Game engines such as Unreal Engine and Unity Engine are wonderful pieces of software for PCs. The limitation being, they are for PC. They make games for PC, mobile, and online – all modern platforms that share a lot of similar code and such that make things work. They don’t natively export to platforms such as the original PlayStation or Nintendo 64. Enter Pyrite 64, it is being fan dubbed “N64 Unity” for good reason.
Unleashing the Power of The Nintendo 64
The Nintendo 64 was quite a bit more powerful than the cartridge format would allow developers to show. Modern options for playing games that do not technically have overall size limitations (mod carts with an SD card for example). I am no programmer but I am pretty sure there is a memory limit for games to work which I assume Pyrite 64 handles for you.
This leaves you open to realizing your game in a familiar environment (especially for Unreal and Unity Engine users).
Pyrite 64 blows the homebrew market wide open. No longer do you have to understand C++ or similar programming languages to make games for the Nintendo 64. Just place your objects, use the underlying coding system (Unreal Engine calls it Blueprints) to set behaviors and such and off you go.
New Nintendo 64 Games?
There are a couple of tech demos available for Pyrite 64 showing off some of what can be done. They look great, seem to run well, and offer in-game functions that devs might want to use in their games.
Pyrite 64 looks to revolutionize independent game development for the Nintendo 64 in a big way.
What is even more impressive is, absolutely no proprietary code was used to create Pyrite 64. This means Nintendo, nor any other company, can shut down Pyrite 64f in the future. This is great news for developers.
Are you going to check out Pyrite 64 on Github and try your hand at making a new Nintendo 64 game? Let me know in the comments below.