Game engine recreations and source ports

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Revision as of 01:59, 26 December 2023 by 172.69.235.158 (talk) (→‎FPS: changed The Force Engine to recommended, added note about Outlaws)
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Sometimes a full system emulator is overkill. This is especially true when a developer only wants to get one game (or a number of games that use the same engine) working. In that case, reimplementing that game alone would save more time than implementing the platform it runs on. These kinds of projects are common when abandonware has large communities; when the original developer has disbanded and can no longer support or update it, an effort is then made to get it running natively on newer versions of-- and/or entirely different-- operating systems and platforms.

  • When the developer only has a binary to work with (and not the source code), they recreate the engine rather than port it, hence the term game engine recreations (or alternatively game engine re-implementations). How the developers go about this process depends on their philosophy; they may opt to decompile the original executable and have their own program rely on the original until all of its functions have been remade, at which point the original binary is no longer needed. Alternatively, they can be remade based on a clean room design, in which the project implements the abstract features without having to disassemble the original, going by how components are expected to be used rather than how the game uses them. Some engines come about simply because they were inspired by the original game, and the programmer felt confident enough that no reverse engineering was necessary to make an engine that does the same thing.
  • In rare cases, games are released as open-source by the publishers themselves, allowing developers to perform a source port of the code. This skips the step of figuring out how the game works. The most common example that's often used is id Software's release of Doom in 1997. It led to so many ports being released that the community began to joke about what devices haven't gotten it running yet.

Some projects are implemented in ways that the original developer did not intend; for example, for a platform other than which publishers marketed it for. And they're not just limited to game engines either; Webamp is a JavaScript application that reimplements Winamp in the web browser. These projects are almost always open-source which also allows new programmers to fix bugs that could have been difficult to track down during development (alternatively, the bugs may be emulated to allow old mods to continue to safely exploit them). When most of the effort is on programming, the project will usually require the original game's assets (such as files in the installation directory or ROMs) until those ever get remade. This lets the developers claim they aren't infringing the game's copyrights since the player must obtain the original to use it; if the game is still being sold, this could allow the publisher to even earn revenue from the project. This aspect is debatable however, as some source code recreations did result in cease-and-desist letters and even lawsuits from companies such as in the case of re3 and reVC for the 3D-era Grand Theft Auto games, with Take-Two Interactive alleging that the source ports were made to facilitate piracy and that "the work is not licensed in any way"; some have speculated that the suit among others was to keep fan-made mods from getting in the way of their much-maligned Definitive Edition remasters.

For the sake of brevity, most of these projects often refer to themselves under some variety of fan remakes. The External links section has lists for a number of known and available projects.

On Linux downloading and using game engines is easy with Luxtorpeda - a Steam Play compatibility tool (like Proton) that allows you to run games from Steam using various different game engines and reimplementations.

For macOS, Mac Source Ports provides many of the games below but built for Apple Silicon (or as a Universal Binary where possible), with the apps signed and notarised. For the majority of the games, you will have to provide your own game data. The data for most of the games can be purchased on GOG or Steam (The game data from Windows versions usually work ok).

For a work-in-progress list of source ports that work on macOS see the Source Ports on macOS page.

Contents

Multi game engine

Action-adventure

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
OpenLara[N 1]             git ✓ ✓ ~ Tomb Raider 1–4
OpenTomb   git ✗ ~ ✓ Tomb Raider 1–5
Tomb Raider Automated Fix   TR1

TR2

✗ ~ ~ Tomb Raider 1 & 2 + their expansions

Adventure

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
ScummVM Multi-platform 2.8.1 ✓ ✓ ✓ Adventure games and RPGs (LucasArts, Sierra, Activision, Humongous & more. Over 250 games.)

