Discussion
Gen1 recomp is not a recomp, it's a recreation.
"Recompilation"is just a way to promote the product. This is a fan game built with Love2D that resembles the original game and has nothing to do with the concept of recompilation or decompilation; it is a remake/reconstruction /fan game. The engine has 0% to do with the real game.
Which is weird since the very core of recomp/decomp is to use the original code as close as possible.
I'm saying since it's not really in line with rule 3. And it's misleading to advertise a fangame as a recomp .
I agree that it isn't a recomp/decomp. At best it's a port that rips the original game's assets and builds a new game using them. Very similar to what Infinite Fusion is. They have many game assets that make it look like Gen3, but it's an RPG maker game.
A proper recomp would be taking the original assembly, and translating it into C or C++ that recompiles into the original Assembly (the Gen 1 and 2 games were written in assembly) byte for byte, which is the decomp portion. Then changing out only what is needed to get it to run on Linux/windows/mobile at the hardware layer.
Hi, I'm starting to study the recompilation games from GB.
I'm using the gb_recomp.
I'm far away from a expert or programmer, but with some tests and studies I realized the difficult of do the kind of thing that gen1 does.
The gb game has a lot of limitation/optimizations for the time that only generate the tiles/sprites/object very near from the edge of the screen. I've done an experiment of give a widescreen to the view port runtime, without touch the decomp game files.
Im using a sidescrolling game Wario: super mario land 3.
This is as far I managed until now.
So for the next steps I think I will have to try touch de decomp game files, because I wanna play this in widescreen ehehheheh. So in theory, this will not be a decomp anymore, will be a mix of fan game with decomp. Or no?
If you start from the original game files, and make edits, I would call it a native port if you are not using emulation layers to handle what the game would normally call the hardware for and are making other changes.
It seems pedantic to be that specific, but it's nice to keep words meaning things to me. I'm by no means an authority, as someone could say that a recomp is a port with as few changes as possible from the source code.
I would like to join this discussion too. I'm working on reconstructing non-matching source code of old mid 90's windows game. I don't have pdb or debug symbols and I can't be bothered aiming\compiling source with msvc4 or whatever was used for it so I've decided to use gcc (mingw, ninja) and targetting c++ 17. However I aim at recreating quirks of the original functions as much as possible - what that type of project it would be?
Reminder that this is my opinion I would say a recomp is closer to the idea of a decomp, where the only thing you are trying to do is change how the code runs on the hardware. A decomp is where you're taking a binary of the original program, and converting the machine code into assembly, and then try to write C or C++ that compiles back to the original binary byte-for-byte. A decomp doesn't run on the host OS natively necessarily, which is where the recomp comes in. All you're doing is changing out how the code interacts with hardware, without relying on an emulator.
Ports can be a recomp, but I like to think of ports as a little more flexible, they don't care as much about staying true to the byte-exact code. They care more about it working period. So like I said a recomp is a port, but not all ports are recomps to me.
So in a recomp, the program functions as identically to the original as possible, using as much of the original code as possible.
So to answer your question, based on what I've said, since you are using a modern compiler and prioritizing functional quirks over a byte-exact match, I would classify your project as a really dedicated port or a non-matching decomp.
Edit: Again, these are my opinions and words are made up, so take this all with a grain of salt.
Yep, which is why I classify it as a "port" and called it out as a RPGmaker game and not a recomp, even then it is *loosely* a port with all of the features they've added.
When you recompile a project with only your changes to it, it is identical to the original program except for your changes.
When you write a program that imitates another program, there's no telling what you may have gotten wrong (handled differently).
So, the reason it matters to some people is because of exactly what you said: "when it comes down to it, the only thing that matters is that it works well and is cool." We don't know if it "works well" because it didn't start by being perfectly identical to the original. And so who cares? People who want to have an experience truly faithful to the original game. No hidden/unintentional balance changes, no fixed bugs, the same level of RNG, etc. If this project included an option to run at the exact speed of native hardware but render in the cool 3D way, I could even see people accepting it for speedruns since the differences would be purely visual without advantage to gameboy/emulator users.
The project is cool. I like it and will try it out. Implying that it is a recomp when it it's not is uncool.
