glyph8

Demo

Features

• 24-bit halfblock renderer
  Two NES pixels per terminal cell, full color, diff redraw.
• Adaptive sizing
  Scales to fit any terminal ≥ 64×33 while preserving NES aspect.
• Headless determinism
  --headless --frames=N for CI / regression checks.
• Mednafen-style keymap
  Z/X for B/A, arrows for D-pad, Enter for Start.
• Pure Rust workspace
  Four small crates, tetanes-core backend, no unsafe.
• Permissive license
  MIT OR Apache-2.0, your pick.

Install & Run

cargo install --path crates/glyph8-cli
# Or run from the workspace without installing:
cargo run -p glyph8-cli -- path/to/your.nes

Quick start

glyph8 tests/roms/nestest.nes              # bundled CPU validation ROM
glyph8 tests/roms/boing.nes                # bundled CC BY 4.0 demo (Brad Smith)
glyph8 path/to/your.nes                    # any standard iNES file
glyph8 --headless --frames=60 your.nes     # CI / determinism check

Controls

Roadmap

1. 1.A CPU/PPU core via tetanes-core, halfblock encoder.
2. 1.B Adaptive halfblock renderer, interactive runloop, status line. (current)
3. 1.C Kitty keyboard protocol — real key-release, RightShift Select.
4. 1.D Audio output via cpal.
5. 1.E Per-pixel braille + ASCII renderer modes.
6. 1.F ratatui status bar + pause modal.

Status & limitations

• No audio yet (1.D).
• No key-release events without the Kitty keyboard protocol — held keys read as repeated taps. Stage 1.C fixes this.
• Halfblock-only renderer; per-pixel braille / ASCII modes come in 1.E.
• Plain-text status line; ratatui status bar arrives in 1.F.
• Commercial ROMs not bundled. Bring your own legally-acquired ROM.

License & credits

Dual-licensed under MIT or Apache-2.0, at your option. See LICENSE-MIT and LICENSE-APACHE.

Bundled ROMs:

• nestest.nes — public domain CPU validation ROM by kevtris.
• boing.nes — © Brad Smith, distributed under CC BY 4.0.