NES Decompilations & Recompilations
17 open-source decompilation and static recompilation projects for NES games — rebuilt from the original binary so they can run natively on modern hardware.
Halted
Clone of Super Mario
A C++ decompilation of the original Super Mario Bros. NES disassembly, requiring the original ROM's graphics data to run.
Halted
Original game image
Original game imageClone of Mega Man 3
A finished disassembly of the NES game Mega Man 3 (NTSC-U) that assembles to a clean ROM.
Halted
Original game image
Original game imageClone of Mega Man 5
A finished disassembly of the NES game Mega Man 5 (NTSC-U) that assembles to a clean ROM.
Halted
Original game image
Original game imageClone of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link
A disassembly of Zelda II: The Adventure of Link for the NES that assembles into a new ROM.
Stars30
Updated3 years ago
LicenseCC0-1.0
Release2023
Genre: RPG
Theme: —
Archived
Clone of Game Genie
A disassembly of the NES Game Genie cheat cartridge ROM that assembles with ASM6 to match the original.
Stars29
Updated1 year ago
LicenseUnknown
Release2018
Genre: —
Theme: —
Halted
Original game image
Original game imageClone of Mega Man 4
A complete NES disassembly of Mega Man 4 (NTSC-U) that assembles to a clean ROM.
Active
Clone of The Legend of Zelda
A static recompilation of The Legend of Zelda (NES) for native PC, with optional HD and Voxel 3D presentation mods.
Stars23
Updated1 month ago
LicenseUnknown
Release2026
Genre: Action
Theme: —
Active
Active
Clone of Faxanadu
A playable static recompilation of the NES game Faxanadu into a native PC program, built with the NESRecomp framework.
Active
Active
Halted
Original game image
Original game imageClone of EarthBound Beginnings
A Ghidra decompilation project of Earthbound Zero (Mother) that ships without any copyrighted material.
Stars7
Updated1 year ago
LicenseUnknown
Release2025
Genre: RPG
Theme: —
Active
Clone of Yoshi's Cookie
A static recompilation of Yoshi's Cookie (NES) for native PC, built on NESRecomp and reported as believed fully playable.
Stars7
Updated1 month ago
LicenseUnknown
Release2026
Genre: puzzle video game
Theme: —
Active
Active
Clone of Mega Man 3
A static recompilation of Mega Man 3 (NES) into a native PC executable; an in-development preview where boss fights remain untested.
Sporadic
Clone of Transformers: Mystery of Convoy
An annotated decompilation of the NES game Transformers: Mystery of Convoy that compiles to a working game, plus ROM-hack tweaks.
Stars3
Updated1 year ago
LicenseUnknown
Release2023
Genre: run and gun
Theme: —
Active
Clone of Gumshoe
A static recompilation of the NES game Gumshoe for native PC, playable end-to-end with a known cosmetic HUD rendering bug.
Frequently asked questions
- What is a game decompilation?
- A decompilation project reconstructs readable source code from a game's compiled binary. Contributors compare their code with the original executable until it produces the same result, which makes the game understandable, rebuildable and portable.
- What is a static recompilation?
- A static recompilation translates the original game's compiled machine code ahead of time into a native program for another platform, usually a PC port, instead of emulating the console while you play.
- Do I need the original game to use these projects?
- In most cases yes. These projects ship code only, not the game's art, audio or data, so you supply your own legally obtained copy. Each page states what a project needs to run.
- Are these projects legal?
- The code written by the project's contributors is licensed by them, but the original game's assets and code stay the property of their rights holders. Each page lists who licenses what, as stated in the project's own repository.