Zelda and Banjo Recompiled Developers Battle Against AI-Generated ‘Slopcomps’

In recent years, the gaming community has witnessed a surge of unofficial PC ports for Nintendo 64 classics, largely thanks to the fan-driven N64: Recompiled tool that allows enthusiasts to reverse-engineer original game code for modern systems. However, a new trend of AI-generated decompilations is stirring up controversy, with many gamers expressing their frustration.

A project named Banjo-Tooie Recompiled surfaced online last week, igniting backlash for undermining human-driven porting efforts with AI-generated code. The project was highlighted on a YouTube channel but failed to clarify the involvement of vibe coding.

Dario Samo, an Argentinian developer who contributed to the previous human-led port of the original Banjo game, criticized the channel for not disclosing this detail and sought to differentiate his work from the Banjo-Tooie Recompiled project.

“The Banjo-Tooie Recompilation is NOT associated with us,” he stated. “It is entirely AI-generated. Both Zelda: Recompiled and Banjo: Recompiled have very clear No AI stances. We have not, do not, and will not use AI for these projects.”

He emphasized, “We’re not interested in a race to the bottom and will take the necessary time to deliver a polished version of the game. Using the extensive human research we’ve conducted for the framework, renderer, and the games themselves, then throwing AI at it is just disrespectful.”

Dario also mentioned that his team had already expressed intentions to create a port of Banjo-Tooie without AI involvement. He further criticized the competing project on a subreddit, suggesting that Banjo-Tooie Recompiled should be renamed.

Frustrated with the influx of untested AI-generated ports that are riddled with bugs and lack experienced coders to fix them, user FunkyLion compiled a list of human-made decomps and recomps, promising to keep it updated.

“AI bros are definitely not beating the ‘lacking basic respect and common sense’ allegations,” he remarked. “It’s also worth noting that this project ignores the existing patching system, opting instead to patch all recompiled code and memory incorrectly, making modding as people expect it completely unmaintainable in the long run and contributing nothing to decompilation efforts.”

The rise of vibe-coded fan projects has become so problematic that FunkyLion took the initiative to highlight the human-made alternatives. He expressed concern over the current state of AI-assisted projects, which often result in buggy, untested ports overshadowing the quality work done by dedicated developers.

“Now we’re in the mid-2020s, and AI has infiltrated everything, with individuals lacking programming experience creating completely untested game ports, leading to a wave of broken AI ports,” FunkyLion noted. “Sadly, these overshadow the quality decomps and recomps crafted by real people. That’s going to change!”

Additionally, a developer involved in a new MediEvil recomp project voiced support for the backlash against “slopcomps.” “I have no idea about what this is other than what I see posted here,” said Jay Gunnon Blueksy. “But I agree with the comments – keep GenAI away from MediEvil… now and in the future! The charm of those days of development was that everything was handmade with minimal tools or shortcuts.”