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Comments (61)
- teifererI understand the technical appeal of this effort, but wouldn't it be easier to try to obtain the original source code? Or has that been lost and all that's left is a blob?Fundamentally, decompilation is not solving a technical problem most of the time (because the source already exists somewhere) but a social one (that the owner doesn't want to release it).
- zerof1lI'm not that interested in the game much, but I really like how the repo with the Claude things is set up and the wording. I’ll use some of it in my projects. It’s well balanced IMO, includes all the important details, tools, and scripts, but not excessively wordy.[1] https://github.com/cdlewis/snowboardkids2-decomp/tree/main
- CM30Always nice to see another game decompiled like this. It's a big deal as far as laying the groundwork for possible ports to PC and other consoles is concerned, and will probably aid modders quite a bit.If anyone needs a full list of these projects (which includes this one), there's a pretty good selection here:https://decomp.dev/projectsThough these may have a few they missed:https://readonlymemo.com/decompilation-projects-and-n64-reco...https://github.com/CharlotteCross1998/awesome-game-decompila...
- vandahmThis is what the internet is for. I only remember playing this game once or twice on a friend's N64, so I don't have any nostalgia for it, but the idea that someone chose this as their strange, impractical personal project is really satisfying.
- orsornaAwesome, but I always wondered why so much effort was put into decompiling this? Seems like a meme for meme's sake.
- userbinatorAs someone who has done RE for decades, I feel like I've been seeing a lot of new decompilation projects recently, but even before the rise of AI. Possibly correlated with the release of Ghidra? Either way, it's great to see and perhaps a sign of a greater trend.Controversial opinion: I think the FOSS movement was a setback and distraction from attaining software freedom as well as giving an undeserved negative reputation to "reverse-engineering" in some areas. RMS had the right idea, but missed the mark when it came to practical application by focusing far too much on "source code". Other industries have long been making third-party parts by merely inspecting existing ones with measuring tools, and let's not forget the whole discipline of scientific research is largely what amounts to "reverse-engineering" the natural world. You don't need the original source code if you have good decompilers, and now LLMs to assist.Decompiling a binary, finding what you need to change, and then patching precisely that piece, seems like a far more liberating process than getting the source code, figuring out how to build it in its entirety, and possibly changing more than only the piece you wanted to. Many years ago, I remember coming across a few Java utilities that were public-domain but not open-source, and the author explicitly told users that they were to use a Java decompiler to decompile, edit, and recompile if they wanted to make any changes.
- foo-bar-baz529How much have LLMs sped up these decompilations?
- aizkThe decomp dev guys are doing amazing work. It's also super educational too, if you're someone like me who's in just doing relatively simple AI / python / typescript work and rarely has to think about memory, hardware constraints, all that, it's a completely different world. Also, AI is finally getting to the point where it can do very difficult decompilation work, which is super exciting to me.
- sech8420Awe, why I love hacker news. This game was my childhood! I played it again recently on an emulator and was astounded how much easier it was. Made it to Damian without losing a single race. That seemed impossible at age 10.
- canypThis is the game to be decompiling in 2026. Many good memories.
- nightflyI'd love to do this for Mario Golf 64 but would run out of steam in like a week T_T
- anonundefined
- RobRivera>n64s greatest game.HEY, it was a GREAT game, but GREATEST? COME ON, this ain't no goldeneye