# Dragon Warrior IV: a byte-exact NES disassembly

> Reconstructs the US NES release of Dragon Warrior IV as assembly for all 32 physical PRG banks. The project records code classification, labels, pointer recovery, runtime traces, and save evidence, and the author reports a rebuild matching the reference ROM's SHA-256.

- Type: Case study
- Targets: 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/JEschete/DW4_Disassembly>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/JEschete/DW4_Disassembly/blob/bbcf840d2bc725d920c9690d966cda2166a167b9/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/dragon-warrior-iv-nes-disassembly-case/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/dragon-warrior-iv-nes-disassembly-case/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/dragon-warrior-iv-nes-disassembly-case/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- **Prerequisites:** A legally obtained reference ROM is required to regenerate bank assembly or run the full evidence gate.
- **Prerequisites:** The project uses a Windows-native build and Visual Studio 2026 environment.
- **Limits:** Semantic notes for 1,331 widened interfaces remain to be re-reviewed.
- **License:** No licence file in the repository.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/JEschete/DW4_Disassembly/blob/bbcf840d2bc725d920c9690d966cda2166a167b9/README.md>
2. <https://github.com/JEschete/DW4_Disassembly/blob/bbcf840d2bc725d920c9690d966cda2166a167b9/docs/ARCHITECTURE.md>

## More in Games

- [Dragon Warrior: a commented NES disassembly](https://awesomerea.org/resources/dragon-warrior-disassembly-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Driver 1 decomp: matching Driver and porting it to Linux](https://awesomerea.org/resources/driver-1-decomp-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Duck Hunt Disassembly: reconstructing the World release in assembly](https://awesomerea.org/resources/duck-hunt-disassembly-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Duke Nukem Zero Hour: decompiling the Nintendo 64 game](https://awesomerea.org/resources/duke-nukem-zero-hour/index.md) · Case study
- [Duke1Decomp: matching source snippets for Duke Nukem 1](https://awesomerea.org/resources/duke1decomp-case/index.md) · Case study
- [Duke2Reconstructed: matching Duke Nukem II source reconstruction](https://awesomerea.org/resources/duke2reconstructed-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.