DrMarioNesRecomp

DrMarioNesRecomp

This recompilation is a byproduct of developing nesrecomp — the games are the proving ground, the framework is the goal. These are in-development previews, not finished ports — expect rough edges, and depth will keep landing over months, not days. My time for any one title is limited, so I ask for your patience. Contributions are welcome — testing, issues, and PRs to the game or framework all help and will accelerate this game's polish. More on the why at: Recomp + AI: 5 Months Later »

Static recompilation of Dr. Mario (NES) for native PC. Built with the NESRecomp framework.

Status: Playable. Title screen, options menu, and gameplay are functional. 1-player mode tested through virus clearing. If you find a bug, please open an issue.

Acknowledgments

Function coverage and game logic analysis made possible by the dr-mario-disassembly by Nostaljipi.

What Works

• Title screen
• Options menu (level, speed, music type selection)
• 1-player gameplay with virus placement and pill dropping
• Palette and CHR bank switching (all 4 CHR ROM banks)
• Music playback (Fever, Chill, Off)

Quick Start

1. Download the usa or eu Windows ZIP from Releases, matching your ROM
2. Extract and run DrMarioRecomp.exe
3. Select your matching Dr. Mario ROM when prompted — the path is saved for future launches

Linux users can run the matching DrMario-usa-x86_64.AppImage or DrMario-eu-x86_64.AppImage. No ROM is included in any release asset.

Controls

Controls are fully configurable via keybinds.ini, auto-generated next to the executable on first run.

Player 1 (Default)

NES Button	Keyboard
D-Pad	Arrow keys
A	Z
B	X
Start	Enter
Select	Tab

Player 2 (Default)

NES Button	Keyboard
D-Pad	W / A / S / D
A	K
B	L
Start	\
Select	Right Shift

Hotkeys

Key	Action
F5	Toggle turbo (fast-forward)
F6	Save state → quicksave.sav
F7	Load state
Escape	Quit

Building from Source

Requires Visual Studio 2022 and CMake 3.20+.

git clone https://github.com/mstan/DrMarioNesRecomp
cd DrMarioNesRecomp

# Windows
setup.bat

# Linux / macOS
chmod +x setup.sh && ./setup.sh

This initializes the pinned nesrecomp submodule and links the Nestopia oracle core.

The committed generated sources support two independent variants. Build either one by selecting its region at CMake configure time:

cmake -S . -B build-usa -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DDRMARIO_REGION=usa
cmake --build build-usa --config Release
cmake -S . -B build-eu -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64 -DDRMARIO_REGION=eu
cmake --build build-eu --config Release

Select a matching ROM at runtime. Release packages and source control contain no ROM. tools/make_release.ps1 builds both Windows ZIPs; tools/build-all-linux.sh builds both Linux AppImages on Linux.

Regenerating from ROM

# Build the recompiler (one time)
cmake -S nesrecomp/recompiler -B nesrecomp/build/recompiler -G "Visual Studio 17 2022" -A x64
cmake --build nesrecomp/build/recompiler --config Release

# Generate C code from ROM
nesrecomp/build/recompiler/Release/NESRecomp.exe "Dr. Mario (Europe).nes" --game game.toml
nesrecomp/build/recompiler/Release/NESRecomp.exe "Dr. Mario (Japan, USA) (Rev 1).nes" --game game-usa.toml

# Build the game
cmake --build build-usa --config Release
cmake --build build-eu --config Release

Architecture

This is a static recompiler, not an emulator. The original 6502 machine code is translated to C at build time, then compiled to native x64. The NES PPU, APU, and mapper are simulated by the runner library.

• game.toml and game-usa.toml — region-specific recompiler configurations
• game.cfg — legacy configuration (same directives, text format)
• extras.c — game-specific hooks (CRC32 verification, debug server)
• generated/ — auto-generated C code (do not edit manually)
• nesrecomp/ — framework submodule (NESRecomp)
• keybinds.ini — auto-generated controller bindings (edit to customize)

ROM Compatibility

ROM	CRC32	Status
Dr. Mario (Europe)	0x9735D267	EU build
Dr. Mario (Japan, USA) (Rev 1)	0xDE581355	USA build

These CRCs exclude the 16-byte iNES header. The EU generated code remains under generated/dr-mario_*; the USA code is under generated/dr-mario-usa_*.

Known Limitations

• 2-player mode is untested (keyboard controls for P2 are mapped but gameplay is unverified)
• Audio may sound slightly faster than original hardware in some configurations
• Level completion cutscenes and ending sequences are untested

License

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 — see LICENSE. Third-party components retain their own licenses.

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