AI can now reverse-engineer software without the source code, and people are rebuilding entire games
AI coding agents are opening up some pretty wild possibilities for software development.
People are now using AI to recreate existing software, combine completely different games, and build custom alternatives to commercial applications.
Some of the examples are impressive:
- Mario 64 running inside Elden Ring
- Minecraft mechanics recreated inside GTA V
- Spider-Man-style movement added to Batman: Arkham Knight
- Nintendo 64 games reconstructed and ported to modern platforms
- Open-source alternatives to professional image and video editing software
- AI agents helping reconstruct how programs work without access to their original source code
The interesting part is how reverse engineering is changing.
Instead of manually spending months figuring out how a program works, developers can use coding agents to analyze its behavior, generate replacement code, test the results, and repeatedly improve the implementation.
Research into AI-assisted software reverse engineering is also showing how capable frontier coding models are becoming at reconstructing program behavior.
This opens up possibilities beyond game modding.
Developers could build personalized software, restore abandoned applications, create compatibility tools, or replace expensive subscriptions with applications tailored to their actual needs.
Wes Roth explores these developments and puts the technology through his own experiments, including building software tools and examining what AI-powered reverse engineering can already accomplish.
The video also walks through the open-source projects behind these demonstrations and how developers can start experimenting with similar techniques.
The bigger shift is that software creation is becoming increasingly accessible, even when the original program's implementation isn't available.
VIDEO URL: https://youtu.be/EmaXeEdlJkI?si=ZveNbcLJzVyhCYE6
SOURCE: arxiv.org
deltarooo/er-mario
rehan-remade/universal-modder
2 points
The No. 1 GitHub repo teaches AI to reverse engineer anything
An open-source repo that teaches AI agents to reverse engineer software, REA, went to number one on GitHub's trending lists in October 2026. Meanwhile people are porting PS5 games to PC and playing Elden Ring as Super Mario 64's Mario. A year ago, would anyone even have tried? And the next generation of AI shows up with this tool set already built.
Sources (screenshots of the GitHub pages taken 14 Oct 2026):
- REA, "REA: Reverse Engineer Anything" (github.com/morluto/rea, created 14 Apr 2026; 218.6k stars, 3,036 commits and 192 contributors on 14 Oct 2026): morluto/rea
- REA's disclaimer (only for software you own or are authorized to examine; no DRM bypass): github.com/morluto/rea/blob/main/DISCLAIMER.md
- Trendshift, monthly trending repositories (No. 1, Oct 2026): trendshift.io
- Startup Fortune, "An AI agent that reverse engineers any software just hit number one on GitHub" (9 Oct 2026): startupfortune.com
- AnyPS5, PS5 executables ported to Windows and Linux (not REA; 35.8k stars on 14 Oct 2026): boykopovar/AnyPS5
- AnyPS5 blocker map, the community tracker its README links (4 games "Playable" on 13 Oct 2026): alxcbtw.github.io
- sotc-vibe-pc, a PS2 Shadow of the Colossus PC port written by AI coding agents (2 Oct 2026): LightVelox/sotc-vibe-pc
- ER Mario, a fan mod by Deltaroo (Oct 2026): deltarooo/er-mario
Views are my own and don't represent my employer.
Taming the Frontier: a real software dev's field notes from the AI frontier.
#GitHub #AIAgents #ReverseEngineering #OpenSource #ai
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AI can now reverse-engineer software without the source code, and people are rebuilding entire games AI coding agents are opening up some pretty wild possibilities for software development. People are now using AI to recreate existing software, combine completely different games, and build custom alternatives to commercial applications. Some of the examples are impressive: - Mario 64 running inside Elden Ring - Minecraft mechanics recreated inside GTA V - Spider-Man-style movement added to Batman: Arkham Knight - Nintendo 64 games reconstructed and ported to modern platforms - Open-source alternatives to professional image and video editing software - AI agents helping reconstruct how programs work without access to their original source code The interesting part is how reverse engineering is changing. Instead of manually spending months figuring out how a program works, developers can use coding agents to analyze its behavior, generate replacement code, test the results, and repeatedly improve the implementation. Research into AI-assisted software reverse engineering is also showing how capable frontier coding models are becoming at reconstructing program behavior. This opens up possibilities beyond game modding. Developers could build personalized software, restore abandoned applications, create compatibility tools, or replace expensive subscriptions with applications tailored to their actual needs. Wes Roth explores these developments and puts the technology through his own experiments, including building software tools and examining what AI-powered reverse engineering can already accomplish. The video also walks through the open-source projects behind these demonstrations and how developers can start experimenting with similar techniques. The bigger shift is that software creation is becoming increasingly accessible, even when the original program's implementation isn't available. VIDEO URL: https://youtu.be/EmaXeEdlJkI?si=ZveNbcLJzVyhCYE6 SOURCE: arxiv.org deltarooo/er-mario rehan-remade/universal-modder
The No. 1 GitHub repo teaches AI to reverse engineer anything An open-source repo that teaches AI agents to reverse engineer software, REA, went to number one on GitHub's trending lists in October 2026. Meanwhile people are porting PS5 games to PC and playing Elden Ring as Super Mario 64's Mario. A year ago, would anyone even have tried? And the next generation of AI shows up with this tool set already built. Sources (screenshots of the GitHub pages taken 14 Oct 2026): - REA, "REA: Reverse Engineer Anything" (github.com/morluto/rea, created 14 Apr 2026; 218.6k stars, 3,036 commits and 192 contributors on 14 Oct 2026): morluto/rea - REA's disclaimer (only for software you own or are authorized to examine; no DRM bypass): github.com/morluto/rea/blob/main/DISCLAIMER.md - Trendshift, monthly trending repositories (No. 1, Oct 2026): trendshift.io - Startup Fortune, "An AI agent that reverse engineers any software just hit number one on GitHub" (9 Oct 2026): startupfortune.com - AnyPS5, PS5 executables ported to Windows and Linux (not REA; 35.8k stars on 14 Oct 2026): boykopovar/AnyPS5 - AnyPS5 blocker map, the community tracker its README links (4 games "Playable" on 13 Oct 2026): alxcbtw.github.io - sotc-vibe-pc, a PS2 Shadow of the Colossus PC port written by AI coding agents (2 Oct 2026): LightVelox/sotc-vibe-pc - ER Mario, a fan mod by Deltaroo (Oct 2026): deltarooo/er-mario Views are my own and don't represent my employer. Taming the Frontier: a real software dev's field notes from the AI frontier. #GitHub #AIAgents #ReverseEngineering #OpenSource #ai