# DragonMinded/libdragon

Open source library for N64 development.

Repository: https://github.com/DragonMinded/libdragon
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/libdragon
Homepage: https://libdragon.dev
Language: C
License: Unlicense
License Family: permissive
Last push: 2026-08-26T00:29:19+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 67/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 99, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 5817, "days_push": 8, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1231, forks 166 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:04.204440+00:00)

## What it is
Libdragon is an open-source SDK for Nintendo 64 homebrew development, built on a modern GCC toolchain with full C11 support. It provides accelerated 2D graphics via the RDP (rdpq), an RSP-accelerated audio mixer, and tooling for building and running N64 ROMs on emulators and flash cartridges.

## Use cases
- write homebrew games for the Nintendo 64 in C
- build N64 ROMs with a modern GCC toolchain
- draw accelerated 2D sprites with rotation and zoom on N64
- play WAV and Opus-compressed music and sound effects on N64
- develop N64 code that runs on both vanilla N64 and iQue Player
- convert PNG images into N64 sprite assets with quantization and dithering

## When to choose
- you want to develop N64 homebrew without the proprietary libultra SDK
- you prefer a modern C11 toolchain with 64-bit R4300 capabilities
- you need hardware-accelerated 2D graphics and audio streaming on N64
- you want to target emulators like Ares or flashcarts like EverDrive64

## When to avoid
- you are targeting other consoles or modern platforms
- you need 3D graphics pipelines rather than 2D accelerated drawing
- you require exact compatibility with official libultra-based commercial toolchains
- you want a high-level game engine rather than a low-level SDK

## Facets
- artifact type: library
- maturity: active
- function: sdk, graphics, audio-processing, game-engine, compiler
- domain: embedded-systems, hardware, cross-platform
- platform: embedded, c, cpp
- tags: n64, retro-gaming, homebrew, rdp, rsp, rom-development, game-sdk, game-development, docker

## Member repositories
- DragonMinded/libdragon (main) score 67

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:04.204440+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T08:22:24.123051+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/DragonMinded/libdragon (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:04.204440+00:00, sha 6e9dddcf6ee3)
  - homepage: https://libdragon.dev (fetched 2026-08-29T12:21:56.987467+00:00, sha 89bc3172c4e5)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.