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Decompilation projects not only open the doors for older and beloved video games to be ported natively to PC, but they also open the doors for those same decompiled games to be ported to other consoles, with developers tackling the special hardware of the specific target console and finding workarounds to bring the decompiled game's coding quirks to the new console's hardware.

Such was the case for the debut and most iconic Nintendo 64 video game, Super Mario 64, and thanks to the initial and completed decompilation from years ago, developer jnmartin84 was able to finish a native port of the game to the SEGA Dreamcast, and while Super Mario 64 did have a Dreamcast port before, the port was incomplete, with it having certain audio and visual glitches, as well as missing VMU support.

Now, with the latest work by jnmartin84, the Dreamcast port of Super Mario 64 is now feature-complete, with full audio and running at full speed at the Dreamcast's 480p resolution:

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Super Mario 64 for the Sega Dreamcast
This is an update to the original 2020 mrneo240 Dreamcast port of Super Mario 64. It addresses the audio-visual issues that were present and adds VMU saving.
This repo does not include all assets necessary for compiling the game.A prior copy of the game is required to extract the assets. Specifically you will need to provide the US version.

Those interested in trying this out, can visit jnmartin84's repository for the project and compile the game manually to play in their own Dreamcast, or through a Dreamcast emulator.
As with other decompilation or port projects, the user is required to bring their own Super Mario 64 ROM in order to dump the copyrighted assets from the ROM itself, as the repository doesn't contain any copyrighted assets. The repository contains the full instructions to be able to compile the game for Dreamcast play.

"Super Mario 64" Dreamcast port GitHub repository

 

[cearp]

Works on ODE and dreamshell etc

Crazy how they might be more accessible to someone than simply burning a cd, but yes times have changed

 

[Mayo1990]

Crazy how they might be more accessible to someone than simply burning a cd, but yes times have changed

Burning discs became a lost art, oddly enough. Mainly because there are far better and more reliable alternatives, and mainly because disc burners and CDs quality has dropped significally.

 

[MeowthBlep]

you know the crazy part is back in the day my friend gaslit me so hard into thinking there was a offical GCN port of this game i will never forgive that mf

Ocarina of time got one
It would make sense

 

[TVL]

Works on ODE and dreamshell etc

Sure, I get that it works on an ODE, I might get one someday if I really get back into the Dreamcast.

I did have Dreamshell, I believe it was a new thing at the time, had to order from Taobago (or whatever it's called, "Chinese eBay"), used it for a couple of days before it fell apart (it was hot glued together ), took about a hundred hours to load anything and forget about streaming audio. But probably not an issue with this game.

 

[realtimesave]

I wonder what happened to this: https://github.com/DavidSM64/Diddy-Kong-Racing 97% complete.

 

[EPgrouch]

you know the crazy part is back in the day my friend gaslit me so hard into thinking there was a offical GCN port of this game i will never forgive that mf

I remember back when I bought mine which is when they were just ending the zelda collectors bundle(I was so pissed I didn't get that) I was looking through the GC manual and noticed on the page about memory cards or the mc manager an icon for super mario 64 and though cool I can get that game but I never found it later on before I sold it I thought maybe there was going to be an N64 adapter like the GBA adapter or that there was a way to hack it and run N64 games on it. I always did kind of hate big N for not giving us the rest of the good N64 library on GC.

 

[alexfree]

So far Nintendo seems to be fine with decomps as long as they don't include art assets....is this another running gag that's flying over my head?

It’s not that they seem fine, more that they talked to the lawyers and they have no case. I’m more impressed by the first few people who did decomps (I.e. sm64) who tested this with success and didn’t get any repercussion.

 

[Mayo1990]

It’s not that they seem fine, more that they talked to the lawyers and they have no case. I’m more impressed by the first few people who did decomps (I.e. sm64) who tested this with success and didn’t get any repercussion.

It's impressive since Take2 did manage to take down Re3 and ReVc but Nintendo didn't or couldn't (I suppose????) do anything about all those N64 decomps.

 

[SylverReZ]

Burning discs became a lost art, oddly enough. Mainly because there are far better and more reliable alternatives, and mainly because disc burners and CDs quality has dropped significally.

