Monochrome Arcade Device
MAD-65 is a home-built arcade console. Two 65C02 processors run side by side at 14.3 MHz — one plays the game, the other draws it — on a black-and-white screen like it's 1982, except it's not.
It is a real machine made of real chips you can source today, but until you do, you can use our simulator which runs on your PC right now.
C.E.T.A.S. — the first MAD-65 game. Beta out now: download, unzip, run. No console required.
Three boards, ~33 chips, all through-hole. What it is, what it costs, and how far along the design is.
Full technical documentation, the OS API, and a developer's guide with worked examples in 6502 assembly.
With no game cartridge fitted, MAD-65 runs its built-in diagnostic demo. It exercises most of the hardware and firmware at once: both sound chips, vector graphics, scrolling text, live response to the joysticks, and the build date of each ROM — printed into the static background layer, which proves the background-copy hardware is working too. When you see this screen, your machine and both its ROMs are working correctly.
| CPUs | 2× WDC W65C02S @ 14.318 MHz |
|---|---|
| Display | 400×300 mono, output as 800×600 SVGA @ 60 Hz |
| Sound | 2× SN76489 PSG + 1× YM2413 FM, stereo |
| Memory | 64 kB per CPU, 128 kB double-buffered VRAM |
| Cartridges | 8 kB banked window, up to 1 MB per cartridge |
| Logic | 74HC series TTL + 5× ATF1508AS CPLD. No FPGA, no SoC. |
C.E.T.A.S. beta is available. The first game for the console, playable today on Windows through the bundled simulator. Download it here.