Wario Land 4 PC Port

Wario Land 4 — Native PC Port

Play Wario Land 4 with native x86-64 builds for Windows and Linux. The port compiles the decompiled game C code and uses SDL3 for graphics, audio and input; it does not run through Wine or Proton. You must provide your own supported, unmodified US ROM. No ROM or extracted game assets are included.

Latest beta downloads

Platform	Release	What to download
Windows x64	v0.3.2-beta	WarioLand4-Native-PC-Port-v0.3.2-beta-Windows-x64.zip
Linux x86-64 / Steam Deck	v0.1.0-beta	Wario_Land_4-v0.1.0-beta-x86_64.AppImage

On Windows, extract the ZIP and open wl4-launcher.exe. On Linux, mark the AppImage executable and open it; its graphical launcher lets you browse for your ROM and configure controls, fullscreen, VSync, CRT effects and rumble. The Linux release needs glibc 2.38 or newer and stores saves and settings in persistent XDG user directories. See the Linux installation and save guide.

In Steam Deck Desktop Mode, select Gamepad Mode for the built-in controls. The default Desktop Layout maps B to Escape, which intentionally quits the game. You can also add the AppImage to Steam as a Non-Steam Game without enabling Proton. Steam Machine hardware testing is still pending.

These releases include the Toy Block Tower post-Keyzer red-pipe crash fix, the Golden Diva ending/credits hang fix, and the passage boss-door transition fix. The environmental-tile address fix also covers the exact fault address reported in the Doodle Woods bonus-room screenshot; that particular room has not yet had a separate gameplay retest.

Screenshots

Native Linux gameplay on Steam Deck

Steam Deck photo supplied by the maintainer. The native Linux AppImage was tested through every boss, Golden Diva, the ending and the full credits.

Native Windows gameplay

Wario Land 4 running natively on Windows using the BioRhythmicStudios PC port.

This is an unofficial fan project by BioRhythmicStudios, built on the Wario Land 4 decompilation by TsilaAllaoui and contributors, which derives from lilDavid's original project. Their reverse engineering and decompilation work provides the foundation for this port. It is unaffiliated with Nintendo.

Status and features

Status	Capabilities
Available on Windows x64 and Linux x86-64	Native game and graphical ROM/settings launchers
Implemented	SDL3 graphics and audio, scaling, fullscreen, fast forward, VSync and CRT Lite/Enhanced filters
Implemented	Customizable keyboard/gamepad bindings, hotplug and optional controller rumble
Implemented	Persistent 32 KiB SRAM saves compatible with mGBA .sav files
Tested on real Steam Deck hardware	Boss-door entry, every boss, Golden Diva, complete ending and credits
Automated regression coverage	Headless boss-door, credits, Toy Block Tower tile-wrap, BIOS, I/O and disposable-save checks
Still being validated	Continuous full-game coverage on Windows and Steam Machine hardware

The original GBA build remains byte-identical to this repository's baseline: fresh build/v7-84 produced MD5 940b597bef3be3f4041021b47a2f4096, with all 202 object files unchanged. This is the decompilation build's checksum, not the checksum of the supported input ROM.

Bring your own ROM

You must supply your own legally obtained, unmodified Wario Land 4 ROM. This repository does not provide a ROM or instructions for obtaining copyrighted game data.

The native port currently accepts only:

Property	Required value
Version	US/EU, game code AWAE
Size	8 MiB (8,388,608 bytes)
MD5	5fe47355a33e3fabec2a1607af88a404

The loader checks the size and MD5 and rejects other images. Japanese ROMs, modified ROMs and ROM hacks are not currently supported by the native runtime. No asset extraction or GBA compiler is required for a normal PC build using the checked-in generated files.

Build on Windows

Use the branch containing the native port (port in this repository). The documented toolchain is llvm-mingw, UCRT x86_64, with CMake 3.20+, Ninja and SDL3. The recorded setup uses llvm-mingw 20261006 and SDL3 3.4.18. MSVC is not the documented build path.

1. Unpack llvm-mingw and the MinGW SDL3 development package from SDL releases.
2. Put CMake, Ninja and llvm-mingw's bin directory on your PATH.
3. From the repository root, configure and build in PowerShell, replacing the paths below with your local installation directories:

cmake -S . -B build_pc -G Ninja `
  --toolchain port/cmake/llvm-mingw-x86_64.cmake `
  -DLLVM_MINGW=C:/toolchains/llvm-mingw `
  -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=RelWithDebInfo `
  -DSDL3_DIR=C:/toolchains/SDL3-3.4.18/x86_64-w64-mingw32/lib/cmake/SDL3
cmake --build build_pc

SDL3_DIR must point to the development package's lib/cmake/SDL3 directory. When SDL3 is found, the build copies SDL3.dll beside wl4.exe. Without SDL3, the executable supports headless operation only.

For an AddressSanitizer build, configure a separate directory with -DWL4_ASAN=ON. When running it, also add llvm-mingw's x86_64-w64-mingw32/bin directory to PATH so the ASan runtime DLL can be found. See port/README.md for runtime and generated-symbol maintenance details.

Run and play

Pass the path to your supported ROM:

.\build_pc\wl4.exe "C:\Games\Wario Land 4\baserom_us.gba"

The default window scale is 3×. Use --scale N to choose another integer scale.

Key	Action
Arrow keys	D-pad
X / Z	A / B
A / S	L / R
Enter / Backspace	Start / Select
Tab (hold)	Fast forward; audio is dropped while fast forwarding
F11	Toggle fullscreen
Escape	Quit

The default gamepad mapping uses positional buttons: bottom face button = A, right face button = B. The graphical launcher can customize bindings.

