Getting Started with NES Development

What You Need

To develop for the NES, you need two things: a way to compile your code, and an emulator to run it.

Asm198x is one binary that assembles for every system in the curriculum.

brew install asm198x/tap/asm198x

Or, without Homebrew, the installer script for macOS, Linux and Windows.

asm198x --dialect ca65 game.asm -o game.nes

Assembling and linking happen in one step, against a bounded linker configuration Asm198x carries itself. There is no nes.cfg to supply.

Install FCEUX natively for the best experience.

macOS

brew install fceux

Linux

sudo apt install fceux

Windows — Download from fceux.com

fceux game.nes

Your tools are set up. Time to write some code.