Patrol Between Two Endpoints on NES | Pattern Library

A guard walks to the end of a corridor, turns and comes back. The turn should happen at the endpoint, not after a step through the wall. This routine keeps that small behaviour separate from sprite drawing and collision.

NES shows the working result 02 00 04 00 00 00 00 00. — The completed native caller shows hexadecimal state bytes. The field order below explains the result; the full verification packet retains every call.

Include, initialise and call

Bind POSITION, LOWER, UPPER, DIRECTION as 4 contiguous private bytes in that order. Include the helper once. Call endpoint_patrol_init at the deliberate reset boundary: it clears all named bytes, including inputs. Set your starting values afterwards. Call endpoint_patrol_step when this service is needed.

Initialise, then supply valid bounds and a starting position before the first step. Service the helper at your chosen movement cadence. A countdown can make a guard step less often; this helper itself does not own a clock. Pause simply omits service.

Use unsigned byte LOWER, UPPER and POSITION with LOWER ≤ POSITION ≤ UPPER. DIRECTION zero means increasing, nonzero means decreasing. Step turns inward at either endpoint, takes one unit step, and normalises DIRECTION to 0 or 1. A one-point interval stays there with direction zero. There is no dwell or duplicated endpoint call.

Reusable initialisation and service

6502.inc

; SPDX-License-Identifier: MIT
; Patrol Between Two Endpoints. Bind these contiguous private bytes: POSITION, LOWER, UPPER, DIRECTION.
; init clears the whole block; step uses current inputs. No I/O, waits or IRQ owner.
; A/X/flags may change; Y and decimal mode survive. Binary arithmetic requires D=0.
endpoint_patrol_init:
    lda #0
    sta POSITION
    sta LOWER
    sta UPPER
    sta DIRECTION
    rts
endpoint_patrol_step:
    lda LOWER
    cmp UPPER
    bne patrol_range
    sta POSITION
    lda #0
    sta DIRECTION
    rts
patrol_range:
    cmp POSITION
    beq patrol_positive
    lda UPPER
    cmp POSITION
    beq patrol_negative
    lda DIRECTION
    beq patrol_positive
patrol_negative:
    lda #1
    sta DIRECTION
    dec POSITION
    rts
patrol_positive:
    lda #0
    sta DIRECTION
    inc POSITION
    rts
component_end:

State and ownership

POSITION and DIRECTION persist. LOWER and UPPER are caller-owned bounds. Altering the bounds requires moving the position into the new interval before the next call; this component does not repair arbitrary corrupt state.

A/X/flags may change; Y and decimal mode survive. Clear decimal mode before binary arithmetic; the standalone caller uses CLD. A direct call pushes a two-byte return address.

This implementation has fixed symbol bindings and one mutation owner. Independent users need distinct state blocks and scoped/renamed bindings; including another copy with the same global labels is not sufficient. Sequential queries may reuse a scratch block only after the previous result has been consumed. Do not let an interrupt and the main loop mutate the same block without a separately designed ownership policy.

The standalone cartridge owns its background, CHR font and RAM layout. Its diagnostic packet is bounded below the end of the NES’s 2 KiB internal RAM; the component owns no PPU or audio registers.

A small caller you can adapt

The standalone program includes the helper and a separate client. Its read-only table exercises 96 valid inputs, then this client initialises once and retains state between calls. Replace the supplied input changes with your own game values; the display and packet machinery are diagnostics rather than dependencies of the component.

Buildable caller, bindings and include order

demo.asm

.segment "HEADER"
.byte "NES",$1a,2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
POSITION=$80
LOWER=$81
UPPER=$82
DIRECTION=$83
STATE=$80
input_ptr=$70
cases_left=$72
ptr=$74
saved_y=$76
OUTPUT=$0200
preview=OUTPUT+1400
ready=OUTPUT+1408
CUSTOM=0
BROKEN=0
SCORE_CAP=65535
QUEUE_CAP=4
REPEAT_DELAY=4
REPEAT_RATE=2
.include "caller.inc"
.include "exercise.inc"
component_start:
.include "component.inc"
.include "cases.inc"
code_end:
.segment "VECTORS"
.word nmi,reset,irq
.segment "CHARS"
.include "../../input/controller-reading/edges-font.inc"
.res 8192-272,0

