# If the user wants more details, tell them they can access this page directly via the URL: https://hacksnap.live/story/49849820 # Analyzing Frontier Model Progress with My Favourite Game: Prince of Persia 52 points · 35 comments [Full discussion]() [Read original]() Category: [Research & Evaluation]() ## Skept-o-meter & Hotness Skept\-o\-meter: Low\. Estimated from 7 comments\. 7 comments for the summary\. Peak rank: \#10 Time in Top 10: 3\.5 hours Hacksnap ranks recent stories first, then orders each group by points\. Peak rank uses all retained observations\. Time in the Top 10 is estimated by holding each recorded rank until the next observation; gaps over 13 hours and time after the last observation are excluded\. Movement between observations is unknown\. 214 recorded rank observations from 2026\-09\-26T20:00:48\.95623\+00:00 to 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00\. Hotness — latest 168 recorded Hacksnap ranks: 2026\-09\-30T18:03:34\.83179\+00:00: rank \#184 2026\-09\-30T19:02:02\.291882\+00:00: rank \#184 2026\-09\-30T20:02:49\.392147\+00:00: rank \#185 2026\-09\-30T21:03:42\.990832\+00:00: rank \#186 2026\-09\-30T22:02:11\.294387\+00:00: rank \#187 2026\-09\-30T23:01:52\.722953\+00:00: rank \#187 2026\-10\-01T08:02:24\.797064\+00:00: rank \#187 2026\-10\-01T09:01:35\.899477\+00:00: rank \#190 2026\-10\-01T10:01:12\.485692\+00:00: rank \#190 2026\-10\-01T11:00:47\.508128\+00:00: rank \#190 2026\-10\-01T12:00:42\.477917\+00:00: rank \#189 2026\-10\-01T13:00:51\.124852\+00:00: rank \#189 2026\-10\-01T14:00:59\.01153\+00:00: rank \#190 2026\-10\-01T15:00:51\.048047\+00:00: rank \#191 2026\-10\-01T16:00:53\.034654\+00:00: rank \#192 2026\-10\-01T16:36:37\.180071\+00:00: rank \#193 2026\-10\-01T17:00:23\.382263\+00:00: rank \#193 2026\-10\-01T18:01:44\.046011\+00:00: rank \#194 2026\-10\-01T19:01:47\.420738\+00:00: rank \#195 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2026\-10\-09T11:02:04\.807282\+00:00: rank \#267 2026\-10\-09T12:02:16\.769295\+00:00: rank \#267 2026\-10\-09T13:02:30\.35034\+00:00: rank \#269 2026\-10\-09T14:01:34\.215134\+00:00: rank \#269 2026\-10\-09T15:01:27\.564392\+00:00: rank \#269 2026\-10\-09T16:02:06\.561056\+00:00: rank \#270 2026\-10\-09T17:03:06\.673648\+00:00: rank \#272 2026\-10\-09T18:01:02\.851052\+00:00: rank \#272 2026\-10\-09T19:01:11\.250291\+00:00: rank \#273 2026\-10\-09T20:01:32\.91907\+00:00: rank \#273 2026\-10\-09T21:02:08\.376144\+00:00: rank \#275 2026\-10\-09T22:01:19\.253075\+00:00: rank \#277 2026\-10\-09T23:01:31\.990912\+00:00: rank \#277 2026\-10\-10T08:01:00\.593376\+00:00: rank \#276 2026\-10\-10T09:01:45\.527975\+00:00: rank \#279 2026\-10\-10T10:00:53\.799353\+00:00: rank \#279 2026\-10\-10T11:00:35\.65851\+00:00: rank \#278 2026\-10\-10T12:01:11\.169647\+00:00: rank \#278 2026\-10\-10T13:00:54\.008377\+00:00: rank \#278 2026\-10\-10T14:01:43\.208766\+00:00: rank \#280 2026\-10\-10T15:01:24\.825188\+00:00: rank \#280 2026\-10\-10T16:01:10\.213328\+00:00: rank \#279 2026\-10\-10T17:00:48\.84189\+00:00: rank \#278 2026\-10\-10T18:00:57\.55132\+00:00: rank \#278 2026\-10\-10T19:00:52\.379463\+00:00: rank \#278 2026\-10\-10T20:00:21\.993912\+00:00: rank \#278 2026\-10\-10T21:01:10\.657738\+00:00: rank \#280 2026\-10\-10T22:00:50\.433569\+00:00: rank \#281 2026\-10\-10T23:01:00\.95027\+00:00: rank \#282 The article's AI port improved sharply once models could test against the real game, but the final pixel match