Decompiling a Nintendo 64 game in 84 days
Points and comments are a snapshot, not live.
A 2026 blog post details the 84-day decompilation of Snowboard Kids for N64.
The author led a team that fully decompiled the N64 game Snowboard Kids, meaning C code compiles to byte-identical machine code. This took 84 days versus 596 for the sequel. The speed increase was partly due to LLMs, but human expertise (especially with the proprietary IDO compiler) remained critical. 4.8% of matching commits involved expert intervention. The project used parallel agents, a shared learnings file, and cross-worktree similarity search.
IDO 5.3's closed-source, multi-pass optimization made it harder to match than GCC. LLMs helped with library code and identifying compiler quirks. The author plans documentation, a recompilation port, and possibly decompiling the PS1 version.
What commenters are saying
Commenters debated the role of AI in decompilation. Some argued that embracing LLMs dramatically accelerates verifiable tasks, while others countered that AI-assisted code represents "cognitive surrender." Historical analogies (graphing calculators, typewriters, compilers) were used to argue the point is about proper use, not the tool itself. One commenter noted that matching decompilation is a verifiable target, though "fake matches" and junk decompilation remain possible. Another linked to existing Perfect Dark decompilation and port projects.