CHIP-8 Emulator

This project is a high-performance CHIP-8 emulator meticulously crafted in Rust, bringing the nostalgic 8-bit microcomputer experience to modern platforms. Beyond a mere interpreter, this emulator showcases a robust, modular architecture designed for optimal performance and cross-platform compatibility.

Development Process: A Deep Dive

At its heart, the emulator features a highly optimized core module encapsulating all CHIP-8 CPU instructions, memory management, and peripheral interactions. This foundational Rust crate ensures precise emulation of the original hardware's intricacies.

For a native desktop experience, we leveraged SDL2 to provide a low-latency, high-fidelity graphical and input interface. This integration allows for seamless execution of classic CHIP-8 ROMs directly on your desktop, delivering a fluid and responsive gameplay experience.

Pushing the boundaries of retro emulation, this project also extends its reach to the web. By compiling the core Rust module to WebAssembly (Wasm), we've enabled the emulator to run directly within modern web browsers. This innovative approach allows for instant, plugin-free access to CHIP-8 games, demonstrating the power of Wasm for high-performance, platform-agnostic applications.

Specs

• 4 KB of RAM (512 Bytes reserved for the interpreter)
• 16 general purpose 8 bit registers labelled V0, V1 .... V9, VA, VB ..... VF.
• Special 16 bit register called I to store memory addresses
• 2 special purpose 8 bit registers for display timers and sound timers.
• 16 bit program counter to store the currently executing address
• 8 bit stack pointer to point towards the topmost element in the stack.
• Stack is an array of 16 16-bit values.

Technical reference

http://devernay.free.fr/hacks/chip8/C8TECH10.HTM#0.0

Key Mappings

The following key mappings are used to emulate the CHIP-8 keypad:

CHIP-8 Keypad:    Emulator Keypad:

1 2 3 C           1 2 3 4
4 5 6 D    =>     Q W E R
7 8 9 E           A S D F
A 0 B F           Z X C V

Getting Started

1. Clone the repository:

   git clone https://github.com/aayush0325/chip8_emu.git
   cd chip8

2. Build the project:

   cd desktop
   cargo build --release

3. Run a CHIP-8 ROM:

   cargo run --release path/to/rom

4. Try out some sample games: The c8games directory in the repository contains a collection of CHIP-8 games you can run with the emulator. Simply specify the path to a game file in the c8games directory when running the emulator.

5. For example:

   cargo run --release ../c8games/PONG

To compile the WebAssembly

cd web && cargo build && wasm-pack build --target web

To run the emulator in your browser

cd web && python3 -m http.server