"Asteroids Emulator" for the Commodore 64 was released in 2013 by Norbert Kehrer. Interestingly, it runs the original 1979 Asteroids arcade ROMs on the C64, with some patches and additional code to emulate (or simulate?) the differences between the C64 and the arcade hardware: bitmap graphics vs. vector display, and differences in audio and control inputs. A CMD SuperCPU specific version was also released, and since I happen to own that CPU accelerator cartridge, I was eager to give it a try. And then C.O.T.E. from the Youtube channel Commodore 128 Mode 3 contacted me to let me know that the emulator was strangely crashy on the C128, but ran perfectly fine on the C64. So I make some preliminary analysis on that problem; a full breakdown and fix should follow in a subsequent video.
COTE’s new video about Asteroids and more: https://youtu.be/gQu9SgLP7v4
Commodore 128 Mode 3: https://youtube.com/@Commodore128Mode3
Norbert’s Asteroids Emulator: https://norbertkehrer.github.io/astc64.html
Asteroids technical info:
http://computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Asteroids/
https://github.com/nmikstas/asteroids-disassembly/
https://arcarc.xmission.com/Tech/dvg.txt
To support 8-Bit Show And Tell:
Become a patron: https://patreon.com/8BitShowAndTell
One-time donation: https://paypal.me/8BitShowAndTell
2nd channel: https://youtube.com/channel/UCAgWzEh5c8391eJnELDy9OA
Index:
0:00 Three Interesting Things: "Emulator", SuperCPU, C128 crash
3:00 SuperCPU Gameplay: 1 MHz and 20 Mhz
9:13 Loading the arcade ROM
14:53 Comparing C64 game and arcade ROM
18:59 Examining the C64 emulator setup
22:28 The ROM patches
28:00 The most important patch?
34:20 C64: Input code
37:40 Arcade: Fire a shot
43:33 C64: Audio
45:39 C64: Graphics: Bullets & Bitmaps
55:25 Crashes on Commodore 128?
1:01:54 Thanks!
About The Author
