romdevtools 0.27.0 → 0.29.0

package/examples/gb/templates/racing.c

@@ -1,223 +1,815 @@
-/* ── racing.c — Game Boy top-down racing scaffold ──────────────────
+/* ── racing.c — Game Boy top-down road racer (complete example game) ─────────
  *
- * Endless 3-lane top-down dodge for the Game Boy. LEFT/RIGHT switches
- * lanes (edge-detected), obstacles slide down at speed = 2 + score/500
- * (capped). Collision triggers a 60-frame freeze + auto-reset.
+ * TARMAC TILT — a COMPLETE, working game: title screen, a vertically-
+ * scrolling road (the real thing — BG scroll via SCY, not falling sprites),
+ * streamed roadside scenery through the vblank queue, lane-steered car,
+ * overtaking traffic, crash/lives rules, persistent best DISTANCE (battery
+ * cart RAM), GB APU music + SFX, and the Game Boy's signature WINDOW-LAYER
+ * HUD: a fixed best/dist/lives strip the scrolling road slides beneath, with
+ * zero mid-frame raster tricks.
  *
- * Game Boy screen is 160×144 — 3 lanes centred around x = {40, 76, 112}.
+ * THIS FILE IS MEANT TO BE FORKED AND MODIFIED into your own game — even a
+ * very different one. The markers tell you what's what:
+ *   HARDWARE IDIOM (load-bearing) — dodges a documented GB footgun; reshape
+ *     your gameplay around it (see TROUBLESHOOTING before changing).
+ *   GAME LOGIC (clay) — traffic patterns, speeds, tuning, art: reshape freely.
  *
- * The road is a real background: grass shoulders down each side, dark
- * asphalt across the playfield, and dashed white lane lines between the
- * lanes (LCDC bit 0 = BG ON — drop it and the screen is a flat colour,
- * the #1 GB "why is it blank" footgun). Cars are sprites on top.
+ * SINGLE-PLAYER BY DESIGN (the honest handheld story): the Game Boy has ONE
+ * controller. Multiplayer on real hardware means the LINK CABLE, and a
+ * single emulator instance cannot emulate the second Game Boy on the other
+ * end of that cable — so this game ships 1P only instead of faking a 2P mode
+ * the platform can't deliver. (The console racing examples have real
+ * split-lane 2P; the handheld is an honest 1P endless run.)
+ *
+ * What depends on what:
+ *   gb_hardware.h — register names (LCDC/WX/WY/SCY/NRxx/...) + LCDC bit masks.
+ *   gb_runtime.{h,c} — vblank wait (HALT-driven), joypad, shadow OAM +
+ *     the OAM-DMA-from-HRAM routine, VRAM-safe memcpy, APU helpers.
+ *   gb_crt0.s — boot + interrupt vectors + the cartridge header window.
+ *     It DECLARES the cart as MBC1+RAM+BATTERY ($0147=$03, $0149=$02) —
+ *     that declaration is what makes best_save() below persist (the
+ *     emulator sizes battery SAVE_RAM from those two header bytes).
+ *     Load-bearing; edit with TROUBLESHOOTING open.
+ *
+ * THE DESIGN (read before reshaping):
+ *   Scrolling — the road is the BACKGROUND, scrolled down by INCREASING SCY
+ *     each frame (raising SCY slides the BG map up under the screen = the
+ *     road rushes DOWN toward the player). Cars/traffic are sprites with
+ *     their own screen Y. See the SCY-WRAP idiom below: the GB BG map is 256
+ *     px tall and SCY is a plain uint8 that wraps at 256 — which lines up
+ *     EXACTLY with one 32-row map loop, so the road tiles a seamless ribbon
+ *     with no wrap helper at all. (Contrast: NES vertical scroll wraps at
+ *     240 not 256 — values 240-255 fetch attribute bytes as garbage tiles,
+ *     so the NES racing game needs a wrap helper; SMS wraps at 224 the same
+ *     way; the Genesis plane is a full 256 and masks in hardware. The GB's
+ *     uint8-SCY-into-256px-map is the friendliest of the four.)
+ *   HUD — the WINDOW layer: a fixed strip the scrolling road can't move (see
+ *     the window idiom). The platformer/shmup templates scroll the world
+ *     under this same HUD on the OTHER axis (SCX); this game scrolls SCY.
+ *   1P RACE — four lanes, A/UP accelerate, B/DOWN brake (speed 1-4); LEFT/
+ *     RIGHT tilt the car between lanes. 3 crashes end the run. Persistent
+ *     stat: best DISTANCE (uint16, 1 unit = 16 scrolled px ≈ one car length)
+ *     via best_load/save to battery SRAM.
+ *
+ * Frame budget (59.7 fps, ~17 556 machine cycles/frame, vblank = 10 of 154
+ * lines ≈ 1 140 cycles): everything VRAM/OAM-touching below happens in the
+ * vblank slice (OAM DMA ~165 cycles + ≤ 11 queued HUD/roadside bytes + one
+ * SCY write); game logic (1 car × 6 traffic AABB + staging ≤7 OAM slots)
+ * runs in the other 144 lines. Comfortable.
  */
 
 #include "gb_hardware.h"
 #include "gb_runtime.h"
 
-#define LANE_LEFT_X    40
-#define LANE_MID_X     76
-#define LANE_RIGHT_X  112
-#define PLAYER_Y      120
-#define MAX_OBSTACLES   4
+/* The title screen renders this — examples({op:'fork'}) stamps your game's
+ * name here automatically. Keep it ≤16 chars of A-Z 0-9 space dash. */
+#define GAME_TITLE "TARMAC TILT"
 