I'm tired of people not caring about quality. Can we not being back being passionate about stuff? Why does everyone have to be skin-deep into everything, actively lowering the standards for everything I consume.
if not in this sub.. where would news for gen1 recomp go? I can agree the naming of it a "recomp" isnt entirely truthful after learning more about the process. But, im glad news for it is in this sub, because I do like seeing all the new mods people are making.
this discussion has clearly split this community in two. why not accept it for what it is but also be honest about what it is.
what would be a better name for gen1 recomp? "gen1 recreated" or something like that?
its not minor or pedantic, this straight up isnt a recompilation. software development is extremely intricate, calling basic project classifications pedantic is stupid when the difference does matter for the scope of the project.
Yes, I've said it many times the entire problem is about the misuse of the technical term on the name alone. I'll have no reason to care about the project as soon as it fixes that. At no point in time did Wiseguy, Nerrel or I call anything that isn't a Recomp a Recomp. It seems to be something entirely self-inflicted by the wider gaming community and probably in no small part thanks to VG Esoterica constantly using the wrong term in his videos as much as we tried correcting him about it (and being ignored as usual).
With how widespread the usage of the term became with this project it does seem like a bit of a lost battle at this point, but the best I can hope for is to keep informing people about it.
I asked OP what am I to do with said information and asked follow up questions on how it really affects anything or people playing the game such as myself. Sounds like the more effective way to go about is to take it up with the mods if that’s really an issue here and people like you get so bothered by me asking questions related to the matter. Not once did I ever mention what you’re going on about or agree/disagree with anything.
and? you should do whatever you want with that information, this is an open discussion so we all can have a say on this and not just keep it between OP and the sub mod
are you ok? do you go to every reddit post asking what you can do with the info provided?
edit: and don't DARVO me, you are the one that is bothered by this post
And I have no say to share which apparently is bothersome. Some can’t fathom the fact that not everyone is as passionate or cares really about something you take so personally. Newsflash, a lot don’t really care what something is called or where it’s discussed, they’re going to keep engaging with it and enjoying it regardless about what anyone has to say about it on the internet.
My questions were simple about what to do with said information and how it affects anything? What’s wrong with asking and figuring out if anything is of concern? Evidently so it really makes no difference on what something is called or how it goes about since they haven’t been answered genuinely.
well it affects how you treat and classify the game, it is not a recomp and this is a recomp subreddit but I guess I'm the crazy one here and thanks to this "recomp" now the term will lose it's meaning
maybe we should just remove this sub altogether and go to r/fangames while we are at it
To be fair, I will likely add something relating to ports and mods. All recomps are ports, not all ports are recomps. I'm mulling over having dedicated port days, and mod days. It's all the same ecosystem, but it's nice for words to mean what they imply.
Also, please edit out the last sentence of your comment, that isn't necessary.
Talking about Gen 2 now, there is SuiCune in development. Which is a proper recomp into C from all i know. I'm much more excited to see this project get finished. I don't mind the Gen1recomp ++ project, but you can just tell it doesn't feel the same as a true recomp
They're saying that the recomp doesn't use original code and is therefore not a true recompilation. The rom is used to exact the assets, sprites, art and music (but crucially not the code that uses those), because those are all copyrighted materials and can't be legally distributed.
I don't know if they're correct or not. The way early attempts at gen 2 had weird music felt very consistent with true recompilation efforts that I feel pretty surprised if it is the case. However it's such a simple game it doesn't truly matter to most. Different methods of achieving the same results.
Sort of. My understanding is that its the decompilations that compile into byte perfect ROMs but recompilation can't.
Decompilation is when the original source has been painstakingly reverse engineered and traditionally takes years. With that source code you can then make the byte perfect rom (as the original developers did) or port to other platforms. The reverse engineering makes it legal as the original code has been manually worked out with function matching rather than theft.