FPS

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
BuildGDX       Website ✗ ✓ ✓ Blood, Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Powerslave/Exhumed, Redneck Rampage, Redneck Rampage Rides Again, Witchaven, Witchaven II, TekWar, Legend of the Seven Paladins
EDuke32
VoidSW [N 2] 		        Website ✗ ✓ ✓ EDuke32: Duke Nukem 3D, Ion Fury, NAM, World War II GI
VoidSW: Shadow Warrior
Metaforce       Dev builds
git 		✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Retro Games
(Metroid Prime 1–3 & Donkey Kong Country Returns)
openDarkEngine     git ✗ ✗ ✗ Thief 1-2, System Shock 2
Raze       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Duke Nukem 3D, Blood, Redneck Rampage, Shadow Warrior and Exhumed/Powerslave, Nam, WW2 GI
RedNukem     git ✗ ✓ ✓ Duke Nukem 3D, Duke Nukem 64, Redneck Rampage, Redneck Rampage Rides Again, NAM, World War II GI
XLEngine     git ✗ ✗ ✗[N 3] Star Wars: Dark Forces, Daggerfall
Later: Outlaws, Blood, Shadow Warrior
ZDoom       2.81 ✗ ✗[N 4] ✓ Doom I–II, Final Doom, Heretic, Hexen: Beyond Heretic, Chex Quest I–III, Strife: Quest for the Sigil, Hacx: Twitch 'n Kill

Platform

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Commander Genius         3.0.0 ✗ ✓ ✓ Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons, Commander Keen in Keen Dreams, Commander Keen in Goodbye Galaxy, Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter

Racing

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
OpenNFS       git ✗ ✗ ~ Need for Speed I–III, Need for Speed: High Stakes, Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed, Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit 2

RPG

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
EasyRPG Multi-platform 0.8 ✓ ✓ ✓ RPG Maker 2000/2003 games
Falltergeist     git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Fallout 1-2
GemRB           git ✗ ✓ ✓ Infinity Engine
(Baldur's Gate series (1998–2001), Planescape: Torment, Icewind Dale series (2000–2002))
JoiPlay   1.01.701 ✗ ✓ ✓ RPG Maker XP/VX/VA/MV/MV games/Ren'Py/TyranoBuilder/HTML based games
Neko RPGXP Player   2.01 ✗ ✗ ~ RPG Maker XP/VX/VA/MV games
xoreos       0.0.6 ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) BioWare's Aurora engine & derivatives
(BioWare's 7 PC/console RPGs, Sonic Chronicles: The Dark Brotherhood, The Witcher)

RTS

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
openage         git ✗ ✓ ~ Genie Engine
(Age of Empires, AoE II (HD), Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds)
OpenRA           git ✗ ✓ ✓ Early Westwood games (Command & Conquer Tiberian Dawn, C&C: Red Alert, Dune 2000).
Soon: 2nd-gen C&C (C&C: Tiberian Sun).
OpenSAGE       git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) EA's Command & Conquer games
(C&C: Generals, C&C: Generals - Zero Hour)
Soon: The Battle for Middle-earth series (2004–2006), C&C 3 & expansion.
Stratagus[N 5]         3.3.2 ✗ ✓[N 6] ✓[N 7] Wargus (v3.3.2): Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness + Beyond the Dark Portal, Aleona's Tale
War1gus (v3.3.2): Warcraft: Orcs & Humans
Stargus (v3.3.0): StarCraft (partially playable as of v2.4.1)
Games natively made on the Stratagus engine: Aleona's Tale (Wargus), Astroseries, Bos Wars, Wyrmsun
Vanilla Conquer         git ✗ ✓ ✓ Early Westwood games (Command & Conquer, C&C: Red Alert, Dune 2000).
Based on the official source code release by EA, with the goal of serving as a portable drop-in replacement for the original executables as well as a platform for mod developers.

Bullet Hell

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
ReC98 Multi-platform git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Touhou 1–5 (PC-98)

Visual Novel

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Impacto           git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) MAGES. Engine (Science Adventure games)

Various

Name Operating System(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
DREAMM       2.1.2 ✗ ✓ ✓ LucasArts: Maniac Mansion, Zak McKracken, Indiana Jones (Last Crusade & Fate of Atlantis & Infernal Machine & Desktop Adventures), Loom, Monkey Island (1 & 2 & Curse & Escape), Day of the Tentacle, Sam & Max, Full Throttle, The Dig, Grim Fandango, Rebel Assault (1 & 2), X-Wing, Tie-Fighter, Dark Forces, Dark Forces 2 Jedi Knight, Mysteries of the Sith, Shadows of the Empire, Yoda Stories, Mortimer and the Riddles of the Medallion, Outlaws
OpenGMK         git ✗ ✓ ✓ GameMaker
SR       depending on game ✗ ✓ ✓ Albion (1995), X-Com: UFO Defense (UFO: Enemy Unknown), X-Com: Terror from the Deep, Warcraft: Orcs & Humans, Septerra Core: Legacy of the Creator, Battle Isle 3: Shadow of the Emperor (Battle Isle 2220: Shadow of the Emperor)

