A (Space) Invaders game in 512 bytes #Gaming #VintageComputing #RetroComputing


Oscar Toledo G. has released a new (Space) Invaders game coded in 512 bytes. It fits in a DOS boot sector or the original COM executable file format.

This a game recreating the Invaders game in 512 bytes, that can be run as a COM file or put into a boot sector of a floppy disk to be run. Move with keyboard arrows to left and right, press Space to shoot.

Now it’s compatible with 8088 (the original IBM PC) but it still has the option for 80286 code in the source code. So you now have to look for a 8-bit compatible VGA card if you want to run it in original hardware 😉

The source code is on GitHub at https://github.com/nanochess/Invaders. If you want to assemble it, you must download the Netwide Assembler (nasm) from www.nasm.us

The game has been tested with VirtualBox for Mac OS X running Windows XP, it also works with DosBox and probably with qemu: qemu-system-x86_64 -fda invaders.img

Be aware that finding 8-bit capable VGA cards for the original 8088 IBM PCs can be a challenge. Compatible video cards come up on eBay regularly though.

See the video below for a demonstration.

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Filed under: gaming, Programming, vintage computing —
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