System-specific Resources

Below are some useful resources for various popular systems. If you’re unsure what you want to work on we recommend starting with a CHIP-8 tutorial, of which there are many (just Google it).

After that, move to whatever system you want to. You don’t need to “work your way up” to it or whatever as many seem to think. (relevant thread). Just make sure you have the basics down first, remember to study the source code of existing emulators (super important) and if you get stuck, ask questions on this server or in the emudev subreddit: https://reddit.com/r/EmuDev.

For potentially more resources on your system, also see pinned messages in relevant system channels.

Note: A great introduction to any system is to read its Architecture of Consoles entry, if available.

Systems

CHIP-8

See the HIgh-level guide if you want detailed step-by-step instructions, otherwise use the References.

There are no “full” tutorials for other systems, so using references will be a bit more challenging but more realistic and perhaps more helpful in the long run, assuming you’ll want to move on to other systems after CHIP-8.

High-level guide to making a CHIP-8 emulator
References:
Test ROMs:
- https://github.com/Timendus/chip8-test-suite
- *More are available for various needs, ask in the relevant channel.
Other resources:

Bytepusher

https://esolangs.org/wiki/BytePusher

COSMAC-VIP

Pac-Man

Space Invaders

See 8080 resources
SN76477N technical data
General info on Space Invaders
Space Invaders disassembly and info
CPU tests (need a CP/M implementation or to fake it to some extent, see CP/M section and this Discord message)

Casio PV-1000

CP/M

Game Boy / Game Boy Color

Game Boy Advance

See relevant ARM resources below (the ARM7TDMI used in the GBA implements ARMv4T)
GBATEK
no$gba (get the debug version)
TONC (GBA tutorial and demos)
https://nba-emu.github.io/hw-docs
Cycle counting on the GBA
Decoding the ARM7TDMI Instruction Set (Game Boy Advance)
Test ROMs:
mGBA blog (particularly the “development” and “emulation” tags)
Homebrew development:
- https://patater.com/gbaguy/gbaasm.htm

Nintendo DS

See relevant ARM resources below (the DS uses an ARM7TDMI and an ARM946E-S, implementing respectively ARMv4 and ARMv5TE)
GBATEK
Datasheets:
Other docs
Test ROMs:
Sample homebrew programs
Arisotura’s blog
Ongoing rasterizer timing research

Nintendo 3DS

See relevant ARM resources below (the 3DS’s ARM11 MPCore implements ARMv6K, not plain ARMv6, so you’ll have toat the ARMv7-AR manual too for the few additions; the ARM9 is the same as on the Nintendo DS)
GBATEK
The 3DBrew wiki
Libctru demos
CRO documentation
Audio tests
CTRPF cheat code documentation
Subv’s additional findings on the kernel’s threading system (meant to complement the relevant 3DBrew page)
Simple hommebrew userland tests
DSP1 binary loader for Ghidra (For DSP .cdc firmware files, you can dump them from hardware or Panda3DS)
Teak DSP Ghidra SLEIGH plugin
Teakra: Teak DSP assembly, disassembly and emulation library
3DS hacking guide
Documentation of some system archives (Mii data, OS font, etc) and Python scripts for generating non-copyrighted replacements.