Super Mario 64 now runs on the Microsoft Zune HD. Developer rsheldiii built the port on top of sm64ex, targeting hardware that shipped in 2009 and officially died on store shelves in 2012. The ROM is not included. You supply a legal cartridge dump, build the project from the GitHub repo, and load it yourself.
The technical work is the reason to read the full piece. The Zune HD runs an NVIDIA Tegra SoC, and the port uses Tegra's own shader pre-compilation tools to offload enough GPU work that the processor can sustain actual gameplay. Controls are mapped to a touchscreen overlay sitting on top of the game's video output. That is a real engineering constraint solved with a real tool, not a hack in the pejorative sense.
The Zune's afterlife keeps getting stranger. The community has already added Bluetooth and solid-state drive upgrades to a device Microsoft abandoned over a decade ago. SM64 playability is the latest addition to that list. The original article links both earlier hardware mods, which are worth reading alongside this port to understand how much headroom this forgotten device still has.
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