The Uzebox is an open-source game console, designed in 2007 by Canadian developer Alec Bourque and meant to be built by hand. Its defining trait is extreme simplicity: an ATmega644 AVR microcontroller clocked at 28.6 MHz, a crystal, a handful of resistors for the video and audio output, two controller ports, and little else. There is no graphics chip and no sound chip: the processor itself generates the composite video signal line by line, in software, along with the sound, while running the game.
Those choices impose harsh constraints — 4 KB of RAM, 64 KB of program memory — which give Uzebox games their distinctive look, halfway between period 8-bit machines and pure modern homebrew. The console's software kernel, shipped with several video modes and a software synthesiser, handles that balancing act so game authors can write their code in C.
The whole project — schematics, board, kernel, tools, games — is published freely, and the community around the official site still releases games regularly, often with their source code. The controllers are Super Nintendo pads, which the console reads directly.
| Project | Uzebox |
| Author | Alec Bourque |
| First release | 2007 |
| Type | Open-source build-it-yourself console |
| Processor | AVR ATmega644 at 28.6 MHz |
| Memory | 4 KB RAM, 64 KB program |
| Video and sound | generated in software by the processor |
| Controller | Mandatory |
📷 Screenshot coming soon:
system-uzebox.png
A single emulator is offered, with compatibility and speed both declared high: the emulated machine being tiny, it runs at full speed everywhere, including on a Raspberry Pi 3. CRT display is supported by this core. Netplay and softpatching are not available on this system, and RetroAchievements are not supported.
No BIOS is required for this system.
Put your games in:
/recalbox/share/roms/uzebox/
Supported extensions: .uze .zip .7z
The .uze format is the console's cartridge format: a single file holding the compiled program and a header describing the game (title, author, year). Copy it into the folder as is, without renaming it; .zip and .7z archives are read directly, no need to extract them.
The folder starts out empty: Recalbox ships no Uzebox game. The system does, however, have a built-in downloader. Open the Uzebox system menu, then pick DOWNLOAD GAMES: Recalbox fetches a selection of free games, installs them into the roms folder and refreshes the game list with their metadata. A network connection is required.
A system only shows up in the interface if it holds at least one game. As long as the roms folder is empty, the Uzebox therefore stays hidden: start the download from the
MAIN MENU>DOWNLOAD CONTENTS>Download games for Uzebox.