killer7’s horrendous AI upscaling fixed in a new patch

killer7 is, after about two weeks of relentless review bombing, deploying a patch that reverts the embarrassing AI-upscaled PlayStation 2 cutscenes to their former (slightly low-resolution) glory.

“We have a small update to follow-up the major update,” the patch notes read, “addressing your valuable feedback!” The long and short of the notes is that by default the cutscenes will be their original resolution, with an option to swap back to the AI-upscaled versions in the config tool if you’d like to offensively bastardize Suda51’s masterpiece once again.

Suda51’s satirical cult classic killer7 was finally ported to Steam six years ago, allowing players old and new alike to be baffled and engrossed by its unique brand of madness. One of the few hiccups in the port job was the inclusion of cutscenes from the PlayStation 2 version of the game, which were less crisp than those found on the GameCube. A recent update sought to address this, not by simply swapping the FMVs but by using everyone’s favorite video modification technique: AI upscaling.

For about five seconds, everyone was excited about the prospect of improved video quality, until we all began to notice the (obvious) cracks. It isn’t the first time even in very recent memory this technique has caused a stir, with Daft Punk’s Interstella 5555 coming back to theatres with a similarly Vaseline-esque upscale.

So why does this keep happening? There are two likely answers: one, it’s cheap. Two, and more generously, the master copies which can more traditionally be “enhanced” may have been lost to time. The good news is that the public at large seems to have a keen eye for the “off-ness” of these upscales, and we’re likely to see further backlash if they’re deployed again in the future. Sometimes, we’re probably just going to have to deal with a little bit of fuzz.