FIXING the ENTIRE SM64 Source Code (INSANE N64 performance)

Why HN readers recommended it

HN loves the deep, hands-on look at N64 hardware quirks such as bus contention and the surprisingly large wins from low-hanging optimizations.

This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.

Video & recommendation details

Creator / channel

Kaze Emanuar

Topic

n64 performance optimization

Format

explainer

Level

advanced

HN recommenders in dataset

7

HN mentions in dataset

19

Recommendation years in dataset

2022–2025

These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.

From the original HN conversations

Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.

• There's an amazing video about refactoring Mario 64 to reach 30 FPS and render 6x faster on N64: [VIDEO] The changes were much more extensive than just removing the debug flags. They were also able to get local coop and a 4 player split screen …

• Not always, though it might depend on what platform you mean with retro. Kaze Emanuar on YT does a lot of development for the N64 and it feels like half the time he talks about how the memory bus affects all kinds of optimizations. In …

• On a related note, Kaze has done a deep dive into optimizing the Super Mario 64 source code for his ROM hacks. Here’s one of his more popular videos on the subject: [VIDEO]