-/* ── Sprite tiles (cars) ──────────────────────────────────────────── */
-static const uint8_t tile_car_p1[16] = {
-  0x3C,0x00, 0x7E,0x00, 0x42,0x00, 0x7E,0x00,
-  0x7E,0x00, 0x42,0x00, 0x7E,0x00, 0x66,0x00,
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay — reshape freely) ──────────────────────────────────────
+ * Tile inventory. GB tiles are 16 bytes: 8 rows × [low-plane byte,
+ * high-plane byte]. Pixel colour index = (hi_bit << 1) | lo_bit.
+ *   lo only  = colour 1     hi only = colour 2     both = colour 3
+ * With BGP = $E4 below the BG reads 0 = white, 1 = light grey, 2 = dark grey
+ * (asphalt), 3 = black (markings/text). */
+static const uint8_t tile_blank[16] = { 0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0 };
+static const uint8_t tile_car[16] = {            /* player car, nose up   */
+    0x18,0x00, 0x7E,0x18, 0xFF,0x3C, 0xDB,0x00,
+    0xFF,0x3C, 0xFF,0x00, 0x7E,0x18, 0x66,0x00,
 };
-static const uint8_t tile_car_en[16] = {
-  0x00,0x3C, 0x00,0x7E, 0x00,0x42, 0x00,0x7E,
-  0x00,0x7E, 0x00,0x42, 0x00,0x7E, 0x00,0x66,
+static const uint8_t tile_traffic[16] = {        /* rival car, tail up     */
+    0x66,0x00, 0x7E,0x18, 0xFF,0x00, 0xFF,0x3C,
+    0xDB,0x00, 0xFF,0x3C, 0x7E,0x18, 0x18,0x00,
 };
-
-/* ── BG tiles (road) ──────────────────────────────────────────────── */
-/* 2bpp: row N = byte 2N (low plane) + byte 2N+1 (high plane).
- *   asphalt  — all colour 2 (mid-dark)
- *   grass    — all colour 1 (light, the shoulders)
- *   laneA/B  — dashed white (colour 3) lane line, two phases for the dashes */
-static const uint8_t tile_asphalt[16] = {
-  0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF,
-  0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF,
+/* Road-surface tiles. tile_road carries two colour-1 specks so even bare
+ * asphalt is never one flat colour (the render-health floor every example
+ * keeps) and the specks make the vertical scroll motion visible everywhere. */
+static const uint8_t tile_road[16] = {           /* dark asphalt + specks  */
+    0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFB, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF,
+    0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xDF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF,
+};
+static const uint8_t tile_edge[16] = {           /* solid shoulder line c3 */
+    0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18,
+    0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18,
 };
-static const uint8_t tile_grass[16] = {
-  0xFF,0x00, 0xFF,0x00, 0xFF,0x00, 0xFF,0x00,
-  0xFF,0x00, 0xFF,0x00, 0xFF,0x00, 0xFF,0x00,
+static const uint8_t tile_dash[16] = {           /* lane dash: 4 on 4 off  */
+    0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18,
+    0x00,0x00, 0x00,0x00, 0x00,0x00, 0x00,0x00,
 };
-/* lane line = a 2px-wide colour-3 stripe down the centre of the cell;
- * phase A draws the top half, phase B the bottom half → dashes. */
-static const uint8_t tile_laneA[16] = {
-  0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18,
-  0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF,
+static const uint8_t tile_grass[16] = {          /* roadside hatch c2      */
+    0xEE,0xEE, 0xBB,0xBB, 0xEE,0xEE, 0xBB,0xBB,
+    0xEE,0xEE, 0xBB,0xBB, 0xEE,0xEE, 0xBB,0xBB,
 };
-static const uint8_t tile_laneB[16] = {
-  0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF,
-  0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18, 0x18,0x18,
+static const uint8_t tile_tree[16] = {           /* roadside bush c3 over c2*/
+    0x18,0xFE, 0x3C,0xFE, 0x7E,0xBA, 0x7E,0xFE,
+    0x3C,0xFE, 0x18,0xBA, 0x18,0xFE, 0x00,0xEE,
+};
+static const uint8_t tile_hudbar[16] = {         /* solid colour 2         */
+    0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF,
+    0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF, 0x00,0xFF,
 };
 
-/* OBJ palette: 0 transparent, 1 white (player), 2 red, 3 green. */
-static const uint16_t obj_palette[4] = { 0x7FFF, 0x7FFF, 0x001F, 0x03E0 };
+/* Tile indices ($8000 unsigned addressing — LCDC bit 4 set below). Sprites
+ * and BG share the $8000 table in this layout, so one upload serves both. */
+#define T_CAR     1
+#define T_TRAFFIC 2
+#define T_ROAD    3
+#define T_EDGE    4
+#define T_DASH    5
+#define T_GRASS   6
+#define T_TREE    7
+#define T_HUDBAR  8
+/* Font: '0'-'9' → 16..25, 'A'-'Z' → 26..51, '-' → 52 (see char_tile). */
+#define T_DIGIT0  16
+#define T_ALPHA   26
+#define T_DASHCH  52
 
-/* Tile indices in VRAM. Sprites and BG share the $8000 table here. */
-#define T_CAR_P1   1
-#define T_CAR_EN   2
-#define T_ASPHALT  3
-#define T_GRASS    4
-#define T_LANE_A   5
-#define T_LANE_B   6
+/* 1bpp font (same glyph set as the NES/SMS examples — 0-9, A-Z, '-').
+ * Stored 8 bytes/glyph and expanded to 2bpp colour 3 at upload time, so
+ * the ROM carries 296 bytes of font instead of 592. */
+static const uint8_t font8[37][8] = {
+  /* 0-9 */
+  {0x3C,0x66,0x6E,0x76,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x00}, {0x18,0x38,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x7E,0x00},
+  {0x3C,0x66,0x06,0x0C,0x18,0x30,0x7E,0x00}, {0x3C,0x66,0x06,0x1C,0x06,0x66,0x3C,0x00},
+  {0x0C,0x1C,0x3C,0x6C,0x7E,0x0C,0x0C,0x00}, {0x7E,0x60,0x7C,0x06,0x06,0x66,0x3C,0x00},
+  {0x1C,0x30,0x60,0x7C,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x00}, {0x7E,0x06,0x0C,0x18,0x30,0x30,0x30,0x00},
+  {0x3C,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x00}, {0x3C,0x66,0x66,0x3E,0x06,0x0C,0x38,0x00},
+  /* A-Z */
+  {0x18,0x3C,0x66,0x66,0x7E,0x66,0x66,0x00}, {0x7C,0x66,0x66,0x7C,0x66,0x66,0x7C,0x00},
+  {0x3C,0x66,0x60,0x60,0x60,0x66,0x3C,0x00}, {0x78,0x6C,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x6C,0x78,0x00},
+  {0x7E,0x60,0x60,0x7C,0x60,0x60,0x7E,0x00}, {0x7E,0x60,0x60,0x7C,0x60,0x60,0x60,0x00},
+  {0x3C,0x66,0x60,0x6E,0x66,0x66,0x3E,0x00}, {0x66,0x66,0x66,0x7E,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x00},
+  {0x7E,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x7E,0x00}, {0x06,0x06,0x06,0x06,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x00},
+  {0x66,0x6C,0x78,0x70,0x78,0x6C,0x66,0x00}, {0x60,0x60,0x60,0x60,0x60,0x60,0x7E,0x00},
+  {0x63,0x77,0x7F,0x6B,0x63,0x63,0x63,0x00}, {0x66,0x76,0x7E,0x7E,0x6E,0x66,0x66,0x00},
+  {0x3C,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x00}, {0x7C,0x66,0x66,0x7C,0x60,0x60,0x60,0x00},
+  {0x3C,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x6A,0x6C,0x36,0x00}, {0x7C,0x66,0x66,0x7C,0x6C,0x66,0x66,0x00},
+  {0x3C,0x66,0x60,0x3C,0x06,0x66,0x3C,0x00}, {0x7E,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x00},
+  {0x66,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x00}, {0x66,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x18,0x00},
+  {0x63,0x63,0x63,0x6B,0x7F,0x77,0x63,0x00}, {0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x18,0x3C,0x66,0x66,0x00},
+  {0x66,0x66,0x66,0x3C,0x18,0x18,0x18,0x00}, {0x7E,0x06,0x0C,0x18,0x30,0x60,0x7E,0x00},
+  /* '-' */
+  {0x00,0x00,0x00,0x7E,0x00,0x00,0x00,0x00},
+};
 
