A group of talented fans have created an original PC port of Star Fox 64, which they’re calling Starship. Even better? It’s technically legal. Harbor Masters, the team behind the project, used a tool that converts the original game ROM into PC executable code, so it doesn’t actually use any proprietary Nintendo code.
This is the same method that was used to create the original PC port of Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and that’s still available for download. Members of this crew also ported Majora’s Mask and Super Mario 64 using the same conversion tool. There’s a big caveat here. You’ll need your own legally sourced Star Fox 64 game ROM to play.
Like previous ports, Starship has all sorts of modern bells and whistles to differentiate itself from the 1997 original. The frame rate is higher and the port includes frame smoothing technology for better visuals. There’s custom-made textures and the ability to run on widescreen monitors, as seen above.
There’s another big benefit to this, too. This port is moddable, so who knows what we’ll see once it gets into people’s hands in the future. The team’s Ocarina of Time port has received a lot of love from the modding community. Some mods allow for abilities derived from the newer Zelda games and one even puts functioning Pikmin into the mix, because, why not?
According to Redditors, the Star Fox 64 port is easy to get running if you want to get on the Steam Deck. It requires Proton and some light hurdle-jumping, as the code isn’t Linux-based. It’s been a while since we’ve gotten a legitimate Star Fox game from Nintendo, and it was a weird game, so this might calm that never-ending desire to do a barrel roll.