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  • Author Author: kellyhensen
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FPGA "Game Genie" for Atari 2600 -- Episode 371

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FPGA "Game Genie" for Atari 2600

element14 presents  |  Andy West's VCP Profile |  Project Videos

 

The "Game Genie" line of cheat devices was released for several consoles back in the early 90s, but they never made one for the Atari 2600 since by that time it was obsolete. Andy travels travel back in time and uses an FPGA to build the video game accessory that never was.

 

 

Product Name Quantity
 Buy Kit

Terasic Technologies FPGA Dev Kit DEO-Nano, 2x GPIO Headers, 32MB RAM, Accelerometer

 1 Buy Now

24 Pin card edge connector

 1 Buy Now

 

Additional Parts:

 

Product Name Quantity

40-Pin GPIO Cable

 1
Atari 2600 2K/4K PC Board 1

 

Click Here for access to all the supporting files you will need to replicate this build!
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  • in reply to Sean_Miller

    That's tricky because it sort of depends on how you learn. Some people like video tutorials. Others like being taught in a classroom. Still others, like myself, like books.

     

    I started by reading these two books:

     

    • Learning FPGAs: Digital Design for Beginners with Mojo and Lucid HDL
    • Programming FPGAs: Getting Started with Verilog

     

    I also read through the DE0-Nano user manual which is about 150 pages. Then I had enough knowledge under my belt at that point to make my own "blink" example.

     

    The Nano definitely isn't the newest board out there. I think it's a great board for learning, but it's also the only board I've ever used. I've got a Mojo V3 but I haven't gotten around to trying it yet.

     

    So my recommendation is:

     

    1. Think of a project you'd like to do with an FPGA. It could be anything.
    2. Do some online research to find development boards that are suitable to the task.
    3. Buy a board with the features, price, and ratings/reviews you're most happy with.
    4. Find educational materials that match your learning style (videos, instructional courses, books, etc.)
    5. Build it!