Need for Speed II: Special Edition
2 ports
OpenNFS
OpenNFS/OpenNFS
OpenNFS: a new engine, written from scratch in C++ with OpenGL and Bullet physics, that aims to recreate the classic Need for Speed games, the first through the fifth, by loading the cars, tracks, and music from their original files. It’s at an early stage. It reads, to varying degrees, the formats of the PC versions of Need for Speed II, II Special Edition, III: Hot Pursuit, High Stakes, and Porsche Unleashed (the last one still without a stable parser), and partly those of the PlayStation versions of II, III, and High Stakes; III for PC is the most complete, and the first Need for Speed doesn’t load yet. In 2026 it gained menus to pick a car, color, and track, skid marks, adjustable weather, and the High Stakes PC driving physics Bluv wrote for the Velocity project, which make the cars drivable. Its plans include each original game’s gameplay, configurable menus, automatic import of the games, an open world joining all the classic tracks, and multiplayer. Its last published release, 0.3 (July 14, 2020), is a build from late 2018; current builds come from its continuous integration for Windows, macOS, and Linux. The repository also includes the 11 sky textures of a Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit track, extracted from its sky.fsh file, which it uses for the cars’ reflections.
You needThe files from your own copy of Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit for PC (the gamedata and fedata folders), which are required; those of Need for Speed II, II Special Edition, High Stakes, and Porsche Unleashed for PC are optional. Plus Windows, macOS, or Linux; for the current version you have to build it or grab a build from its continuous integration.
Need for Speed II: Special Edition
zaps166/NFSIISE
A cross-platform port of Need for Speed II: Special Edition (1997) for Windows, Linux, and macOS (up to Mojave), plus Android. The game code is the original, taken as a disassembly: on x86 it’s reassembled with Yasm, and on other CPUs it uses a translation of that assembly to C++, which its author says is somewhat slower and less stable. Around it sits a wrapper written from scratch that replaces what the game asked of Windows: Glide graphics, 3dfx’s API, go to OpenGL (or OpenGL ES on Android), and network play runs over TCP and UDP. Game controllers, force feedback, serial-port connections, brightness, and sound work; modem play will never work again. During a race, F1 to F12 toggle rain, car detail, draw distance, each player’s HUD, the mirror, music, or sound effects. The latest release, 1.4.0, came out on March 16, 2024. The repository includes, as submodules, the disassembly of the game’s executable (NFSIISE-ASM) and its C++ translation (NFSIISE-CPP), plus the game’s text files in six languages adapted to the TCP version; the game data comes from your CD.
You needYour own Need for Speed II: Special Edition CD, from which you copy the fedata and gamedata folders (with the regular Need for Speed II you get a “MOVIE FILE NOT FOUND” message). Plus Windows XP or later, or x86 Linux with the 32-bit glibc, OpenGL, and X11 libraries; on Linux the files from the CD must be lowercase, and the package includes a script that renames them. On other CPUs, you build it with Clang as a 32-bit program.
Installs with
Questions
What projects are there for Need for Speed II: Special Edition?
The catalog has 2 ports for Need for Speed II: Special Edition, all on this page with their status.
What do I need to play it?
Your own copy of Need for Speed II: Special Edition (Windows). Recompendium only links projects that don’t distribute the game, and each entry says which version or region you need.
Which one is the most popular?
OpenNFS, with 864 stars on GitHub.