Portal 64: I'm Making a Note Here

Portal 64 is NOT a graphics mod that change the PC game's visuals more akin to what can be seen on the Nintendo 64. In fact, it is an actual remake/demake of Valve's first person puzzler being made from the ground up for Nintendo 64 hardware.

Since March 2022, designer James Lambert has been chronicling its development on his personal YouTube channel and sharing in-progress builds of the game on GitHub. His latest build was released at the end of last year, which has the first thirteen tests fully playable on top of other graphical enhancements among other improvements and fixes.

I've given it a playthrough and was quite impressed with how much he has gotten done with the project so far. So impressed, that despite playing the game through the Project64 emulator, I can not believe some of what it can do COULD be done through hardware from far back into the mid-to-late nineties.

The portals can actually show the environment through the opening's view, even display your character as seen as early on from waking up in your living chambers. Physics from storage cubes and flying in and out of portals feel strangely in line to how they act in the original game. In fact, I don't think I've even had to wait for it load ONCE, or if it did, it was unnoticable. Other ports of Portal I've played like on Xbox 360 or Switch had to stop and load several times for up to ten seconds.

Is this how people reacted to Doom on the Switch? This cannot be happening...

Yet I've seen videos online that visually show this running on ACTUAL Nintendo 64 hardware. It's insane just what Lambert can do with just a little tech wizardry to make something like Portal 64 actually possible. I've watched some of his diaries on YouTube going into some of the developmental tricks to get it all to work and I still can't wrap my head around it. It's the kind of work that should land him a job at Valve, for real (or for retro sakes, Nightdive).

Portal 64 is still in development- experiments to run and there's research to be done- and has recently set up a Patreon to help fund further work on the game. I've placed links to this as well as his YouTube and GitHub pages below for anyone wanting to check it out and give him some support. I wish huge success for James Lambert and for Portal 64. Hopefully a delicious polygonal cake that is anything BUT a lie.

James' Patreon 

James' YouTube

Portal 64 ROM Download (NOTE: NEEDS INSTALLED COPY OF PORTAL)

I've also gone and recorded a playthrough of the recent build on YouTube as well if anyone wants to check that out too! 

UPDATE: Well, shit.

The very day I post this impression of this project- SHADDER DOWN!!!

Took all the pieces and threw them into a fire.

A disappointing turn of events for such an ambitious port.