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A Motorola 68000 CPU emulator in C

18 starsC

Rocket 68 – A Motorola 68000 CPU emulator in C

by habedi0·Mar 2, 2026·3 points·0 comments
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AI Analysis

●●SolidWizardryNiche Gem

Correct, portable m68k core as a reusable library—not just a full-system emulator.

Strengths
  • •Clean C11 API with no global state makes embedding into other projects straightforward and composable.
  • •Cycle-accurate instruction timing with optional wait-state callbacks enables realistic scheduling simulation.
  • •Comprehensive test suite (GitHub Actions) and published benchmarks demonstrate rigor rare in hobby emulators.
Weaknesses
  • •Niche audience: only useful if you're already building m68k-based systems or retro emulators.
  • •No GUI or turnkey emulator; requires integration work—not a drop-in replacement for MAME or Musashi.
Target Audience

Retro computing enthusiasts, emulator developers, systems engineers needing m68k simulation in larger projects

Similar To

Musashi 68k emulator · MAME core · Gvisor gVisor (different domain, but library-based CPU sim)

Post Description

Hi,

I've made a Motorola 68000 chip emulator in C11 (called Rocket 68) as a portable C library that can easily be integrated into larger projects. If you want to know more about the project, additional information is available in the links below.

Project's GitHub repo: https://github.com/habedi/rocket68

Project's documentation: https://habedi.github.io/rocket68/

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