nikolausrauch / chip-8-emu

Chip-8 Interpreter written in C++ / SFML

---

This project represents my initial venture into the world of emulation.
Emulation communities often recommend starting with a Chip-8 interpreter as a way to grasp the fundamental concepts of emulation. Taking their advice, I started this project to get familiar with the basics of emulation. I am not entirely satisfied with all of my design choices, but maybe the code can serve as a source of inspiration for others.

What is Chip-8?

Chip-8 is a virtual machine designed to run games and applications on computers of its time. It was originally implemented on the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 microcomputers. Despite its simplicity, Chip-8 enjoyed popularity due to its ease of programming and availability on various platforms.

The Chip-8 system used a 4KB memory, a 64x32-pixel monochrome display, and a 16-key hexadecimal keypad. Its instruction set consisted of 35 different opcodes, providing capabilities for graphics, input handling, and simple sound generation.

---

About the Emulator

The interpreter is written in C++ and uses SFML for rendering and input handling. To start the program you need to provide the path to a chip-8 rom file; and optionally set emulation quirks and speed.

$ chip-8-emu rom/example_rom.ch8 --quirks jmsr --speed 1000

Key	Function
PageUp	Increase resolution by 2x
PageDown	Decrease resolution by 1/2
+	Increase emulation speed
-	Decrease emulation speed
ctrl + J	jump quirk
ctrl + M	memory quirk
ctrl + S	shifting quirk
ctrl + R	VF register reset
space	print chip-8 display and registers to stdout

📚 Useful Resources

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHIP-8#Opcode_table
http://devernay.free.fr/hacks/chip8/C8TECH10.HTM
https://chip-8.github.io/links/
https://github.com/mattmikolay/chip-8/wiki/Mastering-CHIP%E2%80%908
https://github.com/mattmikolay/chip-8/wiki/CHIP%E2%80%908-Technical-Reference
https://austinmorlan.com/posts/chip8_emulator/
https://tobiasvl.github.io/blog/write-a-chip-8-emulator/
https://github.com/corax89/chip8-test-rom
https://johnearnest.github.io/chip8Archive/