Show HN: 1D Pac-Man running on my custom ARM-like fantasy console in the browser

3 points by beep8_official 10 hours ago

I built a tiny fantasy console from scratch, inspired by early 90s handheld consoles.

It runs entirely in the browser (JavaScript + WebAssembly), includes a virtual ARMv4-like CPU, 1 MB of RAM, a minimal RTOS, 16-color graphics, and can run games written in C/C++.

To test the system, I created a working 1-dimensional version of Pac-Man: - The maze is just a straight line - Ghosts still chase you - Power pellets and score items work like the original - Runs in real time on the virtual CPU

Demo (runs in browser, no download): https://beep8.org/b8/beep8.html?b8rom=1dpacman

Technical details: - ARM-like CPU (no floating point), emulated at 4 MHz - Custom RTOS (threads, semaphores, SVC interrupts) - 128×240 pixel display, 16-color palette - WebGL-based PPU for tiles and sprites - Games are compiled with GCC into ROM and executed on the VM

This is a personal learning project. Not commercial, no ads, no tracking. If anyone is curious, I can share more about the CPU instruction set, memory map, RTOS, or performance challenges in WebAssembly.

Feedback, criticism, and questions are very welcome.