Castle Arcade

A small browser arcade for the CastlePalm fantasy 16-bit console (the 16-bit successor to Dragon Palm) — pick a cartridge and play. Two front-ends share one machine:

• index.html — the CastlePalm handheld (portrait casing, on-screen D-pad and buttons; keyboard works too).
• console.html — the CastleStation TV console: a big integer-scaled screen with two-player controls (keyboard split + Gamepad API). The same cartridges run on both.

It's a fully static site: the two HTML shells, the engine bundle dist/castlepalm.js (the real CPU + PPU + APU, with the cartridges embedded so it runs even from file://), the handheld casing image, and a carts/ folder of .cpc cartridges. No build step here.

Cartridges

File	Title	Players
palmblast.cpc	PalmBlast (Bomberman-style arena)	2
swornrivals.cpc	Sworn Rivals (1v1 fighter with secret oaths)	1–2
siegestone.cpc	Siegestone (versus falling-stone puzzle)	1–2
gryphon.cpc	Gryphon Ascent (horizontal shoot-'em-up)	1
oathbound.cpc	Oathbound (side-scrolling platformer)	1
pong.cpc	Pong	1
snake.cpc	Snake	1

Each shell has a cartridge bar at the top (click a title), plus Load cartridge… to run any .cpc from disk, and drag-and-drop onto the screen.

Controls

PalmBlast (best on CastleStation, console.html): press Start to begin a round, last knight standing wins.

• 🟢 P1 — W A S D move · F drop bomb · Q start
• 🔴 P2 — arrow keys move · . drop bomb · Enter start
• USB/Bluetooth gamepads auto-map to P1 / P2.

On the handheld (index.html), the on-screen D-pad / A·B·X·Y / Start map to one player (arrow keys / Z X C V / Enter on the keyboard).

Gryphon Ascent (1P horizontal shooter): Start to begin, D-pad to fly, A to fire (rightward), X to drop a smart-bomb. Shoot enemies, grab gems to build your combo multiplier, and dodge the bullet patterns. (Keyboard: arrows + Z + C.)

Oathbound (1P side-scrolling platformer): Start to begin, D-pad to move, B to jump (hold for height; Down+B drops through one-way platforms), A to run, Y to swing your sword, X to throw a dagger. Clear each zone by reaching the portcullis; beat the bosses. (Keyboard: arrows + X jump / Z run / V sword / C dagger.)

Sworn Rivals (1v1 fighter; 2P best on CastleStation): Start to begin. D-pad walks, crouches and jumps (hold away from the rival to block), A punches, B kicks. Each round, swear a secret oath with a face button: keep it to build your Oath meter, break it and the meter goes to your rival. Specials: ↓↘→+A Gate Rush, →↓↘+A Palm Rise, ↓↘→+B Oath Surge with a full meter.

Siegestone (versus puzzle): on the title, A = Solo Ladder vs CPU, B = 2 Players. Left/Right shift the falling pair, Down soft-drops, A turns clockwise, X/Y counter-clockwise, B looses your catapult basket at the rival. Start pauses.

Run locally

It's self-contained (carts are embedded in the engine), so just open index.html — file:// works. A static server also works if you prefer:

python3 -m http.server   # then open http://localhost:8000

Host it yourself

This is a fully static, self-contained site — no build step, no server code, no secrets or accounts required. Everything needed to run is in this repo. Serve the files on any static host (GitHub Pages, Netlify, Cloudflare Pages, your own web server…), or just open index.html locally.

Make your own game

CastlePalm is a real, programmable console — not just these three carts. Write your own game in assembly, build a .cpc, and load it right here (Load cartridge… or drag it onto the screen). The spec, assembler, worked examples, and a 5-minute quickstart live in the CastlePalm SDK.

Your games are yours: the engine is noncommercial, but you may distribute and sell the cartridges you make (see the SDK's Cartridge Exception).

License

PolyForm Noncommercial 1.0.0 — free to use, modify, and share for noncommercial purposes (hobby, learning, personal play); commercial use requires permission. © 2026 Edward Thomson.