Updated

Today,

Oct 5, 2026, 7:57 PM UTC

Reverse-engineered games: All the news on video game decomps, recomps, VR and web and 3D ports

by

Verge Staff

It’s a wild time for retro gaming. Thanks to decompilations and recompilations of classic titles, those games are becoming unshackled from their proprietary code and original hardware to be ported to new devices or updated in ways to completely change the original game. Ever imaginedskateboarding inCall of Duty? Or playing the originalHaloright in your web browser, complete with multiplayer?

These are unofficial versions of games, so they may sit in a legal gray area. It seems unlikely that Nintendo, for example, is particularly happy about people finding ways to playThe Legend of Zeldaon non-Nintendo hardware. Many of these projects are also made with the assistance of AI, which, for some people, is a non-starter given ethical or environmental concerns surrounding the technology.

Below, you’ll find our coverage of gaming decomps, recomps, and all the other ways gamers are reverse-engineering games to go previously unimaginable places.

Highlights

  • Today,An hour ago

    Sean Hollister

    Just think: You could be playing Halo in a web browser right now.

    The video game decompilation movement has done it again. Not only do we have128 playerHaloacross Windows, Linux, and Android, you can alsojust fire it up in a web browserthanksto OpenHaloCEand immediately start campaign or a huge multiplayer match. It’s not just one dev:lots of people made this happen.

    1/4
  • Sep 28

    Sean Hollister

    This unofficial Lego Racers remake runs in your browser with split-screen and online multiplayer.

    Theclassic game decompilation movementhas produced yet another amazing feat: 1999’sLego Racersisn’t just back, the excellentMario-Kart-meets-Lego game is anywhere you want it to be. NavigatorSharp’s fan recreationStep On Itworks in a web browseron desktop or phone, and you can find builds for Android, Mac, Windows PC and Linux (including the Steam Deck)right here too.

    1/5
  • Aug 12, 2022

    Derek Hill

    How an online community took back the Legend of Zelda

    Haeun Jang / The Verge

    I don’t have a first memory ofThe Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timebecause It’s been in my life for as long as I can remember. Before I had the coordination to play the game myself, I would watch my older brothers play it for hours on end. When I could finally play through it myself, it felt like flying.

    I chase that dopamine hit once every year or two by playing throughOcarina of Time, which normally requires dusting off my old GameCube and hoping the disk isn’t too scratched to read. But for the last several months, I haven’t been playingOcarina of Timeon a Nintendo console at all. Instead, I’ve been playing it on something calledShip of Harkinian: an unofficial port ofOcarina of Timefor PC that a few short years ago would have been unimaginable.

    Read Article >

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