Retrofuture Archive • Redcode • Live Core

Learn Core War. Build Warriors. Watch Them Fight.

Core War is a programming game where tiny assembly-style programs battle for survival in a shared memory core. This site gives you the full path: learn what Core War is, study the Redcode instruction set, practice your own warriors, and run battles in a live visualizer.

What Is Core War? Instruction Set Guide Enter Practice Core Launch Twitch Channel

Learn Get the big picture fast with a beginner-friendly explainer.

Code Study opcodes, modifiers, and addressing modes with examples.

Battle Watch warriors in a virtual core.

Choose Your Entry Point

Whether you are brand new to Core War or already writing bombers and process splitters, each section below is built to move you forward fast.

Beginner

What Is Core War?

Start with the overview: what the game is, how warriors fight in memory, and why Redcode strategies are still fascinating decades later.

Read the Explainer

Reference

Instruction Set Guide

Browse DAT, MOV, ADD, JMP, SPL, modifiers, addressing modes, and practical examples you can adapt into your own warriors.

Open the Guide

Hands-On

Practice Core

Test small programs, experiment with loops and bombs, and build intuition before moving into full battles.

Start Practicing

Why It Matters

Core War Teaches Strategic Thinking

Core War compresses programming, systems thinking, and game strategy into a tiny battlefield. Every instruction matters. Every process matters. Small changes can decide the match.

Why It Is Fun

Simple Rules, Deep Behavior

At a glance, Redcode looks small. In practice, it creates scanners, bombers, imps, papers, silk-style replication, and chaotic multi-process attacks that feel alive in the core.

Why This Site

Learn and Battle in One Place

Instead of reading a guide in one tab and guessing in another, this site connects explanation, reference, practice, and visualization into a single Core War hub.

What You Can Do Here

This landing page is designed to connect your full Core War ecosystem so visitors can discover, learn, and keep exploring.

Study Redcode

Understand opcodes, modifiers, pseudo-ops, process flow, and memory behavior with a clean instruction reference.

Write Warriors

Experiment with compact programs, random attackers, bombers, scanners, and process-heavy strategies.

Watch Execution

See how warriors move, replicate, and collide in memory through an interactive visualizer built for clarity.

Improve Faster

Move from concept to test to battle without leaving the site, which makes iteration far easier for new and experienced players.

Core War Tutorial Path

New visitors can begin with the explainer, continue into the instruction set, and then enter the practice core with a clear progression.

Reference-First Learning

Players who already know the basics can jump straight into opcode details, addressing modes, modifiers, and examples.

Live Experimentation

The practice core and visualizer turn theory into immediate feedback so users can see exactly why a warrior wins, stalls, or self-destructs.

Niche Search Visibility

By linking explanation, tutorial, instruction set, and hands-on tools together, the site can rank for both beginner and technical Core War searches.

Core War is a programming game using Redcode where warriors compete in a shared memory core. This site brings together the Core War explainer, instruction set guide, practice core, and live visualizer so players can learn faster and build better warriors.

Start With the Explainer Go Straight to Battle