Yeah, I recall people doing similar with 'fistp' to get quicker float->int conversions. (There are quicker tricks using direct manipulation of the fp representa

Yeah, I recall people doing similar with 'fistp' to get quicker float->int conversions. (There are quicker tricks using direct manipulation of the fp representation, but those have always had the decency to be hidden in macros). Also, I recall assembler code (65816) where the programmers had directly encoded instructions (DB $aa,$bb) since an earlier (probably 6502) assembler had not supported them. In those days, gamers programmers had more in common with scientists in their attitude to programming - they made games, programming was simply a means to that end. Also, games had pretty much zero maintenance after release.