BlueWake (The Wind Waker PC port)

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker came out on the GameCube in 2002 in Japan and 2003 elsewhere, and was remade as Wind Waker HD for the Wii U in 2013. Neither version was released on PC. BlueWake (repository chrissotraidis/bluewake, titled “The Wind Waker Recompiled”) started as an iPhone and iPad port and had its first GitHub release on 29 September 2026; it then absorbed Elliott Tate’s Windows-focused fork, Wind Waker Recomp, in early October. XDA Developers and TheGamer covered that fork’s Windows release on 1 October 2026.

This site is not affiliated with the BlueWake team or Nintendo.

What it is

• A static recompilation: the game’s PowerPC code, the main program and all 415 of its modules, is translated into native code ahead of time (x86-64 or arm64). Nothing is compiled while you play, so no JIT is needed; a few rare instructions fall back to an interpreter.
• A Dolphin-derived runtime handles the hardware around the CPU: graphics, audio, memory card and timing. The README says plainly that this is not an “emulation-free” rewrite. It builds on the project’s forks of RecompCore and DolRecomp with the Aurora renderer, and uses the zeldaret/tww decompilation for research.
• Extras, according to the README and release notes:
  • render resolution up to 4×, 16× anisotropic filtering and widescreen (16:9, 16:10, 21:9)
  • HD texture packs, including one you can import from your own Wind Waker HD game
  • an optional “Wind Waker HD look” (bloom, distant islands, cloud shadows), off by default
  • Better Wind Waker options such as Swift Sail and instant text
  • experimental Smooth Motion, which renders in-between frames for 60, 120 or up to 240 FPS while the game logic stays at its original 30
  • touch controls with a layout editor, controllers with remapping and gyro aiming, keyboard and mouse
  • save states and a developers’ stage select on desktop

It works like the other recompilations in our recompiled games list: the game’s own code runs as a native program rather than in an emulator’s CPU core.

Current status

What has been tested, per the README: the opening and prologue, Outset Island, sailing, Windfall, a late-game Hyrule save, menus and saving. Later dungeons and boss fights are largely untested. For v0.8.0, the maintainer says the Mac build loaded 446 of the 468 places in the stage select; the rest were test rooms, known crash rooms and scenes his save had not reached.

Known problems listed for v0.8.0: clouds and the HD look can flicker with Smooth Motion above 60 FPS on some PCs, two Wind Temple rooms need an opt-in switch to load from the stage select, and busy scenes can run below full speed on slower CPUs, including the Steam Deck. The README adds brief stalls when changing areas. The Tingle Tuner is not supported, because it needs a linked Game Boy Advance.

Releases have come every few days: 0.5.0 (5 October) was the first Windows build made from BlueWake itself, 0.7.0 (10 October) was mostly speed work, and 0.8.0 added the HD look, the HD texture import and the experimental Android build. The repository had 77 open issues when we checked.

What you need

• A disc image of your own US disc: GZLE01, revision 0, as ISO or GCM. Other regions and the Wii U HD version are refused. We do not explain how to obtain or copy game data.
• Windows: Windows 10 or 11 and a CPU with AVX2 (Intel Haswell or AMD Ryzen and newer). Direct3D 12 is best; v0.8.0 falls back to Direct3D 11 on older GPUs, which the maintainer had not yet been able to test.
• iPhone or iPad: an A13 or newer device on iOS or iPadOS 17 or later with Developer Mode on, an Apple silicon Mac with Xcode and about 25 GB free, and an Apple ID to sign the app (a free one works, but apps signed with it expire after seven days).
• Mac, Linux, Android: the build tools described in the project’s guides, and time: the README warns the first build can take well over an hour.

