The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Port

About

Project Picori is a native PC port of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA, 2004), built on SDL3, a vendored software PPU renderer and the agbplay audio engine. It targets x86-64 Linux, Windows and macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel). The README calls it work in progress, with many rendering and gameplay paths still rough, and says the repository ships no ROMs.

How it differs from the original

Adds an optional SDL_GPU renderer with shader presets (CRT, LCD, scanline looks), several upscalers, built-in text-to-speech for screen-reader users, quicksave and quickload, and an in-game randomizer.

Getting started

Download the pre-built tarball for your platform, unpack it and drop your own supported ROM (USA, EU or JP) next to the binary, then run tmc_pc. On first launch it extracts an asset cache, which takes a few seconds. The F8 debug menu holds controls, renderer options and an Accessibility tab.

Known issues & limitations

• The port is still a work in progress, and many rendering and gameplay paths remain rough.
• Runtime .glslp shader presets require the SPIR-V/Vulkan backend; macOS uses Metal for the stock filters.

What you need to run it

Features

• The same release binary supports USA, EU, and JP game data and selects the region from the loaded ROM.
• Built-in text-to-speech reads dialog and other text surfaces aloud.
• The port includes an in-game randomizer.

How to install

1. Launch `./tmc_pc` on Linux or macOS, or run `tmc_pc.exe` on Windows; double-clicking works on Windows.

Controls

• Hold Tab to fast-forward.
• Press F11 or Alt+Enter to toggle fullscreen.
• Press F12 to cycle the upscaler.
• Press F7 to toggle text-to-speech.
• Press F8 to open the debug menu.
• Press F5 to quicksave and F6 to quickload.

Licensing & legal

• Released under GPL-3.0; it builds on the zeldaret/tmc decompilation and a legitimately owned ROM is required.

Additional notes

Saves

Saves are written as tmc.sav in the same byte order mGBA and VBA-M use, so saves can be exchanged with those emulators.

Platforms

Linux and Windows are tested; macOS builds cleanly but is described as lightly tested compared with them.

FAQ

What is The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Port?

The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Port is an open-source port of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. An existing game or its source code brought to another platform. The original game ran on Linux, Windows and macOS.

Do I need the original game files to run The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Port?

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

How is The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap Port licensed?

project: GPL-3.0 (whole repository); agbplay: LGPL-3.0 (those files). The repository itself is the authoritative source.