ContraLoWRecomp

Work-in-progress static-recompilation port of Contra: Legacy of War (PlayStation, USA release) targeting native Android (arm64 APK), built with psxrecomp-android — the game's own MIPS program is translated to C and compiled for the phone, not emulated.

Launcher-based: the APK contains no game data. On first launch the app's start menu asks you to Select game file and you pick your own .cue + .bin dump. That is also what makes this repository safe to publish: nothing from the disc is ever committed here.

Unofficial, non-commercial fan project for personal use. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Konami or Appaloosa Interactive. No disc image, BIOS (beyond the MIT-licensed OpenBIOS), saves, or disc-derived code is distributed by this repository. The engine is PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0: personal, non-commercial use only.

Verified disc

Field	Value
Game	Contra: Legacy of War (USA)
Serial	SLUS-00288
Boot program	SLUS_002.88 (610,304 bytes), entry 0x800513E4
Tracks	12 (1 data + 11 CDDA audio)
Data track MD5	15a2a2759e8e2db4d85022a2c7aebe1e
Data track SHA-1	71469e048f0f6f0680356652ea8ec5bf4ce9cc7a

Put your legally obtained dump (.cue + all track .bin files) at disc/ (gitignored). Other dumps of the same serial usually work too.

Build (Windows host)

Clone / keep this repository at a short path (for example C:\psx\ContraLoWRecomp). The engine's source tree contains file paths that overflow Windows' 260-character MAX_PATH limit inside a deeply nested folder — the recompiler build fails with Filename longer than 260 characters if the checkout sits too deep.

Requires PowerShell 7 (winget install Microsoft.PowerShell), Python 3, Java 17+, and an Android SDK with NDK 28.2.13676358 + CMake 3.22.1 (ANDROID_HOME set). The first recompiler build downloads a portable llvm-mingw (~190 MB) into tools-cache\; the first APK build downloads Gradle 8.12 and SDL3 (pinned by SHA-256). Nothing is installed into Windows.

# 0. once: fetch the engine submodule
git submodule update --init --depth 1

# 1. Build the recompiler from the pinned psxrecomp worktree (5-10 min)
pwsh tools\build-recompiler.ps1

# 2. Generate the game's C code from your disc (disc\ must hold your dump)
pwsh tools\regen.ps1

# 3. Android APK (arm64, launcher-style: no disc embedded)
pwsh tools\build-apk.ps1          # add -Play for the faster "play" build

The APK lands in apk\. Install it (adb install <apk>), copy your .cue + .bin files to the phone (e.g. Download\contralow_recomp), open the app, Select game file, pick the .cue, then Play.

What's here

Path	Purpose
game.toml	the game's configuration (boot program, memory layout, controller, video)
seeds/	code entry points the recompiler starts from (first pass from the boot EXE)
disc_probe.json, catalog_identity.json	disc identity + digests from the probe
android/	the Android app project (package com.psxrecomp.contralow)
CMakeLists.txt	native build glue: generated code + the psxrecomp runtime
psxrecomp/	the engine, as a git submodule (dguillot-gh/psxrecomp-android, branch android)
tools/	build-recompiler / regen / build-apk / icon scripts
boxart-name.txt	the cover's name in libretro-thumbnails (for the app icon)
disc/, generated/, saves/	your dump, generated code, memory cards — gitignored, never committed

Status

• Disc probed: SLUS-00288, boot EXE + 811 first-pass seeds
• Android app generated from the psx-android template (launcher start menu)
• Recompiler built (llvm-mingw 20260922, codegen hash 521a0d1e)
• Game code generated from the disc: 35 shards, 1,338,523 lines, 2,317-entry dispatch table
• APK builds (arm64, 10.1 MB — runtime + OpenBIOS only, no disc data)
• Boots on device (Pixel-class arm64 phone, launcher start menu → Play)
• Gameplay verified — incl. the OVER8 select-player freeze (2-arg memset dispatched with a garbage fill length, clobbered the kernel dispatch stubs): fixed by the runtime's a0_memset_len shim ([runtime] a0_memset_len_sites / a0_memset_len); Mission 1 playable
• 16:9 widescreen (present-time stretch, software renderer — the game itself stays 4:3)
• Playtest aid: [runtime] cheat_freeze_addrs/values (GameShark-style per-frame constant writes) — currently armed with infinite lives/continues + invincibility; delete those lines to play fair

Known issues

• The in-game menu's "GPU (experimental)" renderer draws 3D gameplay with broken colors on Adreno (the GL framebuffer diverges from CPU VRAM — ~10k words, texture/CLUT staging coherency; FMV and 2D screens are fine). Use the software renderer (default) — it holds 60 FPS.

Credits

• mstan/psxrecomp and the psxrecomp-android Android layer (PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0)
• psx-android build scripts and app template (MIT) — tools/ here are adapted from it
• OpenBIOS (MIT) — the free PS1 BIOS the app boots
• SDL (zlib)