# Airborne Ranger: lifting a DOS game into a C port

> Airborne Ranger ports the 1987 DOS game to C by lifting AR.EXE and its TANDYSND.EXE overlay with a masm2c-style translator, then hand-checking the output against the reference binaries. An SDL2 frontend runs with the player's original files, and the repository includes lifted code, generation scripts and tests.

- Type: Case study
- Targets: Binary · Game
- Category: Independent reconstruction cases
- Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
- Sources reviewed: 2026-11-06
- Added to the catalog: 2026-11-09
- Original resource: <https://github.com/xor2003/airborn-ranger>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/xor2003/airborn-ranger/blob/d2e7575b1a70e15fe7104274cda8db357085e53f/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/airborne-ranger-port-case/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/airborne-ranger-port-case/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/airborne-ranger-port-case/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- **Prerequisites:** An original DOS copy of Airborne Ranger is required to run the port.
- **Prerequisites:** SDL2 is used for the frontend; documented builds cover Linux, Windows x64 and Android TV.
- **Limits:** The WebAssembly workflow is an experimental skeleton.
- **License:** No licence file in the repository.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/xor2003/airborn-ranger/blob/d2e7575b1a70e15fe7104274cda8db357085e53f/README.md>

## More in Games

- [ALTTP-DX: rebuilding A Link to the Past for native PC play](https://awesomerea.org/resources/alttp-dx-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Amplitude: reconstructed PlayStation 2 game source](https://awesomerea.org/resources/wavelength-amplitude-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Angry Birds ARM64: reconstructing the Angry Birds 1.4.2 Android runtime](https://awesomerea.org/resources/angry-birds-arm64-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Animal Crossing gcNX: a native Switch port of the GameCube decompilation](https://awesomerea.org/resources/animal-crossing-gcnx-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Animal Crossing: a native PC port of the GameCube decompilation](https://awesomerea.org/resources/animal-crossing-pc-port-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Animal Crossing: an Android port of the GameCube decompilation](https://awesomerea.org/resources/acgc-android-port-case/index.md) · Case study

## About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.
Original editorial content: MIT. Linked projects, papers and assets retain their own rights and licenses.