Nintendo’s Super Smash Bros. Ultimate can now be played natively on PC thanks to an unofficial open-source project that recompiles the Switch exclusive to work on Windows. Right now, the fan-made Super Smash Bros. Ultimate PC port can already run full matches at 60 FPS, though it remains an early work in progress.
Officially called OpenSmash-Ultimate, the project arrives during a sudden wave of native PC ports for console exclusive games. While static recompilation and decompilation aren’t new techniques, AI coding tools have dramatically accelerated recent projects, and OpenSmash’s creator is quite open about it. The developer has said AI coding agents wrote “almost all code” under their direction for this project. Similar efforts have recently targeted Hideo Kojima’s P.T., Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, God of War 3, and other massive games that would have otherwise never come to PC. Almost overnight, PC ports that were once pipe dreams, or would have taken a painstaking amount of time to complete, have started popping up left and right, with more on the horizon.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate Now Runs Natively on Windows
OpenSmash-Ultimate opened its doors to playtesters on October 19, 2026, and currently supports Smash Ultimate versions 13.0.4 and 13.0.5, which it accomplishes by translating the game’s AArch64 machine code into C before compiling it for Windows x64. Unlike traditional Switch emulation, the project doesn’t run a CPU interpreter or JIT while players fight. Instead, it recreates the Switch services the game needs and translates Nintendo’s NVN graphics API to Vulkan. Full matches have been measured at 60 FPS, and the port already supports controller remapping, resolution scaling, VSync settings, local saves, and experimental online play. All that being said, players still need their own copy of Smash Ultimate, as OpenSmash distributes no game files, assets, keys, or firmware.
Drag weapons to fill the grid
However, getting the game running is only part of the project’s ambition. OpenSmash is currently working toward rollback netcode, reduced input latency, a steady 60 FPS across every mode, and much easier modding. So far, most fighter move scripts have already been converted to readable C++, while online play currently repurposes Ultimate‘s Local Wireless mode over LAN or the internet, although it remains delay-based for now. Perhaps the most interesting part of this whole project may ultimately be less about getting Super Smash Bros. onto another platform, and more about what PC developers can do once the game’s code and mechanics are no longer trapped on the Switch.
That makes OpenSmash a particularly huge PC port, especially because Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is hardly an abandoned Nintendo game. As of June 30, 2026, it has sold 38.14 million copies, remains playable on the newly released Switch 2 through backward compatibility, and just received another official update in September. Ultimate certainly isn’t some forgotten piece of Nintendo history being rescued from old hardware in the name of game preservation. In fact, it is one of the company’s biggest and most commercially relevant games, even eight years after release.
That also leaves an obvious question hanging over OpenSmash’s future. The developers emphasize that the project contains no copyrighted game data and requires users to build the Windows version from their own dumped copy, but that doesn’t guarantee Nintendo will simply ignore it. Historically, the company has aggressively challenged projects that let its games run outside official hardware, and several recent fan-created Nintendo PC ports have already drawn attention, including Super Mario 64 and Link’s Awakening. For now, however, PC players have a native version of Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, but whether the project survives long enough to realize its bigger ambitions may be the more interesting fight.
- Released
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December 7, 2018
- ESRB
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E for Everyone: Cartoon Violence, Comic Mischief, Suggestive Themes
- Publisher(s)
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Nintendo
