In his latest video, Root42 dives into the deep end of Infocom Interpreter Hacking on the venerable Commodore PET. Despite admitting he can “barely code 6502 assembly,” he throws caution (and maybe sanity) to the wind by attempting to enhance Bit Shifter’s already impressive Infocom-style interpreter—live.
For those unfamiliar, Bit Shifter’s interpreter runs classic text adventures in the style of Infocom games—titles originally intended for machines far more powerful than the humble 8-bit Commodore. The goal here? To add quality-of-life features like story selection and possibly more, pushing the limits of what this 40-year-old hardware can handle.
What makes this livestream fascinating isn’t just the technical challenge—it’s the genuine joy and curiosity that Root42 brings to the session. Viewers are taken along for the ride, watching in real time as Root42 pokes around disassembled code, juggles memory locations, and tries to reverse-engineer the interpreter’s logic. The result is both entertaining and educational, especially for fans of retro programming or anyone curious about how games were made to run in impossibly tight environments.
Infocom Interpreter Hacking might sound niche, but Root42 makes it accessible. His candid commentary, “what could possibly go wrong?” attitude, and real-time problem-solving demystify the process for anyone who’s ever wanted to tinker with 6502 code. Whether you’re a hardcore Commodore PET fan or just curious how vintage machines can still surprise us, this video is a retro programming gem.
UPDATE: Root42 reached out and reports “I fixed the remaining issues and put the code here: https://codeberg.org/root42/zork-pet“
