# Zelda3: a C reimplementation of A Link to the Past

> Zelda3 reimplements The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past in C, extracting levels and images from the user's US SNES ROM. It can run the original machine code beside the replacement and compare RAM state after each frame; the author reports that the game is playable from start to end.

- 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/snesrev/zelda3>
- Primary source: <https://github.com/snesrev/zelda3/blob/45a149d8b4bb8098f53d1009f76e76e7d8b79bbf/README.md>
- Catalog page: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/zelda3-case/>
- Record JSON: <https://awesomerea.org/resources/zelda3-case/record.json>
- Chinese version: [简体中文](https://awesomerea.org/zh/resources/zelda3-case/index.md)

## Requirements & limits

- **Prerequisites:** Requires the user's US-region ROM named zelda3.sfc with the SHA-256 hash documented in BUILDING.md.
- **Prerequisites:** Must be built from source; the documented Windows path uses Python, TCC and SDL2.
- **License:** Licensed under MIT.

## Primary sources

1. <https://github.com/snesrev/zelda3/blob/45a149d8b4bb8098f53d1009f76e76e7d8b79bbf/README.md>
2. <https://github.com/snesrev/zelda3/blob/45a149d8b4bb8098f53d1009f76e76e7d8b79bbf/BUILDING.md>

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## 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.