456-Page Guide Masters Game Boy's 8-Bit Assembly Code
Game Boy Coding Adventure teaches assembly programming for the classic 8-bit handheld, offering a deep dive into retro game development for enthusiasts.
The original Game Boy's distinctive green screen and chunky design remain iconic, but understanding what made it tick requires diving deep into its technical heart.
Fortunately, a new comprehensive guide offers exactly that journey. Game Boy Coding Adventure ($49.99 at Amazon), published by No Starch Press, is a 456-page tome that teaches hobbyists how to program 8-bit games in assembly language, just as developers did in the early '90s.
Credit: No Starch Press
Written by industry veteran Maximilien Dagois, the book promises to help readers master the original handheld. Its subtitle, Learn Assembly and Master the Original 8-Bit Handheld, sets out its ambitious stall. This isn't a guide for modern tools like GB Studio; instead, it's a proper deep dive into communicating directly with the Game Boy's processing chip using RGBDS, the leading open-source assembler for GB and GBC projects.
Furthermore, the book explores the console's fundamental architecture. Readers will learn about the Game Boy's 8-bit graphics, built from 8x8 tiles assembled by VRAM into backgrounds, windows, and sprites. Chapters cover essential development concepts like frame pacing, programming controls, creating sound channels, memory banking, and even serial communication. Crucially, all projects are designed to work on real, original hardware.
No Starch Press has form in this niche, having previously published a well-regarded beginner's guide to Game Boy hardware modding. The publisher's catalogue also includes other retro-adjacent titles like Mission Python ($25.05 at Amazon) and the Code the Classics ($23.14 at Amazon) series. For those whose interest extends beyond coding, other notable books include Chris Scullion's The Game Boy Encyclopedia and Florent Gorges' The History of the Game Boy.
Game Boy Coding Adventure is available now for $49.99 in paperback and $35 on Kindle (Approx. £39 / €45, based on current exchange rates; check local retailers for exact pricing). For anyone who ever wondered how those classic cartridges truly worked, this book provides the ultimate technical answer.
Note, the Amazon links provided are affiliate links where we get a small commission, this does not cost you anything.
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