A simple Rust-based interpreter for the CHIP-8
Above: playing Breakout by David Winter
This project is a simple interpreter for the CHIP-8 language, written in Rust and SDL2.
CHIP-8 is a simple interpreted programming language first developed in the 1970s. Initially used on the COSMAC VIP and Telmac 1800 8-bit microcomputers, the simplicity of the architecture and small instruction gave rise to a small, yet dedicated hobbyist scene for the language which persists even today. More information about the CHIP-8 itself can be found here.
To run the interpreter, either:
- Open the executable via the terminal, e.g.,
./chip8_interpreter.exe ./game.ch8 - Open the executable from the file explorer
If no game is provided as a command-line argument, a file picker will appear instead.
When playing games, keys are mapped following standard convention:
Original Emulated
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
The CHIP-8 has no standardised clock speed. The default is 600Hz (10 instructions per frame at 60fps), however you can adjust this with - and +.
You can save/load the CPU state with O and P respectively.
The interpreter supports sound emulation.
To build a copy of this interpreter yourself, first install rustup (if you haven't already), set up rust-sdl2 (see instructions here), then run cargo build. You will need to supply a copy of SDL2.dll in the same directory as the executable in order to run the interpreter.
- v1.0.0 - Save states and speed adjust
- v0.9.0 - First commit, main emulator functionality complete
Future work: instruction set enhancements, palette toggle, AZERTY keyboard support, controller support.