Paper Mario 64 decompilation project is ready, allowing for mods and ports

A Paper Mario 64 decompilation project has been completed. All the features provided by the original game’s code have been recreated. This has created a replica of the game that should not infringe Nintendo’s copyright. This also allows for ports and mods.

The code is largely written in C and is available on GitHub. Work on the American ROM is finished, but not yet on the European and Japanese ones. Because the source code is public, it is relatively easy to create mods and ports for the game that also support advanced features such as higher resolutions, texture resolutions and frame rates. To avoid illegality in the project, the code can be downloaded, but without things like textures and audio. Anyone who wants to try the project must therefore provide a ROM of the game to fill those gaps.

Developer Ethan Roseman, who has most of the commits to his name, has made a video looking back at the development process. In total it took more than three years.

Paper Mario 64 is a roleplaying game, a genre in which Mario sometimes ventures. Battles in this game are turn-based and there is a system of experience points and levels. The game dates from the year 2000.

Other similar decompilation projects have been done with The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario 64 and Perfect Dark. That has also led to ports and mods. Nintendo can take action against, for example, a ready-made port of Mario 64 for Windows and has done so. Decompilation projects for Banjo Kazooie and Majora’s Mask are still in the works. The American law firm Holland & Knight wrote a blog post about the technical side of decompilation projects and their legality.