06 · Pushing the boundaries
Pushing the boundaries
How this port compares with other N64 projects on the 3DS, from their own READMEs and press, each claim linked. Searched on 2026-10-08, still current at release. None of their figures were measured by us, and the games differ in load, so this is a comparison of claims, not a benchmark.
The field
| Project | Source | Approach | What it says about Old / New 3DS performance | Stereo 3D |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| G-Diffuser 3DS (this project) | The road to 60, all over again | F-Zero X decomp on libultraship; own F3DEX2 walker plus a native race renderer writing PICA200 command words | Old 3DS: 2D races at 60 (median frame 16.5 ms); 3D 59–60 on most courses, CPU-bound, some step to 30. New 3DS: 3D races at 60 in every window. Native 60 Hz logic, no interpolation (our hardware logs) | Yes |
| Super Mario 64 3DS port (mkst) | mkst/sm64-port, branch 3ds-port | Decomp PC port; renderer details not in the README | README: "Naïve frame-skip if frame takes longer than 33.3ms"; a 60 FPS enhancement patch is listed. Press (2020): "a solid 30fps", model not stated (VGC) | Yes (README) |
| Ocarina of Time 64 3DS port | Andresac90/OOT-64-3DS-Port | zeldaret/oot decomp; renderer started from the SM64 PC port's Fast3D renderer | README: New 3DS "60 in 2D and 3D" by interpolation (measured on hardware). Old 3DS: "about 15–17 in the biggest scene (Kokiri Forest), around 45 in interiors" (measured at simulated Old 3DS speed); "60 everywhere is still being worked on" | Yes |
| Majora's Mask 64 3DS port | Andresac90/MM-64-3DS-Port | decomp | "Nothing runs on the 3DS yet" | – |
| Smash 64 for New 3DS | 2gifts/smash64-3ds | decomp; credits the SM64 3DS graphics backend, citro3d; renders on the New 3DS's third core | "Original 3DS/2DS models are not supported"; "a locked 60 FPS is not guaranteed in every situation" | Yes |
| Mario Kart 64 3DS | EstebanPdN/mario-kart-64-3ds | SpaghettiKart (libultraship) based; Fast3D vertex/texture ranges, combiner plans compiled once per material | "retains its original 30 Hz game simulation"; an adaptive interpolated midpoint frame on Old and New 3DS, "not a promise of a fixed or sustained 60 FPS mode" | Not mentioned |
| Ship of Harkinian 3DS | 999sian/soh-3ds | libultraship (SoH); PICA200 renderer on citro3d, built for F3DEX2 | New 3DS is the main target; "Old 3DS uses native 20 FPS presentation"; "Physical Old 3DS gameplay is not yet verified" | Not mentioned |
| rt64-3ds | oneup03/rt64-3ds | Renderer for N64ModernRuntime static recompilations: F3DEX2 interpreter, CPU vertex transform and lighting, per-eye replay | "Under construction. First target is Donkey Kong 64 (New 3DS only)"; no frame rates | Yes |
| sm64coopdx New 3DS | PR #26 | citro3d | Not yet called playable; "30 FPS stability" listed as a next gate | – |
| DaedalusX64-3DS (emulator) | GameBrew, Wololo 2020 | HLE emulator, ARMv6 dynarec | "Tested on N3DS, runs about at 20-30FPS on average" (v1.0, 2022-10-16) | Not verified |
| Ocarina of Time 3D (Nintendo/Grezzo, 2011) | Nintendo Life | Remake, native 3DS engine | Miyamoto: "It ran at 20fps on the Nintendo64, but on the 3DS, it runs at 30fps" | Yes |
| Star Fox 64 3D (2011) | Nintendo Life review | Remake | Numeric frame rate: not found | Yes |
What we can and cannot say
- We found no other N64 decompilation, recompilation or emulator project on the 3DS that claims a sustained 60 fps on an Old 3DS. The nearest are the OoT port (15–45 fps by scene, measured at simulated Old 3DS speed), the MK64 port (adaptive interpolation over 30 Hz logic), SoH-3DS (20 fps presentation, unverified on hardware) and the SM64 port.
- Every renderer we found interprets N64 display lists (Fast3D / F3DEX2 translated to citro3d). We found none that, like this project's native renderer, skips display-list construction for whole categories of geometry and writes precomputed PICA200 command words instead.
- Our 60 was race-only at v1.0.0: menus ran on the interpreter with frame skipping. Since v1.1.0 the menus, transitions, course select and machine select draw natively too; the post-race results table is still heavy. Several of the projects above target the whole game and interpolate instead; that is a different trade, not a lesser one.
- No other native F-Zero X port on the 3DS was found. Wololo (2020), citing a Reddit compatibility list, names F-Zero X among the games with "playable performance" on the New 3DS under DaedalusX64.
- Not verified: Old 3DS frame rates for the SM64 port and DaedalusX64 (the sources are forum threads that returned HTTP 403), stereo support in DaedalusX64, and a numeric frame rate for Star Fox 64 3D.
- Also searched and not found: a Star Fox 64 (Starship), Perfect Dark, Banjo or 2Ship 3DS port; an upstream libultraship 3DS backend; a Mupen64Plus or ParaLLEl-N64 core for 3DS.
- Correction to this post-mortem's own Frontier page (written 09-03): it describes the SM64 3DS port as 30 Hz logic interpolated to 60. The README read for this page describes naive frame skipping below 30 fps and lists a separate 60 FPS patch; we could not confirm the interpolation description, and Frontier now links here.