CLI NES emulator that renders to your terminal in 24-bit color halfblocks.
Website: nicejungle.github.io/glyph8
Status: Stage 1.B beta — playable picture, basic input, no audio yet. See the Roadmap and Beta limitations below.
cargo install --path crates/glyph8-cli
# Or run from the workspace without installing:
cargo run -p glyph8-cli -- path/to/your.nesglyph8 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| Key | NES |
|---|---|
| ↑ ↓ ← → | D-pad |
| Z | B |
| X | A |
| Enter | Start |
| Tab | Select (beta — RightShift in 1.C) |
| R | Reset |
| Esc, Ctrl+C | Quit |
- No audio yet. Coming in Stage 1.D.
- No key-release events — your terminal sends presses only (without the Kitty keyboard protocol). Holding a button reads as repeated taps. Stage 1.C fixes this.
- Halfblock-only renderer with nearest-neighbor downsampling — the picture scales (with NES aspect preserved) to fit your terminal. Native resolution is 256×120 cells; below that the picture is downsampled. Below 64×33 cells the renderer bails. True per-pixel braille / ASCII modes still come in 1.E.
- No status bar UI — current status line is plain text. Stage 1.F adds a ratatui-based status bar with pause modal.
- Commercial ROMs not bundled. Bring your own legally-acquired ROM.
| Stage | Focus | State |
|---|---|---|
| 1.A | CPU/PPU core via tetanes-core backend, halfblock encoder |
done |
| 1.B | Adaptive halfblock renderer, interactive runloop, status line | current |
| 1.C | Kitty keyboard protocol — real key-release, RightShift Select | next |
| 1.D | Audio (cpal output) | planned |
| 1.E | Per-pixel braille + ASCII renderer modes | planned |
| 1.F | ratatui status bar + pause modal | planned |
cargo build --workspace
cargo test --workspace
cargo fmt --all
cargo clippy --workspace --all-targets -- -D warningsSee docs/qa-checklist.md for the per-stage
acceptance checks and docs/superpowers/ for design
docs and implementation plans. New contributors: read
CONTRIBUTING.md first.
Dual-licensed under either of
- Apache License, Version 2.0 (
LICENSE-APACHEor https://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0) - MIT license (
LICENSE-MITor https://opensource.org/licenses/MIT)
at your option.
Unless you explicitly state otherwise, any contribution intentionally submitted for inclusion in the work by you, as defined in the Apache-2.0 license, shall be dual licensed as above, without any additional terms or conditions.
tests/roms/nestest.nes— public domain CPU validation ROM by kevtris.tests/roms/boing.nes— © Brad Smith, distributed under CC BY 4.0. Attribution preserved per the original release.