CameBoy is a raw dive into retro computing: a Game Boy emulator built in C99, pieced together from a patchwork of online insights to reveal the bare mechanics behind the classic handheld. No bells, no whistles; every line tries to be a lesson in minimalism.
It already passes Blargg’s cpu_instrs hardware test ROM, with instruction and memory timing still being brought in line.
Features
- C99 core, separated from the front-end
- SDL2 front-end for video, input, and text (SDL2 + SDL2_ttf)
- Test-ROM driven: progress is measured against Blargg’s hardware test ROMs
- CI builds and tests on GitHub Actions
Tech
- C99 with CMake (3.26+), dependencies managed by CPM.cmake
- SDL2 and SDL2_ttf
- Project notes kept (in Portuguese) on Notion
What I learned
- The Game Boy’s memory map, and why emulation is mostly bookkeeping done honestly.
- Instruction accuracy versus timing accuracy: passing
cpu_instrsis the easy half. - Using hardware test ROMs as an executable specification.