Hercules Recompiled 0.5.4

• Fixed in 16:9: characters and objects in the side margins appeared only once they reached the 4:3 picture, e.g. the training sacks in the first level. They are now drawn in the margins too.
• Fixed in 16:9: with a lot of health the health bar split, and its end sat next to the emblem on the right. It now stays in one piece on the left.

Hercules Recompiled 0.5.3

• Fixed: semi-transparent effects now always use the original graphics. In the Pegasus level the light rays were solid dark bands or missing, and other glows and flashes could look wrong too.
• Debugging: with the texture inspector on, F4, the F5 key now freezes the picture. Point at an object, step through stacked objects with the mouse wheel or Tab and click to mark it. Marks are saved to texture_marks.txt.

Hercules Recompiled 0.5.2

• Fixed: without a German disc, the launcher and in-game menu text was too large. The HD download line ran off the screen and messages overlapped. This affected English and Italian discs most, French and Spanish a little.

Hercules Recompiled 0.5.1

• HD graphics are now downloaded after your first game: about 1.6 GB instead of a 4-hour build on your PC. A second language needs only a few MB more.
• The launcher language now picks the PAL release: English, French, German, Italian and Spanish discs all work. The launcher asks for the disc of the language you choose.
• Keyboard keys can be changed in the in-game menu, page Keys.
• Fixed: on a fresh install the HD graphics never started.
• Fixed: fast loading kept the scenery in SD. It is switched off for now.
• Fixed: Skip movies did nothing.
• Fixed: the launcher fell back to English after the first game.
• Fixed: HD scenery switched back on in the menu stayed SD until the next level.
• Fixed: accents in two-line level names touched the line above.
• Fixed on Linux: the HD download or build kept running after the launcher closed.

HD texture packs

HD replacement textures for the five PAL versions (SCES-00891 EN, -00892 FR, -00893 DE, -00894 IT, -00895 ES). The launcher downloads the pack matching the player's own disc; movies, sound and the game itself always come from that disc.

Hercules Recompiled 0.5.0

New in 0.5.0

• Updates in the launcher: new versions are found on start, with this changelog. Install and restart from the launcher; settings, saves, disc path and HD graphics stay.
• Options > General > Auto updates turns the check off.

Coming from 0.4.0 or older

Download once and unzip over your existing folder, so your HD graphics and saves stay. From now on updates come by themselves.

Also in this version

• In-game menu: Esc or Select + Start (HD, CRT, 16:9 / 4:3, volume, controls).
• Gamepads work in the game; the keyboard keeps working too.
• Fast loading: a level loads in about 2 seconds instead of 8.
• CONTROLS.md lists every key.

What you need

Your own copy of the German PAL release SCES-00893 (Disneys Hercules Action-Spiel, .cue + .bin). The download contains the game's program code translated to x86-64, but no graphics, sound, video or level data.

Windows SmartScreen: More info > Run anyway (the program is not signed). Checksums: SHA256SUMS.txt. Fan project, not affiliated with Disney or Sony.

Hercules Recompiled 0.4.0

New in 0.4.0

• In-game menu: Esc (gamepad: Select + Start). Pauses the game; switch HD characters / scenery / HUD, texture filter, 16:9 or 4:3, window or fullscreen, CRT picture, mask, glow, scanlines, colours and volume live; see all controls; resume or go back to the launcher. Changes are kept.
• Gamepads now work in the game (before, only in the launcher). Player 1 uses the first connected gamepad; the keyboard keeps working too.
• Fast loading (Options → General, on by default): the emulated CD runs 4× faster, so a level loads in about 2 seconds instead of 8.
• On-screen messages for shortcuts (fast forward, scanlines, …) are visible again.
• CONTROLS.md in the download lists every key and gamepad shortcut.

Still included

HD graphics made automatically from your disc after your first game, 1080p and higher, true 16:9, launcher in the style of the game's menus (DE/EN/FR/ES/IT), direct level start, save states, rewind, CRT simulation.