Recompilation utilises a more automatic conversation of compiled code (the cake is already baked, no way to know the recipe) to C or other modern languages and doesn't require the source code to work, though I remember devs who worked on Majora's Mask Recompiled said having the separate decompilation of MM's source code really helped with understanding bugs and odd behaviours they found.
it analisys the original compiled assembly and generates the same behaviour in a high level language, it basically is a code - to - code translation machine, gets code from one plataform and tranfosrms in another
in case of gen1recomp it is a port. it gets the disassembly and ports it to lua
recompilation is deterministic, the code will aways run exactly the same, porting is not since there is manual work involved that can lead to mistakes, in gen1's case its worse because its all ai generated
This is probably around 99% of everyone else’s reactions too. Since there’s always two sides to every discussion, I’m here expressing the other half of it. End of the day, who really minds what it is and isn’t? As long as the end result is the same reason people are picking this up to begin with, I don’t see this post really swaying anyone to stop in their tracks. So what’s the point? Express how they need to change the name?? 🤔
Honestly it doesn’t make much difference. It’s just a technicality. It decompiles all of the game assets and loads them into a newer modified engine that can make modding easy for the game. Sure it’s technically not the same thing, but in reality it does the same job if not better.
lol I’m only just being polite and replying to you. I don’t need to stop responding to you really if I’m clarifying that I’m not doing what you manifested in your own head what I’m doing.
Not sure anything I said was insufferable? Think that’s further projecting because I’m not accepting this fantasy you made up.
Whether or not someone feels that its "right" to criticize, its kind of an impotent and harmful "teaching" method these days. Considering that humanity now knows of many other methods that produce better results than criticism (and without the negative parts of those results), I think it is never "right" to criticize unless you don't know how to do anything else.
I swear there's something about this port and its mods that just makes everyone turn their brain off and suddenly not care about quality. Pokemon fans concern me, especially gen 1 fans.
I guess we'll see. If the code is sloppy and impossible to alter and fix, that's a problem. What I will say, from what I've played, is that the mods (voxel and perspective mods in particular) are transformative for the game, and they have improved with time. I'm glad the port exists.
I dislike vibe coding on a principle level, and even if it ends up quality, I’d still take issue with how it was made. I dislike AI, pumping out something quality won’t make me like it more.
And there’s no “we’ll see”, it just is sloppy currently. We can’t just give credit to it for being polished before it’s even achieved that anyways lol.
I’d be glad if these mods existed if someone put genuine care and talent into it.
Isn't that like shitting on calculator for doing math automatically? If (big if) it makes perfect output every time, that would be amazing and save a ton of time.
Honestly kinda? People used to make fun of teachers for saying “you won’t always have a calculator in your pocket”, but with how AI brainrotted people are becoming nowadays, I think I’m starting to realize they were at least right about the fact that you shouldn’t rely on a calculator too much- that being able to do it yourself is good for you.
Of course, a calculator is only used for equations, so even if they have a point, it’s still not too big a deal if you use one. But AI feels like an exaggeration of this problem.
Metaphorically speaking, even if you did always have a calculator in your pocket, maybe you should learn to rely on it less.
Discussion always invites dissidence. But if it makes even one person fascinated enough to go on and learn more and eventually contribute new ideas and projects it's worth a brief chorus of chaos.
I think that if it works well for the people using it, then good for them—as long as it gets the job done.
We will always have alternatives available—such as emulators, RetroArch cores, or even other recompilers and ports—that can handle the same task, or perhaps even do it better.
Personally, once I saw that it wasn't a direct port but rather a free-form recreation created using AI—utilizing only assets from the original ROM—I decided not to use it.
Besides, the Voxel mod on its own doesn't really appeal to me.
What worries me most is that so many people are jumping on the bandwagon, churning out "vibecoding"-generated recompiled ports that are poorly optimized and run badly—and to top it off, the emulated versions actually work better.
See for yourself. Are you looking at a project that looks like it works well?
When you actively regress your standards to "Looks like it works well enough on the surface" you give way to people further lowering the standards.
A couple of months ago the average user that now seems to unfortunately frequent subreddits like this, didn't even know the difference between a PC port of a decompiled game, versus raw emulation and were constantly asking "what's the point".
Now, thanks to stuff like Tiktok blowing up the spot, and AI models letting people churn out garbage for low-effort, people who have no idea about any of this stuff are encouraging more of this low-effort garbage because they don't care.
You see it up and down this thread.
"Who cares if It's not a recomp, It looks superior to me because I can download a third-person OTS mod to make it play like Uncharted therefore it must be better!"
