Paper Mario Port

About

A PS Vita port of Paper Mario, built on PaperShip, the decompilation-based port of Paper Mario 64 that runs on libultraship, and retargeted for Vita hardware. The Vita-specific patches are adapted from other Vita ports on the same libultraship stack.

How it differs from the original

Renders the 3D world and full-frame backgrounds in 16:9 widescreen, while menus, text boxes and the HUD stay at 4:3. Controls are mapped to the Vita, with the right stick acting as the four C buttons.

Getting started

You need a homebrew-enabled Vita with VitaShell and your own US ROM in .z64 format, which the repository does not contain. Create a papership folder under the data directory on the memory card, copy in the VPK and the ROM, install the VPK from VitaShell and launch it from LiveArea.

Known issues & limitations

• The intro theater cutscene renders in 4:3 inside the widescreen frame.
• Menus, text boxes, and the HUD remain in 4:3 by design.
• Some backgrounds using the wavy-effect renderer are not widened yet.
• Some area transitions have noticeable stutter while assets load from the memory card.
• Sushie's Squirt is missing its water trail; only the front splash renders.
• Pause cleanup can still free a stale HUD element ID.
• The staged intro cutscene renders at 4:3, some wavy-effect backgrounds are not widened, and some area transitions stutter because assets load from the memory card.

What you need to run it

Features

• The 3D world and full-frame backgrounds render in widescreen (16:9).
• The project supports saving and loading to a save file on the memory card.
• The controls are mapped to the Vita, with the right stick handling the four C buttons.

How to install

1. On the Vita, open VitaShell and create `ux0:/data/papership`.
2. Transfer `PaperMarioVita.vpk` and your own ROM into the `papership` folder; the ROM must use one of the listed filenames.
3. In VitaShell, select the VPK and press X, then press X again to accept the permissions prompt.

Additional notes

Saves

Saves are stored separately from the app, so updating or deleting the app does not touch them.

FAQ

What is Paper Mario Port?

Paper Mario Port is an open-source port of Paper Mario. An existing game or its source code brought to another platform. The original game ran on PS Vita.

Do I need the original game files to run Paper Mario Port?

Yes. The project does not include the original game's assets, so you need your own copy.