OpenPete — A Native PC Port of Spyro the Dragon
Following our recent coverage of CTR Native, here is another treat for PlayStation 1 fans: the OpenPete project is developing a native PC port of Spyro the Dragon, the iconic 3D platformer featuring the adventures of a little purple dragon named Spyro (a name Pete was chosen in reference to an early working title for the character). OpenPete functions by decompiling the original game's executable code into C, utilizing PsyCross—an open-source alternative to the Psy-Q SDK—as its runtime environment.
A key feature of the project is the correction of graphical artifacts typical of PS1 games. The renderer reads data directly from the game’s internal state rather than from a stream of commands intended for the GPU. This allows the engine to "understand" the geometry—recognizing actual polygons rather than just their 2D screen-space coordinates—which grants full control over the rendering process. Consequently, the game can be rendered with proper depth, arbitrary aspect ratios, and high resolution, while completely eliminating the characteristic PS1 "jitter" (wobbly vertices) and texture distortion—though these effects can be toggled back on if you wish to preserve an authentic retro atmosphere. OpenPete also supports modding, including custom shaders, texture packs, and music.
The project does not distribute pre-compiled binaries; to build the game, you must provide your own disc image of Spyro the Dragon (NTSC-U). Simply run openpete-spyro1.exe and drag your disc image files (BIN + CUE) into the application window. A native version of the game will be generated, after which openpete-spyro1.exe will automatically launch it from then on. Pressing the Escape key while in-game opens a settings menu where you can toggle various effects.
