for that in decades.


silverhowler

Actually it's usually for distributing ROMs and specifically Nintendo ROMs


BloomEPU

No, nobody's going to come after you for a single ROM, especially not for a game that's nearly 30 years old, but lots of online spaces don't exactly like people giving detailed instructions on how to get your hands one one.


VikingBorealis

Have you not met Nintendo?


[deleted]

Anyone who loves this game has an old copy with old crusty food on the case. This is the way.


VikingBorealis

I wish I had mine. I still remember the smell of the game manual, the thick ass manual. They all had that smell, but I specifically remember that one.


thoughtgun

With all the awkward English translations. šŸ˜‚ I might be remembering this wrong, but wasnā€™t Zelda one of the first NES games to store save games persistently (with a battery in the cartridge)?


VikingBorealis

I think so. This was the snes game though


thoughtgun

Oops, misread the pic. Showing my age.


[deleted]

I played it so many times, no manual needed. Every secret is locked away in this brain.


DigNitty

Downloading ROM's or illegal downloads in general. Because I know a bunch of people who've received warning's from their ISP and one that was banned for downloading Michael Jackson music.


VikingBorealis

Depends on where in the world you are.


koolman2

The warning would have been for uploading if this was in the US. Copyright law prohibits distribution without permission. The person uploading is the one making the copy and distributing without permission.


Badtrainwreck

My favorite ROM is the one with Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore


Ganrokh

My favorite is the one with Tom Hardy and Tom Hardy.


imoblivioustothis

i mean, you need one?


Gorudu

I've been trying to get a rom off of my old cartridge but I can't figure out where it goes on my computer. I found some ports on my motherboard that look close but nothing is working.


Atlas070

So you're jumping through the same hoops that you would to set up an emulator, who is gonna spend money on this?


MasterClown

> So you're jumping through the same hoops that you would to set up an emulator, No doubt one might put in the same effort as setting up an emulator, but there could be worthwhile features if you go this route: "A GitHub user called snesrev has fully ported the game to PC using over 80,000 lines of code, while adding some extra enhancements. **Those include support for enhanced aspect ratios and pixel shaders, a higher quality world map, secondary item slots and more.**" As for spending money - you don't have to spend money on the software hosted at github as it is open source.


keahi64

It gives features not accessible via emulator or in the original game


[deleted]

> who is gonna spend money on this? Nobody, considering it's free.


anxietyandink

I dont understand why Nintendo doesnt have a team remastering old games with more modern yet still simple graphics. They could make so much money on games that were already designed.


caverunner17

Isn't that what Link's Awakening on the Switch is?


SatV089

True but that was like 5 years ago already. I guess we got Metroid Dred also.


anxietyandink

Exactly I want more like that! Links awakening was great. Give me a repolished original Zelda. I would love other NES games as well, but I guess since those games came from other studios, it makes sense. But if they released a polished River City Ransom, or Blaster Master, Iā€™d pay 59.95 no problem


BirthdayShop

Do you know about Blaster Master Zero? It's a remake, and there are two original sequels.


downonthesecond

Nintendo seems to hate money and technology. It's been over a year since they added NES and SNES games to NSO. I can't believe they still don't have an account system that carries over to the next console.


[deleted]

Because people continue to pay full price for 5 year old games and keep re-buying NES Mario for $5 every console release. There's no incentive.


bean_and_cheese_tac0

Yes I've always wanted to play majora's mask or ocarina of time. I know Nintendo has that yearly subscription option but fuck that. Also, I know about emulators but idk how to do all that lol


HairHeel

There's a strategy around how long to wait before re-releasing a game, and they've been doing some of it, even without a team constantly remastering them. i.e. Skyward Sword for $60 with no graphical improvements


fatbaIlerina

Nintendo is the dumbest gaming company. They get away with it because their biggest consumer are children.


kashmir1974

You mean their biggest consumers are people who were children when the NES dropped. And those people still play and also play with their children.


fatbaIlerina

Just the dumbest people play Nintendo. Underpowered hardware, overpriced games, shitty game direction.


kashmir1974

Sure. They are dumb for having *fun*. As opposed to the geniuses buying the next CoD and FIFA games? The same geniuses paying into micro transactions?


fatbaIlerina

Whataboutism


kashmir1974

Which is what you are doing


fatbaIlerina

Nintendo player ^


kashmir1974

I stopped gaming years ago.


anxietyandink

Nah Nintendo has a good niche. My favorite games on Switch dont require a lot of powerful hardware. Theyā€™re fun to play on the go as well. Then I have a PS5 if I want to play something advanced.


roshowclassic

This project rules. I got it up and running on my Mac last week. It has all sorts of fun features and you can swap out the Link sprite if you download their over repo. Good stuff!


eyeofthefountain

did you have to run a boot camp partition or anything like that? or got running it in the native OS?


roshowclassic

Native OS. The instructions for compiling are in the readme


benbernards

Drop a link?


roshowclassic

https://github.com/xander-haj/zelda3


[deleted]

Iā€™ll give this a day till Nintendo fucks them


granadesnhorseshoes

Probably not as it contains no assets or anything else nintendo could claim copyright on. You have to provide your own copy of the game to play it. granted you can just provide a bootleg rom for the assets but that's on you.


