awesome-8bitgamedev

A curated list of awesome resources for 8-bit retro game development
https://github.com/sehugg/awesome-8bitgamedev

Last synced: 24 days ago
JSON representation

Home Consoles
- Bally Astrocade
  - Bally Alley - An archive of all things Bally Astrocade.
  - The Better Bally Book - A wiki dedicated to organizing, annotating, and improving Software and Hardware for the Bally Arcade, a technical manual for the Bally Home Computer/Arcade/Astrocade originally published in 1978 by Dave Nutting Associates.
- Fairchild Channel F
- Atari 2600
  - Stella Programmer's Guide - The official guide to programming the Atari 2600, from Atari employee Steve Wright.
  - Atari 2600 Advanced Programming Guide - Paul Slocum compiled this list of Atari 2600 programming techniques, including an HMOVE timing chart. Also see this [list of tricks](http://www.qotile.net/minidig/tricks.html).
  - TIA Hardware Notes - A detailed analysis of the TIA chip by Andrew Towers.
  - Kirk Israel's 2600 Programming Page - A bunch of links by a 2600 homebrew developer. Also see his [2600 Cookbook](http://alienbill.com/2600/cookbook/),
  - webTune2600
  - playfieldpal
  - Random Terrain 2600 Page - Includes [Atari 2600 Programming for Newbies](https://www.randomterrain.com/atari-2600-memories-tutorial-andrew-davie-01.html), batariBasic info, programming tools, and much more.
  - BJARS Atari Archives - Steve Engelhardt's site full of homebrew, hacks, online tools, references, and disassembled code.
  - Stellerator - An online Atari 2600 emulator.
  - BJARS Atari Archives - Steve Engelhardt's site full of homebrew, hacks, online tools, references, and disassembled code.
- AFP MP-1000
  - AFP MP-1000 Programming - AFP/6800 programming tools for Windows, and documentation.
- Intellivision
  - jsintv - Portable Intellivision emulator and programming tools
  - IntyBASIC - a BASIC compiler for Intellivision
- ColecoVision
  - ColecoVision Tech Info - Sound.txt).
  - tutorial
  - ColecoVision.dk - Tools and homebrew source code.
Development Tools
- Emulators
  - Mesen - A high-accuracy NES and Famicom emulator and NSF player for Windows and Linux.
  - jsvecx - Vectrex emulator in JavaScript.
  - MAMEDev.org - Home of the MAME/ MESS mega-emulator.
  - Javatari - Atari 2600 emulator in JavaScript.
  - JSNES - NES emulator in JavaScript.
  - Stella - A multi-platform Atari 2600 VCS emulator released under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
- Compilers
  - CC65 - a C compiler, linker, and assembler for 6502 machines. Targets Commodore, Apple II, Atari 8-bit, NES, and more.
  - SDCC - Small Device C Compiler and toolchain. Targets Z80 and Gameboy Z80, among others.
  - z88dk - A Z80 C and assembly toolchain.
  - CMOC - A 6809 cross-compiler for a subset of the C language. Depends on the [LWTOOLS](http://www.lwtools.ca/) toolchain.
- Assemblers
  - DASM - a versatile macro assembler with support for several 8-bit microprocessors including MOS 6502 & 6507, Motorola 6803, 68705 & 68HC11, Hitachi HD6303 (extended Motorola 6801), and Fairchild F8. Used most often for Atari 2600 development.
- IDEs
  - 8bitworkshop - An online batteries-included IDE targeting home consoles, home computers, arcade games, and Verilog hardware design.
  - WUDSN - a free integrated Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit, C64 and NES development plugin for Eclipse
  - CBM prg Studio - Free C64 IDE for Windows written with C# and VB.NET.
  - Turbo Rascal SE - A Pascal -> DASM compiler for 6502/68000 computers -- the C64, C128, VIC-20, PLUS4, NES, PET and Amiga 500.
- Graphics
  - Dithertron - From 8bitworkshop. Downsamples/reduces/converts images into many different retro formats, with lots of tweaking options.
