Roadmap

Roadmap

What we've shipped, what's next, and what we've ruled out. This page is the project's running ledger — when a candidate comes up, the answer is here.

The scope rule: 8-bit era only

Every shipped system belongs to the 8-bit microcomputing/console era — roughly 1975 to 1990. The cutoff is era, not strict CPU bit-width.

In: anything from the 8-bit era — Apple I/II, Atari 2600 / 400 / 800XL / 7800, BBC Micro / Master / Electron, Commodore PET / VIC-20 / MAX / 64 / 16 / Plus/4 / 128, MSX1 / MSX2, NES, Vectrex, ColecoVision, Intellivision, ZX81 / Spectrum, Amstrad CPC, Tandy CoCo, TI-99/4A.

Out: systems that defined the 16-bit GUI/console leap (Atari ST, Amiga, Macintosh, Archimedes, Sega Genesis, SNES, PC-Engine), and anything 32-bit+ (Saturn, N64, PlayStation, Neo Geo). The era rule is about the kind of system, not the calendar year — Genesis (1988) overlaps the calendar 8-bit era but represents the jump to 16-bit hardware and is out.

Intellivision (CP1610, 16-bit ALU) is the technical edge case the era framing handles cleanly: Mattel marketed it as "the first 16-bit console", but it's universally grouped with 8-bit-era consoles (1979 launch, Atari 2600 contemporary). In.

---

✅ Shipped (19 emulator engines, 28 sub-systems)

Category	Platform	Year	Dir	Engine	Notes
Console	Atari 2600	1977	javatari/	ppeccin/javatari.js
Console	Magnavox Odyssey²	1978	odyssey2/	libretro-o2em → WASM + custom SDL2 frontend	EJS path dead; o2rom.bin BIOS bundled
Console	Intellivision	1979	intellivision/	jzIntv WASM (custom loader)	exec.bin + grom.bin BIOS bundled
Console	ColecoVision	1982	coleco/	EmulatorJS + gearcoleco	RetroPad → numpad keypad remap
Console	Vectrex	1982	jsvecx/	DrSnuggles/jsvecx	Mine Storm in BASIC slot
Console	NES	1983	jsnes/	EmulatorJS + FCEUmm libretro	dir name predates migration
Console	Atari 7800	1986	js7800/	raz0red/JS7800
Apple	Apple I	1976	apple1/	scullin/apple1js	10 tapes (Integer BASIC + 6502 asm)
Apple	Apple ][+	1977	apple2/	whscullin/apple2js (webpack)	URL rewrite ?game= → ?disk=
Acorn	BBC Micro	1981	jsbeeb/	mattgodbolt/jsbeeb
Acorn	Acorn Electron	1983	electron/	dmcoles/elkjs	row-doubling display fix
Acorn	BBC Master 128	1986	jsbeeb/	jsbeeb ?model=Master	shares build with BBC
Atari	Atari 400	1979	atari800/	atari800 WASM (self-built)	?machine=atari
Atari	Atari 800XL	1983	atari800/	atari800 WASM (self-built)	default; shares core
Commodore	PET	1977	pet/	EmulatorJS + VICE xpet	3032 default, per-game 4032 override
Commodore	VIC-20	1980	vic20/	EmulatorJS + VICE xvic	memory_expansions='all'
Commodore	MAX Machine	1982	max/	EmulatorJS + VICE x64 (Ultimax mode)	Japan-only
Commodore	C64	1982	c64/	EmulatorJS + VICE x64
Commodore	C16	1984	c16/	EmulatorJS + VICE xplus4 (c16pal mode)	shares xplus4 core
Commodore	Plus/4	1984	plus4/	EmulatorJS + VICE xplus4
Commodore	C128	1985	c128/	EmulatorJS + VICE x128 (native mode)	per-game VICII/VDC; scaleY hack
MSX	MSX1	1983	webmsx/	ppeccin/WebMSX	shared core, ?M=MSX1 flag
MSX	MSX2	1986	webmsx/	ppeccin/WebMSX	shared core, default machine
Sinclair	ZX81	1981	jtyone/	Simon Holdsworth/JtyOne
Sinclair	ZX Spectrum	1982	jsspeccy/	gasman/JSSpeccy 3	WASM Z80
Amstrad	CPC	1984	amstradcpc/	floooh/chips-test tiny8bit	sokol_args URL params
Tandy	Color Computer (CoCo)	1980	xroar/	Ciaran Anscomb/XRoar
TI	TI-99/4A	1981	js99er/	Rasmus-M/js99er (vanilla JS)	.rpk carts

Shared infrastructure:

• _shared/ — controls.css, frame.css, NumLock JS, VICE softkeys, gamedocs link JS
• _shared-ejs/ — one EmulatorJS framework + 5 VICE cores + gearcoleco + FCEUmm cores (9 bundles share; ~25 MB saved vs per-bundle copies)

See Emulators for the per-platform integration stories.

