C64 RE Tools connects assembly, execution and debugging in a repeatable loop. That workflow was exercised by reconstructing Datasoft’s 1984 C64 game Bruce Lee: inspecting its running code, rebuilding captured releases and comparing the results in VICE.

Writing assembly is only the start. To debug it, the agent needs to see whether an interrupt fired, what the video registers contain and what the loader left in memory.

VICE provides the execution environment. MCP exposes memory, CPU stepping, breakpoints, input and hardware state. The agent can assemble with ACME, load the result, inspect a failure and test a correction. The same loop helps locate unpacked code and trace unfamiliar routines.

VICE runs on the host desktop. The assembler, disassembler, Ghidra and skill scripts run in the development container. Project labels, comments and memory regions remain in text files that can be reviewed and committed.

Tests and machine observations provide the evidence. The agent still has to interpret it, and an unresolved interpretation stays unresolved.

Source and setup: https://github.com/henols/c64-re-tools