---
title: 'Can AI play SimCity on an SNES…?'
date: '2026-11-05T12:48:07-08:00'
type: post
word_count: 194
char_count: 1435
tokens: 253
categories:
  - Portland
---

# Can AI play SimCity on an SNES…?

> Can an LLM play SimCity? Not through an emulator, not on a PC: the actual SNES cartridge, through
> an actual controller. I have had this idea stuck in my head for weeks, so this episode is the whole
> build: a field trip for the cart, a Retro Duo that smells like a thrift store, controller surgery
> with ten NPN transistors, an HDMI-to-CSI bridge that died on the bench, and Claude Code installed
> on a Raspberry Pi 4 and told to write every tool it needs. Then I hit reset and let it play.


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