How to install (overview)

The project’s README has the exact steps; in short:

• Windows: download the Windows build from the official GitHub Releases page, unpack the whole folder, run BlueWake.exe and choose your disc image on first launch.
• iPhone and iPad: use the maintainer’s PadMint tool on an Apple silicon Mac. It takes the app from the latest release, which contains no game code, and adds the game code translated from your disc. You then sideload the result with Sideloadly, AltStore, SideStore or Xcode, and copy the same disc image to the device.
• Mac, Linux and Android: build from the source with the project’s scripts and your disc. There is no ready-made download for these; the Android notes say a ready-made APK would hold game code.

Saves are kept in a separate folder (%APPDATA%\BlueWake on Windows), so updating over the old version keeps them. In-game saves from Dolphin can be imported on iPhone and iPad.

What the downloads contain

The Windows build is the exception to “bring everything yourself”. Its release notes say it includes the game code translated from the maintainer’s own disc and nothing else from the game, and the project’s rights document says it will be taken down if the rights holder asks. It still reads all graphics, sound and world data from your disc image. The iPhone and iPad app on the Releases page has no game code; the apps you build yourself do, and the project asks players never to share or upload them.

Wind Waker Recomp (elliotttate) and other versions

• Wind Waker Recomp (elliotttate/Wind-Waker-Recomp) is not BlueWake’s predecessor but a source fork of BlueWake, created on the same day (28 September 2026). Elliott Tate added the Windows port, Direct3D 12 rendering, Smooth Motion, camera and gameplay options; its Windows release (up to v0.4.0) is what the press covered on 1 October. On 4 October 2026 its releases were unpublished and its issues moved, and the work now lives in BlueWake with his authorship kept. BlueWake 0.5.0 and later replace it, and Windows saves carry over. The repository is still up, with a notice pointing to BlueWake.
• Wind Waker HD: BlueWake cannot use the Wii U disc. The separate ZeldaWWHDRecomp project recompiles the USA or European Wii U version for Windows, macOS (Apple silicon), Linux and Android, with graphics on Metal or Vulkan. It was at v0.3.0 (15 October 2026), which added story quest mods and a mod SDK. Its README says its releases contain no game code, assets or keys: the game is built on your computer from a dump of your own Wii U disc on first start. It is a different team and licence (MPL-2.0). It is listed in our recompiled games list.
• zeldaret/tww is the Wind Waker decompilation project. It is source code for research and future ports, not a ready-to-play port.

Was it made with AI?

Partly, and the project says so. The README states that BlueWake is developed with substantial AI assistance for code, testing, documentation and debugging, and points to its plan and priorities files as the record of what has actually been checked. TheGamer’s coverage of Wind Waker Recomp also pointed this out.

Is it official, and will it stay up?

• BlueWake is an unofficial fan project, not affiliated with or endorsed by Nintendo.
• We found no takedown. On 20 October 2026 the repository and its releases were online, and GitHub’s public DMCA archive had no notice naming BlueWake or Wind Waker Recomp. The two Nintendo notices from 1 October 2026 there concern unrelated repositories.
• Because the Windows build contains translated game code, it is more exposed than ports whose downloads contain none; the project itself says it would remove the build on request. The source and the build-your-own route would not be affected by that alone.
• Get it only from the official GitHub repository. The README says the Windows build is not code-signed, so antivirus programs may flag a new release; it recommends checking the zip against the release’s SHA256SUMS file.

Not working?

Check the README’s FAQ first. If BlueWake.exe does nothing on Windows, the most common cause it lists is a CPU without AVX2; otherwise run it from the fully unpacked folder and attach the newest session log from %APPDATA%\BlueWake\logs to an issue. Don’t delete that folder to troubleshoot, because it holds your saves. If the build refuses your disc, it is not the US revision 0 release. Bugs go to BlueWake’s issue tracker, not Wind Waker Recomp’s. Other ports of Nintendo games: A Link to the Past, Animal Crossing and Super Mario Galaxy.

Unofficial. This page is written by an independent directory. It is not made by, endorsed by or affiliated with Nintendo or Chris Sotraidis (chrissotraidis) and Elliott Tate (elliotttate) (BlueWake (The Wind Waker PC port)'s author). We do not host any files, and we never link to game files, ROMs or ISOs.