Addams Family Recompiler

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Experimental native recompilation of the European NES game, using a compatible ROM supplied by the user. The repository and downloadable applications include no game ROM, translated game code, graphics, music, extracted maps or disassembly. The application is currently called NES Native Lab.

Technical alpha 0.2.0. The game is not fully rewritten or verified from start to finish. Widescreen enemy activation and fixed-width/vertical rooms still have visible limitations.

Download and run

Download the package for your system from Releases. Release packages include Python and Zig for local import: you do not need to install a compiler, Python or development tools. A graphics driver supporting OpenGL 3.2 is required. First import can take several minutes; subsequent starts reuse the validated module.

System	Package	First start
macOS Apple Silicon	NES-Native-Lab-macOS-arm64.zip	Extract, open NES Native Lab.app, select your ROM.
Windows x64	NES-Native-Lab-Windows-x86_64.zip	Extract the entire ZIP; open nes_native.exe, select your ROM.
Linux / Steam Deck	NES-Native-Lab-Linux-x86_64.AppImage	Mark executable; drag your ROM into the import window, or use --rom.

macOS builds use an ad hoc signature and are not notarized. Windows builds have no Authenticode signature. Hardware testing on Windows and Steam Deck is pending; please report your system and import log if it fails. macOS Intel builds are configured in GitHub Actions and are not part of the first locally built release.

Steam Deck

1. Switch to Desktop Mode. Download the AppImage and enable Is executable in its file properties.
2. Open it and drag your .nes file from Dolphin into the import window. Wait for local compilation. Keep the ROM at that location because it is checked on every start.
3. Add the AppImage to Steam as a non-Steam game, then return to Gaming Mode. Use a gamepad layout, with G and H assigned to back buttons if desired.

No changes to the SteamOS read-only system are needed. The first drag-and-drop import is intended for Desktop Mode. If a distribution cannot mount AppImages, extract with --appimage-extract and launch squashfs-root/AppRun.

chmod +x NES-Native-Lab-Linux-x86_64.AppImage
./NES-Native-Lab-Linux-x86_64.AppImage --rom "/path/to/my game.nes"

Compatible ROM

Only the verified European En/Fr/De revision of The Addams Family is accepted:

Size: 262160 bytes
Mapper: MMC1 (1)
SHA-256: 6143af950d2c4d353c859c56962406feed9930584882fba1056bba5f2614e880

Other regions, revisions and patched files are rejected. Renaming a file does not change compatibility. No game download is provided. The importer reads the original file without modifying it.

How it works

Your ROM is authenticated, translated into C and compiled locally into a native .dll, .so or .dylib. The engine loads that private module. There is no 6502 instruction interpreter or FCEUmm/libretro fallback. NES memory, MMC1, video and audio behavior are still reproduced by the runtime.

Generated modules and resources contain game content and must remain private. Do not upload your import cache, ROM, previous embedded-content alpha, screenshots or recovered sources to this repository or a release.

Controls

Keyboard	Gamepad	Action
Enter	Start	Start / menus
Arrow keys	D-pad / left stick	Move / climb
Z	A	Jump
X	B	Doors / interaction
Right Shift	Back	Select
G	Assign with Steam Input	Toggle GOD; enabled by default in the alpha
H	Assign with Steam Input	Grant and retain inventory/access requirements for the session
Escape	—	Close

GOD protects health/lives and attempts a room reload for some direct deaths. H is not teleportation. All routes, battles and death recovery cases are not yet verified.

Build without a ROM

Build requirements: CMake 3.20+, C/C++17 compiler and Python 3.9+. Verified SDL2/Lua source archives are included. On Windows use Ninja in MSYS2 UCRT64. Linux needs OpenGL and SDL platform development packages; see the CI recipe.

cmake -S . -B build -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Release
cmake --build build --parallel 4
ctest --test-dir build --output-on-failure

For a standalone package, fetch the pinned import tools for the target and package the frontend. This downloads development runtimes, never a game:

python3 -B tools/public/fetch_runtime_tools.py --destination runtime-tools --cache runtime-cache --system macos-arm64
python3 -B tools/public/package_platform.py --build build --output dist --toolchain runtime-tools

Other target IDs: macos-x86_64, windows-x86_64, linux-x86_64. AppImage creation runs on Linux using linuxdeploy and appimagetool:

sh tools/public/package_linux.sh build

GitHub Actions builds the content-free engine for Linux x64, Windows x64 and both Mac architectures, runs synthetic tests, bundles verified import tools and uploads artifacts. It does not automatically publish releases or use a secret ROM. The optional local import_probe checks boot with your own ROM; CI never contains one.

See architecture, publishing, verification and third-party notices.

License and compatibility names

Original engine/tool contributions use MIT. Dependencies retain their own licenses. This grants no rights to the commercial game or locally generated content. Game names identify compatibility; this independent project is not affiliated with or endorsed by its rights holders. Excluding game content is a technical safeguard, not a legal guarantee against claims.