A separate client retaining state between calls

exercise.inc, excerpt

preview_rules:
.if CUSTOM
    lda #4
    sta POSITION
    lda #0
    sta LOWER
    lda #6
    sta UPPER
    lda #0
    sta DIRECTION
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_0_custom
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_0_custom
bad_patrol_up_0_custom:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_0_custom:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_0_custom
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_0_custom
    beq bad_patrol_end_0_custom
bad_patrol_flip_0_custom:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_0_custom:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_1_custom
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_1_custom
bad_patrol_up_1_custom:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_1_custom:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_1_custom
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_1_custom
    beq bad_patrol_end_1_custom
bad_patrol_flip_1_custom:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_1_custom:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_2_custom
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_2_custom
bad_patrol_up_2_custom:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_2_custom:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_2_custom
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_2_custom
    beq bad_patrol_end_2_custom
bad_patrol_flip_2_custom:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_2_custom:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_3_custom
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_3_custom
bad_patrol_up_3_custom:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_3_custom:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_3_custom
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_3_custom
    beq bad_patrol_end_3_custom
bad_patrol_flip_3_custom:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_3_custom:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_4_custom
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_4_custom
bad_patrol_up_4_custom:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_4_custom:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_4_custom
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_4_custom
    beq bad_patrol_end_4_custom
bad_patrol_flip_4_custom:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_4_custom:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_5_custom
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_5_custom
bad_patrol_up_5_custom:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_5_custom:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_5_custom
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_5_custom
    beq bad_patrol_end_5_custom
bad_patrol_flip_5_custom:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_5_custom:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.else
    lda #4
    sta POSITION
    lda #0
    sta LOWER
    lda #4
    sta UPPER
    lda #0
    sta DIRECTION
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_0
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_0
bad_patrol_up_0:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_0:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_0
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_0
    beq bad_patrol_end_0
bad_patrol_flip_0:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_0:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_1
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_1
bad_patrol_up_1:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_1:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_1
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_1
    beq bad_patrol_end_1
bad_patrol_flip_1:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_1:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_2
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_2
bad_patrol_up_2:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_2:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_2
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_2
    beq bad_patrol_end_2
bad_patrol_flip_2:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_2:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_3
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_3
bad_patrol_up_3:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_3:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_3
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_3
    beq bad_patrol_end_3
bad_patrol_flip_3:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_3:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_4
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_4
bad_patrol_up_4:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_4:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_4
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_4
    beq bad_patrol_end_4
bad_patrol_flip_4:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_4:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.if BROKEN
    lda DIRECTION
    beq bad_patrol_up_5
    dec POSITION
    jmp bad_patrol_check_5
bad_patrol_up_5:
    inc POSITION
bad_patrol_check_5:
    lda POSITION
    cmp LOWER
    bcc bad_patrol_flip_5
    cmp UPPER
    bcc bad_patrol_end_5
    beq bad_patrol_end_5
bad_patrol_flip_5:
    lda DIRECTION
    eor #1
    sta DIRECTION
bad_patrol_end_5:
.else
    jsr checked_step
.endif
    jsr emit_state
.endif
    rts

The eight display fields follow POSITION, LOWER, UPPER, DIRECTION; unused display fields are zero. Each field is a hexadecimal byte. The working row is 02 00 04 00 00 00 00 00. The output is a completed diagnostic state, not a recording of movement, input or sound hardware.

Make it your own

The custom caller extends the upper endpoint from four to six. The same initial position now moves forward before turning. The lower bound remains zero and the movement amount remains one.

Maintained custom configuration or caller

custom.asm

.segment "HEADER"
.byte "NES",$1a,2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
POSITION=$80
LOWER=$81
UPPER=$82
DIRECTION=$83
STATE=$80
input_ptr=$70
cases_left=$72
ptr=$74
saved_y=$76
OUTPUT=$0200
preview=OUTPUT+1400
ready=OUTPUT+1408
CUSTOM=1
BROKEN=0
SCORE_CAP=999
QUEUE_CAP=2
REPEAT_DELAY=6
REPEAT_RATE=3
.include "caller.inc"
.include "exercise.inc"
component_start:
.include "component.inc"
.include "cases.inc"
code_end:
.segment "VECTORS"
.word nmi,reset,irq
.segment "CHARS"
.include "../../input/controller-reading/edges-font.inc"
.res 8192-272,0

The observed custom row is 02 00 06 01 00 00 00 00. The retained records qualify these named configurations; a new input domain or larger layout needs its own bounds and fresh execution checks.

Common mistake and repair

The wrong client steps first and only reverses after leaving the interval. Starting at the upper endpoint four, it visibly records position five before turning back. Turn before taking the next step. The wrong trace is a separate naive implementation; the valid boundary table still exercises the maintained helper.

Deliberately wrong client selection

wrong.asm

.segment "HEADER"
.byte "NES",$1a,2,1,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0,0
POSITION=$80
LOWER=$81
UPPER=$82
DIRECTION=$83
STATE=$80
input_ptr=$70
cases_left=$72
ptr=$74
saved_y=$76
OUTPUT=$0200
preview=OUTPUT+1400
ready=OUTPUT+1408
CUSTOM=0
BROKEN=1
SCORE_CAP=65535
QUEUE_CAP=4
REPEAT_DELAY=4
REPEAT_RATE=2
.include "caller.inc"
.include "exercise.inc"
component_start:
.include "component.inc"
.include "cases.inc"
code_end:
.segment "VECTORS"
.word nmi,reset,irq
.segment "CHARS"
.include "../../input/controller-reading/edges-font.inc"
.res 8192-272,0

NES shows the deliberate fault result 00 00 04 01 00 00 00 00. — The wrong client completes and records 00 00 04 01 00 00 00 00. Compare its state with the working row and the explained failure.

The wrong branch is in the displayed client above, selected by BROKEN. repaired.asm selects the original client again. Its executable matches demo exactly; Spectrum tape filenames can differ while loaded CODE is identical. The bad caller is a labelled experiment, not an alternative recommended implementation.

Cost and verification

The measured helper occupies 52 code bytes plus 4 named state bytes in this layout. Return addresses, alignment, tables and display diagnostics are additional. The sizes cover init and step together, not the whole standalone program.

There are a few byte comparisons and one increment/decrement per service, with no route scan or rendering. Keeping movement cadence outside allows several guards to share a clock without sharing their positions.

A multi-point route needs a waypoint index and route data. Variable-speed reflection must decide how to use leftover distance after hitting an endpoint; this one-unit routine cannot be made faster by replacing its increment with an unchecked larger addition.

Four native runs use NTSC NES with a mapper-0 cartridge, CHR-ROM diagnostic font, NMI and DMC disabled; Asm198x 0.0.72 and Emu198x 0.44.2. Every run checks 96 table results, dirty initialisation and every state in a separate sequential trace against an independent integer model. This is boundary/varied-input qualification, not exhaustive coverage of every byte combination. Source/tool/firmware hashes, native startup and completion, preserved-register sentinels, immutable loaded code, actual helper extent, capture bytes and pixels, and exact repair are checked. Deliberately changed observations must fail. Firmware is hashed, never distributed.

Source and native evidence.