OpenTyrian

OpenTyrian on the Nintendo 64 is a homebrew port of the open source project OpenTyrian which is itself based on the Tyrian DOS game from 1995. There are two versions of it, one by Stefan Mielke from 16 May 2022 and another by Jnmartin84 on 20 May 2023.

You can download the ROMs from the download page by using the password shootinguptyrian, but the stefanmielke version is also available on github releases.. You can get the source code from Github here: jnmartin, stefanmielke.

Note: I couldn’t find a version of the Jnmartin84 one to share so I had to compile it myself, messing around with libdragon versions for several days. Thanks to gobbledygoober for help with sorting that out.

About OpenTyrian

OpenTyrian is an open-source port of the DOS game Tyrian.

Tyrian is an arcade-style vertical scrolling shooter. The story is set in 20,031 where you play as Trent Hawkins, a skilled fighter-pilot employed to fight MicroSol and save the galaxy.

Tyrian features a story mode, one- and two-player arcade modes, and networked multiplayer.

That’s the gist of it. Tyrian is known for its upgrade system similar to Raptor: Call of the Shadows, where you get money from defeating enemies and can use this money to improve your ship with a variety of different outfits.

It also has a ‘ship energy’ system where you have to manage your weapons and shields in order to conserve energy for when you need it. It’s kind of similar to Endless Sky’s energy/heat systems in that way.

Stefan Mielke version

This is the first version that was released, first on 16 May 2022 and then had an update on 20 May. It features a fully playable version of the game at a good framerate at a shorter 360×240 with no saves or sounds.

Jnmartin version

This version was released about a year later on 20 May 2023. This version also appears to be fully playable, but this time sacrificing some of the frame rate for full audio capabilities.

Review and conclusion

The conundrum between these two versions of OpenTyrian on the N64 mirrors that of Cave Story 64. You have two ports by different developers, one runs more smoothly but is silent while the other has sound but crawls at a snail’s pace. They’re both completely different developers too.

As for the game itself, I really do love OpenTyrian’s style. Like I mentioned before, it reminds me of Apogee’s Raptor in that it’s a shoot ’em up where your kills translate to cash you can use to upgrade your ship. It was one of those game I would play all the time with friends as a kid.

Unfortunately both games are missing something – Stefan Mielke’s version is missing sound and Jnmartin84’s is missing the framerate. Hopefully someday these issues can be resolved so that we can have an ultimate version of OpenTyrian that fixes all the issues.