A group of intrepid GitHub coders have taken up the mission of decompiling the source code of Ocarina of Time.
While accessing the files to re-interpret through ROMs has become commonplace, this will actually show everything still in the code, which likely means more cut content. This will also make mods easier to create and run, as we will understand more about the base code.
If you’re unfamiliar with the process, and why it’s taken over 20 years for this to happen, let me share a brief example. Square Enix, at one point, lost the base code to Kingdom Hearts. Rather than decompiling a copy of the game, they said it was easier and faster to just go in and remake it from scratch. Now imagine that you’re not a video game studio who made the game you’re decompiling, you’re just a few like-minded internet people. That’s what we’re working with here.
That’s not to say it’s impossible, or even unimportant, but it’s a lot of work to do for the fun of it. But doing so could mean multiplayer mods, playing on PC, and even adding in your own dungeons or items. Things that aren’t really possible right now will suddenly be able to once this finishes.
It should be noted that we are likely not going to get much “behind the scenes” context out of this. Especially back then, for space reasons, commentary will likely have been omitted from the original compilation. As cool as it would be to have direct notes from the creators at the time of the game’s creation, there’s a one-in-a-million chance we’d actually see it here.
Overall this can be very exciting, if only from a “time capsule” perspective. We’ll let you know any developments as they happen.
