Arcade Machine Cores
The MEGA65 can also be turned into an arcade game machine. As many early arcade games rely on fast reaction times, an FPGA-based recreation is much more faithful than software emulation. Unfortunately, arcade games usually require a complete FPGA slot for a single game.
Important Details about Arcade Games
To recreate the game two parts are needed: An FPGA Core and image files for the ROMs. The Core is like a Core for a home computer and only has the “hardware” part of the machine. It still requires the actual software, which is a seperate file, even if the Core can only play one specific game. Arcade Game ROMs are available in many flavours on internet, but the Core usually requires a very specific format. You need to read the instructions per Core very carefully and follow them to the letter to create the correct files. This in some cases requires Python on your computer. Due to copyright and licensing reasons, there is no official archive where Cores and ROMs sre bundled ready to use.
Some Arcade Machine Cores support “DIP Switches”. This refers to the switches on the arcade board itself and these are shown on screen. Do not open the MEGA65 to change the DIP switches inside.
The Cores on this page are sorted in reverse chronological order of Core release. The newest releases are on top, the oldest on the bottom. By this you can see if there is something new.
Cores Available for all MEGA65
Bank Panic

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_Panic
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/BankPanicMEGA65_R3_R6
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=36b41376-b2c6-45e6-a441-cd126357fdd4
Bomb Jack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bomb_Jack
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/BombjackMEGA65
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=f3ddcbd5-a6c1-42cd-aa9c-db25dfd71c90
Burnin Rubber

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_%27n%27_Jump
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/BurningRubberMEGA65
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=6a96f6de-2673-40c0-9304-5720fe8ce144
Please note that the Core does not support the US version of this arcade game, called Bump’n’Jump.
Dig Dug

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dig_Dug
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/DigDugMEGA65_R3_R6
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=b5fb8733-4850-403c-a7dc-3e9a84a44b0c
Galaga
This core requires different downloads based on your MEGA65 revision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Galaga
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/GalagaMEGA65
Download the R3 Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=8bc248e3-c29c-4ba8-b8c3-6018a995a9ea
Download the R6 Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org?id=1672149c-66d3-4df7-9128-e9c83095c49a
Gaplus

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaplus
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/GaplusMEGA65_R3_R6
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org?id=a87ab90e-06bc-40bb-8257-6988345d7784
Ghosts ‘n Goblins
This core requires different downloads based on your MEGA65 revision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghosts_%27n_Goblins_(video_game)
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/GnGMEGA65
Download the R3 Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=e563df76-e12f-47de-9bb2-cca4ebe1e18d
Download the R6 Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org?id=f66965dc-4006-4ebe-8fde-eed9bc60d3aa
Green Beret / Rush’n Attack

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rush%27n_Attack
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/RushnAttackMEGA65_r3_r6
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=9c83c178-f55c-4ce2-8d0f-1aacd5ae70b4
Stargate

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stargate_(1981_video_game)
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/StargateMEGA65_R3_R6/blob/Stargate_R3_R6/README.md
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org?id=fb977a9b-3979-4420-99f2-c683f52070b7
Wonder Boy / Sega System 1

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wonder_Boy_(video_game)
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/SEGASYS1MEGA65
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=7365cb17-4375-45d3-a833-a89a38266c5e
This core potentially can run other games created for the Sega System 1, but the current release only supports the game Wonder Boy.
Xevious / Super Xevious
This core requires different downloads based on your MEGA65 revision.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xevious
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/XeviousMEGA65
Download the R3 Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=d32474e9-6f30-48f8-bba3-167cad4bbc4f
Download the R6 Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org?id=c67076de-8dd5-4877-8c95-7a01d2cae441
Please note that this Core supports several versions of the game, including the releases from Atari for the USA as well as Super Xevious.
Cores Available only for R3 MEGA65
Elevator Action (R3 only)
This core currently is NOT AVAILABLE for the R6 MEGA65

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elevator_Action
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/ElevatorActionMEGA65
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=e2ee129d-149c-4b59-9ced-d21185878091
Bosconian (R3 only)
This core currently is NOT AVAILABLE for the R6 MEGA65

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bosconian
Please follow the exact installation instructions from here:
https://github.com/sho3string/BosconianMEGA65
Download the Core from the MEGA65 filehost here:
https://files.mega65.org/?id=96dd324b-d611-4252-bea4-0dbc4eb899ae
Sources
All screenshots on this page are sourced from https://screenscraper.fr