Donkey Kong 64: Recompiled promises to give us all a perfected version of Rare's N64 collectathon, playable on PC complete with modern resolutions, high frame rates, and extensive additional features via mods. The project isn't ready for release just yet, but the devs have a good reason for announcing it early – they want to make sure their version is front of mind instead of a "poorly made" alternative built with AI code.
The trailer for DK64: Recompiled covers pretty much all of the bases you'd expect from a project of this nature, building a new version of the game for various PC platforms with the help of the N64: Recompiled tool that was released back in 2024. Donkey Kong 64 still has a controversial reputation among Nintendo fans thanks to its vast pile of collectables and massive difficulty spikes, but for those whose love of the game remains true, this will likely be an ideal way to play it.
But, of course, it's not yet available, and won't be until later this summer. In a Reddit comment (thanks, Kotaku), developer Ballaam says that the team normally wouldn't announce a project so early, but there's "a competitor who is vibe coding their way through, and doing a very poor job of it. As such, we want to get our intention out that we're doing a recomp of actually good quality before our competitor releases their poorly made one and some infrastructure is built around that one."
I'm not qualified to speak on how useful AI code is to experienced programmers – Gabe Newell is certainly excited about it – but the fans behind projects like this have been inundated with examples of it being used badly. Earlier this year, the devs behind PS3 emulator RPCS3 starting begging would-be contributors to "stop submitting AI slop code" because it just wasn't worth the hassle of sorting through it all.
In theory, Donkey Kong 64: Recompiled should be able to serve as a platform for modders who want to expand the original game with new features and content, but that only works when you've got a strong foundation from the beginning. Even the announcement trailer for the project promises that it "does not rely on AI vibe coding," and it's clear the devs want to put their best foot forward for the community they're hoping to foster.
