Dead or Alive 3 ported natively to PC, up to 4K
By Tgames · · 2 min read
2026 update: Lost Odyssey has now been recompiled natively too, for PC, Mac, Linux, Android and Switch; the full story is in our news story Lost Odyssey recompiled natively for PC, Mac, Linux, Android, Switch.
Dead or Alive 3, the original Xbox fighting game, runs natively on Windows thanks to a static recompilation: 4K, widescreen and 3D sound, in alpha.
A port by recompilation
The project doa3-re ports Dead or Alive 3, released on the original Xbox in 2001, to Windows, with macOS and Linux versions to build yourself. This is not emulation: the game's program is recompiled to C, then linked to a hand-written environment that replaces the Xbox kernel, Direct3D 8 and DirectSound. The long-term goal: rewrite the game as readable source code.
Two alpha versions
What you need
Good to know
This is an alpha: not all Story mode endings have been tested, and widescreen stretches the interface. The author states that they rely heavily on AI for the code and the game analysis, a divisive topic: it has just pushed decomp.dev to close its leaderboard. The same method has already produced Forza Horizon recompiled on PC. To emulate the console, see xemu 0.8.138.
Sources: doa3-re (GitHub) · Version 0.2 · Version 0.1
Dead or Alive 3, the original Xbox fighting game, runs natively on Windows thanks to a static recompilation: 4K, widescreen and 3D sound, in alpha.
A port by recompilation
The project doa3-re ports Dead or Alive 3, released on the original Xbox in 2001, to Windows, with macOS and Linux versions to build yourself. This is not emulation: the game's program is recompiled to C, then linked to a hand-written environment that replaces the Xbox kernel, Direct3D 8 and DirectSound. The long-term goal: rewrite the game as readable source code.
Two alpha versions
- 0.1 (9 October 2026): the game boots and is playable. Intro, menus, Story mode up to the final fight against Omega, Time Attack, Watch and Sparring, at 60 Hz. Rendering moves to Direct3D 11, up to 4K, with MSAA, SMAA and a widescreen mode; sound goes through XAudio2, with the Xbox's 3D sound.
- 0.2 (10 October): the game's lighting, which was missing. Fighters and stages finally get their lights, shading and reflections. Saves survive a crash, and the display stays at 60 Hz on high refresh rate screens.
What you need
- Your own disc of Dead or Alive 3, US version (NTSC), as an ISO: other regions are rejected. No game files are provided.
- 64-bit Windows 10 or 11, Python 3.12, CMake and Visual Studio 2022: the game is recompiled on your PC from your disc, in 10 to 20 minutes the first time.
Good to know
This is an alpha: not all Story mode endings have been tested, and widescreen stretches the interface. The author states that they rely heavily on AI for the code and the game analysis, a divisive topic: it has just pushed decomp.dev to close its leaderboard. The same method has already produced Forza Horizon recompiled on PC. To emulate the console, see xemu 0.8.138.
Sources: doa3-re (GitHub) · Version 0.2 · Version 0.1
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