“Super Smash Bros.” (Nintendo Super Smash Bros.) recently had a native PC port version, but it did not receive unanimous praise. Instead, it caused controversy in the retro gaming community because this porting project almost entirely relied on AI tools to complete! TheWizWiki, who is responsible for the project, said that this version is “100% AI generated” and pointed out that the entire process took about 25 days and was completed in collaboration with tools such as Opus 4.6, Opus 4.7 and GPT 5.5. You can download it here.
The developer also mentioned that he had used automated agents many times for construction and testing during the process, but he did not participate manually in the entire process. This development method quickly attracted different opinions from the industry and players.
Developers and preservation community raise questions
Indie developer @MorsGames was one of the first to voice concerns publicly, criticizing a port that relies entirely on AI.
At the same time, @RohanKarMooN in the field of game preservation also expressed his disapproval of this approach, pointing out that many decompilation projects have begun to use AI to generate code, which is regrettable. He said that although it is not a problem for the game to run on PC, he does not want to use such “shortcuts” to achieve it, so he would rather choose to play in an emulator.
The quality of transplants has also been criticized
In addition to the development method, the quality of the transplant itself has also been questioned.
@UnderCoverToni pointed out that this PC version performs poorly in terms of functionality and stability. It not only lacks additional features, but also contains a large number of bugs and even inaccuracies in engine and physics performance. He believes that since it is completely generated by AI and lacks a human verification mechanism, it will still require manual correction in the end, questioning the significance of the overall development.
The use of AI development tools has once again become the focus
The incident has also reignited discussions about the role of AI in game development. In recent years, the application of AI tools in the industry has gradually expanded. Some players and practitioners believe that this approach may affect creative value and even put pressure on job opportunities.
In the field of retro games, AI has also been used for fan translation and data collection, which has also triggered discussions from different standpoints.
The community also has different views
However, there are also voices that believe that such applications have positive value.
Julio Varnes / Craftyavg586 said that AI has practical uses in porting old software to unsupported platforms and systems, and may even help preserve works that are already inaccessible. He believes that this type of technology should be treated differently from general generative AI.
Another user, Arrrash, pointed out that porting old games to PC is not a creative work in itself, so even if it is done using AI, it does not necessarily pose a problem. He believes that if AI can help more old games run natively, he is not opposed to it.