-typedef struct { int16_t x, y; uint8_t alive; } Car;
+/* ── HARDWARE IDIOM (load-bearing — reshape gameplay around this; see TROUBLESHOOTING) ──
+ * THE WINDOW-LAYER HUD — the Game Boy's signature "fixed HUD over a
+ * scrolling world" technique. The window is a second BG plane with its own
+ * 32×32 tile map and NO scroll registers: it always draws its map from
+ * (0,0), pinned to the screen, on top of the BG. So the HUD lives in the
+ * window and the road lives in the BG — SCY/SCX scroll the world all they
+ * like and the HUD never moves. No raster splits, no IRQ timing (the NES
+ * needs a sprite-0 polling dance for this exact effect; on GB it's three
+ * register writes). This game scrolls SCY (vertical road); the platformer
+ * scrolls SCX — same idiom, either axis.
+ *
+ * The three registers, and their two famous footguns:
+ *   WY ($FF4A) — first screen LINE the window covers. We use 128: lines
+ *     0-127 are road, 128-143 (two tile rows) are HUD.
+ *   WX ($FF4B) — screen column PLUS SEVEN. WX=7 means "left edge". The
+ *     -7 offset is hardware fact, not a library quirk: WX=0..6 glitches
+ *     (real DMG pixel pipeline artifacts), WX≥167 pushes it off-screen.
+ *   LCDC bit 5 — window enable; bit 6 — which map it reads ($9800/$9C00).
+ *
+ * FOOTGUN 1 — "the window ate the bottom of my screen": once the window
+ * starts on a line it covers EVERY line from there DOWN, full width from
+ * WX to the right edge. There is no window height register. That is why
+ * GB HUDs sit at the BOTTOM of the screen (this game, and most of the
+ * classic library). A TOP HUD needs a mid-frame trick — STAT-interrupt on
+ * LYC, flip LCDC bit 5 off after the HUD rows — which is a different,
+ * fragile idiom; don't drift into it by accident by setting WY=0.
+ *
+ * FOOTGUN 2 — sprites are NOT clipped by the window. OBJs draw on top of
+ * it (priority bits notwithstanding), so a sprite that wanders below
+ * line 128 sits ON the HUD. The car sits at fixed CAR_Y and traffic
+ * despawns before PLAY_H, so no object ever touches the HUD rows.
+ *
+ * Requires: window map at $9C00 (LCDC bit 6 set — keeps it separate from
+ * the BG's $9800 map), tile data at $8000 (LCDC bit 4), WX=7, WY=PLAY_H,
+ * LCDC bit 5 set during play (title turns the window off — LCDC bit
+ * discipline lives in the two LCDC_* values below, poke those, not LCDC). */
+#define PLAY_H   128                       /* first HUD line = window top */
+#define WIN_MAP  ((uint8_t *)0x9C00)       /* window's 32×32 tile map */
+#define LCDC_TITLE (LCDC_LCD_ON | LCDC_BG_ON | LCDC_OBJ_ON | LCDC_TILE_DATA_LO)
+#define LCDC_PLAY  (LCDC_TITLE | LCDC_WINDOW_ON | LCDC_WINDOW_MAP_HI)
 
-static Car player;
-static Car obstacles[MAX_OBSTACLES];
-static uint16_t score;
-static uint8_t spawn_timer;
-static uint8_t game_over_timer;
-static uint8_t prev_pad;
-static uint8_t player_lane;
+/* ── HARDWARE IDIOM (load-bearing — reshape gameplay around this; see TROUBLESHOOTING) ──
+ * BATTERY SRAM — persistent best distance. MBC1 cart RAM is 8KB at
+ * $A000-$BFFF, but it boots DISABLED and writes to a disabled bank are
+ * silently discarded (reads float). The gate is the MBC's RAM-enable
+ * register: any WRITE to ROM space $0000-$1FFF with $0A in the low nibble
+ * enables the RAM; writing $00 disables it again. (Writing "into ROM" feels
+ * wrong the first time — ROM-area writes never touch ROM, they're how you
+ * talk to the mapper chip.) Leaving RAM enabled all the time "works" in
+ * emulators but on real hardware risks corruption at power-off — battery
+ * carts since forever do enable → touch → disable, so we do too.
+ *
+ * The record is magic 'B','D' + dist lo,hi + a checksum byte, so a
+ * first-boot cart full of $FF garbage reads as "no record" instead of a
+ * 65535 best.
+ *
+ * Requires: gb_crt0.s declaring $0147=$03 (MBC1+RAM+BATTERY) + $0149=$02
+ * (8KB) — those header bytes are how the emulator knows to allocate and
+ * persist SAVE_RAM. Verify headlessly: race, crash out, then
+ * memory({op:'read', region:'save_ram'}) shows the block, and the best
+ * survives host.hardReset(). */
+#define MBC_RAM_ENABLE  (*(volatile uint8_t *)0x0000)
+#define SRAM            ((volatile uint8_t *)0xA000)
 
-static const int16_t lane_x[3] = { LANE_LEFT_X, LANE_MID_X, LANE_RIGHT_X };
+static uint16_t best_load(void) {
+  uint16_t v = 0;
+  MBC_RAM_ENABLE = 0x0A;                        /* unlock cart RAM */
+  if (SRAM[0] == 'B' && SRAM[1] == 'D' &&
+      SRAM[4] == (uint8_t)(SRAM[2] ^ SRAM[3] ^ 0xA5)) {
+    v = (uint16_t)(SRAM[2] | ((uint16_t)SRAM[3] << 8));
+  }
+  MBC_RAM_ENABLE = 0x00;                        /* re-lock (battery hygiene) */
+  return v;
+}
 
-static uint8_t aabb(Car *a, Car *b) {
-  return a->x < b->x + 8 && a->x + 8 > b->x
-      && a->y < b->y + 8 && a->y + 8 > b->y;
+static void best_save(uint16_t v) {
+  uint8_t lo = (uint8_t)(v & 0xFF), hi = (uint8_t)(v >> 8);
+  MBC_RAM_ENABLE = 0x0A;
+  SRAM[0] = 'B'; SRAM[1] = 'D';
+  SRAM[2] = lo;  SRAM[3] = hi;
+  SRAM[4] = (uint8_t)(lo ^ hi ^ 0xA5);
+  MBC_RAM_ENABLE = 0x00;
 }
 