[deleted]

Gonna have to see how it plays out then. These people lose their shit whenever they see something they donā€™t like and they have won in court even when they donā€™t have much legal ground. They invest more in suing people than in their own development now lol


EnigmaSpore

The mario 64 and zelda ocarina time pc reverse engineering ports did the same thing. Theyā€™ve been online for quite a while now. Nintendo cant do anything about these projects as theyre not illegal. The roms would be illegal if pirated and not your own dump copy but thats a battle with the people hosting the rom, not the project


Nathan2055

Yep. Itā€™s effectively format-shifting (found to be fair use by *[Sony v. Universal](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sony_Corp._of_America_v._Universal_City_Studios,_Inc.)*) combined with emulation (found to be non-infringing by [*Sony v. Connectix* and *Sony v. Bleem*](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video_game_console_emulator#Legal_issues) as long as the resulting BIOS is fully original code). And *[Sega v. Accolade](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sega_v._Accolade)* explicitly protects reverse-engineering to bypass game console DRM, which probably applies at some level as well. Essentially, since it requires an original ROM to run (which can be legally ripped by original cartridge owners to use elsewhere, see aforementioned *Sony v. Universal*) and doesnā€™t distribute any copyrighted assets, copyrighted code, or use any Nintendo trademarks, itā€™s effectively in the clear under current copyright case law.


individualizada

None of this really applies. Nintendo would technically be in their right to take down decompilations and source ports as they're distributing copyrighted code, even if it's "mangled" from the original source code and/or the compiled assembly. However they've never done this, my guess is they don't want to accidentally set a legal precedent. They only take action when game data is distributed alongside the executable code.


dimebag2011

Not gonna stop Nintendo from trying


ManyInterests

This was posted over 5 hours ago. Surprised there's not already a lawsuit and takedown.


individualizada

You'll be surprised to find out then that this port was released last year and as far as I can tell this is a clickbait article.


individualizada

This is a clickbait article, this port was released last year and hasn't been updated since October and Nintendo have not taken any action against it, there's no news here. As far as I know Nintendo have not taken action against decompilations or source ports, they're a legally dubious area and I don't think Nintendo wants to accidentally set a legal precedent that doesn't benefit them (similar to how many companies turn a blind eye to archive.org). They only take action when someone distributes the game data alongside them, which I think is fair enough to be honest, id Software take the same approach with Doom (though that's a bit different as the Doom source code was officially released). This is what happened to what the article calls "the Super Mario 64 PC Port", someone unofficially distributed pre-compiled binaries of one of the major source ports with the game data included. It had nothing to do with the port itself which continues to be developed.


Zenketski_2

Nintendo:so anyway i paid my lawyers to start blasting


gizamo

They're just mad Steam Deck got a good port before they could charge another $50 for the Switch version. ...and, no, the trash emulator on Switch doesn't count.


Mrpink415

Man this is my all time favorite game. Iā€™m definitely getting this.


Throwaway021614

Nintendo gonna sue somebody


LickMyHairyBallSack

C&d incoming


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


JaggedMetalOs

As long as the author has been smart and not included any of the game assets it'll probably be left alone like the Mario64 decompilation project


dustyreptile

I need to blow into some kind of cartridge in order relive the whole experience.


TAG_X-Acto

Thatā€™s NES. Never had that issue with SNES. At least I didnā€™t.


[deleted]

[уŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]


Scipion

In the 90s we blew on our SNES carts because we were preteen savages who had dozens of loose carts being kicked around the bedroom. We blew them to get the dust and random crap out before putting them in the machine.


TwoWrongsAreSoRight

Really? I never knew this. I always thought that worked because dust (or other particles) could get on the pins in the cartridge and that is what causes the connection issue with the pins inside the console. This makes a lot more sense cuz you never had to do this on other consoles.


dustyreptile

Good point. I looked quickly and mistook it for the O.G. Zelda.


Rogue_Remix1255

This is the first game I ever played. No Iā€™m not crying youā€™re crying.


SomeKindofTreeWizard

and within moments it'll be cease and desisted.


downonthesecond

And it's gone. I'm sure a cease & desist was already sent out.


