Super Mario Galaxy Decompilation Passes 50%

For retro fans in London and across the UK, the community-led decompilation of Super Mario Galaxy has now passed the 50 per cent mark. It is a major milestone for a Wii classic that many players still rate among Nintendo's finest.

Decompilation means reverse-engineering compiled software back into readable source code. In this case, the work is being carried out by volunteers, and the project page on GitHub shows the effort has now moved beyond the halfway point. The project follows similar community work on other Nintendo games, including Majora's Mask and Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

The long-term appeal is clear. A fully decompiled codebase could help preserve the game for the future and may one day support native PC ports, which can offer higher resolutions, better frame rates, and lower input latency than emulation. It could also make room for wider modding, much like the fan work seen around Twilight Princess.

There is still a long way to go, though. The article notes that Nintendo usually takes a firm line on its intellectual property, and that projects like this sit in a difficult legal space. Even so, preservation work like this is often driven by a simple aim, keeping older games playable and studyable after official support fades.

For readers following preservation and homebrew news, the project is one to keep an eye on. You can also track similar coverage on our News tag page, and the wider decompilation scene through decomp.dev, which acts as a central hub for these efforts.

Originally published by RetroDodo. Read the original article.