-static void reset_run(void) {
-  uint8_t i;
-  player_lane = 1;
-  player.x = lane_x[1];
-  player.y = PLAYER_Y;
-  player.alive = 1;
-  for (i = 0; i < MAX_OBSTACLES; i++) obstacles[i].alive = 0;
-  score = 0;
-  spawn_timer = 0;
-  game_over_timer = 0;
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay — reshape freely) ──────────────────────────────────────
+ * Road geometry. Four 4-px-wide lanes between shoulders, painted ONCE into
+ * the BG map (cols below); the scroll moves them with the road for free. The
+ * BG map is 32 cols; the visible 20 sit at cols 0..19 (SCX stays 0).
+ *   col 1 = left shoulder, 6/14 = dashed lane lines, 10 = center divider,
+ *   19 = right shoulder; grass/trees outside cols 1..19. */
+#define COL_EDGE_L   1
+#define COL_DASH_1   6
+#define COL_DIVIDER  10
+#define COL_DASH_2   14
+#define COL_EDGE_R   19
+/* Lane centre screen X for the 8px car sprite (each lane spans ~32 px). */
+static const uint8_t lane_x[4] = { 28, 60, 92, 124 };
+
+#define NUM_TRAFFIC   6
+#define CAR_Y        96        /* player's fixed screen Y (well above PLAY_H)  */
+#define SPAWN_Y       8        /* traffic entry Y                              */
+#define DESPAWN_Y    120       /* traffic gone before it reaches the HUD       */
+#define START_LIVES   3        /* crashes per run                              */
+#define SPAWN_PERIOD 36        /* frames between traffic spawns                */
+
+static uint8_t  car_lane;            /* 0..3 */
+static uint8_t  speed;               /* road px/frame, 1..4 */
+static uint8_t  scy;                 /* BG scroll Y — uint8 wraps at 256 =     *
+                                      * exactly one 32-row map loop (seamless) */
+static uint16_t dist;                /* 1 unit = 16 scrolled px ≈ one car len  */
+static uint8_t  dist_frac;
+static uint16_t best;                /* live HUD readout: max(dist, record)    */
+static uint16_t record;              /* what the battery SRAM actually holds   */
+static uint8_t  lives;
+static uint8_t  invuln;              /* post-crash blink + no-collide frames   */
+static uint8_t  prev_pad;
+static uint8_t  spawn_timer;
+static uint8_t  prev_top_row;        /* last streamed BG-map row               */
+static uint8_t  hud_dirty;           /* queue VRAM writes; vblank commits them */
+static uint8_t  msg_stage;           /* game-over text: 2 = line 1, 1 = line 2 */
+
+static uint8_t  traffic_active[NUM_TRAFFIC];
+static uint8_t  traffic_lane[NUM_TRAFFIC];
+static uint8_t  traffic_y[NUM_TRAFFIC];
+
+/* Game states — the shell every example shares: title → play → game over.
+ * (Handheld adaptation: title is press-start; consoles add a 1P/2P pick.) */
+#define ST_TITLE 0
+#define ST_PLAY  1
+#define ST_OVER  2
+static uint8_t state;
+
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — Galois LFSR (taps $B8), period 255 ── */
+static uint8_t rng_state = 0xA5;
+static uint8_t rand8(void) {
+  uint8_t lsb = (uint8_t)(rng_state & 1);
+  rng_state >>= 1;
+  if (lsb) rng_state ^= 0xB8;
+  return rng_state;
 }
 
-static void spawn_obstacle(void) {
-  uint8_t i;
-  for (i = 0; i < MAX_OBSTACLES; i++) {
-    if (!obstacles[i].alive) {
-      obstacles[i].x = lane_x[(spawn_timer * 13) % 3];
-      obstacles[i].y = 0;
-      obstacles[i].alive = 1;
-      return;
+static uint8_t dist8(uint8_t a, uint8_t b) {
+  return (a > b) ? (uint8_t)(a - b) : (uint8_t)(b - a);
+}
+
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — VRAM upload + text helpers ──────────────────────────
+ * All of these write VRAM, so they run with the LCD OFF (boot/repaints) or
+ * inside vblank (the HUD digit commits). Note every loop walks a pointer
+ * (*dst++ = v) instead of indexing dst[i] — SDCC's sm83 port miscompiles
+ * indexed stores through VRAM-pointing pointers (the documented
+ * memcpy_vram footgun; see gb_runtime.c). */
+static void upload_tile(uint8_t slot, const uint8_t *src) {
+  memcpy_vram((uint8_t *)(0x8000 + (uint16_t)slot * 16), src, 16);
+}
+
+static void upload_font(void) {
+  uint8_t *dst = (uint8_t *)(0x8000 + (uint16_t)T_DIGIT0 * 16);
+  uint8_t g, r, bits;
+  for (g = 0; g < 37; g++) {
+    for (r = 0; r < 8; r++) {
+      bits = font8[g][r];
+      *dst++ = bits;          /* low plane  ─┐ both set → colour 3 (black) */
+      *dst++ = bits;          /* high plane ─┘ */
     }
   }
 }
 
