Romhack has been a popular platform for people modding Mario 64 for years, whether it be adding Odyssey's cap possession mechanic, adding a level editor, or transforming it into a whole new game. But this is something else entirely. Someone has quietly released a new version of Mario 64 that runs natively on the PC via DirectX with no emulator required. It runs at the native resolution of the monitor and also supports Xbox controllers. While it is unrealistic to expect to play high-resolution, high-frame-rate Mario 64 on a PC, I just tried to do just that.

Unlike many PC mods and fan game projects that are documented over the years on development blogs and forum threads, this release seemingly appeared out of nowhere. The file was spread on Reddit, Youtube, and social media, and despite the lack of a clear source, it can be easily tracked. This PC port is likely the result of Mario 64 being decompiled in 2019, making it easier for programmers to access the game's internal structure.

The decompiled files are available on Github, and in an old Reddit thread on r/n64, someone asks, "What if we compiled the source code as a Windows app?" He casually suggested." If that breaks it, what would be the best way to use this code to advance n64 emulation and make a PC port?" And. Well, now we know.

Videogameschronicle featured a port that runs on DirectX12 (i.e., requires Windows 10 to play) and works fine at resolutions such as widescreen 4K. The original game ran at less than 30 fps at 240p on the N64. At 144Hz on my monitor, it was obviously sped up, but setting the refresh rate to 60Hz solved the problem; it could have run at more than 60fps, but capping it at 60Hz was an easy and quick fix.

The Mario 64 textures obviously do not hold up at higher resolutions, but the character models for Mario and most enemies scale quite well at higher resolutions, looking crisp and bright because they use colors instead of textures.

From what little testing I've done with the PC port, it seems to run perfectly, even bare bones, once the frame rate is capped. It is truly the PC version of Mario 64.