What you need

Your own copy of the German PAL release SCES-00893 (Disneys Hercules Action-Spiel, Redump dump as .cue + .bin). Other versions do not work. The downloads contain the game's program code translated to x86-64, but no graphics, sound, video or level data: those are read from your disc.

1. Unzip into a folder of its own.
2. Start Hercules_Recompiled.exe / ./Hercules_Recompiled.
3. Pick your .cue on first start.

Windows SmartScreen warns because the EXE is not signed: More info → Run anyway. Verify downloads with SHA256SUMS.txt. Fan project, not affiliated with Disney or Sony.

Hercules Recompiled 0.3.0

New: HD graphics are made automatically. After your first game the launcher builds the HD pack from your disc in the background, at low priority, while you keep playing in the original graphics.

You need your own copy of the game: the German PAL release SCES-00893 (Disneys Hercules Action-Spiel, Redump dump as .cue + .bin). US, Japanese and other PAL versions do not work. The downloads contain the game's program code translated to x86-64, but no graphics, sound, video or level data: those are read from your disc.

Downloads

• Windows 10/11 x64: hercules-recompiled-windows-x64.zip (one EXE, launcher built in)
• Linux x64 (glibc 2.35+): hercules-recompiled-linux-x64.zip

How to play

1. Unzip into a folder of its own.
2. Start Hercules_Recompiled.exe / ./Hercules_Recompiled.
3. Pick your .cue on first start (remembered in disc.cfg).
4. Choose a level: the game boots straight into it.

Windows SmartScreen warns because the EXE is not signed: More info → Run anyway.

HD graphics

• Starts after your first game; about 4 hours on a laptop CPU. Progress and time left on the main menu; pause/resume under Options → Graphics → HD graphics.
• Stops when you close the launcher and continues on the next start. When done, HD switches on by itself.
• Downloads about 400 MB once, from the official sources, each checked against a fixed SHA-256: a portable Python (python-build-standalone), PyTorch (CPU), spandrel, chainner_ext, and the upscaling models from their authors' releases (IllustrationJaNai, CC BY-NC-SA 4.0; HDcube). We don't redistribute them.
• Needs 6 GB free disk space while it runs; afterwards only the pack in mods/texture-packs/ stays.

Also included

1080p and higher, true 16:9, launcher in the style of the game's menus (DE/EN/FR/ES/IT), direct level start, save states with thumbnails, CRT simulation, gamepad/keyboard/mouse.

Windows is tested under Wine so far; reports from real Windows PCs are welcome. Verify downloads with SHA256SUMS.txt. Fan project, not affiliated with Disney or Sony.

Hercules Recompiled 0.2.0

First prebuilt release: download, unzip, start, pick your disc.

You need your own copy of the game: the German PAL release SCES-00893 (Disneys Hercules Action-Spiel, Redump dump as .cue + .bin). US, Japanese and other PAL versions do not work. The downloads contain the game's program code translated to x86-64, but no graphics, sound, video or level data: those are read from your disc.

Downloads

• Windows 10/11 x64: hercules-recompiled-windows-x64.zip (one EXE, launcher built in)
• Linux x64 (glibc 2.35+): hercules-recompiled-linux-x64.zip (SDL3 built in)

How to play

1. Unzip into a folder of its own.
2. Start Hercules_Recompiled.exe / ./Hercules_Recompiled.
3. Pick your .cue on first start (remembered in disc.cfg).
4. Choose a level: the game boots straight into it, with its intro video and title card.

Windows SmartScreen warns because the EXE is not signed: More info → Run anyway.

Features

• 1080p, true 16:9 widescreen
• Launcher in the style of the game's own menus (German, English, French, Spanish, Italian), artwork read from your disc
• Direct start into any level, intro and memory-card screens skipped
• Save states with thumbnails, CRT simulation, gamepad, keyboard and mouse

HD graphics (sprites, levels, HUD) are built from your disc with the source build; see the README.

Verify downloads with SHA256SUMS.txt. Fan project, not affiliated with Disney or Sony.