-static void upload_tile(uint8_t slot, const uint8_t *src) {
-  uint8_t *dst = (uint8_t *)(0x8000 + slot * 16);
-  /* memcpy_vram (pointer-walk) — NOT an indexed dst[i]=src[i] loop, which
-   * SDCC sm83 miscompiles when dst points into VRAM ($8000-$9FFF). */
-  memcpy_vram(dst, src, 16);
-}
-
-/* Paint the road into BG map 0 ($9800). 20×18 visible cells:
- *   col 0       = grass shoulder (left)
- *   col 19      = grass shoulder (right)
- *   cols 1..18  = asphalt, with dashed lane lines at the two lane
- *                 boundaries (cols 6 and 12). Dashes alternate per row. */
-static void draw_road(void) {
-  uint8_t *bg = BG_MAP_0;
+static uint8_t char_tile(char ch) {
+  if (ch >= '0' && ch <= '9') return (uint8_t)(T_DIGIT0 + (ch - '0'));
+  if (ch >= 'A' && ch <= 'Z') return (uint8_t)(T_ALPHA + (ch - 'A'));
+  if (ch == '-') return T_DASHCH;
+  return 0;                                    /* space → blank tile */
+}
+
+/* Both 32×32 maps (BG $9800, window $9C00) take the same row/col math. */
+static void draw_text(uint8_t *map, uint8_t row, uint8_t col, const char *s) {
+  uint8_t *p = map + (uint16_t)row * 32 + col;
+  while (*s) *p++ = char_tile(*s++);
+}
+
+/* Decimal digits WITHOUT divide/modulo (the sm83 has neither — SDCC's
+ * software % costs ~700 cycles a call). Repeated power-of-ten subtraction
+ * caps at 36 SUBs for any u16. */
+static void u16_to_tiles(uint16_t v, uint8_t *out5) {
+  static const uint16_t pow10[4] = { 10000, 1000, 100, 10 };
+  uint8_t i, d;
+  for (i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
+    d = 0;
+    while (v >= pow10[i]) { v -= pow10[i]; ++d; }
+    *out5++ = (uint8_t)(T_DIGIT0 + d);
+  }
+  *out5 = (uint8_t)(T_DIGIT0 + (uint8_t)v);
+}
+
+static void draw_u16(uint8_t *map, uint8_t row, uint8_t col, uint16_t v) {
+  uint8_t d[5];
+  uint8_t i, *p = map + (uint16_t)row * 32 + col;
+  u16_to_tiles(v, d);
+  for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) *p++ = d[i];
+}
+
+/* Pre-convert a string to tile indices (full-frame time) so the vblank
+ * commit is a dumb byte copy. char_tile's compare chain per character is
+ * exactly the kind of work that blows the ~1140-cycle vblank budget. */
+static uint8_t msg_q[20];                /* 9 "GAME OVER" + 11 "PRESS START" */
+static void stage_text(const char *s, uint8_t *out) {
+  while (*s) *out++ = char_tile(*s++);
+}
+
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — screen painters (LCD off = free VRAM access) ────────
+ * Paints the road into the FULL 32-row BG map. Because SCY wraps at 256 (one
+ * full map height), the visible window can sit anywhere in the map and always
+ * shows a valid road ribbon — so we paint all 32 rows, not just the visible
+ * 18, and the scroll loops forever with no wrap helper. The dashed lane lines
+ * alternate per row (drawn on even rows only); the scroll animates them for
+ * free. Roadside trees use a divide-free running pattern counter (the sm83
+ * has no divide — treat every / and % in a loop as a red flag, ~700 cycles
+ * each). */
+static void paint_road(uint8_t *map) {
+  uint8_t *p = map;
   uint8_t r, c, t;
-  for (r = 0; r < 18; r++) {
-    for (c = 0; c < 20; c++) {
-      if (c == 0 || c == 19)      t = T_GRASS;
-      else if (c == 6 || c == 12) t = (r & 1) ? T_LANE_A : T_LANE_B;
-      else                        t = T_ASPHALT;
-      bg[r * 32 + c] = t;
+  uint8_t tc = 0;                        /* (r*7 + c*5) mod 13, incremental */
+  uint8_t tr = 0;
+  for (r = 0; r < 32; r++) {
+    tc = tr;
+    for (c = 0; c < 32; c++) {
+      if (c < COL_EDGE_L || c > COL_EDGE_R) {
+        t = T_GRASS;
+        if (tc == 0) t = T_TREE;         /* sparse roadside trees */
+      } else if (c == COL_EDGE_L || c == COL_EDGE_R || c == COL_DIVIDER) {
+        t = T_EDGE;                       /* shoulders + solid centre line */
+      } else if (c == COL_DASH_1 || c == COL_DASH_2) {
+        t = (r & 1) ? T_ROAD : T_DASH;    /* dashed lane lines */
+      } else {
+        t = T_ROAD;                       /* asphalt */
+      }
+      *p++ = t;
+      tc += 5; if (tc >= 13) tc -= 13;
     }
+    tr += 7; if (tr >= 13) tr -= 13;
   }
 }
 
-void main(void) {
-  uint8_t pad;
-  uint8_t i;
-  int16_t step;
+static void paint_title(void) {
+  paint_road(BG_MAP_0);                   /* road backdrop — text owns lanes */
+  draw_text(BG_MAP_0, 3, (uint8_t)((20 - (sizeof(GAME_TITLE) - 1)) / 2), GAME_TITLE);
+  draw_text(BG_MAP_0, 6, 5, "PRESS START");
+  draw_text(BG_MAP_0, 9, 6, "BEST");
+  draw_u16(BG_MAP_0, 9, 11, best);
+  draw_text(BG_MAP_0, 12, 6, "1P ONLY");        /* see header: no link 2P */
+  SCX = 0; SCY = 0;
+  scy = 0;
+}
 
-  lcd_init_default();
+/* HUD strip = window rows 0-1: a solid divider bar, then the text row.
+ * Columns 0-19 are the visible 20 (WX=7 pins map col 0 to screen x 0). */
+static void paint_hud(void) {
+  uint8_t *p = WIN_MAP;
+  uint8_t c;
+  for (c = 0; c < 20; c++) *p++ = T_HUDBAR;
+  draw_text(WIN_MAP, 1, 0, "DS");
+  draw_u16(WIN_MAP, 1, 3, dist);
+  draw_text(WIN_MAP, 1, 9, "BS");
+  draw_u16(WIN_MAP, 1, 12, best);
+  draw_text(WIN_MAP, 1, 18, "L");
+  *(WIN_MAP + 32 + 19) = (uint8_t)(T_DIGIT0 + lives);
+}
+
+/* ── HARDWARE IDIOM (load-bearing — reshape gameplay around this; see TROUBLESHOOTING) ──
+ * LCD-off repaints. Bulk VRAM rewrites (full title/road repaints) happen
+ * with the LCD OFF — free access, no per-byte timing worries. The rule:
+ * only flip LCDC bit 7 to 0 DURING VBLANK. Killing the LCD mid-scanline
+ * is the classic "damages real DMG hardware" move; emulators shrug, real
+ * units can be permanently marked. wait_vblank() first, always.
+ * Requires: enable_vblank_irq() already called (wait_vblank HALT path);
+ * lcd_off-safe runtime (gb_runtime's wait_vblank bails if LCD is off). */
+static void repaint_with_lcd_off(uint8_t to_title) {
+  msg_stage = 0;                /* a queued game-over line must not land on
+                                 * the freshly painted screen a frame later */
+  wait_vblank();                /* never cut the LCD outside vblank */
   LCDC = 0;
+  if (to_title) {
+    paint_title();
+    oam_clear();                /* hide every sprite slot before re-enable */
+    LCDC = LCDC_TITLE;          /* window OFF on the title */
+  } else {
+    paint_road(BG_MAP_0);
+    paint_hud();
+    LCDC = LCDC_PLAY;           /* window ON below WY — the HUD appears */
+  }
+}
 
