Someone got Super Mario 64 running on the Zune HD, and so can you

Summary

• Super Mario 64 ported to Microsoft Zune HD via sm64-zune — full-speed emulation with sound, touch controls, and saves.
• You need a Zune HD (firmware 4.5 tested), a legally dumped SM64 ROM with an exact checksum, and Linux+Docker.
• Build takes \~5-10 minutes on x86-64 Linux; repo includes fixes, error codes, and deployment steps.

I think one of the coolest things people can do with old tech is repurpose it. Recently, we've seen a wave of people tinkering with their old Kindle to give it a new lease on life (like that one time someone turned their Paperwhite into an e-ink digital assistant). Now, someone else has shown that the Microsoft Zune HD that's been sitting in your bits box for years can become your very own portable Super Mario 64 console.

Getting Super Mario 64 on the Microsoft Zune HD is a lot easier than you'd think

You will need to acquire the game ROM legally, though

As spotted by Hackaday, this cool project comes to us via rsheldiii on GitHub. They've managed to port sm64ex over to the Zune HD, complete with sound effects, touch controls, saving, and full-speed emulation; at least, most of the time.

To get started, assemble the following:

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A Zune HD and its USB cable. Only firmware 4.5 has been tested so far.

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A Super Mario 64 (USA) ROM dumped from your own cartridge. The checksum needs to be `9bef1128717f958171a4afac3ed78ee2bb4e86ce`, The build checks.

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An x86-64 Linux computer with Docker and git, 6 GB of free disk space, and an internet connection for the first build.

Once that's done, all you need to do is run a handful of commands to grab the code from the sm64-zune GitHub repository, build it, and then deploy it on your Zune. The first run will take around 5-10 minutes, as the project needs to create the build container image and download the compilers.

If everything goes smoothly, you'll have Super Mario 64 running on your Zune HD. Controlling Mario requires on-screen touch controls, which likely won't feel as good as an N64 controller, but hey, it's running on a Zune HD, after all. The repository also describes how the project works, plus a list of potential error codes you may encounter and how to fix each one.

In other Super Mario 64-related news, someone recently got the N64 classic running in a browser with 12-player multiplayer.