We know that Doom can run on almost anything these days, but it seems that one ambitious coder has tried his best to get Super Mario 64 running on Game Boy Advance hardware. And while it’s far from the smoothest experience, it’s a pretty impressive feat of engineering.
Programmer Joshua Barretto showed off a video of the build in action. The swimming textures and basic Mario model take some getting used to, but the overall effect is clearly recognizable as Super Mario 64. Barretto notes in the video description that the build uses “real” 3D, rather than the fixed 2.5D-perspective tricks of games like Doom. When you consider that then-contemporary GBA games like Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 2 had to rely on zoomed-out isometric camera angles to achieve the illusion of 3D, you can see how far this build is pushing the GBA hardware.
While the project is still in early stages, Barretto says there’s no timeline for its completion, or if it’ll continue to be worked on. Regardless, it’s unlikely to ever be released in a playable state, given Nintendo’s litigious reputation. For example, Nintendo recently shut down the popular Switch emulator Yuzu and 3DS emulator Citra by winning a judgment against the developer group Tropic Haze.
