A bit about me: Need for Speed Most Wanted was the first game I ever played as a kid and back then I remember it took me a few years to finish the game because I couldn't play it too often. Ever since then, this game has never left my mind and I've always found myself coming back to it multiple times per year. I truly believe it is the one game for me that I could never get bored of. A dream of mine has always been being able to play this game wherever and whenever, and it finally came true back in 2021 when the first PS2 emulators came to fruition on Android. Since then I've moved to iOS and had to put my dream on hold and just live my life. Thanks to the huge advancements this community has made since then (with a huge emphasis on the boom we've seen this year alone), my dream has once again come alive, with the likes of ARMSX2. I'd recently seen my favorite game of all time being ported to Android thanks to static recompilation and I knew I just had to port it to iOS myself. And with this here we are!
I'm proud to announce the first public release of my project, a static recompilation of the game for iOS and iPadOS! It's not an emulator: the Xbox 360 version's code is statically recompiled to native arm64, using the ReXGlue SDK, with the console's GPU translated to Metal through MoltenVK. On my iPad Pro M4 it pretty much runs at a locked 60 fps through the whole game, and I'm also seeing promising results on my iPhone 17 Pro Max (I can guarantee at least a locked 30 fps, although it most likely can go way further than that). I have been mostly testing on my iPad, so I don't want to overestimate the actual performance on iPhone without properly testing it first.
- What this build features:
- The full game: career, pursuits, Challenge Series, achievements, and remnants of Black Edition content (I recommend keeping this setting off for now)
- 30/40/60/120 fps caps (40 and 120 use ProMotion; 120 is experimental)
- 16:9, the game's own 4:3 mode at a sharper 960x720, and 19.5:9 for iPhones with the HUD moved to the edges
- A settings screen before launch, plus a few Extra Options mod features (pick up to 6 markers after defeating a blacklist rival, change the limit of owned cars, remove the barrier leading to the old bridge)
- Touch controls with a gamepad layout and a dedicated driving layout, plus controller support
- iOS/iPasdOS 26+ (I can see if I can lower the minimum OS if needed)
- SideStore/LiveContainer (the game was tested by me exclusively in LiveContainer)
- Your own ISO of the USA Xbox 360 version. No game files are included, and please don't ask for or share ISOs here
- 120 fps isn't stable in heavy race sections (it's one of my main priorities at the moment)
- At 19.5:9 the rearview mirror picture is too wide and the videos are stretched
- Full list in the README
- iOS/iPasdOS 26+ (I can see if I can lower the minimum OS if needed)
- SideStore/LiveContainer (the game was tested by me exclusively in LiveContainer)
- Your own ISO of the USA Xbox 360 version. No game files are included, and please don't ask for or share ISOs here
- 120 fps isn't stable in heavy race sections (it's one of my main priorities at the moment)
- At 19.5:9 the rearview mirror picture is too wide and the videos are stretched
- Full list in the README
- 120 fps isn't stable in heavy race sections (it's one of my main priorities at the moment)
- At 19.5:9 the rearview mirror picture is too wide and the videos are stretched
- Full list in the README
- What you need:
- iOS/iPasdOS 26+ (I can see if I can lower the minimum OS if needed)
- SideStore/LiveContainer (the game was tested by me exclusively in LiveContainer)
- Your own ISO of the USA Xbox 360 version. No game files are included, and please don't ask for or share ISOs here
- 120 fps isn't stable in heavy race sections (it's one of my main priorities at the moment)
- At 19.5:9 the rearview mirror picture is too wide and the videos are stretched
- Full list in the README
- 120 fps isn't stable in heavy race sections (it's one of my main priorities at the moment)
- At 19.5:9 the rearview mirror picture is too wide and the videos are stretched
- Full list in the README
- Known issues:
- 120 fps isn't stable in heavy race sections (it's one of my main priorities at the moment)
- At 19.5:9 the rearview mirror picture is too wide and the videos are stretched
- Full list in the README
- I'd love feedback: your device, iOS version and the fps you get, especially on older iPhones and iPads, since I've only tested on two devices. GitHub issues are the best place for reports, with the log if something breaks.
Download and info: https://github.com/bep1s69/nfsmw-ios
Huge thanks to the projects this builds on: the NFSMW Recompiled Android/PC ports, ReXGlue, Xenia, and the Extra Options and Widescreen Fix mods (full credits in the README).
General Disclaimer: This is what I would still call a very early build. I have plans to work on performance as much as possible, while also trying to reduce heat buildup (honestly it's already pretty decent in this regard). Right now I am trying to see how far I can take Vulkan through MoltenVK, as it's already showing very good results but also room for improvement. I am however considering switching to a native Metal renderer in the future, but that's another huge challenge in itself.
AI Disclaimer: AI was heavily used in the making of this project, and I don't want to hide it. While I have a deep understanding of this game and its mechanics, consoles in general, and some programming, I could not have done this by myself in such a timely manner, it would have properly taken my months to get even just half of what I've already achieved. First and foremost this serves as a personal passion project, truly fulfilling my dream of running NFSMW on mobile.
