Awesome 8-bit Game Dev

A curated list of awesome resources for 8-bit retro game development.

Table of Contents

• Home Consoles
  • Fairchild Channel F
  • Bally Astrocade
  • Atari 2600
  • APF MP-1000
  • Magnavox Odyssey²
  • Intellivision
  • ColecoVision
  • Vectrex
  • NES
  • Atari 5200
  • Atari 7800
  • Sega Master System
  • Game Boy
  • PC Engine
  • Atari Lynx
• Home Computers
  • Apple I
  • Commodore PET
  • TRS-80
  • Apple II/II+/IIe
  • Atari 400/600/800/XL/XE
  • TI 99/4
  • Commodore VIC-20
  • Acorn
  • Oric
  • TRS-80 CoCo and Dragon
  • Sinclair
  • Commodore 64
  • MSX
  • Amstrad CPC
• Arcade Games
• Hardware
  • 6502
  • Z80
  • TMS9918A
  • FPGA/HDL
  • Microcontrollers
• Development Tools
  • Assemblers
  • Compilers
  • Emulators
  • IDEs
  • Graphics
  • Music and Sound
  • Libraries
• BASIC Programming
• Books
• Community
• Contributing

Home Consoles

Fairchild Channel F

• VES Wiki and tutorial

• Sean Riddle's Channel F Info including a homebrew Tetris clone

• Fairchild F8 Info and instruction set

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.

• hxlnt's Astrocade Dev - Z80 demos and graphics tools for the Astrocade. Also see this thread.

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.

• 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, webTune2600, and playfieldpal tools

• Random Terrain 2600 Page - Includes Atari 2600 Programming for Newbies, 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.

AFP MP-1000

• AFP MP-1000 Programming - AFP/6800 programming tools for Windows, and documentation.

Magnavox Odyssey²

• Dan B's Odyssey 2 Tech Page - Hardware information, including the Odyssey 2 Technical Specs (PDF).

• AtariAge Odyssey 2 Programming Thread - Starting point for programming the Intel 8048 and 8244 VDC.

Intellivision

• jsintv - Portable Intellivision emulator and programming tools

• IntyBASIC - a BASIC compiler for Intellivision

ColecoVision

• ColecoVision Tech Info and Sound Info.

• Philipp Klaus Krause's tutorial on using libCV to develop games in C using SDCC. Also includes graphics conversion and compression tools.

• ColecoVision.dk - Tools and homebrew source code.

Vectrex

• Setting up a modern toolchain for Vectrex development with CMOC

Sega SG-1000

• Sega Game 1000 Specifications - by Omar Cornut / Zoop

NES

• NesDev Wiki - Comprehensive site with NES programming tutorials, reference guides, and homebrew.

• Shiru's Stuff - Shiru has lots of NES programming tools, and the article programming NES games in C.

• 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 NES programming tutorials

• Famicom Party - Making NES Games in Assembly (book, in progress)

• FamiStudio - NES Music Editor

• NESFab - A NES-specific programming language with advanced 6502 optimizations and automatic bank placement.

Atari 5200

• Dan B's Atari 5200 Page - System specs, technical documentation, and links.

• Atari 5200 Programmers - AtariAge's list of 5200 programmers and games.

• The 5200 shares ANTIC, GTIA, and POKEY with the Atari 8-bit computers, so those references apply too.

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)

• CC7800 - A C-inspired compiler for the Atari 7800.

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

• devkitSMS - C libraries and tools for SDCC targeting the Master System, Game Gear, SG-1000, SC-3000, and ColecoVision.

Game Boy

• Pan Docs - The most comprehensive Game Boy technical reference.

• GB Dev - Community hub with awesome-gbdev, RGBDS, a GB ASM Tutorial, and the Homebrew Hub game archive.

• GBDK-2020 - C compiler, libraries, and tools for the Game Boy, Game Boy Color, Master System, Game Gear, and NES.

PC Engine

• pce-dev-kit - PC Engine / TurboGrafx-16 development archive of documentation, tools, and examples.

• HuC-Next - HuC C compiler and PCEAS assembler for the HuC6280, packaged with a visual game maker.

Atari Lynx

• Atari Lynx Programming Tutorial - Tutorial series using the cc65 toolchain.

• Atari Lynx Dev Wiki - Compilers and other development information.

