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Comment by PythonicAlpha | Hacker News Reader

FPGAs seem to be a great way to bring old machines to live again.

Question here as much I see from the first impression: How much will the system be C64 compatible? Since the C65 was never really released, there exists no real software for it and also the incorporated Basic V10 was incomplete. So the C64 emulation is what really counts. Of course it could be fun to play with a "16bit-6502" processor, but without or limited software the fun is rather limited.

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As far as I can tell, it was _rumored_ to use a 65802 (a 65816 that's pin compatible with a 6502 and therefore is limited to 64k and lacks the abort pin) but actually used a 65CE02 (8 bit with a handful of 16-bit instructions). The 65802 would give you true 16-bit registers but all the instructions and address modes for using other banks are wasted. (phk, phb, plb, jsl, jml, rtl, absolute long, absolute long,x indirect long, indirect long,y)

This post: http://c65gs.blogspot.de/2015/04/c65gs-at-revision-2015-and-... mentions a "c64 mode" on the c65gs (the basis for this machine.)

It would be awesome if that machine gets used at demoparties.

There are a few options for playing with a 16-bit 6502 like the Apple IIGS or the SNES.

Or you could buy Western Design's 'Mensch computer', a full computer built around a variant of the 65c816:

http://www.westerndesigncenter.com/wdc/Mensch_Computer.cfm

Or you could buy a single board machine from them, through Mouser.

Or just buy a 65c816 and breadboard it. The chip is still made and available through Mouser. And can be clocked up to 20mhz.

There's also the 65C02 from Western Design.

OP was talking specifically about 16-bit 6502 variant

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