A new emulator plugin is bringing 60fps and more to Nintendo 64 games

A new fan emulation project is bringing some drastic overhauls to the visuals of classic Nintendo 64 titles.

This comes from sm64rt’s Darío, who previously managed to bring ray-tracing to an unofficial Super Mario 64 PC port. They posted on Twitter: “I’d like to reveal that RT64, the path tracer behind sm64rt, is evolving into an N64 emulator plugin.” (Thanks, GamesRadar.)

These updates include ray tracing, 60fps support, widescreen support, DLSS, and object motion blur.

Darío released a reel of footage of games that are “already showing results”, including The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time, Paper Mario, Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon, Snowboard Kids, and Rocket: Robot On Wheels.

I’d like to reveal that RT64, the path tracer behind sm64rt, is evolving into an N64 emulator plugin.

Here’s a small reel of footage I’ve captured from games that are already showing results.

Ray traced lighting, object motion blur, widescreen, DLSS and 60+ FPS. pic.twitter.com/qLJHzGfKUc

— Darío (@dariosamo) June 3, 2022

“I started this project a month ago as a way of optimizing the PC port’s backend as much as possible,” Darío continues. “I quickly realised it could evolve into a generic emulation solution that would allow me to apply these enhancements to far more games.”

Although this is an emulator plugin, not every Nintendo 64 game is going to work with all of the features from the start, with games needing to be individually patched to support the new lighting model. Thankfully, Darío will be including “a whitelist of compatible games” in the plugin, although users are welcome to experiment via an optional toggle if they wish to try out other titles or create their own lighting setups and scripts.

Although it’s noted at the end of the thread: “Don’t expect this to come out any time soon as there’s hundreds of issues I’ve yet to solve and features to add. The compatible games library is extremely limited.”

In other news, Nightdive Studios is interested in remastering the 1998 classic, Unreal. “After our Quake Remaster [Cliff Bleszinski] reached out to [Tim Sweeney] on our behalf hoping we could give Unreal the same treatment”, stated Nightdive Studios CEO, Steven Kick, “and I guess if you want that leave a message to let Tim know.”