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But there are eight programmable 32-bit CPU cores that run at up to 20 MIPS
And what's 8-bit about that?
It's not 8-bit, but it's not a super powerful 3D console with texture mapped polygons either. It sounds really powerful on paper, but trust me, it's not as powerful as it sounds. It's somewhere between an NES and a Super NES graphics wise. If you're looking for an authentic 8-bit system, though, they do have consoles with 8-bit microcontrollers:
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The XGS Pico, which has a SX28 (3kb Flash, 144 bytes RAM, 80MIPS) and not much else. The composite video signal has to be generated by the CPU, and you can get 10 greyscale shades with it, and can do color if you have REALLY tight timing. There's a 4-bit DAC to do sound with and one joystick port. Everything has to be done by the processor, and its memory is tiny, which makes it difficult to make games with. On the plus side you can order the parts yourself and put it together on a breadboard, and it's also the cheapest console on the site.
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The XGS Micro, which is pretty much an upgraded Pico. It has the larger SX52 microcontroller (6kb Flash, 262 bytes RAM, 80MIPS), plus 128kb of slow access RAM, two joystick ports, a sub-NES-quality sound chip, and hardware for generating a color signal, which saves a large amount of processing time. There's a few extra ports for things like keyboards and mice as well. The composite video signal also has to be generated by the CPU here, but the 128k of RAM, which can be used as a frame buffer, makes it much easier to do games. It's still pretty hard to code for, though.
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The XGS AVR / XGS 8-bit, which is WAAAAAY better then the others if you want to develop games. It has an AVRMega 644 at its core (64kb Flash, 4k SRAM, 28MIPS) and has hardware for generating both VGA and composite signals. The CPU still has to play an active part in generating the signal, though. Sound is done using the AVRMega's PWM output (I think). It can also load programs from MicroSD cards. Of all the 8-bits listed here I recommend this one the most.
Demo programs made for the XGS AVR:
XGS Blasters
Ultra demo
Doom-style raycaster