(jester-emu work in progress)
jester-gb is a TUI emulator that renders nintendo glory in unicode braille.
play tetris in your terminal while pretending to work.
linux + windows 🐧🪟 | c++17 bare metal magic ⚡

🔥 features that actually matter

• braille rendering - uses unicode braille patterns (⣿) so 160x144 pixels fit in your terminal
• no bloat - written in c++17 without heavy game engines. raw performance.
• battery saves - native .sav support (your pokemon are safe)
• audio support - 4-channel sound synthesis (linux/pulseaudio)
• palette system - swap between classic green, vaporwave, or matrix styles

📦 install (easy mode)

don't want to compile? just grab the package. updates automatically via your package manager.

linux (debian / ubuntu):

# add repo
echo 'deb https://files.distropack.dev/download/berochitiri/jester-gb/deb /' | sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/distropack_berochitiri_jester-gb.list

# add key & install
curl -fsSL 'https://files.distropack.dev/pubkey?user=berochitiri&project=jester-gb' | gpg --dearmor | sudo tee /etc/apt/trusted.gpg.d/distropack_berochitiri_jester-gb.gpg > /dev/null
sudo apt update
sudo apt install jester-gb

linux (arch):

# add repo
echo -e "\n[distropack_berochitiri_jester-gb]\nServer = https://files.distropack.dev/download/berochitiri/jester-gb/pacman" | sudo tee -a /etc/pacman.conf

# add key and install
key=$(curl -fsSL 'https://files.distropack.dev/pubkey?user=berochitiri&project=jester-gb')
fingerprint=$(gpg --quiet --with-colons --import-options show-only --import --fingerprint <<< "${key}" | awk -F: '$1 == "fpr" { print $10 }')
sudo pacman-key --init
sudo pacman-key --add - <<< "${key}"
sudo pacman-key --lsign-key "${fingerprint}"
sudo pacman -Sy jester-gb

🛠️ building from source (hard mode)

if you prefer pain or want to hack on the code.

requirements:

• a terminal that isn't garbage (utf-8 + truecolor support) // (windows terminal on windows)
• cmake & a c++ compiler

linux (arch):

sudo pacman -S base-devel cmake libpulse
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. && make -j12

linux (debian/ubuntu):

sudo apt install build-essential cmake libpulse-dev
mkdir build && cd build
cmake .. && make -j12

windows:

# requires visual studio with c++ workload
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --config Release

macos:

# install pulseaudio if you want audio
brew install pulseaudio
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
cmake --build . --config Release

🎮 windows notes

windows builds work great! audio + 60fps fully supported. grab the prebuilt binary from releases or build from source above.

🚀 usage

launch the menu or load a rom directly:

./jester-gb                  # opens tui file browser
./jester-gb roms/zelda.gb    # launches specific game

flags:

• -p <0-4> : set palette (0=white, 4=vaporwave)
• -v <0-100> : volume (don't blow your ears out)
• -d : debug mode (nerd stats)

⌨️ controls

key	action
↑↓←→	d-pad
z	a button
x	b button
enter	start
space	select
esc	pause / menu
q	quit (rage quit)

🎨 palettes

change the vibe with -p:

#	name	vibe
0	white	high contrast, boring
1	green	classic dmg nostalgia
2	amber	fallout / crt terminal style
3	blue	cold visuals
4	pink	vaporwave / hotline miami

🧠 architecture (for nerds)

src/
├── cpu/              # sharp lr35902 (the brain)
├── ppu/              # pixel processing (the pain)
├── apu/              # audio synthesis (multi-backend)
├── bus/              # memory mapping
├── tui/              # unicode magic renderer
└── main.cpp          # entry point

⚠️ disclaimer

i am not nintendo. i do not condone piracy. dump your own roms or use homebrew. if this emulator crashes and burns your cpu, that's a skill issue.

🤝 contributing

PRs welcome. (big thanks to aceiii for testing on mac 😄)

made with 💀 by berochitiri