AI
dbreunig/nesformer
Publication: Simon Willison's Weblog
Author: Not available in collected metadata
Source published: 30/10/2026, 21:59:22 UTC
Briefing created: 30/10/2026, 22:13:43 UTC
Based on a feed excerpt; full article content has not been acquired. Source evidence retrieved 30/10/2026, 22:12:24 UTC.
Briefings
Drew Breunig created a functional emulator for the Nintendo Entertainment System 6502 CPU by embedding its weights into the Qwen3.5-4B model. This allows users to run NES ROMs like Super Mario Bros directly within the AI, though performance is slow. The project was inspired by a previous Qwenputer project by Divyansh Agrawal and utilizes Opus 5.5 prompts for testing. The emulator runs on standard hardware, enabling direct interaction with game ROMs.
Key points
- Drew Breunig embedded the 6502 CPU's weights into the Qwen3.5-4B model to create a functional NES emulator.
- Users can now run NES ROMs such as Super Mario Bros directly inside the AI, albeit at a slow speed.
Context
The project was inspired by a previous Qwenputer initiative by Divyansh Agrawal, where the 6502 CPU weights were embedded in Qwen3.5-4B. Drew Breunig used Opus 5.5 prompts to build the system, which runs on standard hardware. This allows direct interaction with game ROMs like Super Mario Bros, similar to FPGA emulation in MISTRs.
Limitations
Performance is slow due to the emulation of the 6502 CPU. The emulator runs on standard hardware, not specialized MISTRs. The specific ROMs tested are limited to Super Mario Bros, and the Opus 5.5 prompts were used for conformance testing rather than production prompts.
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