• AtariAge Lynx Programming Forum

Home Computers

Apple I

• Understanding the Apple I

• Signetics 2513, 2504, and 2519 datasheets

Commodore PET

• Commodore PET Programming Model - The PET's memory map.

TRS-80

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 conversion utility.

Atari 8-bit

• ANTIC, GTIA and timing info

• Reverse engineering Atari 8-bit video

• ANTIC Timings

• ANTIC Registers and Instructions; GTIA 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

TI 99/4

Commodore VIC-20

Acorn

• The BBC and Master Computer Public Domain Library and 8-Bit Acorn Webring (Webrings still exist?!?)

• Acorn Atom Technical Manual (PDF)

Oric

• Oric Software Development Kit - Cross-development tools for the Oric, including a C compiler, assembler, linker, and disk and tape utilities.

• Defence Force Oric Library - Manuals, schematics, and other documentation for the Oric line.

TRS-80 CoCo and Dragon

• Platform Guide: TRS-80 Color Computer/Dragon - Overview of the hardware, tools, and documentation.

• XRoar - Emulator for the Dragon 32/64, Tandy Color Computers 1-3, and the MC-10.

• ChibiAkumas 6809 Tutorials - 6809 assembly lessons for the Dragon/CoCo, Fujitsu FM-7, and Vectrex.

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 and 128K

• How to Write ZX Spectrum Games - Converting a simple BASIC program to Z80, by Jonathan Cauldwell

Commodore 64

• C64 Wiki

• Codebase64 - Wiki of C64 programming articles, source code, and hardware documentation.

• C64 Programmer's Reference Guide

• The MOS 6567/6569 video controller (VIC-II)

• C64 Memory Map

• accurately reproducing the Video Output of a Commodore C64

• The CIA 6526

• Reading the C64 Keyboard and How the C64 Keyboard Works

• Ultimate C64 Reference

• C64 Memory Maps

• TinyBubbles - Open-source 4 KB C64 game in 6502 assembly, with a write-up of its size tricks (autostart via the stack, raster IRQ, SID noise as RNG).

MSX

• MSX Wiki

• MSX Assembly Page

• Konamiman's MSX 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.

• awesome-msx - an awesome list about MSX!

CPC

• cpctelera - Amstrad CPC game engine for C and Assembler developers, integrated into 8bitworkshop

Arcade Games

• 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

• Programming the Atari XY Vector Generator

• Jed Margolin's The Secret Life of Vector Generators and The Secret Life of XY Monitors

• Sean Riddle's Williams Game Hardware Info

Hardware

6502

• 6502.org Tutorials

• 6502 instruction set

• NesDev 6502 optimizations and synthetic instructions

• 6502/6510 Maths

Z80

• Z80 Heaven - Tutorials and instruction set

• Z80 instruction set - Searchable table

TMS9918A

• Texas Instruments TMS9918A VDP info by Sean Young. Also see here.

• VDP Programming Tutorial - Examples of programming the TMS9918A/v9938/v9958 from Z80 assembly language on the MSX.

• Convert9918 - (Windows) This program can convert most modern graphics into a form compatible with the TMS9918A bitmap mode.

• 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. (PDF) - A detailed analysis of the PONG circuits by Dr. H. Holden.

• Apple2fpga: Reconstructing an Apple II+ on an FPGA

• fpga-examples - These are some of the Verilog examples from the book "Designing Video Game Hardware in Verilog" ported to CRT monitor timing and tested against the IceStorm tools.

• Silice - A language for designing FPGA hardware, with retro game and video examples.

• Verilator - Fast open-source Verilog simulator, used by 8bitworkshop for hardware simulation.

Microcontrollers

• Uzebox - An open-source micro game platform based on the ATmega644 chip.

Development Tools

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. There are two C compilers supported (sccz80 and sdcc), two independent C libraries included (the classic and new), an assembler/linker/librarian (z80asm), and a data compression tool (zx7). Targets over 80 different machine families.

• CMOC - A 6809 cross-compiler for a subset of the C language. Depends on the LWTOOLS toolchain.

• batariBASIC - BASIC programming for Atari 2600 systems.

• LLVM-MOS SDK - A clang-based compiler/SDK for 6502 systems.

• GBDK-2020 - C compiler, libraries, and tools for sm83, Z80, and 6502 consoles including the Game Boy, Game Gear, and NES.

• devkitSMS - SDCC-based libraries and tools for Sega 8-bit systems and ColecoVision.

