Watch the showcase on YouTube.
This Windows x64 and Apple Silicon Mac update adds adjustable Aqua water and event-based controller haptics. The HD textures and replacement soundtrack are included.
What's new
- Aqua water is the default. Lighter teal color and clearer shallows use the full modern rendering path, including wave interpolation, lighting, refraction, reflections, foam and wakes. Modern and Classic remain available.
- Three Aqua sliders: Water brightness, Aqua tint and Water clarity appear in Settings → Water when Aqua is selected. All default to 50%, preserving the reviewed preset. Press Apply to save changes.
- Controller haptics: distinct cues react to wave contacts, jumps and landings, collisions, crashes, correct/missed buoys, power gains, countdowns, laps and finishes. Events only is the default at 80% strength. Full adds continuous engine/water feedback; Off disables it.
- Haptics controls and lifecycle: strength, ambience and optional trigger vibration controls; feedback stops in pause/settings and when unfocused. Trigger vibration requires device/driver support; adaptive trigger resistance is not included.
- Complete enhanced package: 1,828 HD texture mappings across 1,806 images, nine replacement recordings, native rendering (Direct3D 12 on Windows, Metal on Mac) and required libraries. HD textures, Custom music and High water are enabled on a fresh install.
Existing explicit preferences and saves are preserved. To select the new look and feedback when upgrading, choose Settings → Water → Aqua and Settings → Haptics → Events only.
macOS: download and install
Download WaveRace64Recomp-0.4.0-macos.3-apple-silicon.zip, extract it, and drag WaveRace64Recomp.app to Applications. The companion .sha256 file verifies the download.
- Requires an Apple Silicon Mac (M1 or newer), macOS 15 or later. Intel Macs are not supported by this download. Homebrew and Xcode are not required.
- Supply your own Wave Race 64 (USA) (Rev A / v1.1)
.z64in the launcher. Required SHA-1:508dfc2d4caa42b6f6de5263d0aed5e44ac7966a. Other revisions and regions are incompatible. - The app is ad-hoc signed, not notarized. If macOS blocks the first launch, attempt to open it, then use System Settings → Privacy & Security → Open Anyway for this app if you trust the download.
- Settings and saves remain in
~/Library/Application Support/WaveRace64Recomp.
Keyboard controls: arrows steer, X accelerates, C is B, Enter is Start, and Escape opens settings. Controller remapping is available in the menu.
macOS: validation and source
All 84 automated tests passed, including settings defaults/persistence, conditional Aqua controls, haptic event envelopes, SDL output lifecycle, and bundled texture/music integrity. The renderer/runtime patches reconstruct byte-for-byte from the pinned dependencies. Native Mac testing verified DualSense motor output, a 2,301-tick haptics replay, and a 2,001-tick High/Aqua replay with clean exits. The haptics replay matched the prior physics trace at all 33 shared comparison checkpoints. The final release ZIP was extracted, its executable and bundled assets verified, and the extracted app completed a further 1,551-tick native race smoke test with a clean exit. Uploaded asset hashes match the local archive and checksum.
Testing was on an M3 Max running macOS 27. The app targets macOS 15, which has not been directly tested here. A requested 120 Hz presentation rate is not a guarantee of locked 120 FPS on every Mac or course. Full all-course playthrough coverage remains pending.
The archive contains installation instructions, BUILD.json with the exact source commit and executable checksum, asset manifests, dependency licenses and artwork/music credits. No ROM, original asset dumps, saves or personal settings are bundled.
Source and build instructions · Haptics guide · Mac installation guide
Windows x64: download and install
Download WaveRace64Recomp-0.4.0-windows-x64.zip, extract the entire ZIP to a writable folder, and run WaveRace64Recomp.exe. Keep the three DLLs and assets folder beside the executable. Build tools and WSL are not required. The companion .sha256 file verifies the archive; debug symbols are a separate optional download.
This new Windows build includes adjustable Aqua water and event-based haptics, alongside all 1,828 HD texture mappings and nine replacement recordings. Fresh defaults are High/Aqua water, all three Aqua sliders at 50%, HD textures, Custom music, and Events-only haptics at 80%. Existing preferences and saves are preserved; select Aqua and Events only manually if upgrading from different settings.
Supply your own Wave Race 64 (USA) (Rev A / v1.1) .z64 in the launcher (SHA-1: 508dfc2d4caa42b6f6de5263d0aed5e44ac7966a). No ROM, original asset dumps, saves, or personal settings are included. Settings and saves remain in %LOCALAPPDATA%\WaveRace64Recomp. Keyboard controls are arrows, X, C, Enter, and Escape, as above.
Windows validation: on an RTX 5090 using Direct3D 12, a fresh-settings High/Aqua Sunny Beach replay completed 2,000 ticks and exited cleanly. All 49 game-state checkpoints through tick 1410 matched the previous Windows build's Original-water replay. Audio capture confirmed game audio and replacement music mixing. Haptics traces recorded game events and nonzero motor levels. Fifteen focused tests, the Windows-native SDL virtual-controller output test, all 32 DXIL/SPIR-V shader compilations, patch reconstruction, and package integrity checks passed. Physical controller feedback and feel have not been verified here. Windows Vulkan playback, other GPU families, and full all-course coverage remain untested.
The ZIP includes INSTALLATION.md, BUILD.json with exact source and executable checksums, manifests, and credits. Windows source: 9041cc8 · Windows installation and validation · Windows build instructions · Haptics guide