Halo 64 Port Turns Blood Gulch Into A Nintendo 64 Split Screen Match

October 26, 2026 - 07:17

Twenty five years after Halo Combat Evolved redefined console shooters on the original Xbox, a fan project has moved its multiplayer suite onto the Nintendo 64. Halo 64, created by Jack Tulli and available on GitHub, runs the original game's objects, physics, collision detection, weapons, game types, HUD and pathfinding on the N64's VR4300 processor. Maps come from a player's own Xbox disc image. A new renderer, menu system, HUD drawing and sound layer sit on top of libdragon and tiny3d. The end result is a local multiplayer extravaganza in which you can compete with pals in split screen mode.

The project is a technical achievement that few would have thought possible on 1990s hardware. The N64's limited memory and processing power were never designed for a game of Halo's scope, yet the port manages to preserve the core feel of the original. Weapons behave as expected, vehicles and collision systems function, and the iconic Blood Gulch map is playable in split screen with friends. Tulli's work relies on libdragon and tiny3d to handle rendering and audio, while the game logic itself is adapted from the original code. Players must supply their own Xbox disc image to access the maps, which keeps the project in a legal gray area but avoids distributing copyrighted assets. The release has drawn attention from retro gaming enthusiasts and Halo fans alike, many of whom see it as a fascinating proof of concept. It remains to be seen how far development will go, but for now Halo 64 offers a strange and impressive way to revisit a classic shooter on hardware that predates it by a generation.