Single game engine

Action-adventure

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Open Ocarina   git ✗ ✓ ✓ The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (N64)
OpenJK       Build
git 		✗ ✓ ~ Star Wars Jedi Knight II: Jedi Outcast, Star Wars Jedi Knight: Jedi Academy
Ship of Harkinian           8.0.4
Nightly builds
git 		✗ ✓ ✓ The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (any PAL version)[N 8]
sm         git ✗ ✓ ~ Super Metroid
Zelda3           git
Android 		✗ ✓ ✓ The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past
links awakening dx hd   git ✗ ~* ✓ The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening

Adventure

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
OpenRakis         git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Dune (Cryo)
The Ur-Quan Masters         0.8.0 ✗ ✓ ✓ Star Control II

Fighting

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Ikemen GO       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Remake of the Ikemen engine that supports Mugen resources.

FPS

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
xGreed   doomworld ✗ ✓ ✓ In Persuit of Greed
Aleph One       1.6.2 ✗ ✓ ✓ Marathon 1–2, Marathon Infinity
BStone       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Blake Stone: Aliens of Gold, Blake Stone: Planet Strike
Crispy Doom
Crispy Heretic 		    git ✗ ✓ ✓ Crispy Doom: Doom I–II, Final Doom
Crispy Heretic: Heretic
D2X-XL
DXX-Rebirth 		      1.18.76
git 		✗ ✓ ✓ Descent, Descent II
dhewm3           git ✓ ✓ ✓ Doom 3 (Original)
Doom64 EX       2.5 ✗ ✗ ✓ Doom 64 (Original)
Descent Wii   1.12
git (forked) 		✗ ✗ ✓ Descent
DXX-3DS[N 9]   git ✗ ✗ ✗ Descent, Descent II
DXX-Retro[N 9]     git ✗ ✗ ✓ Descent, Descent II
DXX-Switch[N 9]   git ✗ ✗ ? Descent, Descent II
ECWolf         1.3.3 ✓ ✓ ✓ Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, Super 3D Noah’s Ark
EDuke32 Wii   Website ✗ ✗ ✓ Duke Nukem 3D
Freespace 2 Wii   beta 3 ✗ ✗ ? Freespace 2
Freespace 2 Source Code Project       Knossos installer and mod manager ✗ ✓ ✓ Freespace 2, also includes Freespace 1 and expansion Silent Threat through fanmade ports to the FS2 engine.
Hammer of Thyrion       1.5.9 ✗ ✓ ✓ Hexen II
Heretic Wii[N 10]   0.5 ✗ ✗ ? Heretic
Hexen Wii
HHexen (Wii)[N 11] 		  1.0
0.5 		✗ ✗ ? Hexen
HHeretic[N 10]   0.2.3 ✗ ✗ ? Heretic
HHexen[N 11]   1.6.3 ✗ ✗ ? Hexen
ioquake3       1.36 ✗ ✓ ✓ Quake III: Arena
iortcw       git ✗ ~ ✓ Return to Castle Wolfenstein
Linux Hexen[N 11]   0.6.0 ✗ ✗ ✗ Hexen
NBlood     git ✗ ✓ ✓ Blood
NakedAVP       1.1.0 ✗ ✓ ✓ Aliens Vs Predator Gold
OpenMoHAA     [3] ✗ ✗ ✗ Medal of Honour: Allied Assault
OpenXRay     git ✗ ✓ ✓ S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Clear Sky, S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat
PCExhumed     [4] ✗ ✓ ✓ Powerslave (PC)
Powerslave EX       git ✗ ✗ ✓ Powerslave (Console)
Perfect Dark     git ✗ ✓ ✓ Perfect Dark
PrBoom         git ✓ ~[N 12] ✓ Doom 1–2, Final Doom
Quake GameCube/QuakeGX[N 13]     0.0.5-2 (GX) ✗ ✗ ? Quake 1
Quake Rev PAK[N 14]   release 4 ✗ ✗ ? Quake 1–2, ThreeWave CTF mod for Quake 2, QuakeWorld
Quakespasm
vkQuake[N 15] 		      0.94.2
git 		✗ ✓ ✓ Quake 1
RBDOOM-3-BFG       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Doom 3 (BFG Edition)
Rise of the Triad for Linux       git ✗ ✗ ✗ Rise of the Triad: Dark War
rottexpr       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Rise of the Triad: Dark War
Shockolate         git ✗ ✓ ✓ System Shock 1
The Force Engine     1.09 ✗ ✓ ✓ Current: Star Wars: Dark Forces
Future: Outlaws
Tyrquake         git ✓ ✓ ✓ Quake 1
vitaQuake II         git, PS Vita ✓ ✓ ✓ Quake 2
WiiDoom
WiiDoom-Fork (music support) 		  0.4.5
Fork 		✗ ✗ ✓ Doom I–II, Final Doom, Chex Quest I–II (forked version only but with some conversion issues)
Wii-DOOM
Wii-HERETIC
Wii-HEXEN
Wii-STRIFE 		  r33 ✗ ✗ ✓ Wii-DOOM: Doom I–II, Final Doom
Wii-HERETIC: Heretic
Wii-HEXEN: Hexen
Wii-STRIFE: Strife: Quest for the Sigil
Wolfenstein 3D Wii   1.31 ✗ ✗ ✓ Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny
Xash3D         0.99 ✗ ~ ✓ Half-Life 1
Xash3DS   git ✗ ✗ ✓ Half-Life 1
Yamagi Quake II         8.00 ✗ ✓ ✓ Quake 2

