Regenerator 2000
A modern, interactive 6502 disassembler for Commodore 8-bit machines. A modern take on Regenerator.
- 🕹️ Manual Analysis — A fast, keyboard-centric TUI for hands-on exploration: navigate code, define data, label subroutines, add comments, and iteratively refine your disassembly.
- 🤖 Automated Analysis — A built-in MCP Server lets AI assistants drive the disassembler programmatically. Paired with purpose-built skills, it can analyze entire programs — classifying blocks, tracing routines, and naming symbols — with minimal human intervention.
Use either workflow on its own, or combine them: let the AI do a first pass, then refine the results interactively.
Check out the Examples to see what can be accomplished, featuring pre-disassembled games across different Commodore platforms!
Features
Regenerator 2000 brings modern conveniences to 6502 disassembly:
- Disassembly: Full 6502 support including undocumented opcodes.
- Hex Dump:
- Side-by-side view with disassembly.
- Synchronized or independent navigation.
- Unshifted or Shifted PETSCII and Screencode charset.
- Sprites:
- Side-by-side view with disassembly.
- Multicolor or Single Color
- Bitmap:
- Side-by-side view with disassembly.
- High-Resolution (320x200) and Multicolor (160x200).
- Uses quadrant-block rendering for full resolution in TUI.
- Charset:
- Side-by-side view with disassembly.
- Multicolor or Single Color
- Blocks:
- Side-by-side view with disassembly.
- Debugger: Connect to VICE for live disassembly, breakpoints, run/step (F2–F9); Debugger panel in the right pane.
- Mini map: Mini map of the file being analyzed.
- Systems: Supports Commodore 8-bit machines: C64, C128, VIC-20, Plus/4, PET 4.0, PET 2.0, and 1541.
- Import: Load the following file formats
- PRG: Standard Commodore program files
- CRT: Cartridge images with bank selection support
- D64: 35/40/42-track disk images
- D71: 70/80-track double-sided disk images
- D81: 80-track disk images
- T64: Tape images
- VSF: VICE Session files
- RAW / BIN: Raw binary files
- DIS65: 6502bench project files
- REGEN2000PROJ: Regenerator 2000 project files
- Binary Unpacker: Emulate a cycle-accurate 6502 background sandbox to automatically decompress packed C64 programs.
- Export to .asm or HTML. Supported assemblers:
- 64tass
- ACME
- Kick Assembler
- ca65
- Project Management: Save and load your work
- Analysis: Auto-analysis to identify code and data regions.
- Editing:
- Labels: Add, edit, and remove local and global labels.
- Enums: Define and apply three-tiered value-to-name mappings (System, Global, Project-specific) to replace magic numbers in disassembly and data with semantic names.
Requirements
Recommended Terminals
To ensure the best experience, especially regarding keyboard shortcuts and rendering, we recommend using a modern terminal.
Installation
From Crates.io
cargo install regenerator2000
From Source
git clone https://github.com/ricardoquesada/regenerator2000.git
cd regenerator2000
cargo install --path .
Quick Start with AI Agents
To quickly start analyzing binaries using an AI agent (such as Antigravity or Claude Code), you can use the regenerator2000-template repository. It comes pre-configured with all the required skills and agent permissions so you can start analyzing and reverse-engineering binaries immediately.
Usage
Start the application with an optional file to load:
regenerator2000 [OPTIONS] [path/to/file.prg]
CLI Options
--help: Print help message--version: Print version information--import_lbl <PATH>: Import VICE labels from the specified file--export_lbl <PATH>: Export labels to the specified file (after analysis/import)--export_asm <PATH>: Export assembly to the specified file (after analysis/import)--export_html <PATH>: Export HTML to the specified file (after analysis/import)--assembler <NAME>: Override the assembler format for export. Valid values:64tass,acme,ca65,kick--headless: Run in headless mode (no TUI), useful for batch processing--verify: Verify export roundtrip (export → assemble → diff) for all assemblers. Implies--headless--mcp-server: Run MCP server (HTTP on port 3000)--mcp-server-stdio: Run MCP server via stdio--vice <HOST:PORT>: Auto-connect to VICE binary monitor at startup (e.g.--vice localhost:6502)--dump-system-config-files <PATH>: Dump all built-in system config files (system-*.toml) to the specified directory and exit. Useful for inspecting or customizing system definitions.--dump-theme-files <PATH>: Dump all built-in theme files (theme-*.toml) to the specified directory and exit. Edit them and place in the config directory to create custom themes.--dump-enum-files <PATH>: Dump all built-in enum files (enum-*.toml) to the specified directory and exit. Edit them and place in the config directory to create custom enums.
Supported file formats: .prg, .crt, .d64, .d71, .d81, .t64, .vsf, 6502bench (.dis65), .bin, .raw, and .regen2000proj.
Keyboard Shortcuts
All the keyboard shortcuts are documented here: keyboard_shortcuts
Support and Documentation
- Documentation
- Examples: Disassembled Commodore games and software showcase, demonstrating what can be achieved with Regenerator 2000 on various supported platforms.
- Support in Discord (join the
#regenerator2000channel, under "Misc Projects")
Contributing
Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit a Pull Request.
Acknowledgements
- Regenerator: The original 6502 disassembler for Windows.
- unp64: The C64 binary unpacker by iAN CooG, which the unpacker module is based on.
- 64tass, ACME, Kick Assembler, ca65 : Supported assemblers.
License
Dual license: MIT and Apache 2