While some still enjoy burning CDs, because drives have gotten cheaper and CD-Rs sold today are mid-range, it's no surprise that you'll run into hurdles. Not to mention you would have to do plenty of maintenance for the dying disc drives in these systems with weak lasers that cannot read them. That is why the GDEMU is considered the best replacement to an optical drive as it doesn't require using discs; all of your games are on an SD card.

I did have Dreamshell, I believe it was a new thing at the time, had to order from Taobago (or whatever it's called, "Chinese eBay"), used it for a couple of days before it fell apart (it was hot glued together ), took about a hundred hours to load anything and forget about streaming audio. But probably not an issue with this game.

I know it's those SD card adapters you can buy for a few dollars, they definitely went to town with the hot snot.

 

[MeowthBlep]

I wonder what happened to this: https://github.com/DavidSM64/Diddy-Kong-Racing 97% complete.

tomorrow?

 

[SeltzerMist]

I wonder how well these work on DC emulators, which sounds ridiculous at first but a lot of the lower spec emulation handhelds run DC pretty well and the fact buttons mirror the DC a lot better than the N64

 

[tech3475]

It’s not that they seem fine, more that they talked to the lawyers and they have no case. I’m more impressed by the first few people who did decomps (I.e. sm64) who tested this with success and didn’t get any repercussion.

Still surprised they didn't try something, even just a 'warning' letter, measures to make things more difficult, sending the boys around, etc.

 

[alexfree]

Still surprised they didn't try something, even just a 'warning' letter, measures to make things more difficult, sending the boys around, etc.

To be fair it was anonymously leaked before it was complete for some time when it came out so there was no one to talk to

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

I wonder how well these work on DC emulators, which sounds ridiculous at first but a lot of the lower spec emulation handhelds run DC pretty well and the fact buttons mirror the DC a lot better than the N64

tbf if you own an emulation handheld (which is most likely running android) you wouldn't need such a method to run it as an android port exists for this game via the decomp, though if you just mean out of curiosity, then yeah I'm also curious tbh

 

[SeltzerMist]

I do have the Ayn Thor, but for some even older stuff I prefer my Anbernic SP

 

[Mayo1990]

tbf if you own an emulation handheld (which is most likely running android) you wouldn't need such a method to run it as an android port exists for this game via the decomp, though if you just mean out of curiosity, then yeah I'm also curious tbh

There's a port for any platform capable of running a Dreamcast emulator, though

 

[ChronoCrossfangirl2002]

There's a port for any platform capable of running a Dreamcast emulator, though

yeah i know but i was mainly speaking in regards to emulation handhelds running android and since most do that'd probably be the most straightforward but in the end i suppose it really doesn't matter either way in the long run since this isn't a difficult game to get running regardless of how one does it, it's becoming almost as accessible as doom atp

 

[Smoker1]

Apparently there are those who have Audio Issues with this running in a Emu

 

[handy333]

Cool, I would play it... Only I don't have a CD burner any longer and I don't even know someone who does.

Dude. I have like 4 of them. Lightscribe support too.

 

[Robert Newbie]

That's awesome! I think this game can port to Playstation 2 and other consoles like Nintendo GameCube, etc would able to play just fine.

You're in luck, someone already ported Super Mario 64 to the PS2 a while ago. (Sorry, no link.)

you know the crazy part is back in the day my friend gaslit me so hard into thinking there was a offical GCN port of this game i will never forgive that mf

You reminded me of a story.

When I was young, there was a (very) short craze for those keychain-sized 50-games-in-one devices. A kid at school told me that Super Mario Land 2 was available on one of them. For whatever reason, I believed him, and I went to a local store to try and find it. Long story short, it turns out that the tech didn't exist (yet), and it was foolish of me to think Nintendo would license out a Game Boy Mario game to a random company.

TL;DR: Kids in junior high lie about the most random stuff with admirable specificity. Good thing My Uncle Works at Nintendo.

FAKE EDIT: In my search for a photo, I came across this:

He may have been talking about this, but he specifically stated that it was Super Mario Land 2.