Super Mario 64 in HD

My solution involves N64 emulation on a computer. If you’re not familiar with Project 64, download it now. It’s the best N64 emulator to date and should run well on any moderate computer. The main goal here is to output your computers display to your big screen TV at maximum resolution (hence the HD factor). The equipment I’m using to get this done is below:

- 42” Toshiba Regza

- DVI to HDMI (computer to TV) cable.

- Macbook 6.1 (this can be replaced by any computer)

- Project 64 v1.6

- Super Mario 64 Rom

- PS3 Controller (optional)

Now that you have all the required components we can begin. First, connect your computers display to the TV. This can be done multiple ways. I use DVI to HDMI. Most computers today have a direct HDMI output slot. Next, launch Project 64. The first thing we are going to do here is configure our graphics plug-in. Follow the instructions below:

1. Go to options --> Configure Graphics Plugin

2. Set the Full Screen Resolution to the highest high-def widescreen resolution your TV supports. In my case, my resolution was set to 1280x720 32-bit @ 60 Hz. This can be translated to 720p.

3. The anisotropic filtering and full scene antialiasing will make the game look better the higher they are set. I would imagine that most computers these days could run both of these maxed at 16x and 8x respectively. If you find your game runs slow, turn these down. For now…max them out!

4. Super2xSal texture options will also make the game look better as well. Turn it on.

5. Your graphics configuration should look something like this:

Now that we’ve set up our graphics we can start playing the game. File --> open rom, and select your Mario 64 rom file (or any game you would like). Next go to options --> full screen, or hit alt + enter.

While the original flat textures do remain, there’s no question that Mario 64 has never looked better. Die hard N64 fans should find this extremely useful as it works for every game…including Zelda!