Developer Creates New N64 Game in 2026 Using Modern Toolchain
Original: How to Make a Nintendo 64 Game in 2026
Why This Matters
Demonstrates that modern open-source tooling (Libdragon) now enables commercial-quality retro console game development outside official channels.
Developer Dominic Szablewski released Xibalba 64, a Wolfenstein 3D-style FPS for the Nintendo 64, published by Modretro as a physical cartridge launch title for their M64 console. It is believed to be only the second new physical N64 game released since Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 in 2002.
Dominic Szablewski, creator of the JavaScript game engine Impact (2010), ported the engine to C two years ago as a personal project — a C library called high_impact. The modular architecture, supporting multiple platform and rendering backends, proved to be an ideal foundation for targeting the Nintendo 64. Szablewski built a new N64 platform backend on top of Libdragon, an open-source homebrew library that functions similarly to SDL for the N64 hardware. The N64 features a 93 MHz MIPS CPU alongside two coprocessors — the Reality Display Processor (RDP) and Reality Signal Processor (RSP) — collectively known as the Reality Coprocessor. Programming these components directly is impractical; Nintendo's original 'libultra' library carries copyright risk, making Libdragon the go-to alternative for modern homebrew development. Szablewski first tested his backend with his earlier browser game Biolab Disaster, keeping game code unmodified. The final product, Xibalba 64, was picked up by Modretro for a physical release — complete with cartridge, packaging, and manual — as a launch title for the M64, a modern N64 clone. Only one other new physical N64 game, Xeno Crisis by Bitmap Bureau, has been released since the console's commercial end, in 2023.