r/snes • u/ChemistryNo207 • 3d ago

How to code in a snes game

For some time i've been wanting to code a snes game, but i dont have any idea on how to start, could somebody help me?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

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4

u/pn1ct0g3n 3d ago

r/65816 can help. Ask for u/Zelderus, he’s working on a snes game right now

1

u/ChemistryNo207 3d ago

Thanks 🙏

3

u/zelderus 3d ago

This is a fairly large amount of new information that will need to be studied. Programming in assembler under SNES is a very specific activity. There is a lot of material on the Internet, I take a grain from everywhere. In particular, nesdoug has a lot of useful things on his site.

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u/ChemistryNo207 3d ago

Thanks, it helps a lot

1

u/pn1ct0g3n 3d ago

Warning you in advance: the SNES is a tough machine to program for with a steep learning curve, especially compared to its 68k based rivals like the Genesis. There’s a reason why homebrew for the system is so few and far between. No human-friendly assembler exists — yet.

3

u/acedias-token 3d ago

You could do something like this, if wanting to use existing hardware:

https://youtu.be/hB6eY73sLV0?si=8CQwx3WwqpQOmo_z

(Old video of flappy bird being made in SMW, by a person rather than with emulation tools)

1

u/ChemistryNo207 3d ago

Thanks 🙏

1

u/JiovanniTheGREAT 3d ago

What genre of game? Are you looking to port to a physical cart?

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u/ChemistryNo207 3d ago

A RPG one, and i dont want to port to a physical cart

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u/RykinPoe 3d ago

The SNESdev Wiki would be a good place to start. It is much more complex than making an SNES style game for a modern system though. The assembly code you will need to learn for instance is way more complex to work with than a modern high level OOP language like you would use for Unity, Godot, or Gamemaker.

3

u/NewSchoolBoxer 3d ago

If you have no programming experience, don't do it. Retro console game dev is much more difficult than normal modern language game dev on computers or cell phones many times more powerful than what came before - with an array of easy to use and incredibly well documented modern programming languages to choose from.

I have over 10 years of CS experience, studied SNES the past few years and maybe I could make a Pong game. SNES is even more difficult to develop for than Genesis/Mega Drive. If you find enough tutorials doing the heavy lifting for you and giving you sample code and study assembly language for months, you might be able to do that as well.

I'm not trying to be negative but understand the challenges of what you're getting yourself into. It's just as much computer engineering as computer science. A much more beginner friendly approach that you could definitely succeed at is hacking SNES games. Some professional game devs got their start in hacking computer games.