Elite on the NES, fully documented and explained

[MarkMoxon]

I have just finished publishing my latest analysis project: Elite on the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES).

As this project was inspired by a suggestion on this very forum, I thought I'd post the details here. And it turns out that about 30% of NES Elite is the codebase from the original BBC Master version, just with controllers and video routines bolted on, so there is a very clear Acorn connection too.

Anyway, you can find the fully documented source code for NES Elite here:

https://www.bbcelite.com/nes/

with lots of deep dives here:

https://www.bbcelite.com/deep_dives/

and, as usual, there's a repository containing buildable source code for you to play with on GitHub:

https://github.com/markmoxon/nes-elite-beebasm

In particular, if you're interested in how Elite does vector graphics on a tile-based console, here's everything you need to know:

https://www.bbcelite.com/deep_dives/dra ... tiles.html

I hope you like it!

Mark

[Lardo Boffin]

Looks awesome! Can’t wait to find the time to read it properly.

[davidb]

Again, I'm impressed by how much work has gone into this, and how well it sets out the challenges that an NES port presented. Well done!

[Diminished]

inspired by a suggestion on this very forum

Sorry!

I did read a couple of the deep dives as you were posting them, but I haven't read through the more recently-public ones, so that will be interesting.

Good job.

[spanners]

Fantastic work as ever.

D.

[MarkMoxon]

inspired by a suggestion on this very forum

Sorry!

Ha, no need for that, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it, and I don’t think I’d have started without a bit of friendly encouragement. So, thank you!

Mark