AI Can't Recreate Thrust (But It Can Help You Understand It)
Summary
The author uses AI to interrogate and document how the 1986 game Thrust actually works, from 6502 assembly to physics timing and hardware interfaces. While Claude helps derive explanations and specifications, the author concludes that AI can't perfectly recreate the original feel, but can dramatically accelerate understanding and reconstruction of legacy code. The piece includes a GitHub repo and live browser demo.