nesdev.org

The best way to enhance a NES cartridge is using an FPGA, map the dual port RAM to the PPU address and data bus so you can access it any time, and throw in a small blitter which can perform logical and arithmetical operations on the RAM. You could even generate new grahics modes that way, totally ig...

If your goal is to make a great game to sell then you chose the wrong platform in the first place. Now how does it sound if I remove your carefully chosen "to sell" from your statement? Go try something on a Ipod touch and see what you can do with motion sensors and a touch screen then. A...

What I am trying to hint at is the following schizophrenic situation: thinking first in terms of technology and the gameplay comes second. People will buy my game because it looks and sounds more realistic than the previous games before. This is the 2009 way of doing games on modern systems. The sch...

I don't want to "improve" the graphics, just want to be able to have more space and more functionality to be able to make some fan game similar to the platformer in the end of the nes era. Exactly. We don't want to go all the way back to... a one screen game with almost no artwork at all ...

SMB shows a good game can be basic hardware, but SMB3 shows a good game can be more advanced hardware too. I think both SMB and SMB3 are not only good, but revolutionary games. The difference is, in order for SMB3 to exist, there had to be SMB first, adressing exactly my point: core idea and playab...

Same for First Star Software and Boulderdash: they have a harsh zero-tolerance attitude against homebrew variants of Boulderdash. That's the reason why the Atari 2600 port was cancelled. Yet nobody touched Crystal Mines, Exodus, or Joshua. So what's the best way to proceed if someone cease-and-desi...

So if Tetris v. BioSocia succeeds, despite eight of the claimed "distinctive trade dress" items being present in Nintendo's Dr. Mario Online Rx , how best should I excise the offending elements from, say, Tetramino? Or should I just get started on a completely different game engine immedi...

Perhaps it's about time to make a cost effective homebrewed mapper that will support all your (and other nesdev developers) needs? That way you don't need to worry about which donor cart to use. I'm pretty sure nobody will agree on what features are essencial and what features aren't, and in the en...

You guys need to stop mixing up 2 different issues: what could happen and what probably is going to happen. Fact is, contrary to what the other poster said, they successfully sued other companies for copying their game mechanics. But not only Nintendo, the same issue came up when Activision, license...

For the rom images, not all elements of a work are copyrightable: facts, ideas, themes, and public domain content for instance. This is part of why Nintendo cannot sue anyone who makes a platformer involving a fellow jumping around to save a princess/girlfriend/etc from some giant antagonist. Actua...

Ummm, what makes you so sure? For example, ever played with the colour emphasize bits in the middle of a scanline? Wink Yes. Commercial games also did so, and it takes effect instantally. What commercial games changes the emphasize bits in the MIDDLE OF A SCANLINE. Notice, SCANLINE, not SCREEN. ;)

If I were to take a guess from what I'd learned in my digital systems lab, it allowed them to not use a 4-input AND gate as the input to the clock divider reset. (/12: 4 bit divider, AND q2 & q3 and use it as the reset signal. /16: no reset signal. /15: must AND all 4 outputs). I very much doub...

When Nintendo designed the Famicom, they probably had no intention of bringing it to the states much less to Europe. 26.58 MHz also won't neatly divide to the NTSC colorburst Yes, but the PAL colourburst. PAL NES systems are clocked with 26.58Mhz masterclock. 26.58Mhz / 6 = 4.43Mhz = PAL colorburst...

Interesting answer, considering the fact that in your previous post, you recommend checking my timing against real hardware. Of course you can't know if it will work on real hardware before trying. But it's now hard to encounter a situation where Nestopia or Nintendulator are "wrong". Hmm...

I defy you to find things modern emulators doesn't implement, exept a trick about $2004 reading that was recently found, that I don't think any emulator has implemented yet. Interesting answer, considering the fact that in your previous post, you recommend checking my timing against real hardware. ...