Outrun 2026 - An Arcade racing classic gets an AI Amstrad CPC 128k port by Oldschool Is Beautiful

Looking through Xenomorph's Amstrad Youtube channel and I've come across Outrun 2026 for the Amstrad CPC 6128, a project brought to life by the label Oldschool Is Beautiful. Packed entirely onto a single floppy disk, this new title serves as a port of the classic SEGA Master System version. What could make this release divisive however, is its development process: not a single line of its Z80 assembly code was written by a human. Instead, the creator acted strictly as a director and hardware tester, utilizing Anthropic's advanced AI model, Claude Opus 5.5, via Claude Code to program the entire engine, build the file extraction utilities, and handle the complex music conversion.

1988 Amstrad CPC Version

AI 2026 port

Adapting the Master System code to the Amstrad's architecture required a complete overhaul from the ground up, as the console's original road-rendering techniques depended heavily on its specialized video hardware. To bridge this gap, the AI rewrote the rendering engine specifically for the CPC. Rather than relying on guesswork to replicate the iconic arcade feel, every critical element—including track layouts, roadside scenery scaling, driving physics, and the legendary soundtrack—was measured and translated directly from the Master System source. 

Features
  • All 15 stages and their forks, with the original curves and hills
  • All 3 full-length tunes: Magical Sound Shower, Passing Breeze, Splash Wave
  • A specific horizon and roadside scenery for each stage
  • Arrow signs before curves, placed as on the Master System
  • Traffic, crashes and spins
  • Start sequence with the crowd and the starting lights
  • Extended time at each checkpoint, as in the original
  • Three difficulty levels: EASY, NORMAL, HARD (HARD = Master System handling)
  • Manual or automatic gearbox
Technical notes
  • Mode 0, double buffering, about 16 frames per second
  • Handling matched to the original: acceleration, braking, steering, centrifugal force
  • Music converted from the Master System's SN76489 to the CPC's AY chip, played at the original tempo
AI Disclosure AI Assisted, Code, Graphics, Sounds, Text

Links :1) Source

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18 comments:

  1. Udderdude30 September 2026 at 16:05

    I wonder how much this could be optimized further by human hands ..

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    Replies
    1. IndieRetroNews30 September 2026 at 16:11

      If people used AI it would be nice for us humans to add their own little touches ;)

      Delete
  2. PanDelli5 X30 September 2026 at 16:22

    That's amazing! Hope to see more AI coded games in the near future...

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    1. kokoko3k30 September 2026 at 19:53

      This is a genuine question.
      Can I ask you why?

      Delete
    2. Seider1 October 2026 at 05:10

      I want more AI coded games because so a lot of games nobody was going to code are going to be coded. We are going to see a lot of remakes of old games optimized and updated. Well see games like Saint Dragon that were shit on CPC, improved thanks to AI. Every game on CPC can be improved. And a lot of new games will arrive to CPC and other systems now that its easier to code them.

      Delete
    3. Tigerskunk7071 October 2026 at 12:55

      Why you don't play these games in MAME on your computer then? That's been possible since around 2000 at least. And you get the real thing.

      Retro should be retro, done by real humans, like back in the day.

      Delete
    4. IndieRetroNews1 October 2026 at 16:50

      "Retro should be retro, done by real humans, like back in the day." Well, things have moved on! If we did things like we did back in the day, people would only be coding on the computers they are developed for. There'd be no scorpion engine, no redpill. Hell, I've deleted a few comments lately from people becoming abusive to those who created games using the Scorpion Engine. I know there's some who hate AI with a passion, as does my brother. But atleast you can pick the games you want to play and ignore those that just don't take your fancy ;)

      Delete
    5. IndieRetroNews1 October 2026 at 16:53

      oh yeh and @tigerskunk even Acidbottle and JOTD are using AI in some way now ;)

      Delete
  3. kokoko3k30 September 2026 at 17:14

    clap clap claude...
    I wonder what's the point.

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    Replies
    1. IndieRetroNews30 September 2026 at 19:14

      Well performance wise it's way better than the original but music seems off lol

      Delete
    2. kokoko3k30 September 2026 at 19:51

      Yeah, I understand that, but seriously, Is there anyone owning a real spectrum which is using it today to play new games?

      I can understand the nostalgia effect, but that includes just old/already played titles, not new ones.

      So, if a new game is to be made, it should either demonstrate a programming skill, or maybe be a self-challenge to push the hardware to go where no *man* has gone before :)

      This smells like, "look what ai can do!" instead, at most.

      This is my personal take ofc.

      Delete
    3. IndieRetroNews30 September 2026 at 20:22

      "Is there anyone owning a real spectrum which is using it today to play new games?" Lots of people ;) Hence one of many reasons people bought the divMMC . Saying that even though I have an original speccy, I also have a mini and currently waiting for the ZX Spectrum Next :D. As for pushing the hardware, games like https://retrosouls.itch.io/yazzie-junior-zx-spectrum ( no AI )

      Delete
    4. kokoko3k1 October 2026 at 05:11

      That clarifies things alot.

      I forgot to thank you for keeping the retrogaming spirit alive and to continue to tag AI contributions in your posts, I really appreciate that.

      Keep up the good work!

      Delete
  4. Slider27130 September 2026 at 18:52

    I’ve not played the Master Ststem. Erosion so assumed it was just being faithful to the original! (And sounded not too bad, considering). The game as a whole is much better than the US Gold version I bought (and regretted) in the 80s.

    ReplyDelete
  5. XeNoMoRPH1 October 2026 at 06:59


    Take a look at this other car game prototype that doesn't use AI. https://forum.cpcwiki.eu/t/cpc-plus-128-kb-ram-prototype/468/5

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Seider1 October 2026 at 10:38

      But that prototype (that looks awesome) is for CPC Plus range, isnt it?

      Delete
  6. Chris1 October 2026 at 10:57

    That music could do with some work

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  7. Pixelateddd2 October 2026 at 08:56

    This is a port of the Sega Master System version.

    ReplyDelete

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