Do not miss the opportunity to play Zelda on PC and Mac

“I remember the joy I had playing and finishing the game Zelda: A Link to the Past on Super Nintendo. It was really crazy, a real adventure that I immersed myself in as if it were a real piece of my life that is now part of my past.

And about this past, I suggest that we find it together thanks to this program called Zelda3, which is neither more nor less than a reimplementation in C of the code reversed from the game. This program, which can run under Windows, macOS, and Linux, just needs, when compiling the original ROM in its first US version of the game, to extract the resources (levels, images, music) that are obviously still copyrighted.

But once it’s done, all you have to do is launch the binary, and you will be able to play the Zelda: A Link to the Past game natively. The developer also added some features that are not in the original code, such as the possibility of filling hearts and magic (yes, it’s cheating), getting a bonus dungeon key, or even doing the speedrun dungeons (CTRL + 1-9).

Compiling the game under Windows is not complicated, and it can be done with TCC or Visual Studio, but I invite you to read the doc here to carry out the operation.

And to compile this game on Linux or macOS, you will need Python and Pip. Then run the following commands:

git clone https://github.com/snesrev/zelda3
cd zelda3
python3 -m pip install -r requirements.txt

Afterward, you will need SDL2, which is installed like this under Linux (Ubuntu):

sudo apt install libsdl2-dev

And on macOS:

brew install sdl2

Then, you will need to obtain the zelda3.sfc ROM and place it in the zelda3/tables directory.

Then, still in the zelda3 directory, run the command:

make

And there you have it; you will have a nice zelda3 binary to launch. Note that the code can also be compiled for your Nintendo Switch.

Then, you will note the presence of a zelda3.ini file, which will allow you to modify certain game parameters, such as the resolution, the sound, or even the keyboard keys. Which is very practical. And above all, as the sources are available, it is perfectly possible to completely modify the game, change the sprites, the music, the dialogues, etc.

In short, what you need to do all of Zelda: A Link to the Past again, natively on your computer, with good performance and, above all, some cheating possibilities so as not to be too frustrated. Because, yes, we have gotten older, and we have less patience and time available to beat Ganon.