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It's super interesting to write your first emulator. I wrote a GBC emulator too once, and I wrote down all the problems I encountered that weren't easy to solve
by fwsgonzo 6y ago
It's super interesting to write your first emulator. I wrote a GBC emulator too once, and I wrote down all the problems I encountered that weren't easy to solve:
https://github.com/fwsGonzo/gamebro/blob/master/POSTERITY.md https://github.com/fwsGonzo/gamebro/blob/master/POSTERITY.md
Many of the issues are not documented anywhere, and it is just about guessing what the hardware did - and thus, what the developers back in the day relied on!
- RupertWiser 6y agoWhat a wonderful resource! Thanks for documenting this. I should probably follow your example and do the same.
- spencercw 6y agoNice idea to write that stuff down. Something that flummoxed me for a while was how Pokemon Yellow does the Pikachu sound, since the Game Boy doesn't really support sample-based audio. Turns out it does something akin to spending 100% of its CPU time turning the sound on and off to play the samples.
- zeta0134 6y agoFor anyone who might be curious as to how this worked in practice, Retro Game Mechanics does an excellent breakdown of the technique used here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fooSxCuWvZ4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fooSxCuWvZ4
- eyx 6y agoReally interesting. How long did it take to have a working emulator ?
- fwsgonzo 6y agoMaybe a full month to get GameBoy ROMs up, if I remember correctly. It did take a while, as there's always room for misunderstanding how something is supposed to work! But super worth it!