Homebrew developer estebanpdn has released enhanced native ports of two beloved Legend of Zelda titles for the Nintendo 3DS: The Minish Cap and A Link to the Past. These fan-made versions offer significant improvements over the official Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console releases.
The port of The Minish Cap, originally a Game Boy Advance title, features a dual-screen display with the map and UI elements on the bottom screen, widescreen support, and touch controls. It also includes performance enhancements such as boosted clock speeds, better upscaling, and higher frame rates. A built-in randomizer mode is also available for added replayability.
Similar enhancements are present in the A Link to the Past port, which also includes turbo speeds and screenshot functionality. estebanpdn also recently released a 3DS port of Mario Kart 64, with plans for multiplayer support in a future update.
These fan projects are made possible through reverse engineering and decompilations of the original games, with users required to provide their own legally obtained ROMs. The developer has stated that support is not obligatory and development will continue regardless. These efforts follow a trend of advanced PC ports of Nintendo titles derived from similar decompilation projects, which have often met with Nintendo's disapproval.
An officially sanctioned new version of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is scheduled for release on November 5 for the Nintendo Switch 2.