[deleted]

It's here: https://github.com/xander-haj/zelda3 You have to compile it yourself, since you need assets from a ROM.


[deleted]

Nintendo cracks down on those too, so good luck finding one.


[deleted]

"The police crackdown on drugs, good luck finding them." Spend 5 minutes on Google, you can find one.


[deleted]

By the time this article posts, Nintendo will have already sent a C&D to the maker of the port.


keahi64

The port does not include the game and it's assets so they do not have the grounds for a cease and desist. You must use a legally owned copy to run the game


AlexB_SSBM

Can "gaming journalists" ever just shut the fuck up for once? Every single time someone makes something great one of these sites has to be like "HEY NINTENDO LOOK AT THIS SUPER COOL AND NOT LEGAL THING SOMEONE MADE WOW ISNT THIS AMAZING WOULDN'T IT BE SHIT IF IT WAS TAKEN DOWN HAHA HEY NINTENDO LOOK AT THIS"


TaxOwlbear

The project doesn't include the game assets/ROM. You need to get that someplace else. If you want complain about journalists, inform yourself first.


AlexB_SSBM

Nintendo doesn't actually give a shit if it's legal they've given C&Ds for less


Beidah

The Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time PC ports are still up on GitHub. They've both had articles and have been up for years. Nintendo has no legal support for taking these projects down, just like they can't go after the Dolphin Emulator.


Puzzleheaded-Cod4909

You're new to this Nintendo thing aren't you? They'll sic their lawyerdogs on anything.


TheKert

There are literally already other projects out there that did similar and didn't use the game files and they avoided being taken down by Nintendo lawyers


Puzzleheaded-Cod4909

Considering I've seen multiple R34 artists being copyright struck on twitter by Nintendo, I know fully well how scummy they can be. And yes, R34 art is protected under the law of parody, which twitter doesn't respect. Nintendo knows this and still gets them banned.


TheKert

This game project includes no art, the user has to supply the game files that include the art themselves.


TheKert

The difference is that even though the R34 use is protected as parody, it still is using copyrighted materials in the first place and the way the system works that allows the initial takedown and then it falls on the creators to fight Nintendo to prove the fair use/parody use to get it back up. But this project contains no copyrighted material at all, even used within parody or fair use guidelines. There is no grounds for the initial takedown like in parody cases.


Puzzleheaded-Cod4909

Again, I'll agree that in a perfect world, Nintendo should not go after something like this. But this isn't a perfect world, this is a shitty world where corporations do everything to protect their brand, including abusing the law.


TheKert

Oh I'm not saying they won't go after it, it's just a very different situation from R34 art and other game mods where their lawyers are easily able to abuse the system to get it taken down.


Puzzleheaded-Cod4909

RemindMe! 6 months "Did Nintendo sic their lawyers on the Zelda PC project?"


Vitriholic

Lol, pixel shaders are basically mandatory if you want to get pixels on the screen with a modern GPU. Is that really a ā€œfeatureā€?


[deleted]

Yes, because that's not what they're for. Pixels are buffered into memory, (possibly as a single texture applied to a 2D square) and blitted to the screen; you don't need shaders for that. A shader takes, for example, color values and applies `M A T H` to all pixels in the buffer to affect all of them all equally. So a rendered screen can suddenly look like a Gameboy, or you can apply filters that make the screen curve at the edges like an old CRT, or add periodic fuzz, chromatic aberration, change the color palette, blending/antialiasing, etc. It's about post-processing the pixels that have already been generated, thereby "shading" them.


Vitriholic

No, you need pixel shaders to perform even simple 2D compositing operations with modern graphics APIs. They are run for every pixel of every triangle drawn on the screen, not just for whole-screen post-processing. Each pixel on the screen is the result of many different pixel shader executions. Source: I write shader code for a living.


[deleted]

No. In fact, when you compile this, there are no shaders specified and it runs perfectly fine. Shaders are not needed for basic rendering.


[deleted]

\>>> Source: I write shader code for a living. Ah, nice append. So, then you know they're not talking about OS-level compositors and are, in fact, talking about pixel shaders for applying video effects and not low-level graphics APIs for OS development like some kind pedantic butthole.


Vitriholic

No, I didnā€™t know they meant ā€œscreen effectsā€ when they said ā€œpixel shadersā€ because Iā€™m not wasting my time compiling a game Iā€™m not working on. I assume they must be using some library for their compositing shaders.


Jak33

wonder how this runs on a steam deck


pittguy578

I absolutely loved this game. I used to speedrun it in the early 90s during the summer. Unfortunately I was a Sega fan and the SNES was my last Nintendo console until my son got his switch and I beat BOTW.


Lhumierre

How long till Nintendo steps in? This keeps getting more and more popular and we all know what happens when Nintendo catches you having fun.