  - mcDRAW - Cool online bitmap editor for C-64.
  - retropixels - A command-line tool and library that converts to C-64 format.
Vectrex
- ColecoVision
  - Setting up a modern toolchain for Vectrex development with CMOC
- Sega SG-1000
  - Sega Game 1000 Specifications - by Omar Cornut / Zoop
- NES
  - Shiru's Stuff - Shiru has lots of NES programming tools, and the article [programming NES games in C](https://shiru.untergrund.net/articles/programming_nes_games_in_c.htm).
  - Dustmop's NES Graphics - Describes NES graphics in detail.
  - nesdoug - Step-by-step tutorial on making a NES game in C.
  - Lizard NES - Homebrew game with a great development blog.
  - Mega Cat Studios - Some good blog posts about efficiently managing NES graphics assets.
  - Nerdy Nights
  - FamiStudio - NES Music Editor
  - NESFab - A NES-specific programming language with advanced 6502 optimizations and automatic bank placement.
- Atari 7800
  - Atari 7800 (Dan Boris) - System Specs, Cartridge Information, Links, The 'Encryption' Issue, Technical Files, and more.
  - Atari 7800 Software Guide - 7800 hardware description, registers, DMA timing, and more.
  - Atari 7800 Programming Wiki - This site is intended to be a reference for the Atari 7800 Programming mailing list, with information culled from the mailing list archives and other sources (i.e. Atari Age forums)
- Sega Master System
  - SMS Power - This area is dedicated to studying, programming, hacking of Sega 8-bit hardware and software.
  - Technical info
  - VDP info
  - SN76489 sound chip info
Home Computers
- Apple I
  - Understanding the Apple I
  - 2513
- Commodore PET
  - Commodore PET Programming Model - The PET's memory map.
- Apple II
  - The Big PEEKs, POKEs and CALLs list - Compiled by Edhel Iaur, Esq.
  - HIRES Graphics on Apple II - Detailed explanation of the Apple II's convoluted graphics scheme, including the [Rgb2Hires](https://github.com/Pixinn/Rgb2Hires) conversion utility.
- Atari 8-bit
  - ANTIC, GTIA and timing info
  - Reverse engineering Atari 8-bit video
  - ANTIC Timings
  - ANTIC Registers
  - TRANSPORTING ATARI COMPUTER PROGRAMS TO THE ATARI 5200 - A.N.A.L.O.G. #15, January 1984
  - Atari Cartridge Images
  - Atari 5200 Memory Map
  - Player/Missile Podcast Tutorials
  - Altirra Hardware Reference Manual
  - TRANSPORTING ATARI COMPUTER PROGRAMS TO THE ATARI 5200 - A.N.A.L.O.G. #15, January 1984
- Acorn
  - The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library - Bit Acorn Webring](http://8bs.com/webring.htm) (Webrings still exist?!?)
  - Acorn Atom Technical Manual
- Sinclair
  - World of Spectrum - The official world archive for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum and the largest on-line gaming center on the Internet (*Yup, I think the site's great - Cliff Lawson*)
  - 16K/48K ZX Spectrum Reference
  - How to Write ZX Spectrum Games - Converting a simple BASIC program to Z80, by Jonathan Cauldwell
- Commodore 64
- MSX
  - MSX Wiki
  - MSX Assembly Page
  - The MSX Red Book - The aim of this book is to provide a description of the standard MSX hardware and software at a level of detail sufficient to satisfy that most demanding of users, the machine code programmer.
Arcade Games
- CPC
  - Computer Archeology - Investigating Asteroids, Crazy Climber, Defender, Frogger (Sound), Galaga, Moon Patrol, Omega Race, Space Invaders, Time Pilot (Sound) and the [Asteroids Digital Vector Generator](http://www.computerarcheology.com/Arcade/Asteroids/DVG.html)
  - Programming the Atari XY Vector Generator
  - The Secret Life of Vector Generators
  - Sean Riddle's Williams Game Hardware Info
Hardware
- 6502
- Z80
