The complete Manic Miner disassembly

A_Venom_Roll 3 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Perfect timing - Sharopolis just released a video [0] using this exact disassembly to mod Super Mario-style physics into the game.

He used Claude Code to 'vibe code' the assembly changes, leveraging the fact that the disassembly identifies about 2KB of unused memory. It’s a fascinating look at how LLMs can now navigate and modify 40-year-old Z80 assembly when provided with a well-documented codebase like this one.

The video sparked a lot of discussion in the comments, with some people being very upset he used AI for this.

[0] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxxNgZgd88I"

	▲	s-macke 2 hours ago \| parent [-]
		AI is very effective for reverse engineering. Unless you’re doing it purely for fun, it makes sense to use AI where it helps. I’ve tried to visualize the “navigate and modify” process you mentioned in [0]. It’s mesmerizing. Because reverse engineering outcomes are comparatively easy to verify, it’s a good fit for training for AI. I expect major progress in the next few years, potentially to the point where reverse engineering many binaries becomes highly automated. [0] https://github.com/s-macke/OpcodeOracle

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b3lvedere 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

I've played Manic Miner and Jet Set Willy countless times back in those days. Very fun to read it completely disassembled. Thank you.

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aa-jv 3 hours ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Ah, this is delightful - as a life-long collector of old machines, having kept every computer I've used personally/professionally since 1978, the Speccie is one of the greatest ways to spend an afternoon - and even though there are a huge, huge number of other titles, Manic Miner is still a top 5 favorite in the playlist.

The disassembly is particularly nice to read, such as the sprite-drawing routine:

https://skoolkit.ca/disassemblies/manic_miner/asm/36852.html

Curious that there are snippets of the original project source code still embedded in the 'dead' memory space of the Manic Miner binary .. I find myself wondering if this could be the basis of a ML-driven rewrite into the original source form, as a kind of archaic protogenesis .. but, anyway, still a curio:

https://skoolkit.ca/disassemblies/manic_miner/asm/37708.html

Indeed, for anyone with a new or old interest in assembly language, of any competency, this disassembly is a delightful read ..

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andybak 3 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

oh dear god. i can port this to VR now... Claude!