Horror

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
FNaF 1 3DS -old/obsolete-
FNaF 1 3DS -remastered-[N 16] 		  0.2.3
0.3.1-pre1 		✗ ✗ ✓ Five Nights at Freddy's
FNaF 1 PSP[N 16]   1.3.1 Fix 1 ✗ ✗ ✓ Five Nights at Freddy's
FNaF 2 3DS[N 16]   beta 1.0 ✗ ✗ ✗ Five Nights at Freddy's 2
FNaF 3 3DS[N 16]   beta 0.1.3 ✗ ✗ ✗ Five Nights at Freddy's 3
FNaF 4 3DS[N 16]   beta 0.3 ✗ ✗ ~ Five Nights at Freddy's 4

Pinball

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
SpaceCadetPinball Multi-Platform git ✗ ✓ ✓ 3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet

Platform

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Abe's Amazing Adventure Wii   r3 ✗ ✗ ? Abe's Amazing Adventure
Abuse Wii   0.8.684.2 ✗ ✗ ? Abuse
Cave Story Engine 2               git
archive
Wii, NDS 		✗[5] ✗[N 17] ✓ Cave Story
C1     git ✗ ✓ ~ Crash Bandicoot
Jazz² Resurrection         git ✗ ✓ ✓ Jazz Jackrabbit 2
Jump 'n Bump   0.3.1 ✗ ✗ ? Jump 'n Bump
Maze of Galious 3DS   1.0 ✗ ✗ ? The Maze of Galious remake
MazeOfGaliousWii   0.63.3 ✗ ✗ ? The Maze of Galious remake
NXEngine
nxengine-evo 		      1.0.0.6
git 		✓ ✗ ✓ Cave Story
OpenGOAL     git ✗ ✓ ✓ Jak and Daxter[N 18]
OpenHCL         git ✗ ~ ✓ Hydra Castle Labyrinth
OpenJazz              git ✗ ~ ✓ Jazz Jackrabbit 1
R.E.L.I.V.E.       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee, Oddworld: Abe's Exoddus
rawgl       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Another World/Out of This World
REminiscence     0.4.9 ✓ ✓ ✓ Flashback (Another World's spiritual sequel)
Rigel Engine         git ✗ ✓ ✓ Duke Nukem II
RSDK            
      		Sonic 1 & 2
Sonic CD
Sonic Mania 		✗ ✓ ✓ Sonic the Hedgehog 1–2, Sonic CD, Sonic Mania
SDLPoP       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Prince of Persia (1989)
Sonic the Hedgehog Forever         1.4.1 ✗ ✓ ✓ Sonic the Hedgehog
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Absolute   1.1.1 ✗ ✓ ✓ Sonic the Hedgehog 2
Sonic 3 A.I.R. (Angel Island Revisited)             git ✗ ✓ ✓ Sonic the Hedgehog 3 & Knuckles
Sonic Mania 3DS   Build ✗ ✓ ~ Sonic Mania 3DS
smw         git
Switch 		✗ ✓ ✓ Super Mario World, Super Mario All-Stars[N 19]
Super Mario 64 Port Multi-platform Depends on port ✗ ✓ ✓ Super Mario 64 (N64)
TheXTech             git ✗ ✓ ✓ Super Mario Bros. X[N 20]
xrick           #021212 ✓ ✗ ✓ Rick Dangerous

