Paper Mario PC port could finally be on the way
While we love Nintendo and its adorable catalogue of games that includes everything from Metroid to Pokemon, Zelda to Mario, the only thing that holds it back is that it's locked to its own systems. Even Sony has learned to share with its PC ports, whereas Nintendo holds its games hostage like Princess Peach.
As we've recently seen with the baffling realisation the majority of classic Pokemon games are currently unable to play for anyone, Nintendo putting its games on PC would do a lot for video game preservation. Now, a gaming Robin Hood is getting ready to deliver a Paper Mario PC port.
What is the Paper Mario PC port?
Releasing in 2000, Paper Mario gave put the portly plumber in his own adorable RPG. The title was an unexpected hit and spawned a whole franchise of sequels that delivered Paper Mario: The Origami King in 2020. Still, the OG is a (paper) cut above the rest.
As reported by VGC, coder Ethan Roseman has reached "reached 100% completion" on the Paper Mario project that hopes to give the Nintendo 64 classic an unofficial PC port. Now that we've hit 100% decompilation, it's only a matter of time until the port is up and running.
Roseman added, "There's a lot more to do on this project, including documentation, other version support, more asset support, etc, but this is a huge achievement that wouldn't be possible without the insane work from so many talented people."
A PC port is better than the equally morally grey emulation because you can mod it. More than just putting Shrek in Zelda, it means you can add new features like widescreen and 60FPS. This monumental take took over three years, and to be honest, we're amazed Nintendo hasn't already shut it down.
Watch out for Nintendo's lawyers
Click to enlargeNintendo is notoriously hot on unofficial outings, meaning we expect it to send out its Koopaling lawyers to have the Paper Mario PC port shut down. Only recently, Nintendo released infamous hacker Gary Bowser (no relation to the big guy) from jail but can take up to 30% of his earnings for the rest of his life.
Then again, Nintendo has largely left decomp projects alone. As they reverse-engineer assets from a legally bought version of the game and build things from the ground up, you're not technically distributing something from Nintendo.
Fan-favourites like Super Mario 64 and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time have proved to be huge hits with their own decomp PC ports, so Paper Mario is sure to follow in their footsteps. We're hoping that the Pario Mario PC port won't fold under the pressure of Nintendo's lawyers.