Paper Mario has been completely decompiled, PC ports and mods are now feasible.
The recent news that Paper Mario has been fully decompiled has excited fans of the popular Nintendo 64 game. This means that coder Ethan Roseman has been able to reverse engineer the game’s full source code, resulting in a recreation of the code rather than a straight copy. This development opens the door to potential ‘legal’ PC ports and mods of the game which technically don’t infringe on any Nintendo copyright.
Paper Mario classic Nintendo 64 game first released in 2000. The game is a role-playing video game and the first installment in the Paper Mario series. The plot of the game follows Mario as he journeys through the Mushroom Kingdom in an effort to save Princess Peach from Bowser. The game is known for its unique visual style,features, characters and environments made out of paper.
Decompilation is the process of turning human-readable code into machine-readable code by going backwards through the compilation process. Decompilation is often used to analyze and understand the code of existing software, and in some cases, it can be used to create new software that is based on existing code.
The Paper Mario decompilation project involved the reverse engineering of the game’s full source code. This resulted in a recreation of the code rather than a straight copy, which is a significant achievement. Ethan Roseman announced on Twitter that the project has reached 100% completion for the US version of the game.He further stated that every function that has been compiled has been matched, which is a tremendous accomplishment made possible by the tireless efforts of so many gifted individuals.
The Paper Mario decompilation project has excited fans of the game, as it opens up the potential for legal PC ports and mods of the game.Fans of the game may now be able to play it on their PC, which was previously not an option. Additionally, mods may be developed that allow players to customize the game in new and exciting ways.
Since they don’t use any protected resources like textures or music, decompilation projects like Paper Mario are still lawful because they effectively rewrite the game’s code from scratch. Instead, any ports that come from this decompilation will require users to provide their own ROM of the N64 original from a lawful source. Then, to develop a PC port, the assets from this would be taken and applied to the code.
I’m extremely happy to announce that after 3+ years of working on a decompilation project for Paper Mario, we have reached 100% completion for the US version of the game. Every compiled function has been matched!https://t.co/2iwkrFmK4h pic.twitter.com/KRCd25u4Tf
— Ethan Roseman (@ethteck) April 19, 2023
Paper Mario is not the first Nintendo 64 game to be decompiled in this way.Coder Ryan Dwyer completely decompiled both the version 1.0 launch version and the subsequent re-release of Perfect Dark for the NTSC system in October. The potential for legal PC ports and mods of classic games like Paper Mario and Perfect Dark is exciting for fans of these games.
The completion of the Paper Mario decompilation project is a significant achievement and it opens up many possibilities for the future of the game. The game may be made available for PC play, and mods that let players alter the game in fresh and interesting ways may also be created.We don’t yet know what Paper Mario’s future contains, but there’s no denying that this decompilation endeavor has given the old game fresh life.
The decompilation of Paper Mario has excited fans of the game and opened up the potential for legal PC ports and mods of the game. The project is a significant achievement and it demonstrates the power of decompilation in the world.
