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Developer Uses AI to Port Ocarina of Time Natively to iPhone and iPad

HarkinianPad rebuilds decompiled game code into a native ARM64 Metal app that runs at widescreen 60 FPS.

Overview

  • Chris “Kahris” Sotraidis published demonstrations and the project repository on GitHub over July 27–29, 2026 showing a native iOS/iPadOS build called HarkinianPad.
  • Kahris used the Ship of Harkinian decompiled C code as a base and had OpenAI’s Codex/GPT-5.6 Sol adapt that code into an ARM64 app that renders with Apple’s Metal API.
  • The port delivers modern features not possible on the original N64 release, including widescreen support, higher native resolution, and a stable 60 frames per second.
  • HarkinianPad supports touch controls plus Bluetooth controller, keyboard, and mouse input and is distributed as open-source code that requires users to supply a legally owned Ocarina of Time ROM for game assets.
  • The release highlights how AI tools can speed solo developers’ work on preservation and ports while leaving legal questions unresolved because Nintendo has not authorized the project.