The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap — PC Port

A native PC port of The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap (GBA, 2004) built on SDL3, a software PPU renderer (libs/ViruaPPU), and the agbplay audio engine. Targets x86-64 Linux, Windows, and macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel).

The port is work in progress — many rendering and gameplay paths are still rough; please file issues for anything that breaks.

🎮 Nintendo Switch port

There is a native Nintendo Switch (libnx homebrew) build under platforms/switch/ — runs on Atmosphère CFW; you just need the .nro + your ROM. Full guide: English · Português.

Existe um build nativo para Nintendo Switch em platforms/switch/ — roda em CFW Atmosphère; basta o .nro + sua ROM. Guia completo: English · Português.

Supported ROMs

A copy of the original game is required. This repository does not ship the ROM.

Version	Filename	SHA1
USA	baserom.gba	b4bd50e4131b027c334547b4524e2dbbd4227130
EU	baserom_eu.gba	cff199b36ff173fb6faf152653d1bccf87c26fb7

Pre-built releases (recommended)

Pre-built tarballs are published on the Releases page. Each tarball contains:

tmc_pc      sounds.json      assets/      assets_src/

Setup, once:

1. Download tmc-usa-{linux,windows,macos}-<version>.tar.gz and unpack it anywhere.

2. Drop your own baserom.gba next to the binary.

3. Run the game:

   ./tmc_pc                   # Linux / macOS
   tmc_pc.exe                 # Windows (double-click works)

The first launch self-extracts a runtime asset cache from the ROM (≈3–5 s, shows a progress bar). Every subsequent launch is instant. The binary resolves baserom.gba, sounds.json, and the asset trees relative to its own location, so the install directory can live anywhere — no cd dance.

Build from source

Place your ROM in the repository root, then run:

python3 build.py

The script will:

• Check and prompt to install missing dependencies (xmake, SDL3, libpng, fmt, nlohmann-json)
• Initialize git submodules automatically
• Scan for ROM files and verify their checksums
• Let you choose USA, EU, or both
• Compile the native binary for your platform
• Place everything under dist/<VERSION>/

Run the result:

cd dist/USA
./tmc_pc

Saves are written to tmc.sav in the working directory.

Dependencies

Linux (Arch / CachyOS):

sudo pacman -S xmake sdl3 libpng fmt nlohmann-json git curl

Linux (Ubuntu / Debian):

sudo apt install xmake libsdl3-dev libpng-dev libfmt-dev nlohmann-json3-dev git curl

macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel):

xcode-select --install                                                                            # Apple's compiler + git
/bin/bash -c "$(curl -fsSL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/install/HEAD/install.sh)"   # Homebrew, if you don't have it
brew install xmake pkg-config fmt nlohmann-json libpng libomp

What each piece does, in plain English:

• Xcode Command Line Tools — Apple's C/C++ compiler (clang), linker, and git. You can't build any native code on a Mac without them, and Homebrew won't install them for you.
• Homebrew — the package manager that fetches everything else. If you've never used a Mac for development, this is the one prerequisite you'll always end up installing.
• xmake — the build system that drives the whole compile (think make/cmake, but it auto-downloads any C/C++ libraries that aren't already on your system).
• pkg-config — a tiny tool xmake uses to ask "where did Homebrew put libpng?". Without it, xmake can't find the brew-installed libraries and will rebuild them itself (slow and sometimes broken).
• fmt and nlohmann-json — small C++ helper libraries the asset tools and game code use for text formatting and JSON parsing.
• libpng — needed by the graphics tools to read and write PNG sprite sheets.
• libomp — Apple Clang doesn't ship with an OpenMP runtime, so VirtuaPPU's parallel scanline renderer needs Homebrew's libomp. If it's missing, the build still works but falls back to a single-threaded path.
• SDL3 — the cross-platform window/input/audio layer. Not in the brew list because xmake builds its own copy automatically on macOS (the Linux path uses the system one when available, but on macOS the bundled build is the default and Just Works).

Windows: Install xmake and git. SDL3 and other libraries are downloaded automatically by xmake.

See INSTALL.md for slim builds, the xmake build tmc_pc single-target invocation, and other build options.

Tested platforms

• Linux (Wayland preferred, X11 fallback)
• Windows via MinGW static link
• macOS (Apple Silicon and Intel) — builds cleanly with Homebrew + Xcode Command Line Tools; lightly tested compared to Linux/Windows.

Controls

Action	Keyboard	Gamepad
Fast-forward (hold)	Tab	Right trigger
Toggle fullscreen	F11 / Alt+Enter	—
Cycle upscaler	F12	—
Capture bug report	F9	—
Open debug menu	F8	—
Quicksave	F5	—
Quickload	F6	—

Default upscaler is nearest-neighbor (sharp pixels). F12 cycles through xBRZ 4× and linear modes.

The window title shows the running port version — please include it when filing issues.

See CHANGELOG.md for per-release notes.

Nix

A flake.nix is provided with all dependencies. Run the port directly with:

nix run

Or enter a development shell:

nix develop

Contributing

Issues and pull requests are welcome — port improvements, tools, and documentation. Open an issue describing the bug or proposed change before larger work so we can coordinate.

Third-party notice: agbplay

libs/agbplay_core contains code derived from:

• Project: agbplay
• Repository: https://github.com/ipatix/agbplay
• Author: ipatix and contributors
• License: GNU Lesser General Public License v3.0

The original agbplay project is licensed under the LGPL-3.0. The copied and modified files in this directory remain under that license.

The rest of this repository is not automatically relicensed as LGPL-3.0 solely because it links to or uses this LGPL component.