After using the N64 Recompiled tool to release a Star Fox 64 port last year, fans have now set their sights on the canceled N64 title Dinosaur Planet; the game that was reworked into Star Fox Adventures on the Nintendo Game Cube.
This project is lead by developer Ethan Lafrenais, and is not only an attempt to bring the canceled project to PCs, but also to help complete it (something fans have been working on for quite some time).
You can learn more via Ethan's GitHub page.
As mentioned above, Dinosaur Planet was to be released on the Nintendo 64, but Nintendo requested that Rare rebrand the game as a Star Fox title after seeing the main character's resemblance to Fox McCloud. Fox was then inserted as the lead character once development shifted to the Game Cube, with original characters like Krystal and Tricky retaining their place in the game. Although the stories and gameplay of both games are very similar overall, there are some key differences between Dinosaur Planet and Star Fox Adventures, which some fans will be able to experience for the first time once this project is complete.
It is important to note that the recompiled version of Dinosaur Planet does not contain any of the game's assets; a legally obtained copy of Dinosaur Planet is required to run the game on PC.
As explained via the GitHub Page:
Dinosaur Planet: Recompiled is a project that uses N64: Recompiled to statically recompile Dinosaur Planet into a native port with enhancements and extensive mod support. This project uses RT64 as the rendering engine to provide graphical enhancements.
This repository and its releases do not contain game assets. The original game is required to build or run this project.
Static recompilation is the process of automatically translating an application from one platform to another.
Unlike traditional N64 ports, recompilation projects are not based on the source code of a related decompilation. However, the Dinosaur Planet decompilation project plays a very important role in this recomp, by providing symbols, knowledge about game systems, and to a lesser extent actual decompiled code used in some patches.
There is currently no set date for when this project will be completed, but those interested can check out the GitHub to stay up to date with the latest release.
Keep in mind that this is in fact a fan project, and not supported by Nintendo or Rare.
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