A developer named Wiseguy has released the native port of the Mask of Majora: Legend of Zelda for Pc, bypassing the need for an emulator and unlocking new performance and mods possibilities for Nintendo classics. On top of that, the new method they developed to do so, "static recompilation," makes it very easy for developers to do the same in other N64 games.

We've been able to play Nintendo64 games on PCs — in fact, as pointed out in the Digital Foundry video for more than 25 years — but while console emulators can provide the best one-size-fits-all tools for a particular library, they are inefficient and require a powerful new system. You can't get the most out of it, and sometimes you get new glitches and errors. 

Porting directly to a PC by "decompilation" can provide the best possible experience, but it is very labor-intensive, and static recompilation tools from Jak and Daxter's OpenGOAL or Mario64PC port Wiseguy have made that porting process easier and have shaved the process down for years.

Wiseguy quickly showed off the power of this tool by turning the Dark Horse candidate PC port for the best Zelda games. As with emulation, you need to provide a legally acquired ROM to play.Zelda64:Recompiled is a brilliant showcase of the power of static recompilation, offering a modernized, hassle-free way.Be gang stalked and robbed by kids in the forest. 

Static recompilation converts the game's code to C and uses direct3d12/Vulkan to render breathtaking visuals. This is not an automated process and requires some hands-on work to explain that modern hardware is much more efficient than the N64. However, while a complete decompilation of the ROM to extract the source code needed to build the native port can take years, developer Wiseguy was able to churn out the playable port of Majora's mask in just a few days. According to the developers, Zelda64:Recompiled was tested against other emulators with a performance metric called rdp Accuracy. 

Native controller support, input mapping, autosave, widescreen support, and the best features previously marooned on official 3DS ports, gyro-aiming ray tracing, mod support, dual analog support with camera controls, and final Ocarina support. Of Time integration is all the features planned in Zelda64:Recompiled.

The seamless integration of these features into zelda64:Recompiled is the most exciting thing for me about the possibilities of this method. I'm no stranger to emulation, but I can't count too many attempts to emulate a game that uses hardware-specific antialiasing or weird forms of texture smoothing and is filled with single-digit frame rates or completely distorted texture mapping. 

The level of visual clarity brought about by the power of modern hardware is amazing, with lighting and atmospheric shading that makes Termina's "Twin Peaks: A Fire Walk with Me" vibe even more pronounced. Personally, I'm excited to see if a static recompilation can bring in even more native ports for some games that need them. You can check out Zelda 64: recompiled here.