CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrowRecomp

Native static recompilation of Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (GBA, USA) into a standalone Windows executable, built on the GBARecomp framework.

---

What "static recompilation" means here

The ARM7TDMI (ARM/Thumb) game code from the original cartridge is translated offline into C++ translation units in src/game/, then compiled to native code.

The rest of the GBA is emulated as hardware by the shared GBARecomp runtime:

• PPU (tile / bitmap modes, OBJ, blending, windows)
• DMA, timers, interrupts, keypad
• APU / Direct Sound
• Cartridge save (SRAM, signature SRAM_F_V102)
• BIOS (recompiled LLE path)

Recompile the CPU, emulate the silicon.

---

Current status

Cleanup status (2026-10-01): BLOCKED: framework reproducibility. See KNOWN_ISSUES.md for the dependency provenance blocker, final artifact removal, and Git history audit. Build and ROM-derived sources were deleted in the 2026-10-02 follow-up; restore SDL2 with scripts/setup-sdl2.ps1 and regenerate guest code before building. The checks below reflect earlier project status; they were not rerun during this cleanup.

• Boots through BIOS intro and Konami logo to title
• New game and opening story (Game Mode 0x04)
• Character movement, status / equipment menu
• SRAM save (CASTLEVANIA2-010) written next to the ROM
• Room / map tables update during exploration
• High static coverage on a typical session (no interpreter bridge in the common path)

---

Quick start (you supply the ROM)

[!IMPORTANT] Legal notice. This repository does not include any Nintendo ROM data, GBA BIOS, or other copyrighted game assets. Provide your own legally obtained dumps.

Verified ROM

Field	Value
Game	Castlevania: Aria of Sorrow (USA)
File name	Castlevania - Aria of Sorrow(US)(Konami)(64Mb).gba
Size	8,388,608 bytes
Game code	A2CE
CRC32	35536183
SHA1	ABD71FE01EBB201BCC133074DB1DD8C5253776C7
Save type	SRAM 32 KiB (SRAM_F_V102)

BIOS

Provide a GBA BIOS dump as gba_bios.bin (16,384 bytes) when launching.

One-click rebuild from your ROM

# Required on a fresh checkout: regenerate guest code from YOUR ROM:
.\scripts\generate.ps1 -Rom "path\to\your.gba"

# Build the player using locally regenerated guest code:
.\build.ps1

generate.ps1 runs gba_recompile into src/generated/, then scripts/split_generated.py writes functionally named units under src/game/. Raw shards in src/generated/ stay local and are gitignored.

Run

.\run.ps1 -Rom "path\to\your.gba" -Bios "path\to\gba_bios.bin"

Or run the executable directly from the project root:

.\build\Release\CastlevaniaAriaOfSorrowRecomp.exe --rom "path\to\your.gba" --bios "path\to\gba_bios.bin" --window

Place SDL2.dll next to the executable (staged automatically by build.ps1 when using the bundled vendor path).

---

Controls

Action	Keyboard
Move	Arrow keys
Attack	Z
Jump	X
L / R	A / S
Start	Enter
Select	Backspace

---

Project layout

src/host/desktop.cpp          Desktop host entry (GUI subsystem, no auto-input)
src/game/                     Local, ignored ROM-derived translation units
src/framework/                Shared recompiler ABI headers
config/game.toml              Function seeds / code-copy map used at generation
scripts/generate.ps1          gba_recompile + split into src/game modules
scripts/split_generated.py
scripts/rebuild_from_rom.ps1
build.ps1

src/game/ is generated locally and excluded from the current Git index. Generate it from your own ROM dump using scripts/generate.ps1. Older Git history still contains these files; see KNOWN_ISSUES.md.

---

Prerequisites

• Windows 10/11 x64
• Visual Studio 2022+ with C++ desktop workload (MSVC, CMake)
• GBARecomp built locally (GBARECOMP_ROOT)
• SDL2 (VC development package) for the game window
• Your own GBA ROM and BIOS dumps

---

Third-party

SDL2 and GBARecomp attributions: see THIRD_PARTY.md.

License

PolyForm Noncommercial License 1.0.0 — see LICENSE.

You may use and share this project for noncommercial purposes. Commercial use requires a separate license from the copyright holder.

Nintendo, Castlevania, and Aria of Sorrow are trademarks of their respective owners. This project is an unofficial technical study and is not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo or Konami.