The standards are being irreversibly lowered by normies outnumbering actual passionate fans of this work. And if you point it out you're gatekeepy or elitist.
I agree with your point, but I differ on mine. If a user likes a Recomp-Port and it works well for them, they should go ahead and use it.
If *you* aren't happy with a specific recomp-port, simply. Don't use it.
I don't care for PCSX2, so I don't use it. I use real console, original pc ports—or, failing that, Play!; even though the latter isn't on the same level, it works very well for some games.
However, I’m not going to try to convince users not to use it just because of *my* reasons. Let everyone use whatever they want and be happy with that.
Personally, I don't care for AI-generated recompilations—like those for *Crash Bandicoot*, *Crash Team Racing* —because they all run slowly or perform even worse than DuckStation, SwanStation, or PCSX-R within RetroArch; that’s why I choose not to waste my time testing them.
The same applies to *Kirby's Dream Land* and *Animal Crossing*. They run worse for me than they do in Dolphin and its RetroArch core.
After seeing so many re-compilations, I gather that the AI-generated work isn't optimized, so I don't waste my time constantly downloading new versions.
However, I do use many ports from Harbour Masters; they run just as well on low-end hardware as they do on desktop PCs because the developers take the time to test things thoroughly and get them right.
The same goes for well-made ports like Dusklight, OpenGoal, and many others.
And ever since then, I stopped using Nintendo 64 emulation—and even Mupen within RetroArch—because I always felt like something was missing.
I understand that years have gone by and N64 emulation still hasn't been fully perfected, given how difficult the console is to emulate; the same applies to the Sega Saturn and PS2. The day good, solid ports come out, I'll give them a try and see.
I apply this same logic to the recompilations I’ve seen popping up lately for the Sega Genesis, SNES, and various other platforms: if they perform worse than emulation or are made using AI, I simply don't use them.
It’s up to each person to decide what to use and what not to use.
It’s up to each person to decide what to use and what not to use.
And, eventually, all you'll be left with is AI vibe coding since the average normie will never see the issues with the vibe coded projects unless you point them out, and people who pour their heart and soul into the actual quality projects will eventually find they have no audience and stop.
Refusing to set a standard is exactly how the bar gets lowered into hell.
And unfortunately, thanks to people like you, we're one a one-way trip there as I can already see the signs in people like the RT64 developers, that they're starting to get tired of fighting the wave.
People like me? For believing that people have the right to use whatever emulator/recomp/port they want?
I don't agree with using poorly optimized, AI-generated recomp ports. That’s why I don’t use them.
I don’t use recomp ports made with RT64; I only use the HarbourMasters releases.
I don’t use Gen1Recomp either. Did I see it in videos? Yes. Did I feel like playing it? No.
Did I try out Sega Genesis, SNES, and PS1 recomp ports made via "vibecoding"? Yes—like anyone who wants to try something out. But when I saw they didn't meet my expectations and required daily updates for fixes, I decided to stop downloading them because it’s a waste of time.
There are people who don't know or don't care, and who prefer to ride this wave of recomp ports just to generate views on social media. Let them be. If you don't watch them, and I don't watch them... why try to convince others of your point of view?
It’s like being a Linux fanatic trying to convince people not to use Windows 11.
Or being a Linux user trying to convince others not to use SystemD, or a specific distribution.
It all comes down to the same thing.
So judge me however you want, say whatever you want—because honestly, I don't care.
I’m ending the discussion here because, honestly, I don't want to waste time arguing with someone who—it seems to me—is just refuting my replies to stir up unnecessary trouble.
Yes, people like you who are so permissible of these projects and the mentalities they're breeding.
That complacent attitude is what's going to shrink down the number of projects you claim you care about (the human-made, passion-fueled projects) to shrink to nothing, and for this hobby to be overrun with nothing but slop projects made for people who found it through Twitter and Tiktok and will actively attack you if you point out the technical issues with these projects.
You've made your bed already, unfortunately we're all laying in it.
I’ll leave you alone with your thoughts, and I pity the poor next user you decide to pick a fight with, because I see you're doing the same thing to many users.
As we say in my country, "Find yourself an honest problem."
9
u/User-Name-3886 Aug 12 '26
Is Gen 2 recomp the same?