-  upload_tile(T_CAR_P1,  tile_car_p1);
-  upload_tile(T_CAR_EN,  tile_car_en);
-  upload_tile(T_ASPHALT, tile_asphalt);
-  upload_tile(T_GRASS,   tile_grass);
-  upload_tile(T_LANE_A,  tile_laneA);
-  upload_tile(T_LANE_B,  tile_laneB);
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — sound: frame-ticked tune + steer/crash SFX ──────────
+ * Channel plan keeps SFX from cutting the music: ch2 = music (one
+ * sound_play_tone trigger per note, the APU sustains it), ch1 = engine/
+ * steer/checkpoint blips, ch4 = noise for crashes. music_tick() runs once
+ * per frame from the main loop; the APU needs no other upkeep. Periods are
+ * the 11-bit GB frequency code: 2048 - (131072 / Hz). 0 = rest. */
+static const uint16_t tune[16] = {
+  1602, 0, 1602, 1714, 1750, 0, 1714, 0,     /* an engine-y ostinato */
+  1602, 0, 1602, 1798, 1750, 0, 1602, 0,
+};
+static uint8_t music_pos, music_timer;
+static void music_tick(void) {
+  uint16_t n;
+  if (++music_timer < 12) return;
+  music_timer = 0;
+  n = tune[music_pos];
+  music_pos = (uint8_t)((music_pos + 1) & 15);
+  if (n) sound_play_tone(2, n, 10);
+}
 
-  /* DMG BG palette: 0 white, 1 light, 2 dark, 3 black. The road reads
-   * as asphalt(dark) + grass(light) + white dashes. */
-  BGP = 0xE4;
-  OCPS = 0x80;
-  for (i = 0; i < 4; i++) {
-    OCPD = (uint8_t)(obj_palette[i] & 0xFF);
-    OCPD = (uint8_t)((obj_palette[i] >> 8) & 0xFF);
+/* ── HARDWARE IDIOM (load-bearing — reshape gameplay around this; see TROUBLESHOOTING) ──
+ * Streamed roadside through the VRAM commit QUEUE. As the road scrolls down
+ * (SCY rising), BG-map rows re-enter at the TOP of the screen. The moment a
+ * new top row appears we restamp its two roadside columns (grass/tree) with
+ * fresh random tiles, so the wrap never shows the same 256-px loop twice.
+ * Classic streaming-row technique, downward.
+ *
+ * Two hard rules, mirroring the platformer/shmup VRAM discipline:
+ *   1. QUEUED through commit_vram() (one item per vblank) — a raw mid-frame
+ *      write that slides past vblank into mode 3 is silently dropped by the
+ *      core (the shmup harness caught exactly that as half-missing text).
+ *   2. The restamped row is two rows ABOVE the visible band (about to scroll
+ *      on), so the swap lands before the player sees it.
+ * road_dirty carries the row index to restamp; commit_vram() drains it. */
+static uint8_t road_dirty;       /* 1 = a roadside row restamp is queued */
+static uint8_t road_row;         /* BG-map row to restamp */
+static uint8_t road_l, road_r;   /* the two roadside tiles (left, right col) */
+
+static uint8_t roadside_tile(void) {
+  uint8_t r = rand8();
+  return ((r & 7) == 0) ? T_TREE : T_GRASS;
+}
+
+static void queue_roadside(uint8_t top_row) {
+  /* Restamp the row two above the screen top (about to scroll in). */
+  road_row = (uint8_t)((top_row + 30) & 31);
+  road_l = roadside_tile();
+  road_r = roadside_tile();
+  road_dirty = 1;
+}
+
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — traffic pool (fixed slots, no allocation) ── */
+static void spawn_traffic(void) {
+  uint8_t i;
+  for (i = 0; i < NUM_TRAFFIC; i++) {
+    if (!traffic_active[i]) {
+      traffic_active[i] = 1;
+      traffic_lane[i] = (uint8_t)(rand8() & 3);
+      traffic_y[i] = SPAWN_Y;
+      return;
+    }
+  }
+}
+
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — state transitions ── */
+static void begin_run(void) {
+  uint8_t i;
+  car_lane = 1;
+  speed = 1;
+  scy = 0;
+  dist = 0;
+  dist_frac = 0;
+  prev_top_row = 0;
+  spawn_timer = 0;
+  invuln = 48;                   /* ready breather — car blinks */
+  prev_pad = 0xFF;               /* swallow held buttons across the reset */
+  for (i = 0; i < NUM_TRAFFIC; i++) traffic_active[i] = 0;
+}
+
+static void start_game(void) {
+  lives = START_LIVES;
+  begin_run();
+  hud_dirty = 1;          /* restage hud_q — a stale game-over stage queued
+                           * before the repaint would overwrite the fresh
+                           * zeros next vblank otherwise */
+  state = ST_PLAY;
+  repaint_with_lcd_off(0);
+  sound_play_tone(1, 1602, 8);             /* start rev */
+}
+
+static void game_over(void) {
+  /* Compare against the SAVED record, not the live `best` readout — the
+   * scoring path already raised `best` to track the run, so testing
+   * `dist > best` here would never fire (the shmup example shipped exactly
+   * that bug for an hour; verified-by-harness is the cure). */
+  if (dist > record) {
+    record = dist;
+    best_save(record);          /* battery write — survives power-off */
   }
+  state = ST_OVER;
+  /* The BG scrolled vertically, but the game-over text is painted into fixed
+   * BG rows (columns don't shift on a vertical scroll), so a plain row/col
+   * anchor lands mid-screen. Convert the strings to tile indices HERE
+   * (full-frame time) and queue them — commit_vram() copies one line per
+   * vblank. */
+  stage_text("GAME OVER", msg_q);
+  stage_text("PRESS START", msg_q + 9);
+  msg_stage = 2;
+}
 
-  draw_road();
+static void crash(void) {
+  sound_play_noise(20);
+  invuln = 60;                   /* blink + no-collide grace */
+  speed = 1;                     /* a wreck kills your momentum */
+  if (lives) --lives;
+  hud_dirty = 1;
+  if (lives == 0) game_over();
+}
 
-  oam_clear();
-  LCDC = LCDC_LCD_ON | LCDC_BG_ON | LCDC_OBJ_ON | LCDC_TILE_DATA_LO;
-  sound_init();
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — per-state update (runs OUTSIDE vblank) ── */
+static void update_play(uint8_t pad) {
+  uint8_t i, pressed, ty;
 
-  reset_run();
-  prev_pad = 0;
+  pressed = (uint8_t)(pad & ~prev_pad);
 
-  while (1) {
-    wait_vblank();
+  /* Steer: LEFT/RIGHT tilt one lane (edge-detected — a held d-pad must not
+   * machine-gun across the road). */
+  if ((pressed & PAD_LEFT) && car_lane > 0) {
+    --car_lane;
+    sound_play_tone(1, 1750, 3);                     /* tilt tick */
+  }
+  if ((pressed & PAD_RIGHT) && car_lane < 3) {
+    ++car_lane;
+    sound_play_tone(1, 1750, 3);
+  }
+  /* Throttle: A/UP accelerate, B/DOWN brake. */
+  if ((pressed & (PAD_A | PAD_UP)) && speed < 4) {
+    ++speed;
+    sound_play_tone(1, (uint16_t)(1500 + speed * 40), 6);   /* engine up */
+  }
+  if ((pressed & (PAD_B | PAD_DOWN)) && speed > 1) {
+    --speed;
+    sound_play_tone(1, 1850, 4);                     /* brake blip */
+  }
+  if (invuln) --invuln;
 
