Fans of Grand Theft Auto are no strangers to doing the heavy lifting for Rockstar Games. While it has its hands full with Grand Theft Auto 6, they are working hard to preserve and expand the legacy of these classic titles. The latest example of this is nothing short of a technical miracle, even more so than getting Grand Theft Auto 3 to run on its original platform, the Sega Dreamcast.
A developer known as shinovon is actively porting Grand Theft Auto III to Nokia phones running the archaic Symbian operating system.
Symbian was the dominant mobile operating system long before iOS and Android took over the world. Devices like the Nokia N8 and E7 were flagship phones of their era, but they were never designed to run expansive open-world 3D games. Bringing a massive city like Liberty City to this hardware requires an incredible amount of optimization, and somehow, he's actually doing it.
The project is built on the backbone of re3, a community led reverse engineering effort that completely decompiled the original game code, and a project that was previously wiped off the internet ahead of the release of Grand Theft Auto The Trilogy The Definitive Edition.
To make GTA 3 run on these old Nokia devices, shinovon had to make serious compromises. The developer significantly reduced the texture scale just to fit everything into a microscopic 32 megabytes of video memory and he's still not done yet. The game currently runs between 10 and 18 frames per second depending on the in game location and after disabling several visual effects. The developer also plans to use PlayStation 2 controller emulation since mapping complex touch controls for these older screens is incredibly difficult.
They've already successfully tested the port on a handful of Nokia devices, including the E7, N8, E6, and 700.
Here is a quick look at the hardware specifications of the Nokia devices successfully running this GTA 3 port to give you an idea of the technical limitations involved.
Nokia Model Hardware Specifications and Their Release Years
- Video RAM:
- 32 MB
| Nokia Device Model | Release Year | System RAM | Video RAM |
|---|---|---|---|
Nokia N8 | 2010 | 256 MB | 32 MB |
Nokia E7 | 2011 | 256 MB | 32 MB |
Nokia E6 | 2011 | 256 MB | 32 MB |
Nokia 700 | 2011 | 512 MB | 32 MB |
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According to shinovon, rendering optimizations are still underway. However, the bigger question here is whether Rockstar will take action.
Take-Two Interactive is notorious for its overprotective stance when it comes GTA and given how valuable the franchise is to them, can you blame the company for doing this? Still, it probably wouldn't hurt to spend less time sending cease and desist letters or shutting down multiplayer frameworks.
The fact is, leaving a project like this alone is a net win for Rockstar and Take-Two. It fosters goodwill and helps keep titles like Grand Theft Auto V and the upcoming sequel, Grand Theft Auto 6, relevant for years to come.
Besides, porting GTA 3 to a dead mobile platform is not hurting their bottom line. It is a labor of love that deserves recognition rather than another legal threat.