Decompilations are transforming Mac gaming for me – and it could give game preservation a big boost

I’ve always been a big proponent of game preservation. As the years pass and games become more sophisticated, some titles regarded as classics in their generation are left by the wayside, mostly due to a lack of confidence in whether they’ll sell to new players. It’s why seeing remasters of the older Tomb Raider games has been great to see.

The Escapist recapsBanjo in widescreen(ie)Back to the DecompAsk The Escapist

But another part of preservation in recent years has been decompilations. This is a method of reversing a game back to its original machine code, allowing long-known bugs to be fixed while adding brand-new features. I’ve been using a bunch on my Mac in the last couple of years, and it’s been incredible. Here are a few I’ve been playing in 2026 so far.

Disclaimer: You’ll need to own a version of each of the games features in this list to legally use the ROM and subsequent decomps of games. Doing so without this could constitute piracy.

The Escapist recaps Decompilations reverse-engineer a game, taking it back to its source code through multiple applications. This has resulted in a bunch of games able to run natively on PC, Mac, and Linux. Super Mario 64, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and, more recently, Banjo-Kazooie are just some of the decompilations made available to players. More games are being decompiled, such as Metroid Prime, Silent Hill, and Sonic Advance 2. Banjo in widescreen(ie) Image credit: Daryl Baxter for The Escapist

It’s a simple process to get one of these running. Once you download the app, it will ask for the game. We won’t be helping you find these ROMs, but once the app has one of the files, it runs the game in its decompiled form. It’s far easier than you think, as there’s nothing else to do. Just pop the game in the app, and you’re good to go.

One of the first I played was during lockdown in 2021. Super Mario 64 had been decompiled, and suddenly, I was playing the game on my PC in ultra-widescreen, with mods that replaced textures with higher-resolution ones. It looked incredible, but it would be two years until I was able to play others, due to the amount of time it can take to decompile a game.

Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask would see similar treatment, thanks to the Ship of Harnikan team, and they’ve been on a roll since, releasing others such as Star Fox 64 and Mario Kart 64. They’re all in my Mac dock right now, ready to be played, but another appeared when writing this feature, and it may be my new favourite.

On January 25, Banjo-Kazooie: Recompiled debuted for Windows, Mac, and Linux, giving players total control over how they wanted to play the game. Want to change the controls or have a second analog stick as the camera? Sure. Want to install mods that offer new adventures and higher-resolution texture packs? No problem.

It is incredible that we’re already seeing so many games get the decompilation treatment. Granted, some of these can be played on a Nintendo Switch via the Nintendo Classics retro service. But being able to play these games on other platforms, without the legal ramifications, featuring new features to enhance the titles, is a great thing to see.

These also give Mac gaming a shot in the arm. It’s an open secret that playing games on Apple’s products has been lackluster at best, from framerate issues to the high price of games on the Mac App Store. But here, you can play some classic games on your Mac that can run at whatever framerate you desire.

It feels as if we’re on the brink of even more games that are about to be decompiled, and if we see more teams from the community take advantage of them, we may see the return of some games that have been stuck in the past for far too long.

Back to the Decomp Image credit: Daryl Baxter for The Escapist

Thanks to writer Wes Fenlon’s decompilation page, we can see which games have been decompiled and others that are close to the 100% mark. Indeed, some have reached it, but there haven’t been any apps to take advantage of the decompilations, perhaps due to how much understanding is required to take the code and package it all into an app.

A few on decomp.dev have caught my eye that could attract even more players to decompilations:

F-Zero X Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess Metroid Prime Parappa the Rapper 2 Silent Hill Sonic Advance 2 Super Smash Bros Melee

The prospect of using a mouse and keyboard for Metroid Prime on my Mac, or having Silent Hill finally break free from its PlayStation shackles, or Super Smash Bros Melee in native widescreen and online crossplay support, all feels exciting, and not impossible. It’s why I’m excited about decompilations; they offer something brand new to game preservation.

Emulators have always been a murky topic, despite being a user of them for years. They’ve been the best way to play some games lost to time, but it always came with the chance of compatibility issues, and whether the game would run on certain systems. In the case of decompilations, they’re tailor-made for the platforms they’re being developed for.

It’s why on my Mac, as I write this, I’m halfway through both Ocarina of Time and Banjo-Kazooie. I would love Nintendo, Sony, and others to realise the potential of decompilations. Having a new Rare Replay Compilation that only features decompiled titles, complete with all the features we’ve seen in unofficial releases, would be a blockbuster hit.

However, as things stand, we may just have to wait for the talented community to work on apps that take advantage of these decompilations, and I have no problem with that. If you’re just discovering them, I encourage you to try Ocarina of Time first, just to give you an idea of what’s possible. After that, you likely won’t go back to emulation, and rightly so.

Ask The Escapist Does this mean I can play any game on my Mac? 

No, you need to use an app supplied by the team that focuses on a specific title.

Are decompilations against the law?

No, decompilations fall into the fair use licence, meaning they are far less risky to use than emulators and ROMS.

How do I keep track of games being decompiled?

This page has a helpful graph of certain games that are almost on their way to being decompiled.

The Escapist is supported by our audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn a small affiliate commission. Learn more about our Affiliate Policy

View Original Article