02.01.99
Ever since the Nintendo 64 hit the market, people have been trying to create an emulator for PC's that captures the N64 accurately without glitches. All failed, until recently.

Two programmers recently finished UltraHLE. Created just to prove it could be done successfully, this minute bit of software, only 172kb in size, was finished in only three months. Naturally, Nintendo 64 ROM's must also be downloaded through the Internet to run with the emulator.

Not only does it faithfully emulate many N64 games on your home computer, with higher end machines, it improves upon them. Requiring 3Dfx hardware and Glide to work, UltraHLE makes many N64 games appear more detailed and smoother on your PC.

Games that work almost flawlessly with UltraHLE are Banjo-Kazooie, Bomberman Hero, Doom 64, F1 Pole Position 64, Goldeneye, Golden Nugget 64, Mace, Mario Kart 64, Milo's Astro Lanes, Quake 64, Rampage, Star Fox 64, Super Mario 64, Tetris 64, WaveRace 64, Wayne Gretzky's 3D Hockey, and The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Others are also supported, but don't run perfectly. More than 85 games are unplayable with UltraHLE.

"Sounds Great! Where can I download it?" You ask? The answer is, you can't. Or more accurately, you shouldn't be able to.

The program was released to many major emulation sites on Thursday, January 28th, 1999. Within four hours, the designers realized that things were already spiraling out of control. On one site, over 7000 people had downloaded the software and many N64 ROM's. The designers wanted only to promote their abilities, not down and out piracy. Nor did they want to get hit by a Nintendo lawsuit.

For now, the Interactive Digital Software Association, a non-government organization that combats software piracy, will start coming down on websites distributing UltraHLE. Unfortunately, with Pandora's Box already opened, halting its spread will be near impossible. Also, now that it's been proven it can be done, there are many that will seek to improve upon UltraHLE's model.

Emulation for a dead system that isn't actively produced by its manufacturer, like Atari 2600, is all fine and dandy. No one is losing any money, and it's more of a novelty than anything else. Emulating an active system steals money away from the company and there's nothing that corporations hate more than losing money. Hopefully for the designers and distributors of UltraHLE, this cat can be put back in the bag. If not, Nintendo will surely unleash the law-hounds to tear someone apart.