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Case study

Project Arwing: Star Fox recompiled from a matching disassembly

Disassembles Star Fox’s 65816 and SuperFX code from runtime coverage and recursive descent, reassembles it into the original ROM, then translates it statically to C on a from-scratch SNES runtime for Windows, macOS and Linux. Code never reached in recorded sessions, and RAM code that no longer matches the ROM, falls back to an interpreter; the README reports identical per-frame hashes for both paths. The generated C is a mechanical translation rather than hand-decompiled source, and results remain project-reported.

Requirements and limitations

  • README reports a byte-identical ROM rebuild, 34,472 65816 and 14,577 SuperFX instructions, and 99.4% CPU / 100% SuperFX dispatches running recompiled over 20k gameplay frames. It lists the intro, title, training, Corneria and other levels reached by random play as playable. Labels are auto-generated, unreached code remains data run by the interpreter, and audio was checked only indirectly, not against hardware.
  • Supply your own Star Fox (USA) (Rev 2) ROM matching the SHA-1 in README; other revisions and regions are untested. Graphics, models and music are extracted from it at build time. The source build expects a headerless image, while the installer strips a 512-byte copier header. 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. The documented contributor check diffs --hashlog output from recompiled and --interp runs. CI assembles and recompiles without a ROM, zero-filling data, so it confirms neither matching nor gameplay; this collection did not rerun any check.
  • MIT covers tools/, src/, installer/, res/ and the build scripts; LICENSE excludes asm/, a disassembly of Nintendo's Star Fox 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/arwing · Revision d8fe7aa
  2. LICENSE GitHub · carlosrmz009/arwing · Revision d8fe7aa
  3. tools/build.py GitHub · carlosrmz009/arwing · Revision d8fe7aa
  4. tools/recomp.py GitHub · carlosrmz009/arwing · Revision d8fe7aa
  5. .github/workflows/build.yml GitHub · carlosrmz009/arwing · Revision d8fe7aa