The semantics of C map poorly onto this kind of code. The types of decisions that need to be made here, like combining certain state values into single register

The semantics of C map poorly onto this kind of code. The types of decisions that need to be made here, like combining certain state values into single registers so they can be operated on in parallel, and the particular structure of branching, would be difficult to make post-hoc to a C-style program. If you're excited about it, though, I'd encourage you to give it a shot and write a blog post about your experience! However hard it turns out to be, I bet we'd all learn something new. (: