Knuckles' Chaotix

Game: Knuckles' Chaotix (32X / Super 32X, 1995)

A static recompilation of the 32X game to C++: the code for the 68000 and both SH-2s is translated ahead of time, and a small compatibility layer (32X and Mega Drive registers, both VDPs, interrupts, timers, and sound chips) plus an SDL3 frontend turn it into a native program. It needs no 32X BIOS. It boots, the menus work, and the levels are playable with sound. Levels get true widescreen: the game’s own renderer is extended to draw tiles, objects, and sprites in the extra area, from 4:3 up to 2:1, and the center 320 pixels stay identical to the original, which a test checks; outside levels it stays 4:3. It adds its own menu with TIME ATTACK, which drops you into any level with the options of the stage-select screen the game carries but never shows, per-player controls for two players, 22 local achievements, cheats (99 rings, speed shoes, and Action Replay codes), separate music and effects volumes, music replacement with WAV files, and touch controls. There are builds for Windows, which the author has built and played, for x64 Linux, tested only under WSL, and for Android. The latest is 0.4.5 (October 21), which makes the special stages run as recompiled code. 81 of its 89 commits list Claude as a co-author.

You needYour own Knuckles' Chaotix (Japan, USA) ROM, SHA-1 0c2fff7bc79ed26507c08ac47464c3af19f7ced7; on first launch it’s verified and copied into the program’s data folder. No 32X BIOS is needed. Plus 64-bit Windows, or x64 Linux with glibc 2.35 or later (the release is built on Ubuntu 22.04). Building it requires CMake 3.20 or later, a C++17 compiler, SDL3, and SDL_ttf.

How it gets to PC

Static recompilation

Console

Sega 32X / Super 32X

Architecture

68000 + SH-2 x2

Author

YuutaTsubasa

Original studio

Sega

Year

1995

Stars

60

Last activity

2026-10-31 · today

Latest version

v0.15.15 · 2026-10-31

License

MIT

Language

C++