Arduino UNO Game Engine

About

Arduino UNO Game Engine is a custom 2D engine written for the original Arduino UNO (ATMega328P only) that generates composite video output by 'racing the beam' with no framebuffer, running three included games: a port of Manic Miner (originally for the ZX Spectrum) and recreations of the arcade games Scramble and Space Invaders. It's playable, comes with matching PCB shield designs for controls and video/audio output, but development has halted.

How it differs from the original

The Manic Miner port includes all 20 original levels and boss mechanics (Eugene, the Kong Beast, Skylab enemies, the Solar Generator beam) plus extra tile animation on the final cavern level; the Space Invaders port aims for pixel-perfect original graphics and matching gameplay logic, and the Scramble port uses level data taken directly from the original arcade ROMs. The engine only works reliably on genuine Arduino UNO boards with a proper 16MHz crystal — cheaper 'compatible' boards using resonators cause visible video jitter.

Getting started

The project provides PCB shield designs (with buttons, composite video output, a speaker circuit, and an optional NES controller port) that can be ordered pre-assembled from JLCPCB, or the code can be flashed directly to an Arduino UNO wired for composite output via two resistors. High scores persist between reboots and can be reset with a button combination held at startup.

Media