Ape Escape Mind Over Monkey

Saru Get You: Saru Saru Daisakusen Recompilation

This is a recompilation project of Saru Get You: Saru Saru Daisakusen, with the aim of making the game available on Windows, macOS, Linux, and Android with improved performance and configurability, and providing a foundation for translating the game.

Status: early, not yet verified playable end to end. On macOS arm64 the game boots, renders and plays sound in a window through the title screen, the attract demo, the save menu and the stage hub, with 60 FPS frame interpolation, an adjustable FOV and a launcher in English and Japanese. Linux arm64 installs and runs the game; Windows x64 and Linux x64 build in CI but have not yet been played. See the project plan and the profile instructions.

Releases contain only the launcher: the first time you press Play, it builds the game on your machine from your own disc. No game files or game code are distributed. An unofficial English machine translation of the game's text is an optional download from the launcher's settings, published separately in sarusaru-translations.

Roadmap

The following milestones describe the project's goals, rather than currently supported features. See PLAN.md for detailed progress and acceptance criteria.

• Complete faithful gameplay: rendering, audio, movies and PSP services, verified through a representative level, saving, restarting and reloading.
• Verify PSP-compatible saves, with safe writes, backups, import and export.
• Improve graphics and controls with adjustable resolution, verified FOV and framerate options, fully rebindable controls and analog camera support.
• Build a shared launcher and in-game settings UI for ISO installation, configuration and save management, including Android setup and touch support.
• Provide translation infrastructure for text, fonts and texture replacements, with translation-pack support and Japanese fallback.
• Deliver tested, reproducible builds for Windows, macOS, Linux and Android, once platform verification and release requirements are met.

PSPRecomp framework

The project is built on PSPRecomp. The upstream framework documentation follows below.

PSPRecomp is a static recompilation framework for PSP software. It reads an Allegrex/MIPS executable, analyzes guest code, emits C++ translation units, and runs them through a native host runtime. An opt-in interpreter supports code outside the compiled corpus; normal gameplay uses the compiled functions.

The PPSSPP save-state foundations include inspection and repacking tools. Native quick states can be saved from the launcher's Saves screen and its in-game counterpart, with five thumbnail slots. Select + R1 saves and Select + L1 loads; keyboard defaults are F5 and F8. PPSSPP gameplay-state interchange remains unfinished.

The repository is split between the reusable framework and the game-specific SaruSaru profile (profiles/sarusaru).

Repository layout

include/psprecomp/   Public runtime and Allegrex interfaces
src/                 ELF/PRX loading, decoder, memory, runtime and support code
tools/               Generic analyzer, recompiler and reverse-engineering helpers
tests/               Framework regression tests
configs/             Generic examples and PSP NID data
profiles/            Game-specific hosts, generated code, configuration and tests
  sarusaru/          Saru Get You: Saru Saru Daisakusen profile

Game-specific addresses, HLE behavior, native fast paths, renderer integration and generated AOT code belong under a profile. The framework should remain usable without any profile selected.

Requirements

• CMake 3.20 or newer and Ninja
• A C compiler for the profile's bundled Zstandard codec, and a C++20 compiler (Apple clang, GCC 13, Clang 17 or Visual Studio 2022)
• Python 3.10 or newer for the profile's scripts

See the profile requirements for each host's packages.

Build the framework only

cmake -S . -B out/framework -DPSPRECOMP_PROFILE=""
cmake --build out/framework --config Release
ctest --test-dir out/framework -C Release --output-on-failure

This builds psprecomp_core, psp_analyze, psp_recomp, dump_function and the framework tests.

Build a profile

Profiles are selected with PSPRECOMP_PROFILE:

cmake -S . -B out/sarusaru -G Ninja -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release \
  -DPSPRECOMP_PROFILE=sarusaru -DSARUSARU_GAME_MODULE=OFF
cmake --build out/sarusaru

This builds the launcher and tests without game files. To build and play the game from your own disc, use the profile's scripts:

python3 profiles/sarusaru/scripts/build_and_run.py --iso '/path/to/game.iso'

Create another profile

See docs/PROFILE_GUIDE.md. A new title normally provides its own generated corpus, HLE/profile host, configuration, tests and optional native fast paths without modifying the framework for game-specific addresses.

Game files

No commercial game executable or asset is included. PSPRecomp does not ship an EBOOT decryption implementation. Profiles expect files obtained from the user's own copy in the format documented by that profile.

Source provenance

See docs/SOURCE_PROVENANCE.md for the project rules around independently written code, profile boundaries, decryption and third-party source.

Third-party code

The framework is MIT licensed. Individual profiles may include separately licensed dependencies or assets; their notices stay beside those files. The SaruSaru profile lists its bundled dependencies in profiles/sarusaru/THIRD_PARTY.md.

License

PSPRecomp framework code is distributed under the MIT License. See LICENSE.

Credits

• PSPRecomp — the recompilation framework this project builds on.
• SDL3 — windowing, input and audio output.
• FFmpeg — music and movie decoding.
• Vulkan and MoltenVK — rendering.
• tiny-AES-c — the installer and PSP save-data support.
• Dear ImGui — the launcher's interface.
• Luckiest Guy and M PLUS Rounded 1c — the launcher's fonts.
• TeamGDB — their Yakumo project served as inspiration.

Legal disclaimer

This is an unofficial, independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Sony Interactive Entertainment.

Saru Get You (サルゲッチュ / Ape Escape), the franchise to which Saru Get You: Saru Saru Daisakusen belongs, is a trademark of Sony Interactive Entertainment Inc. See the official PlayStation trademark attribution. The original game and its artwork remain the property of their respective rights holders. All other trademarks belong to their respective owners.

Users must supply their own legally obtained copy of the game. The project's source-code license does not grant any rights to the original game, its assets or its trademarks.