Atari 2600 Cartridge Source Code as Art

Artist and programmer Ben Fry has created a series of illustrations based on the source code from Atari 2600 cartridges, including Pac-Man and Q-Bert. (Pictured at left is the Pitfall source code.) In each illustration, the source code is printed in chunks, with all "go to" statements represented by curved lines pointing at other parts of the code. Wherever the cartridge contains binary data (notably, the graphics used in the game), those images are presented in the illustration -- often the images are upside down, due to the way they were encoded on the cartridge. The result is a series of delicate, complex images that may remind you of the actual gameplay...or a bunch of squiggly lines.