-    /* Stage OAM — player + obstacles. */
-    for (i = 0; i < 40; i++) oam_set(i, 0, 0, 0, 0);
-    oam_set(0, (uint8_t)(player.y + 16), (uint8_t)(player.x + 8), T_CAR_P1, 0);
-    for (i = 0; i < MAX_OBSTACLES; i++) {
-      if (obstacles[i].alive) {
-        oam_set((uint8_t)(1 + i),
-                (uint8_t)(obstacles[i].y + 16),
-                (uint8_t)(obstacles[i].x + 8),
-                T_CAR_EN, 0);
+  /* Scroll the road down: SCY increases (BG slides up under the screen).
+   * Plain uint8 — wraps at 256 = one full map loop, seamless (see idiom). */
+  scy = (uint8_t)(scy + speed);
+
+  /* Distance: 1 unit per 16 scrolled px. A chime every 256 units. */
+  dist_frac = (uint8_t)(dist_frac + speed);
+  if (dist_frac >= 16) {
+    dist_frac -= 16;
+    if (dist < 65535u) ++dist;
+    if (dist > best) best = dist;                    /* live HUD readout */
+    hud_dirty = 1;
+    if (dist != 0 && (dist & 0xFF) == 0)
+      sound_play_tone(1, 1923, 8);                   /* checkpoint chime */
+  }
+
+  /* Traffic flows DOWN at road speed (reads as slower cars you overtake);
+   * despawn before the HUD band, spawn on a timer. */
+  for (i = 0; i < NUM_TRAFFIC; i++) {
+    if (!traffic_active[i]) continue;
+    ty = (uint8_t)(traffic_y[i] + speed);
+    if (ty >= DESPAWN_Y) { traffic_active[i] = 0; continue; }
+    traffic_y[i] = ty;
+  }
+  if (++spawn_timer >= SPAWN_PERIOD) {
+    spawn_timer = 0;
+    spawn_traffic();
+  }
+
+  /* Traffic ↔ car (AABB, both 8x8). Crash grace: a just-wrecked car blinks
+   * and can't collide for 60 frames. */
+  if (!invuln) {
+    for (i = 0; i < NUM_TRAFFIC; i++) {
+      if (!traffic_active[i]) continue;
+      if (dist8(lane_x[traffic_lane[i]], lane_x[car_lane]) < 8 &&
+          dist8(traffic_y[i], CAR_Y) < 8) {
+        traffic_active[i] = 0;
+        crash();
+        return;
       }
     }
-    oam_dma_flush();
+  }
+}
 
-    pad = joypad_read();
-    if (game_over_timer > 0) {
-      game_over_timer--;
-      if (game_over_timer == 0) reset_run();
-      prev_pad = pad;
-      continue;
-    }
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — stage the shadow OAM for THIS frame ─────────────────
+ * Pure WRAM writes (shadow_oam at $C100) — safe any time; only the DMA
+ * flush is vblank-sensitive. OAM coords are hardware coords: +16 on Y,
+ * +8 on X (Y=0/X=0 park a sprite off-screen, which is what oam_clear's
+ * zero-fill does for every unused slot). Slot plan (40 hardware slots, we
+ * use 7): 0 = player car, 1-6 traffic — well under the 10-OBJ/line drop. */
+static void stage_sprites(void) {
+  uint8_t i;
+  oam_clear();
+  if (state == ST_TITLE) {
+    /* Guaranteed-visible sprite from the first title frame — proof the
+     * whole OAM pipeline (shadow → HRAM DMA stub → OAM) is alive before
+     * any gameplay complicates the picture. */
+    oam_set(0, 96 + 16, 76 + 8, T_CAR, 0);
+    return;
+  }
+  if (invuln == 0 || (invuln & 4))                   /* crash/ready blink */
+    oam_set(0, CAR_Y + 16, (uint8_t)(lane_x[car_lane] + 8), T_CAR, 0);
+  for (i = 0; i < NUM_TRAFFIC; i++)
+    if (traffic_active[i])
+      oam_set((uint8_t)(1 + i), (uint8_t)(traffic_y[i] + 16),
+              (uint8_t)(lane_x[traffic_lane[i]] + 8), T_TRAFFIC, 0x10); /* OBP1 */
+}
 
-    if ((pad & PAD_LEFT)  && !(prev_pad & PAD_LEFT)  && player_lane > 0) {
-      player_lane--;
-      sound_play_tone(2, 1700, 3);
-    }
-    if ((pad & PAD_RIGHT) && !(prev_pad & PAD_RIGHT) && player_lane < 2) {
-      player_lane++;
-      sound_play_tone(2, 1700, 3);
-    }
-    player.x = lane_x[player_lane];
-    prev_pad = pad;
+/* ── GAME LOGIC (clay) — queued VRAM commits ─────────────────────────────────
+ * Two-phase update, mirroring the shadow-OAM discipline: game logic only
+ * sets the dirty flags (hud_dirty / road_dirty / msg_stage). stage_hud()
+ * (full-frame time) does the digit math into hud_q; commit_vram() (vblank
+ * time) copies bytes — and commits AT MOST ONE queued item per vblank. The
+ * budget after the OAM DMA (~165 cycles of the ~1140) fits one item
+ * comfortably; committing everything at once on a busy frame overruns into
+ * mode 3, where the PPU locks VRAM and the writes are silently discarded
+ * (the shmup harness caught exactly that as half-missing GAME OVER text).
+ * One item per frame = zero dropped bytes, and a frame of HUD latency
+ * nobody can see. */
+static uint8_t hud_q[11];       /* 5 dist digits, 5 best digits, lives tile */
+static uint8_t hud_ready;
 
-    step = (int16_t)(2 + (score / 500));
-    if (step > 4) step = 4;
+static void stage_hud(void) {
+  if (!hud_dirty) return;
+  hud_dirty = 0;
+  u16_to_tiles(dist, hud_q);
+  u16_to_tiles(best, hud_q + 5);
+  hud_q[10] = (uint8_t)(T_DIGIT0 + lives);
+  hud_ready = 1;
+}
 
