From 65816 assembly to the Super Nintendo: a ROM built from scratch, running on real hardware
My first "Hello World" running on a real Super Nintendo. I put together a small ROM in 65816 assembly, built it locally, copied it onto an EverDrive, and got to see the result on the console.
It's a simple project: text on screen, a cup sprite, animated steam, and a fade-in. But for me the value is in doing the whole thing end to end: writing the code, building the ROM, getting the header, vectors, LoROM layout, PPU initialization, tiles, and palettes right, and finally seeing it all work outside the emulator.
There's no operating system, no main, no graphics API. The console powers on, reads the reset
vector, and starts executing bytes. A small milestone, but the kind that makes you want to keep exploring.
Features
- Pure 65816 assembly, no engine or graphics library
- Full ROM build: header, vectors, and LoROM layout
- PPU initialization, tiles, palettes, and sprites
- Text, cup sprite, animated steam, and fade-in
- Tested on real hardware via EverDrive