Microsoft MakeCode Arcade is a web-based beginner-friendly code editor to create retro arcade games for the web and for microcontrollers. In this guide, you will learn how to assemble your own Arcade hardware from different parts. MakeCode Arcade is open source on GitHub.

Arcade is for retro 2D sprite-based games.

Arcade supports a 160x120 screen with 16 colors, and has a 2D game engine with sprites, platformer-style collisions, tile maps, particle systems and more!

Arcade is a web-based code editor. 

Just like the MakeCode Circuit Playground Express editor, you can use blocks or JavaScript to build your program in your browser. Nothing to install - it just works!

Arcade is friendly to beginners! 

Get started with building your own retro games, using the block editor and the many guides. You don't need to be a programmer to get started!

Arcade is friendly to seasoned programmers too!

Switch to JavaScript and type away. MakeCode supports Static TypeScript, a special flavor of JavaScript optimized for compilation on micro-controllers.

Arcade runs on hardware (in particular SAMD51)! 

While all games can be shared and played via the web, the fun starts when you compile them for SAMD51-based boards, like the Adafruit ItsyBitsy M4 Express.

This guide was first published on Jan 18, 2019. It was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

This page (What is MakeCode Arcade?) was last updated on Mar 08, 2024.

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