No emulator required: Star Fox 64 fan port now available on Steam Deck and Switch
Running natively on modern hardware, it offers enhanced graphics, cheats, and more.
This is the first major update to the project since it was released in December 2024.
It's been just over six months since the Star Fox 64 recompilation called Starship brought the N64 classic to Windows, but the project has now received a huge update with new features, bug fixes, and two additional platforms. Called Starship Barnard Alfa (v2.0.0), it brings the new, native code to the Steam Deck and Nintendo Switch for the first time.
Sure, you can already play Star Fox 64 on both platforms via N64 emulators or Nintendo Switch Online (also an emulator), but the native fan port brings several key modernizations. For example, it supports higher resolutions, widescreen output, upscaling, cheats, 5.1 surround sound, and more. You can even invert the stick!
The fan port works without an emulator and has many modern enhancements.
Granted, you will still need a working ROM of Star Fox 64 to start playing. Like all recompilation projects, the developers have created a tool that extracts the copyrighted assets from a legally acquired ROM. This completely sidesteps any piracy concerns, so it's a huge win for game preservation. The latest version now works on the US, JP, and EU versions of the ROM for all you Lylat Wars fans out there.
This is one of many recompilation projects from the Harbour Masters team, which has previously released ports of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask under the names ShipofHarkinian and 2Ship2Harkinian, respectively. Those two later received ports to Android phones by third parties, although as of writing Starship hasn't gotten the same treatment.
You can download the code for the project on the official GitHub, but again, you'll need to source your own ROM, preferably by dumping your own physical copy.
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