Patrick O'Rourke is XDA's News Editor and Entertainment Segment Lead. Previously, he was Pocket-lint's Editor-in-Chief, the Editor-in-Chief of Canadian tech publication MobileSyrup, and earlier in his career, he worked as the technology editor at the Financial Post and Postmedia. He's based in Toronto.
Over the past 15 years, he's written thousands of articles. Patrick has also interviewed dozens of tech industry executives and covered GDC, E3, Gamescom, WWDC, Apple keynotes, Samsung Unpacked events and more.
Patrick has a BA in journalism from Toronto Metropolitan University.
Summary
- Halo: Combat Evolved has been rebuilt to run on Nintendo 64, complete with split-screen 4-player multiplayer and Firefight.
- The game uses the halo-ce-universal decompilation to recompile objects, physics, HUD, and a new renderer for the N64 VR4300.
- The port features 13 recreated maps, including Blood Gulch and Battle Creek.
The retro game decompilation/recompilation port world keeps getting wilder. This latest port is maybe the weirdest I've seen so far: someone has actually gotten Halo: Combat Evolved running on the Nintendo 64.
It's the type of port that doesn't need to exist and looks awful, but you probably still want to see what the heck it actually looks like and how it plays. Halo 64 is the OG Xbox Halo: Combat Evolved remade for the N64, complete with the Nintendo console's signature blocky graphics and plenty of aliasing.
This isn't a port of the iconic first-person shooter's campaign; it's a multiplayer experience that supports up to four players locally via split-screen. It even includes a Firefight mode that spawns waves of enemies for players to fight.
Like other recent Halo ports, including the browser-based port and the Windows 11, Linux, PS5, and Android ports, this project is based on the halo-ce-universal decompilation project. Halo 64 takes Halo: Combat Evolved's objects, physics, weapons, game type, HUD, and more, and compiles them for the N64's VR4300 CPU, along with a new renderer.
Halo 64 is playable right now and includes a lot of Halo: CE's key features
The retro FPS just got even more old school
13 of the game's maps have been recreated for Halo 64, including iconic arenas like Battle Creek, Sidewinder, Wizard, Prisoner, and, of course, Blood Gulch. All the familiar vehicles and weapons are in every map, too.
The wacky port also includes familiar game types, including Slayer, Team Slayer, Slayer Pro, Capture the Flag, King of the Hill, and more. Oh, and there are bots, a feature the original Halo: Combat Evolved didn't even include.
I haven't tried Halo 64 myself yet, but it's a pretty impressive project, and despite the rudimentary visuals, it still has that OG Halo vibe. Like all recompilations, you need a Halo disc image to play the game, which you can dump from your own copy or acquire elsewhere.
Like so many retro ports dropping lately, Claude obviously helped significantly with Halo 64's creation. Still, it's a fascinating project and a good example of a weird port that probably wouldn't exist without AI vibe coding. You can download the game directly from its GitHub page.
Inotherport-relatednews,awaveofSwitchgamescouldsoonmaketheirwaytoWindowsandotheroperatingsystems,withTheLegendofZelda:Link'sAwakening potentiallybeingthefirstofmany.