There's nothing the Legend of Zelda community is incapable of, it seems, and decompiling the original Majora's Mask game for fellow fans looking to mod, speedrun, or simply learn about the code is no exception.
Majora's Mask is an iconic Nintendo gem that stands the test of time as one of the best N64 games ever, but there hasn't been a complete, documented codebase for the beloved title - until now. ZeldaRET, a team of volunteer fans working to decompile the original and create just that, has finally "reached 100% completion" for the US N64 version of the game. Their work started in 2021, which marks over three years of progress to date.
A ZeldaRET member has since made a post celebrating the big news, explaining that there's "still tons of work to be done (other versions, more documentation, fixing fake matches, etc.), but [this is] an incredibly satisfying end to years of work." For anyone (like me) who wasn't previously acquainted with decompiling or what it means, the team explains the process on its official website, calling it "a type of reverse engineering."
Happy to announce the Majora's Mask decompilation project reached 100% completion for the US N64 version! Still tons of work to be done (other versions, more documentation, fixing fake matches, etc.), but an incredibly satisfying end to years of work pic.twitter.com/GEUgjYU823December 11, 2024
Decompiling involves "analyzing the compiled binary data that is on the [game's] cartridge to produce human-readable code that has the same result." As for the project's goal, and what doors decompiling opens in general, it's about making things more accessible for players. The code can "be used for knowledge of the game" relevant to speedrunners or those looking to learn, "or for changing parts of the game to make it act differently or do different things."
This means that modders can more easily make alterations, switching up the base Majora's Mask experience to suit their tastes. For anyone wondering what this means for a potential PC port, however, "decomp would only be the first step" toward one - and ZeldaRET isn't interested. "The goal of this project is NOT to make any kind of port, such as to PC," writes the team, although "someone else might take our work and make a port."
