Game News Nintendo 64: Ray-Tracing, 60 FPS… a modder transforms games of yesteryear into more modern versions
While we are in the middle of the summer period of announcements concerning the games to come in the year, some prefer to focus on retro games that they modify with the characteristics of modern games. The proof with the work of Dario on Nintendo 64.
The Nintendo 64 transformed into a next-gen console
The community of modders, individuals who modify games unofficially, is active on PC and often takes over retro games such as the Nintendo 64 toy library. One of its members, named Dario, is notably known for having brought ray-tracing to the PC port of Super Mario 64. Wanting to improve the latter, he realized that this tool could work on other titles without modifying them one by one. A revolution that can bring ray-tracing, DLSS, motion blur or even a rate of 60 frames per second on compatible titles. On Twitter, he shows what it looks like on certain titles like Snowboard Kids, Ocarina of Time, Mario or even Kirby 64:
I’d like to reveal that RT64, the path tracer behind sm64rt, is evolving into an N64 emulator plugin.
Here’s a small reel of footage I’ve captured from games that are already showing results.
Ray traced lighting, object motion blur, widescreen, DLSS and 60+ FPS. pic.twitter.com/qLJHzGfKUc
— Dario (@dariosamo) June 3, 2022
In a long thread where he explains in detail the operation of his plug-in, he specifies that it will not be available for a long time as the work to be done is still substantial. The hardest task? That of implementing the functionality of the plug-in without modifying the behavior of the game:
This means a bunch of games that never had 60 FPS patches can run at 60 FPS or more, while still running internally at their original rates.
Visual interpolation glitches are a thing sadly, but a methodology for correcting them is still being researched and developed.
— Dario (@dariosamo) June 3, 2022
This means that a bunch of games that never ran at 60 FPS can run at 60 FPS or more but still assume they are running at their original rate.
A retro in the spotlight at Nintendo
For the moment, its first tests are carried out on Ocarina of Time. The PC port of the latter was published not long ago since we were telling you about it in March of this year. It is the developer Harbor Masters who publishes his port, with compatibility with 21:9 screens and keyboards. 4K graphics and 60 FPS are also planned, while its sequel The Legend of Zelda: Majora’s Mask is already being peeled (45% two months ago) to be the subject of a PC port.
That being said, the modding community isn’t the only one wanting to tickle the nostalgic fiber of gamers. This is also the case with Nintendo, which last October added a catalog including Nintendo 64 games. Ocarina of Time, Majora’s Mask or even Banjo and Kazooie are part of it, while titles are regularly added. An offer that could become more dense in the future: in April, files alluding to the arrival of Game Boy and Game Boy Advance games on Nintendo Switch Online were reportedly shared on 4Chan. A rumor revived the following month by the declarations of the president of Nintendo.