Claude beats Metal Slug 1 after 2,000+ deaths via deterministic input search
FluffyQuack · reddit · 2026-10-11
A developer shared a full playthrough of Metal Slug 1 completed entirely by Claude Opus 5.5:
- Claude plays via the MAME emulator; since gameplay is deterministic, every Game Over (it died 2,000+ times on the final boss alone) triggered a restart with the same inputs, changing only the input before the last death—iteratively searching out a winning path.
- Play wasn't real-time: Claude periodically paused, screenshotted, read memory values (lives, etc.) to decide inputs, and reworked strategy when stuck.
- The video is a replay of the final successful input sequence.
- Motivation: the author is reimplementing Metal Slug 1 (99% of code written by Claude); the playtests both mapped where code lives in the ROM (static analysis wasn't enough) and verified the reimplementation is 100% faithful.
Described as simultaneously amazing and horrible at the game.
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