Bully, GTA San Andreas, more classics brought to next-gen by AI

Classic characters from Grand Theft Auto, Bully, Duke Nukem, and more were given ‘remasters’ using an AI tool to recreate their pixelated portraits into perfect next-gen portrayals.

The gaming industry has been loving its remakes and remasters in the past few years, but there are still some iconic protagonists on the waitlist for their updated debut. Some remasters are more likely than others, so one fan got creative on how to upgrade their looks.

But not all characters are worthy of next-gen upgrades, seeing as they also put Pac-Man and Blinky (the red ghost) through the AI. While Blinky looked fine, Pac-Man was a cursed creation that was better left off the list.

Either way, people were digging the AI-created characters for how crisp (most) of them turned out, which made some wish actual remakes were on the way.

The Reddit post has popped off with over 30k upvotes and ample love (awards) from audiences, most of who weren’t exactly ready to scroll to Pac-Man.

But the human renditions were great, with the AI making some immaculate creations using real-life inspirations.

“A fun little fact is that the AI loves to fancast actors,” user ‘ECarterLennon’ said. “When I was doing some more realistic generations (which maybe I’ll post separately) the AI basically gave me what looks like Tom Cruise as Solid Snake (Metal Gear Solid) and Ryan Gosling as JC Denton (Deus Ex).”

Onlookers noticed that Bully’s Jimmy looked remarkably similar to former Manchester United footballer Wayne Rooney while Duke Nukem was associated with Gary Busey.

For people who scrolled through to the end, they may have been taken aback by Pac-Man, but other than that monstrosity the AI managed to provide great mock-ups.