• Mad Pascal - A 32-bit Turbo Pascal-style compiler for the Atari 8-bit, C64, and other 6502 systems.

• ZX Basic - A BASIC compiler for the ZX Spectrum that generates Z80 code.

• Oscar64 - A C/C++ compiler for the C64 and other 6502 systems.

• FastBasic - A fast BASIC interpreter and cross-compiler for the Atari 8-bit.

• Wiz - A high-level assembly language for the 6502, Z80, SM83, 65816, and other CPUs.

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.

• NESASM3 - The O.G. NESasm assembler for NES 6502 assembly.

• ASM6 - 6502 assembler primarily targeted at NES/Famicom development.

• zmac - Macro cross-assembler for the Zilog Z80 microprocessor, sometimes used for Astrocade development.

• Kick Assembler - A Java-based 6502/6510 assembler for the C64 with macros, scripting, and graphics conversion helpers.

• MADS - A multi-pass 6502/65816 cross-assembler used mostly for Atari 8-bit development.

• ACME - A 6502/65C02/65816 cross-assembler popular for C64 development.

• xa - A 6502/65C02/65816 cross-assembler.

• Merlin32 - A 65xx cross-assembler compatible with Merlin syntax for the Apple II and IIgs.

• vasm - A portable multi-CPU assembler with 6502, Z80, and 6809 support.

• naken_asm - An assembler and disassembler for many CPUs and microcontrollers.

Emulators

• 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).

• Mesen - A high-accuracy NES and Famicom emulator and NSF player for Windows and Linux.

• VICE - The Versatile Commodore Emulator.

• https://github.com/floooh/chips - Portable C emulation library for C64, CPC and other microcomputers.

• jsvecx - Vectrex emulator in JavaScript.

• Altirra - Atari 8-bit family emulator, includes compatible open-source ROM.

• JSSpeccy 2 - ZX Spectrum emulator in JavaScript.

• jspce - PC Engine emulator in JavaScript.

• XRoar - Emulator for the Dragon, Tandy CoCo, and MC-10.

IDEs

• 8bitworkshop - An online batteries-included IDE targeting home consoles, home computers, arcade games, and Verilog hardware design.

• 8bitworkshop for VS Code - The 8bitworkshop IDE as a VS Code extension, with bundled toolchains, emulators, and a debugger.

• WUDSN - a free integrated Apple II, Atari 2600, Atari 7800, Atari 8-bit, C64 and NES development plugin for Eclipse

• NESICIDE - multiplatform IDE for NES, includes FamiTracker support.

• 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.

• BASIC8 - A fantasy console supporting a BASIC-like language.

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.

• Tiled - A free and flexible tile map and level editor.

Music and Sound

• Furnace - A multi-system chiptune tracker supporting over 50 sound chips and DefleMask modules.

• GoatTracker 2 - A C64 SID music tracker.

• vgm2vgr3 - Compresses VGM chiptune files into a compact register format with 6502 and Z80 decoders, for the NES, Game Boy, ColecoVision, C64, Atari POKEY, and MSX.

Libraries

• CROSS-LIB - Cross platform game library for several 8/16/32-bit computers.

Open-Source BIOSs

• 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

• open-roms - A project to create unencumbered open-source ROMs for use on selected retro computers

• CBIOS - A BSD-licensed MSX BIOS written from scratch by BouKiCHi (no cassette/disk/BASIC yet)

• Altirra - Contains Atari 8-bit compatible ROM and BASIC interpreter.

BASIC

• Altair 8800 Emulator and BASIC disassembly

• ECMA-55 Minimal BASIC Compiler to x86

• David Ahl's BASIC Computer Games, more games

• People's Computer Company Archive

• Dartmouth Time Sharing System Emulator

• BASIC Manuals - 4th Edition, OS/8, EduSystem, ECMA-55 (Minimal BASIC), BASIC-80, Altair 8800 BASIC 4.1, HP2000, BASIC-PLUS

Books

• 8bitworkshop Books - Books that go along with the 8bitworkshop IDE: "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

• AtariAge Forums - Lots of active programming forums 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 and EverythingC64 - Forums for the C-64 scene.

Misc.

• The Digital Antiquarian - Jimmy Maher's blog on the history of computer games and the platforms they ran on

• Lou's Psuedo-3D Page - How to draw 3-D roads

• 8bit-tools - Command-line tools that go along with 8bitworkshop books

Contributing

Your contributions are always welcome! Please take a look at the contribution guidelines first.