A while back, self-described modder turned software developer Darío released a mod that added full ray-tracing to Super Mario 64. For those unfamiliar with the technique, to put it simply it can add very realistic looking lighting to games. Of course, it’s a modern technique that’s becoming more common with the latest generation of consoles, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t look good on older games too. Now, that same modder Darío has shown off an N64 emulator plugin that can seemingly add ray tracing to any game on the console. “I’d like to reveal that RT64, the path tracer behind sm64rt, is evolving into an N64 emulator plugin,” wrote Darío on Twitter. “Here’s a small reel of footage I’ve captured from games that are already showing results. Ray traced lighting, object motion blur, widescreen, DLSS and 60+ FPS.” Starting off the reel is the classic Ocarina of Time, though the effect is a little subte due to the quite bright lighting of Kokiri Forest. If you look in the clip, the most notable case of real time shadows would be the plank bridge, which aren’t in the original game. Even more subtle is the next game shown off, Paper Mario, but it really does look good with the shadows, adding a lot of depth to the original game. A few other games were shown off too, like Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, and Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon. Classic snowboarding game Snowboard Kids was also included, which looked particularly good with the improved lighting. As noted by Darío, the mod will also include things like object motion blur, widescreen, DLSS, and 60+ FPS, all of which adds up to some good looking games.
