GoKawiilTL;DR Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64 has been fully decompiled, opening the door to unofficial native ports.
The 1999 platform fighter hasn’t been available through official means for several years and isn’t currently playable on Nintendo Switch consoles.
We aren’t aware of any ports made from the newly decompiled code yet, but we expect they’ll start appearing soon.
Aside from some high-profile rereleases, present-day Nintendo is notoriously stingy when it comes to providing easy, legitimate access to its immense back catalog of classic games. This, in part, has inspired fans to take matters into their own hands by decompiling old favorites, recreating their source code so the games can be easily (if unofficially) ported to modern platforms like Windows or Android. Now, another classic that’s been inaccessible on modern hardware is ripe for porting: 1999’s Super Smash Bros. has been fully decompiled.
As shared on Decomp.dev, Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 64 is now “100.00% decompiled,” meaning the game’s source code has been completely recreated and it’s ready to be ported. Compared to emulated games, ports created from decompiled source code can run natively on modern hardware, enabling better performance, mod support, and more.
The decompilation project is available on GitHub, complete with guidance on how to set up and build a ROM based on the decompiled code.
Super Smash Bros. hasn’t been available to purchase directly from Nintendo since the Wii U’s eShop storefront shut down in 2023. Despite the game’s bona fide classic status, it’s also not available through the Switch and Switch 2’s Nintendo 64 app, which itself is only accessible to paying Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. Short of sourcing a decades-old N64 cartridge and vintage or recreation hardware to play it on, there’s currently no officially supported way for most people to experience the game.
That scarcity made Super Smash Bros. a prime target for decompilation. That the game has now been decompiled doesn’t mean you can download and play it on your Android handheld just yet, but we expect that unofficial ports based on the newly decompiled source code will start cropping up soon.
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