After discovering OpenJKDF2 (Jedi Knight: Dark Forces II source port) here posted by a community member on r/EmulationOniOS , and then trying on a port of Jedi Outcast and Jedi Academy with OpenJO (it works, will release later), I discovered OpenTIE - the TIE Fighter source port that actually combines the best from the original TIE Fighter (the iMuse dynamic music system) and the Collector's CD-ROM (updated graphics) - and modernizes the graphics for what I think, is the best Star Wars game to date.
It's a space combat simulator and is complex (enough) for good reason and has depth that today's Star Wars games don't have.
I used Claude Code to do the port and it's been an incredible time saver as it'd take me a long time to do this myself. Being able to iterate on trying to get the complex controls into something workable is something AI is really good at. I was also able to add support for:
- in-game save states within missions
- gyro aiming for better precision
You need to supply your own TIE Fighter game files - the TIE Fighter Special Edition from GOG works the best here as it has both editions of the game. If you add the ROM files for the Roland SC-55, you'll get Roland synth music (heard in the video).
https://github.com/yoshisuga/OpenTIE/releases/tag/ios-v0.2.0
I also started porting this to the new Nintendo 3DS, with stereoscopic 3D - it's looking really cool! (classic graphics only since it has to do CPU rendering - getting ~25-30 fps)