Metroid Prime Hunters recomp brings the Nintendo DS classic to PC

Metroid Prime Hunters is starting to look surprisingly comfortable on PC. A new recompilation project has taken the 2006 Nintendo DS game and turned it into a native Windows and Linux application, complete with widescreen support, keyboard and mouse controls, gamepad remapping and early work on online multiplayer. The current release is still an alpha, so crashes, graphical problems and incomplete sections are part of the deal. But this has already gone well beyond a technical demo. You can get into the game, move around, fight enemies and play using controls that make far more sense on a modern PC.

This isn’t just another DS emulator

The big difference here is how the game runs(Youtube). Instead of putting Metroid Prime Hunters inside a normal Nintendo DS emulator, the project uses a recompilation system called ndsrecomp. In simple terms, it takes the game’s original machine code and converts it into something that can run as part of a native desktop program.

The supporting software still has to reproduce plenty of Nintendo DS behaviour, including graphics, audio, touchscreen input and processor functions. But the result isn’t the usual emulator window with a ROM running inside it. The game gets its own PC executable.

Right now, the project supports the original US revision of Metroid Prime Hunters. You’ll still need to provide your own copy of the game data, since the recompilation doesn’t include Nintendo’s game files. The current version, 0.3.0-alpha, supports Windows x64 and Linux.

Mouse controls make a huge difference

Metroid Prime Hunters always had unusual controls. On the Nintendo DS, players moved Samus with the buttons while aiming through the touchscreen. It worked, but it was very much a product of Nintendo’s dual-screen handheld. Long sessions could also turn into a fairly serious workout for your hands. PC controls change that immediately.

The recompilation uses WASD for movement and the mouse for aiming. Other keyboard buttons handle jumping, missiles, Morph Ball mode, the Scan Visor and weapon selection. The mouse can also take over touchscreen input when the game expects it.

Controller players haven’t been forgotten either. The latest alpha adds full gamepad support, with analogue sticks handling movement and aiming. Buttons can be remapped through the launcher, so you don’t have to stick with one fixed layout.

You can even mix mouse and controller input. That flexibility makes Hunters feel much closer to a regular PC first-person action game, even though the underlying game was designed around a handheld released more than two decades ago.

Widescreen support stretches beyond the DS display

Then there’s the display. The original Nintendo DS ran at 256 by 192 pixels per screen. That’s tiny by modern desktop standards, and its 4:3 layout doesn’t exactly fill a current monitor. The recompilation adds adaptive widescreen support for the main game view, including ultrawide resolutions up to 21:9.

It’s still being worked on. HUD elements can appear in the wrong place, fades and effects aren’t always correct, and some videos or screen transitions can behave strangely. So don’t expect every scene to look perfectly rebuilt for a widescreen monitor yet.

Still, the basic idea works. The game can render a wider view instead of simply stretching the original DS image across the screen. Testing has also shown sections of the game running at around 60 frames per second under optimised conditions. That doesn’t mean the whole campaign is locked to 60fps, though. Large parts of the game still need testing.

Hunters was a very different kind of Metroid

Metroid Prime Hunters arrived in Europe in May 2006 and was developed by Nintendo. It took the first-person exploration and combat of Metroid Prime and squeezed it onto the Nintendo DS. Samus travels through the Alimbic Cluster while searching for powerful artefacts, but she isn’t alone. Six other bounty hunters are after the same prize.

The campaign mixes shooting, scanning, exploration and boss fights across planets and abandoned space stations. It also puts more emphasis on direct battles with rival hunters than the main Metroid Prime games did. Multiplayer was a major part of the original package too. Hunters supported local wireless matches and online play through Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection, with several playable bounty hunters and competitive modes.

Online play is being tested too

The PC recompilation is already experimenting with bringing that multiplayer side back. The current alpha can connect through Wiimmfi and reach the Friends and Rivals lobby in tested situations. That’s a promising step, but it doesn’t mean online multiplayer is fully working.

Actual matches aren’t considered reliable yet. Connections can fail, players can disconnect and games may fall out of sync. So multiplayer is still firmly in the experimental category.

It’s playable, but it’s still an alpha

That’s really the best way to look at MetroidPrimeHuntersRecomp right now. It’s not a finished PC version of Metroid Prime Hunters, and it doesn’t pretend to be one. Campaign testing is incomplete. Saving still needs more work. Online play remains experimental. Graphics, audio and input bugs can all appear.

But the project has already crossed an important line. This isn’t just a menu running on a PC or a few isolated test rooms. Metroid Prime Hunters can now run as a dedicated desktop application with mouse aiming, controller support, widescreen rendering and early online functionality. There’s plenty left to fix. The interesting part is that the basic PC version already works.