Windowed play stores saves at %APPDATA%\wl4\wl4.sav by default. To choose a save file:

.\build_pc\wl4.exe "C:\Games\baserom_us.gba" --save "C:\Games\wl4.sav"

Saves use mGBA's raw 32 KiB SRAM format and can be transferred between the two. The runtime uses atomic replacement after SRAM changes settle and also saves on quit. Back up existing saves before development testing; headless runs write saves only when --save FILE is supplied and can overwrite that file.

Known bugs and limitations

• Continuous end-to-end gameplay coverage remains incomplete. The Steam Deck ending/credits route passed on real hardware, but this does not establish that every stage and transition is bug-free. The Doodle Woods bonus room still awaits a focused manual retest after its matching address fault was fixed.
• Native code does not consume modeled GBA CPU time, so lag frames may differ. Pixel-perfect and audio equivalence have not been established for every scene.
• Only the supported unmodified US ROM is accepted. Japanese ROMs and ROM hacks are not supported by the native runtime.
• Some graphics, audio and controller behavior depends on host drivers. Steam Machine hardware compatibility has not yet been tested.

See the port plan and the Linux guide for detailed implementation notes, save locations and remaining limitations.

Recorded test status

The Windows v0.3.2-beta and Linux v0.1.0-beta release builds passed focused boss-door and full-credits regressions using disposable copies of the reported save; the credits completed at frame 15263. BIOS, I/O and Toy Block Tower tile-wrap checks passed on both platforms. The Windows package passed a disposable-save test and both graphical launchers passed startup checks. The Linux AppImage game executable is byte-identical to the private build used in the maintainer's successful real Steam Deck boss/ending/credits playthrough. The released artifacts contain no ROMs or personal saves.

Earlier Hall of Hieroglyphs memory and picture comparisons against mGBA are documented in CODEX_HANDOVER.md and the port plan. They cover selected windows, not a complete frame-by-frame comparison of the whole game.

Technical architecture

• Native game code: src/ is compiled for x86-64 with PORTABLE defined. Platform-specific replacements handle BIOS services and routines originally in ARM assembly; there is no ARM instruction interpreter running the game logic.
• Compatible memory layout: GBA regions are reserved at their original addresses. Pointers stored in game memory remain 32-bit GBA addresses through GBA_PTR accessors, preserving layouts for comparison with mGBA. The user's ROM is mapped read-only, and generated symbols connect game data references to its addresses.
• Function dispatch and stack: generated tables translate GBA function addresses into native calls. A patched minicoro runs the game on a guarded low-address native stack and yields to the host at frame boundaries.
• Hardware services: Windows exception and Linux signal handlers trap and single-step GBA I/O accesses, applying register effects, DMA and interrupts. A software scanline renderer implements GBA backgrounds, sprites, windows, blending, brightness and mosaic.
• Audio and presentation: a C translation of the game's m4a assembly works with modeled PSG, Direct Sound FIFOs, timers and mixing. SDL3 supplies the window, keyboard/gamepad input and audio output.
• Diagnostics: headless scripted runs can capture memory (--dump), framebuffers (--shots) and audio (--wav). Tools in port/tools/ compare captures against mGBA.

Shared-source changes are designed to preserve the GBA build byte for byte. See port/README.md for implementation details and docs/PC_PORT_PLAN.md for decisions, milestones and caveats.

Original GBA decompilation

The upstream project targets these original ROM versions:

• US/EU: 5fe47355a33e3fabec2a1607af88a404 (default).
• JP: 99c8ad779a16be513a9fdff502b6f5c2.

This describes the GBA decompilation targets; the PC runtime currently supports US/EU only.

Decompilation progress

Upstream reports C equivalents for all functions. Some inline assembly and unmatched code remain, so this does not mean the current GBA rebuild is byte-identical to the original retail ROM.

Open the upstream interactive progress treemap.

The original GBA build uses binutils-arm-none-eabi, clang-format, Python 3 and the agbcc compiler submodule. In a standalone checkout prepared for GBA development:

git submodule update --init
make tools
make extract
make

Place your US/EU ROM at baserom_us.gba before extraction. For JP, use baserom_jp.gba and add VERSION=jp to both make extract and make. make tools also prepares the asset extractor's Python environment. Run make help for further options. A fully matching build reports build/us/warioland4_us.gba: OK; the current unmatched build is subject to the checksum caveat above.

Credits and licensing

• TsilaAllaoui and all upstream contributors: the Wario Land 4 decompilation on which this native port is built.
• lilDavid and contributors: the original decompilation project and its MIT-licensed foundation.
• BioRhythmicStudios: native PC port development, integration and validation.
• AI-assisted development: Claude Code, Codex and GPT-6 assisted with development, debugging, analysis and documentation under human direction and review. These tools do not replace the original decompilation authors' credit or imply independent verification of the entire game.
• Supporting projects: SDL3 for presentation and input; minicoro for coroutines; llvm-mingw, Clang, CMake and Ninja for the native build; agbcc and the GBA tooling for the original build; mGBA as the reference for behavioral comparisons.

The restored LICENSE contains the MIT license and Copyright (c) 2025 lilDavid. Preserve that notice and its terms for the covered portions. As documented in the port plan, TsilaAllaoui's own additions have no stated license; the restored MIT file should not be read as resolving that gap or granting blanket permission for every contribution. This README does not relicense the project.

Vendored minicoro offers public-domain or MIT-0 terms and includes MIT-licensed LuaCoco context-switch code by Mike Pall. Preserve applicable third-party notices; see the vendored source. Dependencies retain their respective licenses.

Wario Land 4 and its game assets belong to Nintendo and their respective rights holders. The repository's code licensing does not grant rights to distribute the original ROM or copyrighted game assets.