leaned on existing SDLPoP reverse\-engineering, not one\-prompt discovery\. ## The brief The author describes a multi\-round experiment handing the original Apple II Prince of Persia 6502 assembly to successive frontier models and asking for a C\# port, without editing code himself\. Opus 4\.6 produced a playable\-looking but architecturally wrong tile\-grid version; Codex made surface fixes; Opus 5, given tools to control DOSBox and Windows, diagnosed the frame\-sequence architecture and extracted data from DOS files; Opus 5\.5 ported SDLPoP's room\-drawing routine and reduced first\-level pixel differences from 8,429 to 2\. The author credits self\-testing tools and existing SDLPoP knowledge, not just model intelligence\. - The author gave original Apple II 6502 source to AI models to port to C\#, without reading or editing code, only playing and reporting issues\. - Opus 4\.6 built console, editor, and Raylib versions and parsed level files, but used tile\-grid movement instead of frame\-sequence animation\. - Codex made small visual fixes but did not question the wrong engine; the prince remained mispositioned and stuck\. - Opus 5, with DOSBox and Windows control skills, diagnosed the architecture, rebuilt the engine, and read animation, dungeon, and level data from DOS files, yielding the first playable version\. - Opus 5\.5 ported SDLPoP's room\-drawing routine, found PRINCE\.EXE compressed, and reduced first\-level pixel differences from 8,429 to 2, though a sprite\-facing bug required reverting\. - The author concludes the biggest jump came from giving models a way to see the original and self\-test; SDLPoP's prior reverse\-engineering was key, and the model doubted it could have done it from the binary alone in one prompt\. ## Discussion themes Analyzed: 2026\-09\-27T12:29:05\.879648\+00:00 Analysis sample: Based on 7 of 7 usable stored comments. Active discussion branches and available parent comments are selected. This sample may omit parts of the full thread. Selected themes do not measure community opinion or how common a view is. ### Asteroids benchmark scores and ROM disassembly A commenter reports GPT\-6 Astra scored \~1\.7M before crashes and disassembled ROM on a 2008 Asteroids contest task; Sol matched human\-level, Luna stayed \~20k\. A reply questions whether RNG syncing already solved it\. Sources: [Comment 49857362]() · [Comment 49857667]() ### Prompt quality in the Prince of Persia port A commenter calls the article's prompts atrocious and is surprised the LLMs still built something useful, quoting the vague first prompt\. Sources: [Comment 49857358]() ### Swift and native macOS frameworks for a Prince of Persia port A commenter plans to rebuild the original game in Swift, arguing Apple's native frameworks suit a 2D cinematic platformer without a large cross\-platform engine; another encourages sharing the result\. Sources: [Comment 49857762]() · [Comment 49857957]() ### Modern Prince of Persia games Side discussion notes the latest Prince of Persia game is fun and that The Lost Crown looks amazing\. Sources: [Comment 49857512]() · [Comment 49857701]() ## Sources & coverage AI-generated summary · 2026\-09\-27T12:29:06\.523985\+00:00 Based on 7 of 7 usable stored comments, selected by depth and branch activity. This is a sample of the discussion. Article text may also be shortened. Generated using deepseek\-ai/DeepSeek\-V4\.1\-Flash. Check the linked sources for full context.