Hookshot vs Ocarina Recomp vs a Switch 2 emulator
Two native recompilations of the Switch 2 edition, one of the 3DS remake, and the emulator route, compared on what their own READMEs and release notes report: frame rate, GPU support, Linux and features.
The short answer
- Windows, want the simplest install: Ocarina Recomp. A ZIP installer, no administrator rights, Brazilian Portuguese, imports emulator saves.
- Linux, frame generation, ultrawide or rebinding: Hookshot. A small Windows installer with a Play/Update launcher since
v2.0.0, a Linux AppImage, and an Insert menu with presets for 4–16 GB cards. - You own the 3DS version: TriAevum (Windows, AppImage, Flatpak, no compiler) or its multi-platform fork Ocarina ReTuned (adds the Ocarina ReFramed HUD, manual jump, PAK player models, and builds for macOS, Android, iOS and Apple TV).
- Your GPU has no mesh shaders (GTX 10-series and older): neither Switch 2 recomp works today; a fallback is only a feature request (Hookshot #454).
Feature comparison
| Ocarina Recomp | Hookshot | TriAevum | Emulator | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Repository | sostenesfreitas/ocarina-recomp | NotRexed/Hookshot | coccofresco/TriAevum | Lichii, Eden and other Switch 2 emulators |
| Game it runs | Switch 2 edition (v1.1.1) | Switch 2 edition (build e0f3ccfa) | Ocarina of Time 3D (3DS) | Switch 2 edition |
| Method | Static recompilation to C, Vulkan | Static recompilation to C, Vulkan | AOT recompilation, NRI/Vulkan renderer | Emulates the console while playing |
| Created | November 6, 2026 | November 5, 2026 | September 7, 2026 | — |
| Latest release | v0.3.0 (November 9, 2026) | v2.0.5 (November 8, 2026) | v0.8.0-beta.1.2 (October 22, 2026) | — |
| GitHub stars | 974 | 3,188 | 675 | — |
| Windows | Yes: ZIP installer | Yes: 170 KB HookshotBuilder.exe + game launcher | Yes: ZIP | Yes |
| Linux | Partly: build scripts, play not yet confirmed | Yes: AppImage | Yes: AppImage + Flatpak | Yes |
| Steam Deck | Not verified | SteamOS listed, not reported tested | Desktop Mode prep, not yet tested on a Deck | Depends on emulator |
| First setup | 30 min to 2 h build | About 40 min build (plus a 460 MB tools download) | A few minutes (shader prep) | None, but needs keys and firmware |
| Updates | Install over the old version; only changes recompiled | Update button in the launcher; a few MB, only changes recompiled | Replace the package | Update the emulator |
| Developer’s test PC | Ryzen 9 9950X3D + RTX 5090 | Ryzen 5 7600X + RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB | Two NVIDIA PCs, one AMD (RADV) PC | — |
| Reported fps | 59 standing, 51–55 walking (RTX 5090) | About 50 walking (README); 47 in Kokiri after faster-fps (RTX 4060 Ti) | 30 Hz logic, 60/90 FPS interpolation | Lichii build 75: 12–22 fps (5900X + RTX 3080) |
| GPU requirement | Vulkan 1.3 + mesh shaders, NVIDIA recommended | Vulkan 1.3 + mesh shaders; only NVIDIA tested by the author | Vulkan GPU with current drivers | Vulkan |
| Frame generation | No | Yes: 2x to 8x | Interpolation to 60/90 FPS | No |
| Upscaling | Game’s own network (experimental) | Catmull-Rom, Lanczos, sharpness | 4K without upscaler (half-res effects) | Resolution scaling |
| Ultrawide | No | Yes: wider view, HUD kept 16:9 (21:9 and 32:9 tested) | Yes: 16:9, 21:9, 5:3 | Mods |
| In-game menu | F1 / Esc options | Insert / Home menu with Controls page | Esc / R3, F1 full settings | Emulator UI |
| Mods | — | RomFS mods folder (no exefs patches) | Azahar-style textures, optional model mod | RomFS and exefs |
| Save import | From Lichii and Eden | Keeps saves across rebuilds | Save states | — |
| Languages | Follows Windows, incl. Brazilian Portuguese | language.txt (EN, FR, DE, ES, PT-BR checked) | ROM language | Game languages |
| License | GPL-3.0 | GPL-3.0-or-later | GPL-3.0-or-later + separate parts | GPL |
Figures come from each project’s README and release notes as of November 9, 2026. The emulator column is general and its fps figure comes from Lichii’s build 75 release notes; emulators need console keys and firmware, which this site does not cover.
