Hackaday · Creativity & design

DIY VHS Game System

A maker has developed a new system that allows for more interactive gameplay on VHS tapes, moving beyond the limitations of earlier VHS-based gaming.

Early VHS games, like the ActionMax system, offered limited experiences, often relying on simple light gun mechanics with repetitive gameplay.

The new system uses a DE1-SoC FPGA board and an RP2350 MCU. A GitHub repository is available for the project.

Unlike older systems, this setup enables interactive gameplay by storing both game data and video streams on the VHS tape.

The DE1 decodes the composite input, and the RP2350 processes the game data and controller input.

This allows for advanced features, such as dynamic backgrounds for games like Super Mario Bros.

Demonstrations include Night Trap and a Doom variant that uses prerecorded video segments and button prompts.

The inclusion of bytecode opens up more possibilities for game development, potentially offering a richer experience than was available in the 1980s.

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