Awesome Game Decompilations: 488 Projects by Console

By Indie Kings | October 29, 2026

Updated October 29, 2026: CharlotteCross1998/awesome-game-decompilations sorts 488 game decompilation, recompilation and disassembly projects under 20 console headings, with 12 entries flagged for disclosed AI involvement. The repository has 804 stars, 31 forks, 20 contributors and 3 open issues, was created on September 21, 2023, and its newest commit is dated October 20, 2026.

Image: a filing box of index cards, the kind of index this list is trying to become, via Wikimedia Commons.

Console sections, and one very large remainder

The README opens with a promise that most link lists do not make: the repository is organised by console, then alphabetically. That is a better shape than a flat list, because a reader interested in Nintendo 64 projects does not have to scroll past three decades of everything else. The structure is real. There are 20 headings, from NES and Famicom through Game Boy, SNES, Nintendo 64, GameCube, Wii, Wii U, Switch, Xbox, PlayStation and PC, plus Mobile and a catch-all.

Then the numbers complicate the promise. Of the 488 entries, 268 sit under Uncategorised. That is 55 percent of the list in a single bucket at the bottom, ordered alphabetically rather than by platform. The categorized half is heavily Nintendo: the Nintendo sections hold 165 entries, against 21 for Xbox platforms, 13 for PlayStation, 15 for PC and 6 for mobile. The Nintendo 64 section alone has 46 entries, more than every non-Nintendo platform combined.

That imbalance is not a scandal, because the scene itself is unbalanced. Decompilation began with Nintendo consoles, the tooling was built around their architectures, and the largest communities formed there. A list that reflects reality will look like this. But the 268 uncategorised entries mean the browsing experience breaks down exactly where the list is richest, and the README's own table of contents and consoles header both say under construction, which is an honest label for a structure that is half applied.

The entries themselves are specific. The Nintendo 64 section includes Paper Mario, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, plus smaller titles like AeroGauge and Virtual Pool 64. The GameCube section includes The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, Metroid Prime, Pikmin, Super Mario Sunshine and Star Fox Adventures. The Wii section includes Super Mario Galaxy, which is also the subject of a separate article on this site, and Xenoblade. The PlayStation sections are thinner but include Vagrant Story, Xenogears and Twisted Metal.

The range of project types is as wide as the platform range. Some entries are matching decompilations, some are disassemblies, some are recompilations that rebuild the game for modern hardware, and some are browser reimplementations. The README says so in its first line, which describes the list as covering decompilations, recompilations and disassemblies. That is a more precise framing than treating all of them as the same kind of work, and it sets expectations for what a click will produce.

A disclosure policy instead of a ban

The most discussed part of the README is its AI section, and it takes a position that is unusual in this scene. The author writes that he is no fan of using AI for programming, but that the list exists for end users to find projects, and that it should be up to those users whether they use a project with AI involvement. AI projects are therefore allowed, and any that are known to involve AI are marked with a warning symbol.

That policy produces 12 flagged entries out of 488. The flags are visible in the list itself, appended to titles like Battle City (Browser reimplementation), Dead or Alive Extreme 2, Rumble Roses XX and Star Fox Adventures (Retail). A reader scanning the Nintendo 64 or Xbox 360 sections can see which projects carry the marker without opening a separate page. The README also links a discussion thread, number 31, where the policy was debated, which is more transparency than most lists offer about their own rules.

The choice contrasts with projects that prohibit AI assistance outright. Petari, the Super Mario Galaxy decompilation, bans AI-generated decompilation and rejects pull requests that look machine produced. This list does the opposite: it admits the projects and labels them. Both positions are defensible, and they answer different questions. A decompilation project is protecting the integrity of its own codebase. A directory is helping strangers decide what to trust. Disclosure serves the second purpose better than exclusion, because exclusion would hide the projects rather than inform the reader.

What the policy cannot do is verify. A warning symbol only appears when someone knows about AI involvement and adds it, and the README does not describe how that determination is made. The flag is a signal, not a guarantee, and readers should treat it as a starting point for their own check. The same is true of the list's other judgments: inclusion is not endorsement, and absence is not proof that a project is clean.

What curation costs

The maintenance record is small and steady. The newest commit, on October 20, 2026, adds Ninja Master - Shinobi III, and the two merges before it add Mickey Saves the Day 3D Adventure and a set of BattleTanx projects. Twenty contributors over three years, 31 forks and 3 open issues describe a project that is not drowning in reports. The absence of a license is a familiar gap for a link list, and it means the README text has no explicit reuse terms even though the entries point to projects with their own licenses.

There is also a structural question that any curated list eventually faces. A flat alphabetical index scales indefinitely because adding a line costs nothing. A console-grouped index does not, because every new entry requires a decision about where it belongs, and projects that target several platforms force a choice. The 268 uncategorised entries are the visible result of that cost. They are not a failure of effort so much as a sign that sorting is the expensive part of curation, and the list has prioritized adding projects over placing them.

For readers, the practical advice is to use Ctrl+F first and browse second. Searching for a title works across every section, including the uncategorised block, and it is faster than guessing which console heading a project landed under. Browsing works well in the Nintendo sections, where the grouping is complete and the density is high, and works poorly at the bottom, where a single alphabetical run mixes consoles together.

Compared with the flat Game Decompilations list covered separately, this repository is the more opinionated of the two. It groups, it flags AI involvement, and it uses the word recompilation where the other list would simply say decompilation. Those choices make it a better browse and a slightly worse lookup table, which is the trade every curated directory makes. The 12 warning symbols are the clearest example: they add information that a bare link cannot carry, and they require maintenance that a bare link does not.

Project card

FAQ

What is this repository?
A curated list of game decompilation, recompilation and disassembly projects, grouped by console and sorted alphabetically within each group.

How many projects does it list?
488 entries under 20 headings, with 487 unique URLs because one repository appears twice.

Why are so many entries uncategorised?
268 entries sit in the Uncategorised section, which is more than half the list. The README labels the console index as under construction.

What does the warning symbol mean?
It marks a project with disclosed AI involvement. Twelve entries carry it, and the policy is explained in the README.

Are all entries playable ports?
No. The list mixes matching decompilations, disassemblies, recompilations and browser reimplementations.

Can I contribute an entry?
Yes. Additions arrive as pull requests, and the newest commits show single projects being added and merged.

Bottom Line

This is the better organized of the two large decompilation indexes, with a clear console structure, a searchable layout and a disclosure policy that respects the reader instead of hiding projects. The catch is that the structure is only half applied: 268 entries sit in Uncategorised, and the Nintendo sections carry three quarters of everything that has been sorted. That is a fair reflection of where the scene's energy is, and the README says the index is under construction rather than pretending otherwise. Use it to browse a console, use search to find a title, and check the warning symbols before assuming a project is hand built.

Sources

• GitHub CharlotteCross1998/awesome-game-decompilations README, console headings, AI disclosure policy and contribution notes, accessed October 29, 2026
• GitHub API metadata for CharlotteCross1998/awesome-game-decompilations, stars, forks, contributors, issues and commit history, accessed October 29, 2026
• Section and link counts computed from the README as retrieved on October 29, 2026

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