-    for (i = 0; i < MAX_OBSTACLES; i++) {
-      if (!obstacles[i].alive) continue;
-      obstacles[i].y = (int16_t)(obstacles[i].y + step);
-      if (obstacles[i].y >= 144) obstacles[i].alive = 0;
-    }
-    spawn_timer++;
-    if (spawn_timer >= 36) { spawn_timer = 0; spawn_obstacle(); }
-
-    for (i = 0; i < MAX_OBSTACLES; i++) {
-      if (obstacles[i].alive && aabb(&player, &obstacles[i])) {
-        sound_play_noise(8);
-        game_over_timer = 60;
-        break;
+static void commit_vram(void) {
+  uint8_t i;
+  uint8_t *p;
+  const uint8_t *q;
+  if (hud_ready) {                            /* item 1: HUD digits */
+    hud_ready = 0;
+    p = WIN_MAP + 32 + 3;  q = hud_q;      for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) *p++ = *q++;
+    p = WIN_MAP + 32 + 12; q = hud_q + 5;  for (i = 0; i < 5; i++) *p++ = *q++;
+    *(WIN_MAP + 32 + 19) = hud_q[10];
+    return;
+  }
+  if (road_dirty) {                           /* item 2: roadside row restamp */
+    road_dirty = 0;
+    p = BG_MAP_0 + (uint16_t)road_row * 32;
+    *p = road_l;                              /* col 0 (left roadside) */
+    *(p + 20) = road_r;                       /* col 20 (right roadside) */
+    return;
+  }
+  if (msg_stage == 2) {                        /* item 3: GAME OVER line */
+    msg_stage = 1;
+    p = BG_MAP_0 + (uint16_t)5 * 32 + 5;  q = msg_q;
+    for (i = 0; i < 9; i++) *p++ = *q++;
+    return;
+  }
+  if (msg_stage == 1) {                        /* item 4: PRESS START line */
+    msg_stage = 0;
+    p = BG_MAP_0 + (uint16_t)7 * 32 + 4;  q = msg_q + 9;
+    for (i = 0; i < 11; i++) *p++ = *q++;
+  }
+}
+
+void main(void) {
+  uint8_t pad, top_row;
+
+  /* ── HARDWARE IDIOM (load-bearing — reshape gameplay around this; see TROUBLESHOOTING) ──
+   * Boot order. Three load-bearing calls, in this order:
+   *   1. lcd_init_default() — sane LCD state AND it installs the OAM-DMA
+   *      stub into HRAM ($FF80). During OAM DMA the CPU can only fetch
+   *      from HRAM; the broken alternative (spinning in ROM) fetches $FF
+   *      = rst $38 and corrupts the stack — the classic "sprites never
+   *      show / game dies after a while" GB death. Every oam_dma_flush()
+   *      below depends on this stub existing.
+   *   2. enable_vblank_irq() — flips wait_vblank() from LY-polling to
+   *      HALT-until-vblank-IRQ. The polling fallback runs at ~1/30 speed
+   *      on the WASM emulator; the HALT path is full speed everywhere.
+   *   3. LCD off (inside vblank) for the bulk VRAM uploads — tiles, font,
+   *      first screen — then back on. VRAM is only freely writable with
+   *      the LCD off or during vblank/hblank windows. */
+  lcd_init_default();
+  enable_vblank_irq();
+  sound_init();
+
+  wait_vblank();
+  LCDC = 0;                     /* LCD off — free VRAM access from here */
+
+  upload_tile(0, tile_blank);
+  upload_tile(T_CAR,     tile_car);
+  upload_tile(T_TRAFFIC, tile_traffic);
+  upload_tile(T_ROAD,    tile_road);
+  upload_tile(T_EDGE,    tile_edge);
+  upload_tile(T_DASH,    tile_dash);
+  upload_tile(T_GRASS,   tile_grass);
+  upload_tile(T_TREE,    tile_tree);
+  upload_tile(T_HUDBAR,  tile_hudbar);
+  upload_font();
+
+  /* DMG palettes (2 bits per colour index, low bits = index 0):
+   * BGP $E4 → 0=white 1=light 2=dark (asphalt) 3=black (markings/text).
+   * OBP0 $1C → player car: body black, cockpit white.
+   * OBP1 $C4 → traffic: light grey body, black outline. */
+  BGP  = 0xE4;
+  OBP0 = 0x1C;
+  OBP1 = 0xC4;
+
+  /* Window position — set once; LCDC bit 5 decides if it shows. */
+  WX = 7;                       /* the +7 quirk: 7 = screen left edge */
+  WY = PLAY_H;                  /* HUD owns lines 128-143 */
+
+  record = best_load();         /* battery SRAM — 0 on first boot */
+  best = record;
+  state = ST_TITLE;
+  paint_title();
+  oam_clear();
+  LCDC = LCDC_TITLE;
+
+  for (;;) {
+    /* ── full-frame work: input, game state, shadow-OAM staging ── */
+    pad = joypad_read();
+
+    if (state == ST_TITLE) {
+      if ((pad & PAD_START) && !(prev_pad & PAD_START)) start_game();
+      else if ((pad & PAD_A) && !(prev_pad & PAD_A))    start_game();
+      prev_pad = pad;
+    } else if (state == ST_PLAY) {
+      update_play(pad);
+      prev_pad = pad;
+      /* Stream a fresh roadside row as each new row scrolls on at the top. */
+      top_row = (uint8_t)(scy >> 3);
+      if (top_row != prev_top_row) {
+        prev_top_row = top_row;
+        if (!road_dirty) queue_roadside(top_row);
+      }
+    } else { /* ST_OVER — freeze the field; START/A returns to title */
+      if ((pad & (PAD_START | PAD_A)) && !(prev_pad & (PAD_START | PAD_A))) {
+        state = ST_TITLE;
+        repaint_with_lcd_off(1);
       }
+      prev_pad = pad;
     }
-    if (score < 65500u) score++;
+    stage_sprites();
+    stage_hud();                /* digit math out here, not in vblank */
+
+    /* ── HARDWARE IDIOM (load-bearing — reshape gameplay around this; see TROUBLESHOOTING) ──
+     * The vblank slice. wait_vblank() wakes at the START of vblank
+     * (~1140 cycles of safe OAM/VRAM access). Order is everything:
+     *   oam_dma_flush() FIRST — the DMA takes ~165 cycles and MUST finish
+     *     inside vblank; pushing it later (after VRAM writes that grow
+     *     over time) slides it into active display, where the PPU is
+     *     reading OAM = one frame of torn/invisible sprites, intermittent
+     *     and miserable to debug.
+     *   commit_vram() second — the few queued HUD/roadside/text bytes.
+     *   SCY last — scroll latches per-scanline, so writing it during
+     *     vblank (before line 0 renders) moves the WHOLE next frame
+     *     consistently; the window ignores it by design (the HUD idiom).
+     * Game logic above NEVER touches VRAM directly — it sets the dirty
+     * flags and shadow OAM, and this slice commits them. Keep that split
+     * when you reshape the game. */
+    wait_vblank();
+    oam_dma_flush();
+    commit_vram();
+    SCY = scy;                  /* title resets scy to 0; over freezes it */
+    music_tick();
   }
 }