CHIP-8 Emulator

A cycle-accurate CHIP-8 interpreter/emulator written in C++ using SDL2 for graphics and input.

Built in 2023 by Ricardo Abuabara as a low-level systems programming project.

Based on Austin Morlan's excellent guide: https://austinmorlan.com/posts/chip8_emulator/

Features

• Full support for all 35 original CHIP-8 opcodes
• 64×32 monochrome display with pixel scaling
• Hex keypad input (basic mapping included)
• Delay and sound timers
• Accurate sprite drawing with XOR collision detection (VF flag set on pixel flip)
• ROM loading starting at memory address 0x200
• Built-in fontset loaded at 0x50
• Tested with IBM Logo, Pong, and the Timendus opcode test suite

Build & Run

Dependencies

• SDL2 library

Mac (Homebrew): bash

Ubuntu/Linux

sudo apt-get install libsdl2-dev

Windows

Use MSYS2, vcpkg, or Visual Studio with SDL2 installed. Compile g++ main.cpp -o chip8 -lSDL2 Run ./chip8 path/to/your_rom.ch8

Test ROMs & Games

You can find free CHIP-8 ROMs and test suites here:

Opcode test suite: https://github.com/Timendus/chip8-test-suite Classic games: IBM Logo, Pong, Space Invaders, Tetris, etc. (search "CHIP-8 ROM pack")

Enjoy running retro games on your own emulator!