Link: https://retrododo.com/legend-of-zelda-the-minish-cap-gets-a-playable-pc-port/

It's not long since I clicked publish on an article about The Wind Waker being decompiled, and now here I am, writing about The Minish Cap going through the exact same process.

Requires Windows, and has bugs. You need a ROM to play it, which, if you haven't legally dumped it (this is a grey area), the game is illegal.

So... how is that different to using an emulator, which runs on any major computing platform (including Mac and iPhone!), has virtually no bugs... and also requires a ROM, same legal stipulations.

Devices within arm's reach that can play Minish Cap via emulator: 6. My Android phone. My iPhone. My Apple TV. My MacBook. My Mac. My wife's iPad.

Devices I can install software to that can play the "PC port": zero. I'm thinking of my work PC. I could get the ROM onto the computer via my personal cloud (we're not supposed to use personal clouds but no one really cares until Someone Fucks Up) but running any .exe flags the gatekeeper (requires admin password I don't have).

So... why not just use an emulator? What does requiring Windows do for anyone? Even Windows users are better served by the emulator.

Probably more interesting as a technical achievement rather than a new way to play a classic

His GitHub repo also says it also works on Linux directly

Minnish cap is one of the zeldas that just didn't grab me. It felt very constrained.

I view it that way. I don't personally care about this. There's just not much or anything at all to post any given week 😅

Agreed about the Windows part.
But the "why not emulate" part is that now we can mod it way more easily.

There is that, I suppose. I have the Ocarina of Time port (Ship of Harkian) on my MacBook. It's interesting, has a couple options the emulators don't. But maybe some emulators have those options? I'm not sure.

So I might be able to get Linux running on my Mac. I know it's stupidly easy to partition drives in macOS. Or I could run it in a VM. But that brings me back to... why not just run the emulator?

Mod it how? Most emulators have cheats.

If you mean mod it like you'd mod Skyrim, you'd need some kind of modding framework, which I will agree, the PC port makes easier, but it's a lot of work ahead of anyone who wants to go down that path. A lot of things that would need to be agreed upon.

Still don't think it's worth buying a whole new computer (or even an old cheap Dell/HP with the hard drive taken out, from some company upgrading) to run Windows or Linux. Especially not in this economy.

Same.
I wanted to like it. The aesthetic is nice. But it had so many weird mechanics thanks to Capcom.

Another comment says it runs in Linux, which means that a MacOS (I'm assuming, based on your comments) port even easier.
Also, not to be rude, but this project was done for more people than just you. If it's not for you, that's fine.

As for modding, recompilation projects mean you can drop whatever assets you want in, and trivially.
It also means code changes for anyone who cares to immerse themselves.
Last point: this adds exactly one more option, and more options is always a win. Even if, as mentioned before, you personally opt out.

Okay, one more point: what hardware DO you have that can't run Linux?

The grandest reason of them all: why not see what is possible without the emulator?

A lot of these rom ports to native code are about more then just playing the game. Most include all sorts of mods like running the game at native resolution at 16x9 aspect ratio, higher refresh rates, better sound, engines to make your own levels, coop play, and more.

Or more precisely: why not?

You really believe there is only one Mac user who is a gamer? That's definitely a hot take.

Oh sure! You've got lots of games to choose from.
Like Breakout. And.... Super Breakout.

We got Cyberpunk and it runs on the M1 MacBook Air, as long as it has 16GB of RAM. It also runs on the MacBook Neo, which only has 8GB RAM, but it's between the M1 and M2 performance wise. All with onboard GPUs.

We got Blue Prince, one of the best games of last year.

We got a few options.

I feel like your Breakout reference is a reference to something, but I don't know what. I mean yeah, we can play Atari games via an emulator, but you got me thinking about an old Windows game called DXBall, that was like Breakout on crack. So much fun. Wouldn't mind playing that again.

But jokes aside, as far as packed-in games (like Solitaire and Minesweeper on Windows), we had Spin Doctor in the 90s, which was fire. Look it up, PC ports have been made. You're a stick spinning on a dot, and you have to cross the field. One button changes your spin direction, and the other grabs onto another dot. There are walls, hazards, gaps, traps, all kinds of shit to avoid. It wasn't that much more advanced than the Windows pack-in games, but it was neat.

It was a reference to an Olde English comedy sketch. I was thinking it was General Procrastination but I just dug that one up and it wasn't in that one. They took a bunch of stuff off YouTube years ago which did not help discoverability.

Great game but it's the first time I wonder what is the point of a "PC port" whatever that is when we already have emulators.