Image: reddit.com · I built a custom 16-bit fantasy game console with custom CPU/PPU emulator, chiptune audio and compiler
A 16-bit fantasy console with its own CPU, compiler and synth on ESP32-S3
A custom 16-bit fantasy console emulated on two ESP32-S3 chips, with its own C-like compiler, where Claude sped up the architecture design and documentation.
Credits
Earliest dated source:
The full story
The maker had been writing a C-like compiler in Python and decided to target their own instruction set, running it on an unused ESP32. With Claude helping speed up the architecture design and documentation, it grew into a 16-bit fantasy console: a custom CPU emulated in C++, an NES-inspired picture unit with tiles, sprites and scrolling, and a 4-voice chiptune synth with its own music compiler.
The hardware version uses two ESP32-S3 chips, one for the CPU and audio and one for graphics. The same game ROM runs bit-identically on the ESP32, natively and in the browser via WebAssembly.
How it was done
Tools
Themes
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Sources
From a short post by the maker, so the details are as they tell them.
- Reddit: I built a custom 16-bit fantasy game console with custom CPU/PPU emulator, chiptune audio and compilReddit poster: shobeasPosted
The maker's post on r/esp32.
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