--- title: Arduino Engine Runs Many Games | daily.dev description: A hobbyist named Smashcat turned an Arduino Uno port of the ZX Spectrum game Manic Miner into a reusable game engine. The engine renders a scrolling 2D map at... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/arduino-engine-runs-many-games-wfbhfepiz twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: Arduino Engine Runs Many Games | daily.dev og:description: A hobbyist named Smashcat turned an Arduino Uno port of the ZX Spectrum game Manic Miner into a reusable game engine. The engine renders a scrolling 2D map at... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/arduino-engine-runs-many-games-wfbhfepiz og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/WFbhFEPiz.png og:image:alt: Arduino Engine Runs Many Games og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Arduino Engine Runs Many Games **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 2 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary A hobbyist named Smashcat turned an Arduino Uno port of the ZX Spectrum game Manic Miner into a reusable game engine. The engine renders a scrolling 2D map at 256x256 resolution with up to nine sprites, locked to 50 FPS on a real Arduino Uno with a crystal oscillator. It generates video and two PWM audio channels directly without a framebuffer, needing only a few resistors to connect to a monitor and controller, including NES controllers. The engine runs Manic Miner, Scramble, Space Invaders, and Pac Man, with code on GitHub and a WebAssembly version to run various pieces of the software without the specific hardware. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How is an Arduino Uno generating video output without a framebuffer? The engine generates the video signal directly in real time, without storing a framebuffer, using only a few resistors to connect to a monitor. Graphics run at a 256x256 resolution with up to nine sprites and a scrolling 2D map, locked to 50 FPS when run on a real Arduino Uno with a crystal oscillator, since some replica boards lack an accurate enough clock. _Anyone squeezing graphics out of constrained hardware can find similar low-level builds through daily.dev._ ### What games can Smashcat's Arduino Uno game engine run? The engine, originally built from a Manic Miner port for the ZX Spectrum, now runs four games on Arduino Uno: Manic Miner, Scramble, Space Invaders, and Pac Man. It uses a daughterboard with resistors for video and a speaker driver, and supports controllers including the NES controller. Code and a WebAssembly version are available on GitHub. _Retrocomputing tinkerers tracking homebrew game ports can follow projects like this on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Three Arduinos Team Up To Make 80s-Style Computer](https://daily.dev/posts/three-arduinos-team-up-to-make-80s-style-computer-odalavr4o) · Hackaday · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [You, too, can make this ESP32 handheld console that can play retro games](https://daily.dev/posts/you-too-can-make-this-esp32-handheld-console-that-can-play-retro-games-qky4fonpb) · XDA Developers · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Arduino UNO Q Arcade bundle lets you build a custom retro gaming console](https://daily.dev/posts/arduino-uno-q-arcade-bundle-lets-you-build-a-custom-retro-gaming-console-ec9b5tbaz) · CNX Software · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [ZX Spectrum Next Laptop](https://daily.dev/posts/zx-spectrum-next-laptop-rpez324xf) · Hacker News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The Joy Of Making Handheld Tetris From Scratch](https://daily.dev/posts/the-joy-of-making-handheld-tetris-from-scratch-itoqwqose) · Hackaday · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#game-development](https://daily.dev/tags/game-development), [#iot](https://daily.dev/tags/iot), [#embedded](https://daily.dev/tags/embedded), [#retrocomputing](https://daily.dev/tags/retrocomputing) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/arduino-engine-runs-many-games-wfbhfepiz) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"Arduino Engine Runs Many Games","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/arduino-engine-runs-many-games-wfbhfepiz","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/arduino-engine-runs-many-games-wfbhfepiz"},"datePublished":"2026-10-26T17:44:58.516Z","dateModified":"2026-10-26T17:52:28.441Z","description":"A hobbyist named Smashcat turned an Arduino Uno port of the ZX Spectrum game Manic Miner into a reusable game engine. 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