How to find decompilation projects: the best places to look

A useful decompilation project search starts with the original program, game or device you care about. Then narrow the search by the kind of work: reproducing a binary, recreating behavior, documenting hardware or building a compatible replacement. Those goals need different skills and often use different vocabulary.

Browse DecompHub’s project catalogue to search across categories, then follow each listing’s repository link to check its current documentation. DecompHub is an independent directory. Inclusion is not an endorsement by a project’s maintainers, and a public repository is not automatically an open-source license grant.

Start with project communities

For an overview, decomp.dev collects matching-decompilation progress reports, while Decompedia organizes community knowledge and platform resources. Use these to find a project’s current home, then verify its claims in the linked upstream documentation. A directory and a source repository answer different questions.

These are useful starting points, rather than an exhaustive list:

• zeldaret hosts Zelda reverse-engineering projects. Its Ocarina of Time repository documents supported game versions and the build process. Check the version you want before comparing reports.
• doldecomp collects GameCube and Wii work, including Melee, Super Mario Sunshine and Mario Kart: Double Dash. Follow any repository migration notice to the current home.
• pret hosts Pokémon projects, including both disassemblies and decompilations. The distinction matters: a reconstruction in assembly and a reconstruction in C can serve related goals without using the same workflow.
• n64decomp/sm64 is a concrete example of a decompilation repository with version-specific build instructions. Its requirements are a better guide to getting started than a third-party tutorial written for a different fork.

For a wider search, explore games, software, firmware and hardware research. A reverse-engineering directory can contain documentation and compatibility projects as well as matching decompilations; read the work-type tags rather than treating everything as the same activity.

Search GitHub with more precise terms

Use the original title alongside words such as decompilation, disassembly, reimplementation or reverse engineering. GitHub’s repository search documentation explains qualifiers for topics, languages, organizations and forks. Try these repository searches:

• topic:decompilation for repositories whose maintainers assigned that topic.
• decompilation in:name,description to search the repository’s identity and summary.
• "reverse engineering" firmware in:description for a narrower hardware-oriented starting point.
• org:doldecomp to inspect a known community’s repositories.

Add fork:true when you also want forks. Forks can contain useful ports, experiments or continuation work; inspect their relationship to the upstream project. A search hit is a lead, not proof of eligibility or completeness. On other hosts such as GitLab, begin with the title and follow the project’s official links rather than assuming an identically named mirror is authoritative.

Check whether a result fits your purpose

Open the repository and answer four questions:

1. What is being reconstructed? Look for a named target, supported version, compatibility goal or concrete hardware documentation.
2. What is available? Distinguish readable source, documentation, build instructions and a usable release. A progress badge alone does not answer all four.
3. What does the license say? If you specifically need OSS you can reuse, check the actual license. The Open Source Initiative’s definition includes distribution and modification rights, not just access to source. DecompHub may list projects whose license is not specified; that label is not a license assessment.
4. Where is the evidence? Prefer the official repository, documentation and a linked progress report. Follow relocation notices, and check whether a claimed percentage applies to one build or the entire project.

Stars are a discovery signal, not a correctness or completion score. A small project can be well documented; a famous one may require a toolchain you cannot run. Use I can help to narrow choices by your available systems, then verify the upstream instructions.

Keep a short, useful shortlist

Save the repository URL, target, work type and one concrete next action for each candidate. Examples of next actions are reading its contribution guide, reproducing a documented build or checking an unsupported device. This makes a shortlist actionable without relying on popularity rankings.

For a concrete route through the catalogue, use the GitHub search guide, game shortlist or guide to finding active projects. If you already have a title in mind, follow the favorite-game search workflow.

If a relevant repository is missing, submit its official link. Discovery enters review before publication. For interpreting the numbers you find, read how decompilation progress reports work; for the next step, use the contributor guide.