Puzzle

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Jewels   1.01 ✗ ✗ ? gljewel
Lemmini     git ✗ ✗ ✓ Lemmings

Racing

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
CannonBall           git ✓ ✗ ✓ OutRun
CannonBall (Wii)   git ✗ ✗ ✓ OutRun
NFSIISE         git ✗ ✓ ✓ Need for Speed II: SE
OpenC1       1.4
git 		✗ ✗ ✓ Carmageddon
OpenLGR       git ✗ ✗ ✗ Lego Racers
OpenMC2     (via Wine) git ✗ ✓ ✓ Midnight Club II
OpenSWE1R       git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Star Wars Episode 1: Racer
RoadFighterWii   1.0 ✗ ✗ ✓ Road Fighter
RVGL             21.0930a-1 ✗ ✓ ✓ Re-Volt
REDriver2     git ✗ ✓ ✓ Driver 2
stuntcarremake[N 21]       Build 08 ✗ ✓ ✓ Stunt Car Racer (Amiga / AtariST)

RPG

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Arx Libertatis         git ✗ ✓ ✓ Arx Fatalis
Paper Mario       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Paper Mario
Daggerfall Unity       git ✗ ✓ ✓ The Elder Scrolls II: Daggerfall
DevilutionX             git ✗ ✓ ✓ Diablo
Fallout CE           git ✗ ✓ ✓ Fallout 1
Fallout 2 CE           git ✗ ✓ ✓ Fallout 2
OpenGothic       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Gothic II
OpenVIII     git ✗ ✓ ✗ Final Fantasy VIII
OpenDiablo2       git ✗ ✓ ✗ Diablo II
OpenMW       0.47.0 ✗ ✓ ✓ The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind
OpenTESArena       git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) The Elder Scrolls I: Arena
REGoth     git ✗ ✓ ✓ Gothic, Gothic II
reone     git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1-2
Riiablo         git ✗ ✓ ? Diablo II
Undertale Mobile Mod for iOS and Android     [6] ✗ ✗ ✓ Undertale

RTS

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Dune Dynasty     [7] ✗ ✗ ✓ Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
Dune II: The Maker   [8] ✗ ✓ ✓ Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
Dune Legacy         [9] ✗ ✗ ✗ Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
KeeperFX         1.0.0 ✗ ✓ ? Dungeon Keeper
OpenDUNE         git ✗ ✗ ✓ Dune II: The Building of a Dynasty
TA3D       git ✗ ✗ ✗ Total Annihilation

RTT

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
FreeSynd       0.7.5 ✗ ✗ ✗ Syndicate (1993)
Syndicate Wars Port       0.3 ✗ ✗ ✓ Syndicate Wars

Sandbox

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
Minecraft PSP   3.3.0 ✗ ✓ ✓ Minecraft
OpenRW         git ✗ ~ ~ Grand Theft Auto III
IsleDecomp     git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Lego Island
PSP Minecraft   3.0.0 ✗ ✗ ✗ Minecraft
re3[N 22]       [10]
reVC 		✗ ✓ ✓ Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
RE3 3DS[11]   wip ✗ ~ ~[N 23] Grand Theft Auto III
re3-nx[N 22]
reVC-nx[N 22] 		  ? ✗ ✗ ? Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
re3-vita[N 22]
reVC-vita[N 22] 		  1.4
1.1 		✗ ✗ ? Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
re3-wiiu[N 22]
reVC-wiiu[N 22] 		  2021-02-01
? 		✗ ✗ ? Grand Theft Auto III, Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
San Andreas Unity         git ✗ ✓ ~ Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
Wiicraft (2020)   git ✗ ? ? Minecraft v1.2.5
WoxelCraft   git ✗ ✗ ? 3D Voxel Engine (Minecraft)

Shoot 'em up

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
OpenTyrian       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Tyrian
OpenTyrianWii   1.7 ✗ ✗ ? Tyrian

