Nintendo 64 classic now available on PC, and you can grab it for free

An all-time Nintendo 64 classic is now available to play natively on PC and it’s totally free.

When it comes to protecting its IPs, it doesn't get much more obsessive than Nintendo. Over the years we’ve seen fan-made projects taken down by the Japanese giant and even the developers of Palworld have felt the wrath of its lawyers.

Check out the Starfox 64 3D trailer below!

That being said, Nintendo has rightly defended its IPs from ROM websites that attempt to make a profit over its properties resulting in million-dollar lawsuits.

However, it can be said that Nintendo doesn't help matters when it seems reluctant to make some of its classic titles available to buy on the current eShop, unlike what we’ve seen with the fantastic (and now dead) Wii U digital store.

Instead, Nintendo fans have to rely on being drip-fed classic titles with the NSO subscription service hoping that a beloved game will be the next inclusion of the ever-expanding library. Like seriously Nintendo, release those classic Pokémon games already.

If you are a PC gamer, there are ways to play classic titles via emulation which is the best way to experience games that publishers seemingly never want to revive, such as the Capcom multiplayer game, Resident Evil Outbreak.

Yet, what if we told you that you could play a beloved Nintendo 64 game natively on PC, that would be awesome, right? Well, as reported by DSOgaming, that’s exactly what we can get with Star Fox 64 (known as Lylat Wars in Europe), originally released in 1997.

It’s worth noting that this native PC port of Star Fox 64 has had its name changed to Starship, likely in an attempt to dodge Nintendo lawyers. What’s more, this game's best move to avoid Nintendo’s wrath is that all the assets of Starship are original and not copyrighted.

Furthermore, you will need the official ROM file to play Starship, which is another step to avoid any effort by Nintendo to take down this project. Whether Nintendo comes after this project and finds a way to take it down, remains to be seen.

If you want to play the official version of Star Fox 64, it is included in the Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion tier.