Anyone that knows the history of the Sony PlayStation might call this port of Super Mario 64 on the original PlayStation “going full circle”. Even though the PlayStation we got was not the same PlayStation being developed for the ill-fated Nintendo/Sony partnership, it could have been the successor of sorts. Since we are talking nostalgia here, we can dream, right? Anyhow, the Super Mario 64 decompile project has been ported to the original PlayStation console, and the results are “jarring” in many ways.
I mean, it goes without saying but, Nintendo would never allow such a port. Even today with such an old Mario entry, it would never pass the pitch phase. That is part of the reason this port is so interesting. It is literally something that would never have happened without fans and their ingenuity and programming skills.
Technically, any of the many decompile projects could be ported to the PlayStation console. From Mario Kart 64 and Banjo-Kazooie to GoldenEye 007 to Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time, all could see a port to the original PlayStation console, as well as other platforms such as Sega Dreamcast.
As you may expect, taking a 64-Bit game and porting it to a 32-Bit console, something is going to be lost in the translation. Considering this is a straight port no optimization was done, that I know of.
This means, well, some things just go wrong. Obviously, if this was intended to be a commercial port, graphic anomalies and errors would be fixed as best the programmers could.
Based on the video above, it is a wonder of wonders that Super Mario 64 runs as well as it does on the Sony PlayStation 32-Bit console. It is impressive, sure it is jarring, jerky, and some textures/objects apparently did not load, but what is there is amazing.
As with any decompile project, you need a ROM of the original game to pull the necessary graphics, which are copyrighted and protected, to make this work. I cannot tell you where to get said ROM as it is technically illegal.