---

⏳ Still to go

Plausible (8-bit era, browser emulator exists, would need an integration pass)

• Sega Master System (multiple WASM/JS cores) — 1985, Z80
• Sega Game Gear (same cores as SMS) — 1990, Z80
• Atari Lynx (Handy.js / libretro handy) — 1989, 65C02
• Nintendo Game Boy / Color (many JS options) — 1989, Sharp LR35902 (Z80-derived)

Out of scope under the 8-bit-era rule

Listed for clarity — these are the 16-bit/32-bit transition and beyond.

• NEC PC-Engine / TurboGrafx-16 — 16-bit-era console
• Nintendo SNES — 16-bit-era console
• Sega Saturn / Nintendo 64 / PlayStation / Neo Geo AES — 32-bit and beyond

---

❌ Rejected (don't re-investigate without new information)

Quality / hosting / library size

• Sinclair QL (1984) — no turn-key bundle; sQLux build is ~4h project
• Sinclair ZX80 (1980) — re-investigated 07/06/2026. ROMs OK. JtyOne ZX80 mode is broken (display-sync state machine never fires the keyboard scan). zame-dev's js-zx8x works correctly but ships without an SPDX licence header. Door stays open if either gets fixed.
• Cambridge Z88 (1988) — OZvm is Java/C++ desktop only
• Sinclair NewBrain (1982) — MAME driver broken (VFD doesn't get data)
• Sinclair MK14 (1977) — MAME-only, very obscure (256-byte RAM kit)
• Microvision (1979) — split-CPU emulators don't pair with available ROMs
• Commodore CBM-II / B-series (1982-84) — VICE cores exist but the library is ~5 commercial games + business productivity. Not enough content for a 10-entry bundle.
• Acorn Atom — investigated, didn't meet quality bar.

Out of scope (16-bit, removed)

• Macintosh Plus (macplus/) — removed 25/05/2026
• Acorn Archimedes (archimedes-live/) — removed 25/05/2026
• Atari ST (estyjs/) — removed 25/05/2026
• Commodore Amiga 500 (amiga/) — removed 25/05/2026
• Atari 5200 — removed from menu tree
• Sega Genesis (genesis/) — removed 05/06/2026; Motorola 68000 16-bit

---

Maintenance threads (shipped systems, open follow-ups)

• Menu reformat sweep — ✅ done 05/06/2026. Every game menu is a 4-column # Title (Year) CODE layout, year-sorted ascending, alphabetical within year. All 609 echo rows across fs.js verify at exactly 45 chars.
• Per-game gamedocs pages — ✅ done 09/06/2026. 281 pages across all 28 sub-systems.
• Controls-link URL wiring — emulators that rewrite their URL on load (jtyone, amstradcpc, jsbeeb Master) stash window._genxGameKey before the rewrite so the corner controls link can resolve the right gamedocs page.
• C128 indie dates — 4 of 7 homebrews (Phazer, Rockfall 128, Wumpus 2.0, World at War) have no internal version stamp anywhere; fall back to zimmers.net file mtimes (one definitive, one fuzzy).
• MAX Multimax-extracted carts — 7 games extracted from the MultiMax EasyFlash compilation (CSDb release 210760). Remaining unknown banks (Sea Wolf, Le Mans, Avenger, etc.) lack identifiable strings; would need empirical VICE testing or menu-table decode to extract.
• PET: 3 games skipped — Microchess 2.0, 3D Star Trek, Cosmiads load at non-standard addresses VICE doesn't autostart. Recoverable with manual cleanup.
• CRT 4:3 bezels — planned for every emulator page; staging at emulators/_shared/bezels/. 8 of 9 still need source verification per ATTRIBUTION.md — integration blocker until resolved.