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Out of the blue, and without any kind of mention, a mostly complete decompilation project coded in C/C++ from the SNES classic, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, has emerged on GitHub under the MIT license.

The project was released around 9 days ago, on August 14th, and seems to be playable from start to end.
Right now the decompilation is compatible with Windows (compilable with Visual Studio) and Linux (using SDL2 and Python).
At the moment, only keyboard is supported for controls, but those interested in contributing can do so through GitHub.

As with other decompilation projects, the repository doesn't include any of the original game's assets.
The project requires you to previously own and provide your own A Link to the Past ROM to extract all of the game's assets and begin the compilation afterwards.

Link (no pun intended):
https://github.com/snesrev/zelda3​

 

[Manurocker95]

The instructions are not as clear as they should be (SDL library is missing) but got it running. The x86 suffers tons of sound stuttering for some reason.

 

[diggeloid]

Should be easy enough to make a tool that can compile the code and all the user has to do is put in their own ROM.
That's how the other decomp projects do it for installers and such, Ship of Harkinian handles it this way.

Well, for what it's worth, I just tried to build it for Vita, and it built very easily... unfortunately, it runs at like 7 FPS even when overclocked. If someone has the time, it might be possible to get this running well.

 

[sombrerosonic]

So many decompilation. I wonder how many of them are just Ghidra dumps...

Probably a ton of them when they learn how to use it

 

[linuxares]

Probably a ton of them when they learn how to use it

That's the thing, then they're illegal. You have to clean room code it.

 

[lordelan]

I'm really interested in the map stuff more than anything.
I am currently making a disassembly to make A Link to the Past Redux open source, and the only problem I had is the map stuff doesn't seem to be keen on working with FastROM. That's where I hit a wall.

All in all, it's nice to see all these great games becoming open source and available in multiple platforms.

Also this should allow playing it in any resolution and aspect ratio. Theoretically.
Really cool news.

I wonder at which point in time we will have AI decompilations of literally anything we want.
I mean, a good enough AI with enough horse power should be able to decompile even the newest AAA games shortly after release. Wonder where that'll take us. No more closed source games would be possible, except their code just makes calls to some cloud sh*t they have running and the game sits just there instead of our local machines.

 

[lincruste]

This is cool!! I'm interested in some sort hd retexture or something to make it look a bit modern.

That would be a

 

[mituzora]

I love these projects! it reminds me of when I'd go find source mods like eduke32 and Quake2XP. can't wait to see what people come up with this. compile it for PC with the CD quality audio mod done for flash carts, widescreen support, and the ability to load your own maps. that'd be dope as hell

 

[scoobydude51]

Incredible! I can already taste the fan-made dungeons.

and it being ported to everything

 

[CMDreamer]

Love decompilation projects!

 

[DarthMotzkus]

This is cool!! I'm interested in some sort hd retexture or something to make it look a bit modern.

YES! PLEASE!

 

[Nerdtendo]

The instructions are not as clear as they should be (SDL library is missing) but got it running. The x86 suffers tons of sound stuttering for some reason.

I was wondering what was going on with my build. I guess I'm rebuilding for x64!

 

[MikaDubbz]

Gotta love decomps. Though I am less excited for those that are games from much older hardware. If my Wii U can already play the game fantastically, then new options for a build better excite. Like Mario 64 getting a free moving camera and native widescreen (or going all out with ridiculous improvements like Render96). But what is ALTTP gonna offer than the original didn't? I mean maybe it too could get native widescreen? That might be cool (though considering the nature of classic 2D Zelda games, this probably wouldn't even look particularly great throughout the game), but I'm not sure what more could be done to the core experience.

Meanwhile, I find Sonic Mania to be fascinating, its a modern game, but it's not a taxing game, it easily can run on the likes of the Wii U or Vita, but fans had to make it happen through decompilations. Which I think is really cool. There are plenty of modern indie games that don't require a powerhouse to play, and for that reason, I'm curious if more games of the like might one day join. A game like Stardew Valley or Golf Story feel like perfect fits for modern decompilations.

 

[SoThatOneGuy]

Very kool

 

[ArgoRV]

I know 0 about how this works, but it would be great to have the game free to walk through the field without the screens swiping up,down,left,right at border of each section
also i guess widescreen support is coming soon, and hopefully some textures and hd sound

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

Oh I'm sure they're fuming out of their asses.
And the best part about all this is that they can't do jackshit about it, because they gamble losing on court due to precedented cases that Sony and other companies lost already lol

Also even if they did win they aren't going to be able to put the genie back in the bottle anyway, someone (who isn't a Nintendo Ass kisser) will eventually illegally re-upload it.

 

[mituzora]

I know 0 about how this works, but it would be great to have the game free to walk through the field without the screens swiping up,down,left,right at border of each section
also i guess widescreen support is coming soon, and hopefully some textures and hd sound

HD sound is almost a given. you should take a look at the LTTP port for SNES that uses the coprocessor found on everdrives to produce CD quality audio. I can't remember the custom chip name, but it's really cool

 

[Dragon91Nippon]

Gotta love decomps. Though I am less excited for those that are games from much older hardware. If my Wii U can already play the game fantastically, then new options for a build better excite. Like Mario 64 getting a free moving camera and native widescreen (or going all out with ridiculous improvements like Render96). But what is ALTTP gonna offer than the original didn't? I mean maybe it too could get native widescreen? That might be cool (though considering the nature of classic 2D Zelda games, this probably wouldn't even look particularly great throughout the game), but I'm not sure what more could be done to the core experience.

Meanwhile, I find Sonic Mania to be fascinating, its a modern game, but it's not a taxing game, it easily can run on the likes of the Wii U or Vita, but fans had to make it happen through decompilations. Which I think is really cool. There are plenty of modern indie games that don't require a powerhouse to play, and for that reason, I'm curious if more games of the like might one day join. A game like Stardew Valley or Golf Story feel like perfect fits for modern decompilations.

The Games I'm looking forward to being decompiled are Twilight Princess and Windwaker since that would mean the Fabled Switch ports would be possible in Homebrew, Also SMG2 would be a good one, I have a Feeling Nintendo won't ever port those officially so Decomp is the only way.

 

[niuus]

inb4 people asks for wii, wii u, 3ds, vita, psp, dreamcast, and ps2 ports.

Decomps are really cool.

 

[Kwyjor]

That's the thing, then they're illegal. You have to clean room code it.

This has all been hashed out in the courts repeatedly. You don't have to "clean room" code something in order for it to be suitably legal.

HD sound is almost a given. you should take a look at the LTTP port for SNES that uses the coprocessor found on everdrives to produce CD quality audio. I can't remember the custom chip name, but it's really cool

Are you thinking of the MSU-1? Pretty much all it really does is read audio or video from an external file. (But then, perhaps that's all it really needs to do.)

 

[mituzora]

This has all been hashed out in the courts repeatedly. You don't have to "clean room" code something in order for it to be suitably legal.

Are you thinking of the MSU-1? Pretty much all it really does is read audio or video from an external file. (But then, perhaps that's all it really needs to do.)

Yup, that's the one. thanks!

looking it up, it allows the cartridge to use up to 4 GB for the ROM, so you can put in things like FMV cutscenes, but it also handles the CD-quality audio streams to free up the the other native SNES channels for sound effects, so it's a pretty capable chip all things considered.