Programming the Nintendo Entertainment System

Edit on Github | Updated: 5th January 2023

Programming the NES

Dry run of the Programming the Nintendo Entertainment System talk that Levi D Smith gave at Codestock 2014 in Knoxville, Tennessee.

!!Con 2017: Writing NES Games! with Assembly!! by Christian Joudrey

Writing NES Games! with Assembly!! by Christian Joudrey

I’d like to take you on a stroll down memory lane and dig into the internals of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) to figure out how it works. While we’re there, we’ll see how to build a game for the NES using 6502 assembly with the help of a few modern tools. We’ll gain a new respect for ’80s developers and an appreciation for the high-level languages we have today!

Christian is a self-taught developer based in Montreal. At a young age he discovered Visual Basic 6 on his home computer and instantly fell in love with programming. When he is not reading about technology and programming, you may find him rock climbing, cooking or drinking a stout.