TL;DR
- Mario Party 4 for the Nintendo GameCube has been completely decompiled.
- The process took a year and a half, resulting in nearly perfect source code replication.
- A PC port is in the works, and more Mario Party decompilations are currently underway.
This is the first GameCube game to be decompiled, and one of the very few 6th-gen console games to get the full treatment. Previously, Metroid Prime received a pseudo-decompilation called Metaforce, but the code was heavily altered. The initial goal was not to recreate the original game’s source code faithfully, but rather to create a working game. A full decomp is underway, but it still sits at 16% after years of work.
However, that project led to new tools that made GameCube decompilations easier, including a GameCube-to-PC translation layer called Aurora. It isn’t as extensive as Wiseguy’s incredible mod-enabled N64: Recompiled tool, but it’s a start.
A working PC port of the Mario Party 4 decomp is currently underway.
The project took just a year and a half to complete, which is remarkably fast. Other decompilation projects have taken years to complete, but a few lucky factors sped up the process. For example, the code was not optimized, so the compiled code resembled the original source code more closely. Additionally, the team had access to debug symbols from another game using the same engine, called Adventure Island.
That combination of lucky turns made the team prioritize Mario Party 4, which isn’t otherwise one of the series’ fan-favorite entries. It’s definitely not a passion project like the recent Sonic Unleashed decomp for the Xbox 360.
Still, the team is currently working on decomps for nearly every other Mario Party game and has big plans for the future. With the source code in hand, it would be possible to combine all boards into a single game or add online multiplayer. Online multiplayer hacks are available on the Dolphin emulator, but they don’t compare to native online support.
That’s likely years away from coming to fruition, but it’s an exciting prospect for Mario Party fans. The current Mario Party 4 decompilation was just completed and doesn’t have a working port, but a PC port is currently being developed using the aforementioned Aurora tool. It may take longer to port to Android, but the future is still bright.