Bullet Hell

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
PyTouhou           Website ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Touhou 6
Th06       git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Touhou 6
uth05win   git ✗ ✗ ✗ Touhou 5

Sim

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s) Genre
CaesarIA           0.5 (2016) ✗ ✗ ✗ Caesar III Sim - City-building
Julius
Augustus (Gameplay changes) 		          1.7
3.0.1 		✗ ✓ ✓ Caesar III
CorsixTH         git ✗ ✓ ✓ Theme Hospital Sim - Construction/Management
OpenLoco       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Chris Sawyer's Locomotion
OpenRCT2             git ✗ ✓ ✓ RollerCoaster Tycoon 2 (with RCT1 and expansions from both games being importable) or RollerCoaster Tycoon Classic (as of v0.4.2)
OpenTTD       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Transport Tycoon Deluxe
OpenTTD (Wii)   1.3.2 ✗ ✗ ? Transport Tycoon Deluxe
terminal-recall       git
Nightly Builds 		✗ ✓ ✓ Terminal Velocity, Fury3 Sim - Flight Combat

TBS

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
civctp2         git
(ctp2 for Linux/Pandora/Pyra) 		✗ ~ ✓ Call to Power II
CivOne       git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Sid Meier's Civilization
DopeWars     [N 24] 1.1 ✗ ✗ ? DopeWars (Palm OS)
fheroes2           git ✗ ✓ ✓ Heroes of Might and Magic II
OpenXcom       git ✗ ✓ ✓ UFO: Enemy Unknown (X-Com: UFO Defense), X-COM: Terror From the Deep
VCMI         git ✗ ✓ ✓ Heroes of Might and Magic III

TPS

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
max_vita   git ✗ ✓ ✓ Max Payne TPS

Visual Novel

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s)
DDLC-LOVE           1.2.3 (PSP, Vita)
1.1.9 (PS3, 3DS, Switch) 		✗ ✗ ✓[N 25] Doki Doki Literature Club!
Doki-Doki-Literature-Club-Vita   git ✗ ~ ✓ Doki Doki Literature Club!
NitroSharp     git ✗ ✓ ~ (WIP) ChäoS;HEAd NoAH

Various

Name Platform(s) Latest Version libretro Active Recommended Supported game(s) Genre
LainTSX   git ✗ ✓ ✓ Lain PSX Miscellaneous
Lain Bootleg Remake       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Lain Bootleg
PyTouhou           Website ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Touhou 6 Bullet Hell
Th06       git ✗ ✓ ✗ (WIP) Touhou 6
uth05win   git ✗ ✗ ✗ Touhou 5
Ikemen GO       git ✗ ✓ ✓ Remake of the Ikemen engine that supports Mugen resources. Fighting

