This emulator supports CHIP-8 and SUPERCHIP games with the option to use an Arduino Keypad as an input.
Since Sdl2 is used, you'll need the Sdl2 runtime library next to your executable file.
You can find the executable file either in the releases or can build it with cargo. Make sure to install the dependencies for if using Linux.
You can find many binaries here.
In a terminal, run chip8-emulator path/to/binary.
As of version 2.0 you can just run chip8-emulator and a popup to pick a file will appear.
Before the first run starts, it might take some time for the antivirus-software to check everything. Before the first run, a saves folder is created for quicksaves.
Since all input is in hex, the following keyboard layout is used with (Scancodes for the US keyboard):
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Q | W | E | R |
| A | S | D | F |
| Z | X | C | V |
which is interpreted as:
| 1 | 2 | 3 | C |
|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 5 | 6 | D |
| 7 | 8 | 9 | E |
| A | 0 | B | F |
As an alternative, you can use an Arduino's Keypad as an input. To use one, you have to load the program onto the arduino board. Once it is connected to your PC, the key mapping is the same as shown above.
For the emulator, there are the following Keyboard-Shortcuts:
| Shortcut | Description |
|---|---|
| Esc | Pauses/Unpauses the game. |
| F1 | Resets speed to 100%. |
| F2 | Increases the emulation speed by 20%. |
| F3 | Decreases the emulation speed by 20%. |
| F4 | Enter/Leaves the cheat mode. |
| F5 | Quicksaves the emulation state (to the saves folder). |
| F6 | Quickloads the newest quicksave (from the saves folder). |
| F7 | Restarts the currently selected game. |
| F8 | Loads a game. |
| F9 | Saves the emulation state. |
| F10 | Loads an emulation state. |
| F11 | Toggles fullscreen. |
Some games depend on collision detection (like breakout), so in the cheat mode, drawing onto the screen is possible.
The left mouse button turns a pixel on, while the right mouse button turns it off. While drawing the game is paused.
If you think you encountered a bug, you can open an issue. Make sure to include a bin/savegame and the OS.