diff --git a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/Main.kt b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/Main.kt
index 0a59c6441..4c94ca94f 100644
--- a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/Main.kt
+++ b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/Main.kt
@@ -189,16 +189,16 @@ private fun postprocessAst(programAst: Program, errors: ErrorReporter, compilerO
 private fun writeAssembly(programAst: Program, errors: ErrorReporter, outputDir: Path,
                           optimize: Boolean, compilerOptions: CompilationOptions): String {
     // asm generation directly from the Ast,
-    val zeropage = CompilationTarget.machine.getZeropage(compilerOptions)
     programAst.processAstBeforeAsmGeneration(errors)
     errors.handle()
 
     // printAst(programAst)
 
+    CompilationTarget.machine.initializeZeropage(compilerOptions)
     val assembly = CompilationTarget.asmGenerator(
             programAst,
             errors,
-            zeropage,
+            CompilationTarget.machine.zeropage,
             compilerOptions,
             outputDir).compileToAssembly(optimize)
     assembly.assemble(compilerOptions)
diff --git a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/Zeropage.kt b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/Zeropage.kt
index 4eaa0ed9c..6638d8099 100644
--- a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/Zeropage.kt
+++ b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/Zeropage.kt
@@ -8,6 +8,13 @@ class ZeropageDepletedError(message: String) : Exception(message)
 
 abstract class Zeropage(protected val options: CompilationOptions) {
 
+    abstract val SCRATCH_B1 : Int      // temp storage for a single byte
+    abstract val SCRATCH_REG : Int     // temp storage for a register
+    abstract val SCRATCH_REG_X : Int   // temp storage for register X (the evaluation stack pointer)
+    abstract val SCRATCH_W1 : Int      // temp storage 1 for a word  $fb+$fc
+    abstract val SCRATCH_W2 : Int      // temp storage 2 for a word  $fb+$fc
+
+
     private val allocations = mutableMapOf<Int, Pair<String, DataType>>()
     val free = mutableListOf<Int>()     // subclasses must set this to the appropriate free locations.
 
diff --git a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/target/IMachineDefinition.kt b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/target/IMachineDefinition.kt
index 94e10324b..8fd58fa9b 100644
--- a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/target/IMachineDefinition.kt
+++ b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/target/IMachineDefinition.kt
@@ -11,6 +11,7 @@ interface IMachineDefinition {
     val POINTER_MEM_SIZE: Int
 
     val opcodeNames: Set<String>
+    var zeropage: Zeropage
 
-    fun getZeropage(compilerOptions: CompilationOptions): Zeropage
+    fun initializeZeropage(compilerOptions: CompilationOptions)
 }
diff --git a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/target/c64/C64MachineDefinition.kt b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/target/c64/C64MachineDefinition.kt
index cf3c3023f..8da15c786 100644
--- a/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/target/c64/C64MachineDefinition.kt
+++ b/compiler/src/prog8/compiler/target/c64/C64MachineDefinition.kt
@@ -29,7 +29,11 @@ object C64MachineDefinition: IMachineDefinition {
     const val ESTACK_HI_PLUS1_HEX   = "\$cf01"
     const val ESTACK_HI_PLUS2_HEX   = "\$cf02"
 
-    override fun getZeropage(compilerOptions: CompilationOptions) = C64Zeropage(compilerOptions)
+    override lateinit var zeropage: Zeropage
+
+    override fun initializeZeropage(compilerOptions: CompilationOptions) {
+        zeropage = C64Zeropage(compilerOptions)
+    }
 
     // 6502 opcodes (including aliases and illegal opcodes), these cannot be used as variable or label names
     override val opcodeNames = setOf("adc", "ahx", "alr", "anc", "and", "ane", "arr", "asl", "asr", "axs", "bcc", "bcs",
@@ -46,6 +50,7 @@ object C64MachineDefinition: IMachineDefinition {
     class C64Zeropage(options: CompilationOptions) : Zeropage(options) {
 
         companion object {
+            // TODO get rid of these static constants, use the properties from the Zeropage base class instead
             const val SCRATCH_B1 = 0x02
             const val SCRATCH_REG = 0x03    // temp storage for a register
             const val SCRATCH_REG_X = 0xfa    // temp storage for register X (the evaluation stack pointer)
@@ -53,6 +58,13 @@ object C64MachineDefinition: IMachineDefinition {
             const val SCRATCH_W2 = 0xfd     // $fd+$fe
         }
 
+        override val SCRATCH_B1 = 0x02      // temp storage for a single byte
+        override val SCRATCH_REG = 0x03     // temp storage for a register
+        override val SCRATCH_REG_X = 0xfa   // temp storage for register X (the evaluation stack pointer)
+        override val SCRATCH_W1 = 0xfb      // temp storage 1 for a word  $fb+$fc
+        override val SCRATCH_W2 = 0xfd      // temp storage 2 for a word  $fb+$fc
+
+
         override val exitProgramStrategy: ExitProgramStrategy = when (options.zeropage) {
             ZeropageType.BASICSAFE, ZeropageType.DONTUSE -> ExitProgramStrategy.CLEAN_EXIT
             ZeropageType.FLOATSAFE, ZeropageType.KERNALSAFE, ZeropageType.FULL -> ExitProgramStrategy.SYSTEM_RESET