Frame rate: what the reports say
No project has published a benchmark across many PCs. These are the numbers the developers and contributors reported:
| Project | Hardware | Result | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Ocarina Recomp | Ryzen 9 9950X3D, RTX 5090 | ≈59 fps standing, 51–55 fps walking | README |
| Ocarina Recomp 0.2.7 | RTX 5090 | Falling leaves cost about 7 fps | Release notes |
| Ocarina Recomp 0.2.5 | RTX 5070 12 GB | Fixed a drop to 9–11 fps after a few minutes in Kokiri | Release notes |
| Hookshot | Ryzen 5 7600X, RTX 4060 Ti 16 GB | About 50 fps walking, no frame generation | README |
| Hookshot faster-fps | RTX 4060 Ti | 33 → 47 fps in Kokiri Forest (per-queue fences, PR #523) | Release notes |
| Hookshot v2.0.0 | Test PC | Flicker fix costs about 1.5 fps | Release notes |
| Hookshot no-visual-studio | Test PC | 27 → 31 fps in Kokiri (CPU-side work) | Release notes |
| Hookshot no-visual-studio | Radeon 8060S, Linux RADV | ≈10 → 30–50 fps after submit batching (#413) | Release notes |
| Hookshot less-stutter | Test PC, first start | Worst freeze 2.6 s → 1.2 s, lowest fps 20 → 30 | Release notes |
| TriAevum | Any | Game logic at 30 Hz, shown at 60 or 90 FPS | README |
Both Switch 2 recomps are CPU-bound in busy scenes and stutter the first time a shader is needed. Hookshot’s frame generation (2x to 8x) raises the displayed frame rate, not the game’s own.
GPU support compared
Ocarina Recomp and Hookshot both require Vulkan 1.3 with mesh shaders, because the Switch 2 renders this game with task and mesh shaders. In practice that means NVIDIA GTX 16 or RTX 20 series and newer, AMD RX 6000 series (RDNA 2) and newer, or Intel Arc. Their authors test on NVIDIA; AMD support improves through contributors: Hookshot fixed AMD black screens and slow movies, and Ocarina Recomp splits oversized buffers and retries pipelines the driver rejects. Hookshot has since fixed an Intel Arc whole-PC freeze (low-vram, #496), AMD black screens after the opening (ultrawide) and neon colours on AMD (v2.0.0), and now tells GPUs without mesh shaders so at start. Open reports include Intel Arc iGPU black screens (Hookshot #460), a Lenovo Legion Go black screen (#426) and AMD bloom overexposure (Ocarina Recomp #127). TriAevum asks only for a Vulkan GPU with current drivers and qualifies its Linux packages on AMD with Mesa RADV.
Linux and Steam Deck
Hookshot is the only Switch 2 recomp with a Linux package today: an AppImage with everything inside, for glibc 2.35+ (SteamOS included). Ocarina Recomp has compilar.sh and jogar/jogar-ocarina.sh; its build guide says the runtime passes self-tests on Linux but in-game play still has to be confirmed, and it needs Linux 6.7 or later. TriAevum ships an AppImage and a Flatpak and documents Steam Deck setup, without a physical Deck test yet.
Updates
All three rebuild or re-prepare from your copy when you update. Ocarina Recomp installs over the previous version and, since 0.2.5, recompiles only what changed (about a minute from 0.2.4 to 0.2.5). Hookshot’s launcher (since v2.0.0) shows an Update button when a release is out; the update downloads a few MB and compiles only the changed files, keeping saves and settings. TriAevum asks you to back up saves, settings and prepared data before each beta.
Frequently asked questions
Hookshot or Ocarina Recomp: which is better?
For Linux, the in-game menu, frame generation and ultrawide, Hookshot. For a one-step Windows installer with Brazilian Portuguese and save import from Lichii or Eden, Ocarina Recomp. Both are experimental and both update several times a day, so the gap changes quickly; you can install both from the same copy.
Are Hookshot and Ocarina Recomp the same code?
No. They are separate repositories by different developers with different runtimes (Hookshot’s nx2/host/gpu tree versus Ocarina Recomp’s recomp/runtime tree, which still uses TotK Recomp’s TOTK_ settings). They share ideas and credit each other: Hookshot credits Ocarina Recomp for its README layout and mesh-stage notes, and both credit nxnative and Lichii.
Is a recomp faster than a Switch 2 emulator?
On the reports available, yes. Lichii’s build 75 notes gave 12–22 fps for this game on a Ryzen 5900X + RTX 3080; Ocarina Recomp reports 51–59 fps on an RTX 5090 and Hookshot about 50 fps walking on an RTX 4060 Ti. These come from different machines and versions, so treat them as indications rather than a benchmark.
Can I use my emulator save?
Ocarina Recomp imports saves from Lichii, Eden and similar emulators: click Import emulator save at the end of the installation, or run jogar\importar-save.ps1 later. It keeps a copy of your current save and does not change the emulator.
Why does TriAevum appear in this comparison?
Because people searching for an Ocarina of Time PC port find it too. It is a different game edition: TriAevum runs Ocarina of Time 3D for the 3DS, while the other two need the Switch 2 edition.