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The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask just got an unofficial PC port
(www.dsogaming.com)
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this post was submitted on 11 May 2024
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Indeed, these decom projects do not include any of Nintendo's assets.
The code compiles 1:1 back into a unable ROM but isn't made just using a source code leak. It is reverse-engineered just like the SM64 decomp
Projects not containing anything owned by Nintendo has never stopped Nintendo from destroying those projects (and peoples lives) in the past.
Nintendo has not taken action on the massively popular SM64 Decompilation and PC ports (and ironically switch ports) in the past what...3 years?
Nintendo hadn't taken action against ROM sites for even more years (I was able to download NES, Game Boy, and SNES ROMs in the 1990s) and then decided to make an example of only one in 2019. Just because something is not on the radar of lawyers in Japan right now, doesn't mean a law suit over millions could not come any day.
Decompilation means it's still derived from copyrighted source code. It's not a clean-room implementation where one person analyzes the engine, writes documentation about details of that engine, and a completely different person writes a new engine. It's not even a grey area. The correct procedure is clear ever since back in the day "IBM compatible" were created.
If it were up to me, copyrights would work like patents: After 25 years they're void and people would be completely in the clear to decompile, modify, and redistribute old games. Sadly that's not the reality.