Notes

  1. ↑ OpenLara was inspired by OpenTomb
  2. ↑ VoidSW is included with EDuke32
  3. ↑ XL Engine has ceased development, and has been superseded by The Force Engine from the same developer
  4. ↑ ZDoom has been discontinued. However the development of its replacements, GZDoom and LZDoom, is still active.
  5. ↑ Stratagus is an open-source real-time strategy game engine. Some standalone games like Aleona's Tale (included in Wargus's installation), Astroseries, Bos Wars, and Wyrmsun were built on the Stratagus game engine. Source ports for Warcraft: Orcs & Humans (War1gus), Warcraft II: Tides of Darkness + Beyond the Dark Portal (Wargus), and StarCraft (Stargus) were also built on the Stratagus engine.
  6. ↑ Stargus is in pre-alpha but development has been halted. Stratagus, Wargus, and War1gus are being updated regularly.
  7. ↑ StarCraft is only partially playable in Stargus as of v2.4.1. Warcraft games for Wargus & War1gus work well if installed correctly.
  8. ↑ As of v8.0.0, Ship of Harkinian supports any PAL ROM of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time for Nintendo 64 or GameCube (SoH Compatibility Checker to check if your ROM is supported). Launch the PC version and locate the ROM to generate an oot.otr file. Additionally and optionally, you can load the PAL version of the Master Quest version in the PC version to create an oot-mq.otr to add another game mode.
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 DXX-Retro, also known as DXX-Rebirth-Retro, requires files from DXX-Rebirth version 0.58.1 to be able to use. DXX-Switch is a port of DXX-Retro for Nintendo Switch and DXX-3DS is a Nintendo 3DS port of DXX-Switch, but they have technical issues that make them less playable.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 HHeretic is an open source game engine of Heretic for Linux. Heretic Wii is a Wii port is based on HHeretic 0.2.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 HHexen, also known as Hacked Hexen, is a Hexen source port was created by Dan Olson and maintained by the Hammer of Thyrion (Hexen II). It is a more advanced and portable version of the Linux Hexen source port and effectively replaced it. Hexen Wii and HHexen (Wii) are both Wii ports of Hexen based on HHexen 1.6.1.
  12. ↑ PrBoom-plus is still active
  13. ↑ QuakeGX is a Wii port of Peter Mackay's GameCube Quake port. Both are available on the same website. A forked version of QuakeGX called Quake Wii was later merged with QuakeGX.
  14. ↑ Quake Rev PAK (or QRevPack for short) is a collection of game engines of the Quake series that merges Q1Rev (Quake 1), [1] (Quake 2), Q2CTFRev (ThreeWave Capture the Flag mod for Quake II), and QWRev (QuakeWorld) in one. All by the same developer Izhido.
  15. ↑ vkQuake is based on Quakespasm, but uses Vulkan instead of OpenGL for rendering
  16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 16.2 16.3 16.4 Five Nights at Freddy's 1 3DS -remastered- is an updated version of Five Nights at Freddy 1's 3DS by the same developer FreDev, also known as BumboDEV and BaseDEV. The developer also attempted Nintendo 3DS ports of Five Nights at Freddy's 2, 3, and 4 but development stopped after the developer lost the source code for Five Nights at Freddy's 2 and would have to reverse engineer it again.[2] Those ports were only in a state of demonstration and were not fully playable, having incomplete A.I., gameplay, and missing screens. Download links to the latest version of these 3DS ports and the PS Vita port can be found on the old Discord server.
  17. ↑ Cave Story Engine 2, or CSE2 for short, received a DMCA cease and desist notice from Nicalis, the current IP owner of Cave Story, despite the original Cave Story being a freeware developed by Daisuke "Pixel" Amaya.
  18. ↑ The project de-compiled the game into GOAL code. The project also developed a general-purpose GOAL compiler. Ports of Jak 2 & 3 may be viable because they were made in GOAL too.
  19. ↑ In smw only the Super Mario All-Stars version of Super Mario Bros. and Super Mario Bros.: The Lost Levels are able to be ran currently.
  20. ↑ The Super Mario Bros. X fan game project was written in VB6 originally and being a closed source for a long time. It was founded in 2009 and supported up to 2011, later abandoned by its author. For a long time, various people hacked it and attempted to reverse-engine and make clones. After 11 years, the source code was finally open. Later, by an independent developer, it was ported from VB6 into C++ with the SDL2 library and released as "TheXTech". The TheXTech, unlike the original game engine, is cross-platform and lightweight. It's able to work on a variety of operating systems and processor architectures.
  21. ↑ Based on Stunt Car Racer Remake for Windows
  22. ↑ 22.0 22.1 22.2 22.3 22.4 22.5 22.6 re3 and reVC have been taken down by Take-Two again. This also includes GaryOderNichts's Wii U ports, Graber's Switch ports, and the PS Vita ports of re3 and reVC.
  23. ↑ RE3 3DS is only playable on New Nintendo 3DS/2DS but even then, there will be occasionally graphical issues and frame drops.
  24. ↑ DopeWars PC port's download link is currently not working.
  25. ↑ DDLC-LOVE is a DDLC! port programmed in Lua. Even in its final release, there may be issues DDLC-LOVE may not have been able to fix but it's still playable. The developer recommends PS Vita users to use Doki-Doki-Literature-Club-Vita for the full DDLC! desktop experience including mod support.

See also

Game engine recreations and source ports specifically for:

External links

Curated Lists:

Specific gaming systems

News:

  • GamingOnLinux.com (For the latest news on releases and updates of game recreations and source ports that work on Linux)
  • Reddit feed (Aggregation quality is a little bit spotty. You have to wade through the news posts a bit for the relevant software.)
  • List of Open Source Games on Reddit (Thread by u/AMD_CEO. Wed Jul 1, 2020. Had added recommendations to links also seen above.)
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