Developer Fully Decompiles a Nintendo 64 Game in 84 Days
A developer documented an 84-day project to fully decompile a Nintendo 64 game, converting its original machine code back into human-readable C source that can be recompiled into a matching binary. The process involved matching disassembled MIPS instructions to equivalent C code, verifying byte-for-byte accuracy against the original ROM, and gradually reconstructing game logic, data structures, and asset formats without access to original source.
This kind of decompilation work has become a small but active niche in preservation and modding communities, building on tools and techniques popularized by projects like the Super Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time decompilations. The write-up walks through the tooling, matching workflow, and roadblocks encountered along the way, offering a practical view into how these large-scale reverse-engineering efforts actually get done.