That Portal 64 demake we liked so much has been kiboshed by Valve: 'They have asked me to take the project down,' creator says
Just a week after releasing an impressive «first slice» playable build, work on Portal 64, a fan-made effort to bring Valve's beloved Portal to the 1996 Nintendo console, has been halted. Developer James Lambert said he was asked by Valve to take the project down, because it «depends on Nintendo's proprietary libraries.»
Lambert has been working on the Nintendo 64 version of Portal since at least early 2022, when he posted a video of the first «graphics test on real Nintendo 64 hardware.» He also warned, however, that if he decided to move forward with the project, «I would pretty much have to rebuild the entire game from scratch.»
And then he went ahead and did just that, to impressive effect: This is Portal on the Nintendo 64, which frankly I would not have thought possible before seeing it with my own eyes. Lambert's work earned him acclaim from the Nintendo 64 fanbase, including our own Rich Stanton, who said that Portal 64 is «the most impressive homebrew game [he's] ever seen.»
Unfortunately, releasing a playable build of the project appears to have crossed some sort of line. «So I have been in communication with Valve about the future of the project,» Lambert wrote on his Patreon. «There is some news and it isn't good. Because the project depends on Nintendo's proprietary libraries, they have asked me to take the project down.»
In an email sent to PC Gamer, Lambert confirmed the takedown request was legitimate, although the reasoning wasn't entirely clear. «I think Valve didn't want to be tied up in a project involving Nintendo IP,» he wrote. «I don't blame them.
»If I could somehow have a discussion with Nintendo about the possibility [of continuing Portal 64] I would love that. I don't know what it would take
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