Sprite limitations and flicker define what the NES is. They are a part of history. This video dives into Object Attribute Memory – OAM – to explain why the system is limited to eight sprites on a scanline as well as how both sprite limitation and sprite priority are used by programmers to add some […]
Have you noticed that the sound effects in the PSP version of Castlevania Symphony of the Night seem a little… off? I’m not talking about the voice acting or the music, here. The sound effects are supposed to have that echo… that flanger effect to them, and the PSP version of SotN doesn’t quite sound […]
The NES needs a clock in order to function. Both the CPU and PPU use clock cycles to perform their duties. These chips run at different speeds, but each speed is derived from the same source – a 21.47727 MHz crystal on the NES motherboard. How do these components work in tandem? This video dives […]
Unique graphics. Giant sprites. No flicker. How on earth does this game work? The MMC2 chip contained in Punch-Out’s cartridge allows the NES to switch between two pairs of tiles for each half of the pattern table. While the MMC1 already allows bank switching for graphics, the MMC2 allows the switch to happen in the […]
Punch-Out!! has been on my list of games to investigate for a long time, and I finally have something to show after a crazy amount of research. This video covers how opponent data is used to determine where to branch and what to do in code, how to manipulate boxer behavior, secrets that you will […]
In December of 2019 after many years of runs, the speedrunning record for Castlevania on the NES was close to 11 minutes 24 seconds. In Summer of 2020, speedrunners took a new discovery for the implementation of scrolling for the game and used it to skip several screens at a time in various places throughout […]
If you manage to land a hit on an enemy in Castlevania on the same frame that Simon gets hit, the whip does considerably more damage than normal. But WHY? Let’s dive into the logic flow of the game to figure out the perfect storm of values in RAM that allow this to occur. Timing […]
RetroRGB gets down to business when it comes to measuring lag. That new wireless controller or fancy display might seem cool on paper, but what about performance? Modern devices and emulation of retro games can add to lag, but lag begins with the game code itself. Let’s hop into the execution time for standing attack […]
It is the summer of TMNT, and here is another Behind the Code video for the first entry on the NES. This video focuses on the application of gravity with respect to frame rate for jumping in the game and also breaks down the frame timing for making the three types of jumps – short, […]
I thought it would be fun to dig my nails into the code of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles for NES – a popular game that seems rather rushed. No surprises – the code is sloppy in more ways than one. Swimming, water current, that infamous Seaweed Screen of Doom, and some weird collision problems on […]
