The Verge's coverage highlights a growing movement of reverse-engineered classic games. Through decompilations and recompilations, titles like Halo, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and Lego Racers are being ported to web browsers, PCs, and other modern platforms, freeing them from original hardware and proprietary code.
These projects are unofficial and sit in a legal gray area. The Verge notes that Nintendo, for instance, is unlikely to be happy about Zelda running on non-Nintendo hardware. Still, the community continues to produce notable feats, such as a 128-player Halo in a browser and a browser-based Lego Racers remake with split-screen and online multiplayer.
AI tools are also playing a role in some of these efforts, which The Verge says is a "non-starter" for some people due to ethical and environmental concerns. The roundup includes examples like a Vision Pro port of Half-Life: Alyx made possible in part by Valve's ARM port and assistance from Claude.