  - Tutorials - heaven.wikidot.com/instructions-set)
  - Z80 instruction set - Searchable table
- TMS9918A
  - Texas Instruments TMS9918A VDP
  - VDP Programming Tutorial - Examples of programming the TMS9918A/v9938/v9958 from Z80 assembly language on the MSX.
  - High-Resolution Sprite-Oriented Color Graphics - Ciarcia's Circuit Cellar column in August 1982 BYTE Magazine about the TMS9918.
- AY-3-8910
  - AY-3-8910 Datasheet - Datasheet for the programmable sound generator.
- FPGA/HDL
  - ATARI PONG E CIRCUIT ANALYSIS & LAWN TENNIS: BUILDING A DIGITAL VIDEO GAME WITH 74 SERIES TTL IC’s. - A detailed analysis of the PONG circuits by Dr. H. Holden.
  - Apple2fpga: Reconstructing an Apple II+ on an FPGA
- Microcontrollers
  - Uzebox - An open-source micro game platform based on the ATmega644 chip.
Open-Source BIOSs
- Libraries
  - apple2go - The Apple\]\[Go ROM is a public domain Apple \]\[ replacement ROM that is capable of running most games not requiring Applesoft. This ROM was written in 2006 by Marc Ressl specifically for use with the Apple\]\[Go Emulator
  - CBIOS - A BSD-licensed MSX BIOS written from scratch by BouKiCHi (no cassette/disk/BASIC yet)
  - SEBasic - Open source ZX Spectrum BIOS with BASIC.
  - Altirra - Contains Atari 8-bit compatible ROM and BASIC interpreter.
BASIC
- Libraries
  - Altair 8800 Emulator
  - ECMA-55 Minimal BASIC Compiler to x86
  - David Ahl's BASIC Computer Games
  - People's Computer Company Archive
  - Dartmouth Time Sharing System Emulator
  - 4th Edition - 8/docs/OS8_BASIC_Reference.pdf), [EduSystem](http://bitsavers.informatik.uni-stuttgart.de/pdf/dec/pdp8/tss8/EduSystemHandbookJan73.pdf), [ECMA-55 (Minimal BASIC)](https://buraphakit.sourceforge.io/ECMA-55.TXT.LPR), [BASIC-80](https://altairclone.com/downloads/manuals/Microsoft%20BASIC-80.pdf), [Altair 8800 BASIC 4.1](http://vtda.org/docs/computing/MITS/MITS_Altair8800Basic4.1Reference_April1977.pdf), [HP2000](http://bitsavers.org/pdf/hp/2000TSB/22687-90001_AccessBasic9-75.pdf), [BASIC-PLUS](https://ia801901.us.archive.org/17/items/bitsavers_decpdp11rsSICPLUSLangManOct72_10455777/DEC-11-ORBPA-A-D_BASIC-PLUS_LangMan_Oct72.pdf)
Books
- Libraries
  - 8bitworkshop Books - Books that go along with the [8bitworkshop IDE](https://8bitworkshop.com/): "Making Games for the Atari 2600", "Making 8-bit Arcade Games in C", "Making Games for the NES", and "Designing Video Game Hardware in Verilog"
  - Retro Game Dev: C64 Edition - Using modern tools, this introductory book guides you through all the elements required to make two mini games: a space shooter and a platformer, and run them on an emulator or real C64 hardware. Uses CBM prg Studio (Windows IDE)
Community
- Libraries
  - AtariAge Forums - Lots of active [programming forums](https://atariage.com/forums/forum/42-game-programming/) for 2600, 5200, 7800, Lynx, Jaguar, ColecoVision, Intellivision, TI-99/4A, homebrew, hacks and more.
  - NesDev Forums - Discussion of NES/Famicom programming, emulation, graphics, music, and more.
  - SMS Power Forums - Discussion of all things SEGA!
  - Lemon64 - Forums for the C-64 scene.
Misc.
- Libraries
  - Lou's Psuedo-3D Page - How to draw 3-D roads

awesome-8bitgamedev

Home Consoles

Bally Astrocade

Fairchild Channel F

Atari 2600

AFP MP-1000

Intellivision

ColecoVision

Development Tools

Emulators

Compilers

Assemblers

IDEs

Graphics

Vectrex

ColecoVision

Sega SG-1000

NES

Atari 7800

Sega Master System

Home Computers

Apple I

Commodore PET

Apple II

Atari 8-bit

Acorn

Sinclair

Commodore 64

MSX

Arcade Games

CPC

Hardware

6502

Z80

TMS9918A

AY-3-8910

FPGA/HDL

Microcontrollers

Open-Source BIOSs

Libraries

BASIC

Libraries

Books

Libraries

Community

Libraries

Misc.

Libraries