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Case study

Project Arwing (2): Star Fox 2 recompiled from a matching disassembly

Rebuilds Star Fox 2 from a coverage-seeded 65816 and SuperFX disassembly that reassembles to the original ROM, then translates it statically to C for native Windows, macOS and Linux builds. Unreached code and RAM code that differs from the ROM run through an interpreter, and the README reports identical per-frame hashes against interpreted runs. It accepts the SNES Classic release image, not the 1995 prototypes; results remain project-reported.

Requirements and limitations

  • README reports a byte-identical ROM rebuild, 66,520 65816 and 23,186 SuperFX instructions, and 99.7% CPU / 100% SuperFX dispatches running recompiled over 20k gameplay frames, listing intro, title, menus, map and missions as playable. Labels are auto-generated, unreached code stays as interpreted data, and audio was checked only indirectly. README says Smooth mode removes slowdown but, unlike the Star Fox project, adds no interpolated 60 fps frames yet.
  • Supply your own Star Fox 2 ROM from the SNES Classic / Mini release, matching the SHA-1 in README; the 1995 prototypes will not work. Graphics, models and music are extracted from it at build time, and battery saves are written beside the rebuilt ROM. No game data is included.
  • Releases target Windows x64, macOS 11+ (not notarized) and Linux x86_64/ARM64 AppImages. Source builds need Python (3.10+ on Windows) with Visual Studio 2022 Build Tools, Xcode command-line tools and SDL2, or gcc, SDL2, FreeType and DejaVu fonts; tools/build.py chains extraction, assembly, recompilation and compilation.
  • tools/build.py compares the reassembled ROM’s SHA-1 but only warns on a mismatch, and the documented contributor check diffs --hashlog output from recompiled and --interp runs. HD 3D hooks one of several projection routines and recovers sub-pixel positions for about 66–90% of vertices. This collection did not rerun these checks.
  • MIT covers tools/, src/, installer/, res/ and the build scripts; LICENSE excludes asm/, a disassembly of Nintendo's Star Fox 2 code, and anything extracted from a ROM. This is an unofficial fan project unaffiliated with Nintendo. The reviewed repository makes no AI or REA attribution, so a circulating post's account of Opus 5.5 and a single prompt is unconfirmed here.

About this entry

Type
Case study
Category
Independent reconstruction cases
Relationship
Independent reconstruction project
Targets
Game

Sources reviewed

The description was reviewed against primary sources. This does not establish runtime testing, security auditing or verified compatibility.

Primary sources

  1. README.md GitHub · carlosrmz009/arwing2 · Revision 15af0bf
  2. LICENSE GitHub · carlosrmz009/arwing2 · Revision 15af0bf
  3. tools/build.py GitHub · carlosrmz009/arwing2 · Revision 15af0bf