CHIP-8 Emulator in Zig

A simple CHIP-8 emulator written in Zig, using SDL2 for graphics and keyboard input. This project is intended for learning, experimentation, and playing classic CHIP-8 games.

Features

• Interprets and runs CHIP-8 ROMs
• SDL2-based graphics and input
• Sound support (beep)
• Command-line interface for loading games
• Cross-platform (tested on macOS)

Requirements

• Zig 0.14.0 or newer
• SDL2 development libraries (dynamically linked)
  • On macOS, you can install SDL2 with Homebrew: brew install sdl2
  • Note: SDL2 must be available as a dynamic library at runtime (e.g., libSDL2.dylib on macOS)

Building

1. Install Zig and SDL2 (on macOS, use Homebrew):

   brew install zig sdl2
   

2. Clone this repository and enter the directory.
3. Build the emulator:

   zig build
   

Running

To run a CHIP-8 game:

zig build run -- -p games/PONG

Replace games/PONG with the path to any CHIP-8 ROM in the games/ directory.

Note: SDL2 is dynamically linked. You must have the SDL2 dynamic library (libSDL2.dylib on macOS) available in your system library path. If you get a library not found error, ensure SDL2 is installed and your library path is set correctly.

Controls

• CHIP-8 keypad is mapped to your keyboard (see main.zig for mapping)
• ESC or window close to exit

Project Structure

• src/ — Zig source files
• games/ — Example CHIP-8 ROMs
• build.zig — Zig build script

Acknowledgments

• Zig language
• SDL2
• CHIP-8 documentation and community

License

MIT License. See source files for details.