r/ngpc • u/Few_Profile_5092 • 13d ago
A.I. and it’s current influence
As of lately, I’ve seen nothing but these A.I. projects slowly take over some of my favorite game console subreddits, and to my surprise it seems more and more people are beginning to advocate for it.
I will forever speak my stance against this technology, however personal opinions aside, I’ve been curious to ask the people of this community.
What are your thoughts on A.I. ? And perhaps what would be the talks if new projects of the Neo Geo Pocket utilized it to the fullest?
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u/NoBullet 13d ago
What exactly do you have a disdain for? because they’re using AI or because its low quality?
Shovelware has been a problem in gaming for years. The storefronts for Steam, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation are all flooded with garbage games long before AI even showed up. For personal projects and homebrew like this, I don't care. People have ideas but didn’t have the skills to create it but now they can
You can go down rabbit hole of how new tech changed the way things are created. Like traditional painters compared to digital artists. People used to argue over the digital artist not having any skills using a premade digital brush to make textures or shapes for them. Literally no one cares about that anymore.
It's the same with photos or designing. Back when using Photoshop to edit photos was looked down upon, now people look at AI and say, "Don't be lazy, you should have Photoshopped it instead." every single time a new tech shows up there’s always gonna be a push pull with what’s right what’s wrong.
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u/karawapo 13d ago
I don’t need to filter posts or projects by “was AI used”. There is no clear bar for that, and I wouldn’t find it a good enough indicator for quality anyway.
I will keep voting and/or ignoring posts depending on my personal interest and post quality.
So, generally I don’t care what tools people used. But posts sharing like “I used AI and this is what I got” feel incredibly lazy to me. People need to assume ownership and responsibility of the output when sharing.
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u/lynxtosg03 13d ago
posts sharing like “I used AI and this is what I got” feel incredibly lazy to me.
As a developer for decades, knowing what to build, how to refine, and now how to leverage AI is anything but trivial. These are the statements people make when they've never done a similar project.
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u/karawapo 13d ago
I mean people who just share the first thing they get without reviewing or assessing at all, and more than anything people who don’t take authorship or responsibility.
Disclosing that AI was used is good. Saying that you don’t want any complaints because you didn’t do it (“AI did”) is what makes me lose all interest.
I’m another develoer for decades and have been doing harness engineering and providing ai features for users these years.
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u/lynxtosg03 13d ago
I’m another develoer for decades and have been doing harness engineering and providing ai features for users these years.
Then you know that a localization is more than a one shot prompt to a LLM. To produce a working, legible, and playable game can't be lazy because it requires hours of review, bug fixing, and testing.
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u/karawapo 13d ago
Working, legible and playable? Of course you need to put the work. But postable? Might be. Some people make it sound like it might not be more than a one shot prompt, which is a red flag to me.
I haven’t tried any of the translations, though. Luckily not in the market.
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u/NewSchoolBoxer 13d ago
It sucks ass and beginners shouldn't be playing with toys they don't understand. r/EmuDev now bans all posts using AI unless you use it to translate your text as a non-native English speaker - and provide the original language text. I'm pleased. I saw a videcoded Pokemon Emerald that people hated on before I got there.
If you want to learn NGP(C) from a dev point of view, there's no shortcuts. You also risk plagiarizing other people's code with AI that you don't have the rights to. As a professional software developer, it's hard to explain the trash tier level of enterprise code by people not knowing what they're doing. You want to use AI to write monotonous unit tests, that's fine.
On that note, I met a book publisher at Dragon Con and saw the panel he was on. He forbids authors from using any generative AI tool - even to brainstorm. He said AI-assisted books sound alike because it merges them in the middle.
I'm not asking for new rules here. Small scene, can't complain.
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u/ComfortablyMumm 12d ago
I can't quite nail down my feelings on it when it comes to retro gaming, but in general I'm opposed to generative AI, and hate it when I can tell my coworkers are using it in emails/documents sent to me. I use chat GPT as a high-powered search engine all the time, though.
I guess as long as the use of AI in game design/coding is plainly disclosed, I'm not entirely opposed to it, especially in the case of free to download games (on itch.io for example).
Depends a bit on the type of game as well. I'm more opposed to it, for example, in a graphics/story based game than I am in a graphically simple logic puzzle game where the designer used AI to verify solvability or generate hundreds of puzzles.
I also find it ridiculous when I see the attacking of free to download games that were entirely created w/o AI but used an AI cover image on Itch. It's always "you should've hired an artist"...apparently with the proceeds of your free to play game that you probably spent hundreds of hours creating.
I get that the thought is that AI is just stealing and repackaging ideas/images/art/code, but that's what human designers do as well. It's incredibly difficult and rare for anyone to create anything truly new at this point. All of the stories have been told, all of the games have been made. Anything coming out now is just iteration.
Ultimately I think the cream always rises to the top, and fully AI generated games are unlikely to resonate as deeply with audiences.
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u/DesignerShirt9654 12d ago edited 12d ago
The thing with using LLM images for cover art is that it raises doubt in people's minds. If you're going to use it for that then what else are you using it for?
