A developer who posts on X as alexfredo87 has shown off an emulation project for the Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis/Mega Drive that uses AI to convert the original sprites into HD artwork.

The author says the process is fully automatic and once a game has been "converted" it can be played in real-time with the new artwork in place of the old ones.

I have something special to show today. I’m also working on a Super Nintendo and Sega Genesis emulator that uses AI to convert the old sprites from games on both consoles into HD sprites. Once the conversion is done, the games can be played in HD.

Here’s an example with Ranma ½: Hard Battle on Super Nintendo. For this test, I only converted the background and female Ranma, but I can convert the entire game into HD. The whole process is fully automated and works with all SNES and Genesis games.

That first demo used Ranma ½: Hard Battle on SNES. With further examples showing the SNES version of Mortal Kombat where only a single character sprite was swapped out while the background and her opponent kept their original sprites and a third demo shows Sonic the Hedgehog getting the same treatment.

This is clearly still early work in progress and the developer mentions a bug in Mortal Kombat where the HD sprite sometimes suddenly shrinks randomyl and the Sonic clip has quite a few apparent visual glitches. But the author intends to fix them, describing the project as just a quick proof of concept for now.

Nothing has been said about a release, a name for the emulator or which AI tools are involved/required.

What do you think? Would you want to play classic games in this way?

Source

 

[Ericzander]

I approve as long as the AI upscaling project is coded completely by a man in a cave with scraps and not by AI.

 

[JuanMena]

Sonic looks good. Reminds me to Sonic the Edgehog Episode 4.
Ranma also looks fine... but MK looks very odd for some reason.

This goes beyond applying an EPX filter.


Is this some kind of DLSS 5 though?

 

[SDA]

I would like to meet the developer in person so I can kick them straight into their face for making this crap.

 

[AndorfRequissa]

i want to see an AI upscale to 8K at 60fps lol. NES and sega games in 8k lol thats what AI should be working on

 

[Fappitt]

Looks good to me, Would love to see a Super Mario World version.

 

[shaunj66]

I should have enabled puke emoji for this post

 

[ChanseyIsTheBest]

Yes I have always wanted to turn my SNES/MD games into some cheap ass looking flash game. Well I guess some people like that style...

Sonic looks good. Reminds me to Sonic the Edgehog Episode 4.
Ranma also looks fine... but MK looks very odd for some reason.

This goes beyond applying an EPX filter.


Is this some kind of DLSS 5 though?

DLSS 5 applies to the entire image in real-time this appears to be done to the images in the game before you play and when you play the old sprites are replaced with the HD AI equivalents. So that's why it looks "better" then DLSS 5.

 

[EpikJimmer]

It's interesting to say the least.

 

[TheCasketMan]

It looks ok, could use more improvements. I won't blindly hate it cuz its AI unlike most people on the internet.

 

[NewLoveMachine]

lmao looks like early iPhone garbage shovelware.

 

[RAHelllord]

Nobody tell this guy about HD texture packs and the various asset swap at runtime projects that already exist, I would hate if he'd waste his time trying to recreate the wheel but worse.

 

[Givemesteak]

It doesn't look perfect, but it doesn't look nearly as bad as I thought it would (when I read the headline).. But I get it.. Some people enjoy looking at square pixels..

 

[Blasingame]

Actually looks kind of cool, and glad this is coming from a fan mod. I could see how companies would "HD remake" their back catalog of games using this.

 

[AshuraZro]

I should have enabled puke emoji for this post

Still looks better than Sonic 4!

 

[titan_tim]

The images look pretty impressive actually, almost like a professional remaster. They're just single frame images, though. I'd have to see it all in motion to see how bad the AI hallucinations are.

 

[Marc_LFD]

Actually looks kind of cool, and glad this is coming from a fan mod. I could see how companies would "HD remake" their back catalog of games using this.

I read Amazon reviews complaining that the Sonic Origins Collection looks "old", so they didn't know what they were buying? Well, Sega can add "HD" graphics with this tool.

 

[Zkajavier]

I might not be an old timer as to appreciate the ancient trash people played back then, because I think that looks great

 

[Cris1997XX]

I might not be an old timer as to appreciate the ancient trash people played back then, because I think that looks great

Yeah you're just talking out of your ass lol

 

[KingVamp]

Ranma looks like he swaying back and forth. Not up and down. Mortal Kombat actually looks like the best one since it doesn't completely change the art style, if you care about that sort of thing.