The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask served as the proof of idea for the N64: Recompiled venture, promising to open the floodgates for a huge wave of fanmade PC ports for classic Nintendo 64 video games. Now, full-on mod support for this model of Majora’s Mask is right here, and there’s already such an array of goofy memes and real quality-of-life upgrades that I am having a powerful time imagining taking part in the recreation every other approach.
Zelda 64: Recompiled simply received its large 1.2 replace with mod support over the weekend, and there are already dozens of mods out there, which you can get a broad overview of from developer Wiseguy’s video beneath. In the video description, Wiseguy notes that “all performance proven shall be out there in future N64: Recompiled initiatives as properly.”
There are mods that herald nifty options from the 3DS model of Majora’s Mask, like letting you swap masks even whereas reworked, or skipping to a particular hour with the Track of Double Time. There’s a cool tweak that alters the onscreen HUD to match fashionable controller layouts.
There are, after all, graphical mods, together with one which disables draw distance culling so that you can see enemies and objects at any distance. There’s one that permits you to transfer whereas aiming, supplying you with the precision of FPS controls whereas firing the bow. One other helps you to use some objects whereas reworked, and one more helps you to save at an owl statue with out quitting.
Then there are the meme mods, like the character replacers letting you play as CJ from GTA: San Andreas or the titular hero from the notoriously horrible Superman 64. You can dab whereas exploding your self with the blast masks. There’s additionally a Mario masks that does not simply flip you into the platformer hero – it helps you to use all of his strikes, working round Majora’s Mask with wild leaping talents.
Most significantly, Majora’s Mask can now run Doom, thanks to a mod that permits you to faucet L+R at any time to setup a full beige field desktop gaming PC and sit down for some demon slaying.
The one I am most impressed by, although, is the huge map overhaul detailed in the video from Nerrel beneath, who created a completely new 7K world map fully by hand, with “no AI bullshit.”
The map is not simply extra detailed – thanks to modder Danielryb, it additionally options enhancements like monitoring Hyperlink’s precise place in the world. (Beforehand, it simply confirmed his face in the basic space you have been in.) Now, it will observe his location down to the precise lily pad he is standing on.
These mods can be very simply put in as soon as you’ve got grabbed them (many are hosted on Thunderstore.io) by merely dragging the .zip recordsdata into the recreation. Finally, there’s set to be a mod browser that’ll allow you to set up add-ons with out even leaving the recreation.
There are two unofficial Majora’s Mask PC ports on the market: 2 Ship 2 Harkinian, and this venture, Zelda 64: Recompiled. Each are constructed by reverse engineering the unique recreation’s code and rebuilding it by hand to run natively on PC, with no emulation required, and each occurred to launch round the similar time. You would be forgiven for complicated the two initiatives.
The place Zelda 64: Recompiled differs is the indisputable fact that it was created by N64: Recompiled, which automates the normally painstaking means of reverse engineering the code – although there’s nonetheless loads of work concerned in constructing the precise port.
N64: Recompiled is already getting used to develop quite a few different ports moreover this model of Majora’s Mask, together with Kirby 64, Tremendous Smash Bros., and even the canceled Rareware title Dinosaur Planet, which ultimately morphed into Star Fox Adventures. There is no purpose these ports can’t additionally function mod support simply as sturdy as what we’re getting in Zelda 64: Recompiled, and it seems to be like the future for the N64 library is brighter than it is ever been earlier than.
The greatest N64 video games are getting even higher.
