Tia

Tia emulates Atari 2600.

About this profile

Detail	Value
Type	libretro
Classification	Pure libretro
Source	https://github.com/warmenhoven/tia
Version	none stated in the source
Revision	warmenhoven/tia@6ae5bf998fe7
Profiled	2026-09-03
Profile	YAML, JSON
Cores	tia
Systems	Atari 2600

Technical notes

Tia is an Atari 2600 core written for libretro by Eric Warmenhoven, with no standalone build, so the repository is its own upstream. The version string is the commit count and short hash the Makefile bakes in (Makefile:36-37, src/libretro.c:595). The .info shows 26.

No BIOS or firmware files required.

Why no files

The core opens no file. src/ has no fopen, filestream or opendir call and libretro.c never asks for RETRO_ENVIRONMENT_GET_SYSTEM_DIRECTORY. Its environment calls cover options, logging, controller info, input descriptors, messages, pixel format and AV info. The Supercharger BIOS is a 294-byte routine compiled in (src/cart.c:195-235) and written into the ROM bank of every AR tape image (src/cart.c:300-319), the default tape-load header is a compiled table (src/cart.c:237-272), and the NTSC, PAL and SECAM palettes in their standard and z26 variants are const tables (src/palette.c). Content arrives in memory (src/libretro.c:596).

Next steps

• Get your files, for the setup you play on
• Every system, and the files each one needs
• When a game does not start

Data as of 4 November 2026.