Have Claude patch an old game that won’t run

Given the 1991 game’s binaries and the symptoms, Claude disassembled it, found a sound-card handshake that hangs, and wrote a 3-byte patch.

by /u/jrowberg7 Oct 2026

Prompt for your agent

Goal: Get a retro game running on real old hardware.
Setup: agents used in source: Claude; tools/MCPs stated: FreeDOS.
Steps:
1. Give Claude the original binaries and a description of the problem.
2. Let it disassemble the executable, trace execution and identify the likely root cause.
3. Have it apply the patch to a new copy (keep the original) and test on the real machine.
Rules: ask me before anything irreversible (sending, posting, paying, deleting); don’t invent data, results or tools I haven’t given you; tell me what you couldn’t verify.
Based on: /u/jrowberg — https://www.reddit.com/r/ClaudeAI/comments/1x06hmp/claude_fixed_a_bug_in_a_dos_game_from_1991_and/

Steps are from the source. Includes a “Based on” credit line.

I tried this

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Agents, models and tools only what the source states

Agents
Claude
Tools
  • FreeDOS

Sources & credit