Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled

Def Jam Vendetta, the PlayStation 2 fighter, as a native Windows program, built on your PC from your own disc.

Made by @jcsix on X · jcsix694 on GitHub

The original PlayStation 2 code is translated to C++ with PS2Recomp and compiled on your PC, so your CPU runs the game directly. No emulator. The PS2's graphics chip is redrawn on your graphics card with Vulkan through paraLLEl-GS, and the picture is shown with Vulkan too. No game files come with it: you need your own copy of Def Jam Vendetta (PlayStation 2, USA, SLUS-20639) as an .iso or .chd, and everything made from it stays on your PC.

Features

Picture

• Up to 16× resolution, scaled to your screen with AMD FSR
• Widescreen matches at 16:9 with more of the arena (menus and movies stay 4:3)
• Sharp 2D: the HUD, text and menus as sharp as the 3D
• High Poly in every match (the PS2 used lower detail models with 3 or 4 fighters)
• Vulkan on your graphics card, in a window or borderless

Playing

• Up to 4 players on controllers, plus the keyboard as any player
• Vibration on Xbox-style controllers
• Camera styles: the game's own, WWF No Mercy or Wrestle Kingdom 2
• Match speed: the game's own pace, WWF No Mercy's slower pace or any speed you pick
• Unlock everything, without touching your save

Easy to use

• A settings program that sets everything up from your disc and updates itself
• Your saves stay as memory card files on your PC

Mod support: coming in a future update

• Actively being worked on, and it will come.

Screenshots

_{All taken on PC at the default settings: 16×, Sharp 2D, widescreen (the last row also shows the other camera styles).}

Install

You need: Windows 10 or 11 (64-bit) · a graphics card with Vulkan 1.3 (any recent NVIDIA, AMD or Intel Arc card) · about 8 GB of free space · the internet once · your own Def Jam Vendetta disc (USA, SLUS-20639) as an .iso or .chd.

Download Def-Jam-Vendetta-Recompiled-Windows.zip (the latest version, also on the releases page). Unzip it somewhere short, like your Desktop or C:\Games. The build tools can't handle very long folder paths. Open Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled Settings.exe. Pick your disc file, or drop it onto the window. It's checked to be the right disc. Press Next: build the game. Microsoft's free C++ build tools are installed first if your PC doesn't have them (allow Windows' prompt once). The build takes 20 to 30 minutes, once, and you can keep using your PC. Choose your settings and press PLAY. The install folder gets a Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled shortcut that starts the game straight away. Two shortcuts go on your desktop too, unless you switched that off: the game, and Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled Settings for the settings.

Updating: Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled Settings checks for a new version when it opens and offers it on its Play page. It downloads the new version, swaps in only what changed and rebuilds the game in a few minutes. Your settings and saves are kept. Starting the game itself checks too: when a new version is out, a popup asks Update or Play, once per new version. Turn both checks off under About › Check for updates automatically.

Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled Settings

• Display: window or borderless, which screen, VSync, and widescreen, 4:3 or stretched.
• Graphics: graphics card or CPU, scale 1× to 16×, Sharp 2D, FSR, smooth or blocky scaling with sharpening, and High Poly in every match.
• Sound: volume and the arena reverb.
• Controls: up to 4 players, each player's controller and vibration, which player the keyboard plays as, and what every button does.
• Gameplay: the camera style in matches, the match speed (Def Jam Vendetta, WWF No Mercy or your own), and Unlock everything.
• About: the version, your game folder and save data in one click, and what it's made with.

Controls

Xbox-style controllers work out of the box, with vibration, and are given to players in the order Windows lists them. PlayStation controllers work through Steam or DS4Windows. The keyboard plays as nobody until you pick a player on the Controls page.

Good to know

• Your saves are memory card files in files\game\mc0 (About › Open save data). Copy that folder to back them up.
• Running slowly? 16× (the default) needs a fairly strong graphics card: try 8× on the Graphics page.
• The very first start is slow for about a minute while the graphics card prepares its shaders.
• Vibration can also be turned off in the game's own pause menu.
• Camera styles (on the Gameplay page):
  • Def Jam Vendetta: the game's own camera, the default.
  • WWF No Mercy style: looking down on the ring from the side, without swinging round the fighters.
  • Wrestle Kingdom 2 style: the ring seen from a corner, like a diamond. The D-pad and left stick are turned to match it, so up still moves up the screen.
  • Intros, entrances and finishers keep the game's own camera in every style.
• Match speed (on the Gameplay page): Def Jam Vendetta's own pace (the default) or WWF No Mercy's slower pace. Turn on Custom speed to pick any speed from 0.750 to 1.250 with the slider, or type it in. It only changes the fight itself, from the moment it starts until the match is decided. Intros, menus and everything after stay at normal speed, and the match clock follows the chosen speed.
• Unlock everything (on the Gameplay page, off by default): every wrestler, attire, arena and gallery picture for every player, with or without a save. Your save is never changed, and anything you unlock while playing is still saved, so turning it off puts you back where your save is.
• Your settings are in files\settings.toml. Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled Settings writes it, and you can edit it by hand.

git clone https://github.com/jcsix694/def-jam-vendetta-recomp
cd def-jam-vendetta-recomp
setup.bat                                        :: the submodules, PS2Recomp + our patch, the recompiler
python tools\prepare_disc.py "D:\path\to\Def Jam Vendetta.chd"    :: or the .iso
recomp.bat                                       :: the game's code → C++ (~2 min)
build-fast.bat                                   :: build it (first time ~12 min)
run.bat                                          :: run it
build-settings.bat                               :: Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled Settings
make-release.bat                                 :: a player's zip in dist\ (nothing is published)

Thanks to

• Def Jam Vendetta by AKI Corporation, published by EA Sports BIG (2003).
• PS2Recomp by ran-j, which translates the PS2 code and runs it.
• paraLLEl-GS by Arntzen Software, the PS2's graphics chip on your graphics card (with Granite).
• raylib, Dear ImGui, FFmpeg, Avalonia and the rest in THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt.

Licence

Copyright (C) 2026 jcsix694 (@jcsix on X). Free software under the GNU General Public License version 3 (LICENSE): use it, change it and share it. A changed version you share must come with its source, under the same licence.

It has to be the GPL: PS2Recomp (ran-j, GPL-3.0) is built into the game program, and our changes to it (patches\) are under its licence. Our changes to paraLLEl-GS (patches\parallel-gs-local.diff) are under its LGPL-3.0+. paraLLEl-GS (© Arntzen Software AS) is LGPL-3.0+ and uses Granite (© Hans-Kristian Arntzen, MIT). Both are included as submodules. Every other part and its licence: THIRD-PARTY-NOTICES.txt.

_{Not affiliated with or endorsed by Electronic Arts, EA Sports BIG, AKI Corporation or Def Jam Recordings. Def Jam Vendetta and its name, logo and artwork belong to their owners. The banner and Def Jam Vendetta Recompiled Settings' pictures are artwork based on its logo, and the licence doesn't cover them. This repository contains no game code or game files. The screenshots are of the game running on PC. Please don't open issues asking for game files.}