You’ve probably seen a few unofficial ports of Super Mario 64 for the PC, based on leaked source code, but now, a fully ray-traced version is available. Called SM64RT, this version offers custom level lighting, complete with ray-traced global illumination, shadows, as well as reflections, which really shine when you play as Metal Mario. Digital Foundry managed to get hair hands on an Alpha build and give us an in-depth look.
As you can see, some textures don’t look as nice and that’s because the original 2D bitmap shadows have been retained since they were placed in-game by Nintendo, which make them impossible for ray-tracing. However, the Render96 project did manage to transform the trees into full 3D models. On the bright side, the transparent water, sun shadows, and portal reflections are all accurately rendered. Github page here.
- The console is also decorated with images of recognizable characters: Tom Nook and Nooklings Timmy and Tommy
- Includes a Switch console, Switch dock, Joy-Con (L) and Joy-Con (R), and two Joy-Con strap accessories
- Game not included