Everyone has a camera in their pocket, take a photo and add a title banner. We did that for fruity pals (with some googly eyes) - took about five minutes and we got to eat the fruit afterwards as well. Okay, we did have to buy a packet of googly eyes for like a quid, but they're always fun to have on hand
There are also free/openspurce alternatives to shutterstock et al - https://humancode.us/2026/08/28/royalty-free-images
Even buying a few images on itch/shutterstock/ whatever is probably cheaper than a chatgpt+ subscription
Edit: This is just my opinion for any creators - at the end of the day, do what makes you feel comfortable. A lot of people won't care either way, but any use of LLMs will put some people off - and I think it's very unlikely that "not" using LLMs at all will turn anyone away.
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u/lknox1123 13d ago
Here’s an excellent article by Pandamonium about AI as it pertains to Saturn hacks. Sums everything up better than I could.
https://www.segasaturnshiro.com/2026/09/24/column-all-a-i-projects-are-digital-asbestos/
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u/_blue_skies_ 13d ago
the problem is not the top but who uses it and how. I've been a programmer 25 years and have no issue using AI. it's just another tool in my arsenal. Slop? I've seen a lot of slop written completely by humans. Emulators? yeah if I see the history of emulators well they did not well from the start, most of them were very inaccurate in they emulation, compromises were taken, nobody complained, everybody was happy that finally we con play something that before was not possible. Those Ai project are youg is normal they are not perfect, they will improve with time if they don't get abandoned. So support project with people with a passion behind them, not the tool they use. The quality of code? The tool are evolving so fast is difficult to pinpoint but from what I've see is better than what 90% of developers normally produce. Maintainability is a matter to write the correct documentation for the architure used and clean comment the code where some specific choices have been made. All of this is still in control of the person behind the keyboard, so if he has experience he will know what to do. A first timer probably will just be happy to se stuff running. The user perspective should be just to evaluate the final product. Nobody investigated if the code was maintainable at the time and lot of it was absolutely not and has been rewritten multiple time since then! You don't want to use ai generated/assisted product, ok just don't fabricate excuses on matters you don't know much, I fear only that soon there will not be much you will able to use in this field. This will never go back to how it was before, it's going only to increase.
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u/lynxtosg03 13d ago
Earlier today I released an AI translation for Guilty Gear Petit on the WSC. I hope to start translating and porting more for the NGPC. If this offends you then just don't look or block. These are niche consoles with few translations being done. If better translators want to pick up the project and move it forward they're welcome to it. However, we have the technology to bring more games to gamers. I'm going to use it 🙂
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u/Few_Profile_5092 13d ago
I saw your release.
You should make it more transparent to whomever’s interested that you used A.I., being as your post on r/WonderSwan shows zero mention.
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u/lynxtosg03 13d ago
I don't mind doing it but the thought never really crossed my mind. For decades we developers have never had to post what tools we're using when providing patches or software to a community. This has been true in my private company as well.
In good faith, I'm willing to hear an argument from you as to why this should be mandatory. From my perspective it doesn't matter. Is someone worried they're going to enjoy a game before learning it's AI assisted? Or, are people worried it's slop, in which case it's the same as if a human had generated a lazy translation. Either way, why should I put something stigmatizing out there that only invites drama? If people ask, I tell them. If it's relevant to a release then I add it.
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u/IcerJo 12d ago
I was just thinking about this exact reason to use AI to either port games or to help translate some of the untranslated or unfinished games, as that would help complete the original library and unlock more games for English players to play or experience. Of course there still needs to be a checks and balances type system to ensure that the translations are accurate and reworded to flow better in some areas.
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u/ltpitt 13d ago
I am so tired with all this conversation.
AI is here to stay, if we like it or not.
The software that we're using now to communicate (your os, reddit, probably other) is written also using AI.
Evaluate the produced product, not the tool.
Is the port something you like? Is it working? Is it fun to play?
That's all we need.
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u/Reebz0r 13d ago edited 13d ago
I view it the same way as TV dinners; it's for people who sacrifice quality for convenience; for lazy people not willing to learn a skill; it's not cooking and I don't respect it.
Genuinely hoping for that mass solar ejection to send us back to a patchwork of agrarian communities.
(EDIT: holistically I can see the potential benefits of AI, but they are being horribly squandered and the negatives far FAR outweigh them)
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u/NewSchoolBoxer 7d ago
I would love all AI content to be banned. I don't play AI slop games or want to see them discussed. The sub could be overrun with them and people selling their games and mods they didn't even make. No proof the AI tool didn't plagiarize other games when you can't understand the code.
However, is such a small scene, I have to be somewhat open-minded. AI translations...okay. AI everything else on this sub, how about it's stuck in a mega thread? Advertise your products there as much as you want.
I'm saying this as a professional programmer with 15 YoE. I'm with other comment of liking the challenge of coding and reverse engineering and doing a better job than a machine using static code analysis and reading message boards with sketch information can do.
