Super Mario 64 Ported Natively to Microsoft Zune HD

A programmer has ported Super Mario 64 to the Microsoft Zune HD, making the game run natively on the 2009 media player's hardware, according to tomshardware.com. The project uses the unofficial OpenZDK kit and is built on sm64ex, a fork of the decompiled Super Mario 64 PC port.

On the Zune HD, the game runs mostly at full speed with sound, touch controls and saves. A touchscreen overlay supplies a facsimile analog stick along with A, B, Z, R, four C, and Start buttons, and its style and opacity can be customized. The game renders at 480x272 in landscape orientation, and its logic runs at 30 ticks per second.

The build is compiled on Docker in Linux and applies 14 patches to a pinned version of sm64ex. It has only been tested on firmware 4.5, and it requires a user-supplied ROM dumped from the player's own cartridge.

The repository has no releases, and the developer states the port should only be used at your own risk.

Long road to the Zune

Super Mario 64's move to unofficial hardware is not new. Fans completed a decompilation effort in 2019 that produced a C source capable of rebuilding a matching ROM, and in May 2020 the full PC port arrived; sm64ex is a fork of that with extra features such as mouse look and a cheats menu. Nintendo's legal representatives responded quickly to the PC port, targeting sites hosting the compiled version and at least one gameplay video, as reported by Video Games Chronicle. Ports have previously appeared for the 3DS, Wii U, PS2, PlayStation and PS Vita, Dreamcast, Nintendo DS and DSi, and the web.