Stella is an emulator of the Atari 2600 game console, and takes its name from the console's codename.[2] It is open-source, and runs on most major modern platforms including Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Stella was originally written in 1996 (and known as Stella 96[3]) by Bradford W. Mott, and is now maintained by Stephen Anthony.
 Stella icon | |
| Developer(s) | Bradford W. Mott, Stephen Anthony Stella Team |
|---|---|
| Initial release | 1995[1] |
| Stable release | 7.0
/ 5 October 2024 |
| Repository | github |
| Written in | C++20 |
| Operating system | Current: Linux, MacOS, Windows No longer supported: AmigaOS, Dreamcast, GP2X, Nintendo DS, Wii, Windows CE/Mobile |
| Type | Console emulator |
| License | GNU GPLv2, open-source |
| Website | stella-emu |
Stella is written in the C++ programming language and thus is highly portable.[4] The emulator supports all Atari 2600 cartridge bank switching schemes and has support for nearly all Atari 2600 titles. Support is included for NTSC, PAL and SECAM in 60 Hz/50 Hz varieties, including autodetection of those formats (based on the number of scanlines generated in each frame). It has cycle-exact emulation for the TIA chip (graphics and sound); the Stella Team estimates that current TIA emulation is nearing 100% completion.
Stella emulates most Atari 2600 peripheral devices, including standard joysticks, paddle controllers, the Atari Video Touch Pad, the Atari Keyboard Controller, Atari Indy 500 Driving Controllers, the CBS Booster-Grip controller, the Atari TrakBall/AtariMouse/AmigaMouse trackball controllers, the Sega Genesis controller, and the AtariVox and SaveKey controllers. Stelladaptor and 2600-daptor support allows real joysticks, paddles, and driving controllers to be used, and support is also included to access a real AtariVox device plugged into a serial port (and actually generate sound from the AtariVox device). Stella does not yet support the cassette-based titles designed to work with the Coleco KidVid cassette player but does have support for titles designed to work with the Starpath Supercharger and Spectravideo Compumate.[5]
Stella includes many facilities for homebrew developers, including an extensive built-in interactive debugger and disassembler supporting breakpoints, read/write traps, etc. Other major features include Blargg TV effects, a cheatcode system, support for user-defined palette files, state loading/saving (including a TimeMachine-like unwind/rewind capability), hardware-accelerated rendering and effects, event remapping, and an extensive built-in, cross-platform user interface (including a ROM launcher frontend).
Stella uses the TIA emulation core from 6502.ts, a collection of emulators for MOS 6502 based systems written in TypeScript and runnable from a web page.
References
edit- ^ Bradford Wayne Mott (n.d.). "Bradford Mott - The InelliMedia Group". Retrieved March 7, 2024.
- ^ Kohler, Chris (2006). Retro Gaming Hacks. Sebastopol: O'Reilly. p. 143. ISBN 0-596-00917-8.
- ^ Mott, Bradford Wayne. "Stella 96 - An Atari 2600 Emulator". Google Groups. Bradford Wayne Mott. Archived from the original on 7 March 2024. Retrieved 7 March 2024.
- ^ "Stella - A multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator". Retrieved 2012-06-01.
- ^ "Stella - A multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator (User's Guide - Release 4.7.3)". Retrieved 2016-12-31.
Further reading
edit- Kohler, Chris (October 2005). "Emulate the Atari 2600". In Jepson, Brian (ed.). Retro Gaming Hacks: Tips & Tools for Playing the Classics. O'Reilly Media. p. 144. ISBN 978-0596009175. LCCN 2006274175.
- Montfort, Nick; Bogost, Ian (2009-03-31). "After the Crash". Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System. Platform Studies. Cambridge, MA: The MIT Press (published March 2009). pp. 140–141. ISBN 978-0262012577. LCCN 2008029410.
External links
editProject and ports
editOther
edit- Homepage of Bradford W. Mott – creator and programmer of the Stella Atari 2600 VCS emulator program
- Homepage of Stephen Anthony – current maintainer and lead developer of the Stella Atari 2600 VCS emulator program
- 2600-daptor device – allows using real Atari controllers via USB