AI's other problem is everything looking and sounding alike because it merges to the middle. We lose creativity in art, writing and design.
I'm a fan of all AI content being banned at r/emudev and r/retrogaming. Can't say the majority sentiment in gaming is positive. Emudev lets you use it to translate your message board post if you include the original message. Again, fine.
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u/Napomex 13d ago
Hi everyone, my personal take on AI and retro games and everything around it. AI is a powerful tool once you understand it, even though in the long run it's going to dumb down humanity, I'm sure of that.
Back to gaming, what can AI do, what can't it do. AI can develop games very well with the right guidance, following a set path, but not freely, at least not complex games. AI can't create pixel art that actually looks good, at least not for an 8x8 grid, if anyone knows of one that can, feel free to share. But anyone who's ever told an AI "create a sprite, 8x10px" and then needed ten tries knows exactly what I mean. Thanks to Tixul there's a great MCP for the NGP, without it you're fighting through hallucinations constantly, which makes the whole thing incredibly exhausting. The groundwork has to already be known, otherwise it just doesn't work yet, since you keep having to point out the simplest things and approaches over and over. Opus 5.5 is worlds better than the previous model, at least for me it runs noticeably smoother.
Now about me, I've always wanted to make games, even as a kid, I went from Gamebuino through MakeCode and other systems, my programming background is primarily in industrial controls, PLCs, and even there I'm not exactly a fan of SCL or the like, more of a ladder logic guy.
So back then it only worked with a lot of effort to get small jump'n'runs done on the Gamebuino, and I sat on that for weeks at a time. Spending ages on something and then realizing you simply can't finish it in a quick three months is frustrating.
My projects: as some of you here on Reddit have already seen, I've completed two games so far, both ports of the originals. First Xenon 2 Megablast, the first level is finished and I'll be releasing it here soon. Unfortunately a further port will be tough, since the boss of level 2 is a giant spider, which the NGP's hardware just can't handle anymore, but maybe I'll find a solution yet, AI struggles here and only produces versions that look pretty bad.
The other project is Furry, also a port of a PC game, not much to say about it really, it wasn't rocket science since adjusting the sprites and palette stayed within reasonable limits, so it went pretty quickly.
Then there's my third project, I don't want to talk about that one yet since additional hardware needs to be developed for it to work. But if it pans out, it'll be one of the most exciting projects for the NGPC.
Bottom line: for me, AI is a tool that brings me an incredible amount of joy. It's like a buddy you tackle a project with together, I bring the idea, the AI knows how to code, and together you create something new. Yesterday I managed to blow through my Max 5 subscription mid-week again, luckily it got reset overnight, would be interesting to know how many tokens each project has eaten up by now. Anyone who's got an idea and never dared to try can pull it off now, once the groundwork is set up. Thanks to Tixul for the great MCP and the other tools.
PS: out here there are people who are better than any AI, and that's a good thing too, they're the ones who help when you run into real problems, thanks to Sodthor.
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u/Informal-Avocado-298 13d ago
AI in hacking the consoles - good
AI in game development, translations - bad
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u/DesignerShirt9654 12d ago edited 12d ago
I would also say that we're not seeing the proliferation of LLM development that we're seeing for other platforms. I think that maybe there isn't as much low hanging fruit for the NGPC as there is for say the wonderswan, or the well established market for homebrew that you have on something like the vectrex - there are, what, five Japanese only games that could still do with a translation, and even fewer B&W games that could be recoloured? (And they're probably the same games)
There are less than a dozen active NGPC homebrew devs, some use LLMs to a greater or lesser extent and some don't at all.
Anyway, what I'm saying is that we don't need to run around saying that the sky is falling just yet.
We're in a small niche over here
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u/elseniorx1989 3d ago
As a gamer, I'm only annoyed by people who use AI to release half-finished games. Or people who want you to be a beta tester for their game. Can't they test it before releasing it?
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u/SuperOnion64 2d ago
I must be honest, as a person who uses AI as a tool, AI usage in games can be either a good thing or a bad thing depending on who you are, like sure, I have used Claude AI to help with some projects of mine, but art like photos generated with AI can be an incredibly bad thing. But at least it's great that the NGPC is getting some more homebrew representation in this very year, alongside the WonderSwan.
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u/DesignerShirt9654 13d ago
I'm not a fan.
That being said, I'm not going to get all internet-drama-y about other people using it. Honestly, I'm amazed that anyone has the patience to try and argue a computer into doing something when they could just do it themselves.
Pushing a button to get the "answer" is never going to give me the same satisfaction as working it out for myself
Personally, I like the challenge of taking a relatively limited palette and toolset (and skillset in my case) and trying to turn it into something playable. I've dabbled with more modern gamedev (Unity and that) and it just doesn't have the same feeling.
Now, I'm not going to sit here and say that my games are all that great (although the more recent stuff is pretty good IMHO), but whatever they are is all me - I've been thinking about whether I should make more of a fuss about that on my project pages rather than just quietly unchecking the "made with AI" button on itch.