NES Architecture Explained

[@NesHacker]

This was a big one, I hope you all like it :D

[@eliteedit8696]

YOU ARE SUCH A HARD WORKING MAN

[@masterquest91]

I subbed because of this

[@Darthborg]

You are going to regret your intros to these videos being on KZbin by explaining to people how KZbin functions work of subbing and being notified.

[@mazdnd]

Loved it!

[@tr48092]

I hope you are doing ok. Excited for future videos

[@MDeeecent]

This video makes me fascinated by electronics. When I was a kid playing video games I never realized the genius of human engineering that make this happened. I have no credit whatsoever for this but I'm very proud of people who came up with such a complex design to entertain kids

[@NorthshireGaming]

It makes me so happy that the internet is flush with people that still produce content for this aging hardware. Even the younger generation can benefit greatly from understanding the basics of the old 8-bit and 16-bit systems, as the underlying technology is still functionally relevant today, just greatly expanded upon and made smaller. It's also great for older legacy systems that are still in use today. At the height of the Y2K scare, there was a booming demand for people that could code in raw assembly, COBALT, and FORTRAN, as they were widely used in the older systems still used by government facilities, power plants, and flight systems. Regardless, I'm just glad to see people sharing this knowledge with others, and your videos are super approachable and fun to watch.

[@scootergirl3662]

This is one of my favorite videos on YT no joke. This is actually good for someone learning computer hardware in general as well.

[@NesHacker]

Awesome, if you like this one you’ll probably like next month’s video too :)

[@skylo706]

This is one of the best technical explanation videos I've ever seen. It's absolutly fantastic

[@NesHacker]

Just wait for my next one…

[@timkohn]

Just discovered your channel and have been binging all your content. You are an awesome explainer of complicated things, an incredibly valuable skill. Really great.

[@NesHacker]

Thank you very much :)

[@neilfmoore]

As a professor of computer science and someone who grew up on the NES, I'm loving your videos! Maybe it's a bit early in your career for this, but if you were to set up a Patreon, I and probably many others would subscribe.

+1 patreon and discord comunity

[@robertmazurowski5974]

I am a self taught programmer. Is learning about NES in depth a good introduction to understanding how computers work?

[@axiomeffect1025]

Indeed

[@skylo706]

​@@robertmazurowski5974 Its great for understanding how hardware and assembly works and you can translate that to modern day computers as well. I would also advice you to learn C, if you havent already

[@rrrfrdd4497]

Your channel is such a gem, honestly. The videos are well recorded, sound is really good, animations are very well done, graphics are well designed and very explanatory, even the video thumbnails have excelent visual consistency. I've been harassing my friends to check out your material for weeks now. Such amazing work!

[@GovernmentAcid]

Found this video out of curiosity, and wow, this is really phenomenal! I'm watching currently as an EE student in the U.S., and it's amazing to see something like the system architecture on an NES cartridge presented in a way that's interesting and engaging, while also not shying away from giving a level of detail in your technical overview that would I think be very daunting if presented otherwise. Amazing stuff, thanks for the video!

[@NesHacker]

Right on, I am glad you enjoyed it.

[@ninjarob187]

Does anyone else watch these videos with their significant other and popcorn too? Love your content.

[@NesHacker]

You’re comment made my day :D, thanks for watching!

[@jaredhammond721]

I truly wish I had access to this video 12 years ago when I was teaching high school math and engineering. I could've probably used this one video for an entire semester.

[@NesHacker]

Holy cow, haha

[@Favourites669]

I would buy a whole DVD of this material dude. AMAZING stuff here!

[@NesHacker]

Haha, appreciated. But shouldn’t I release it on VHS so it’s era appropriate to the NES?

[@calliestudios]

@@NesHacker DO IT

[@joemck85]

@@NesHacker Be sure to include an interactive presentation and quizzes along with the VHS tape, on a NES cartridge. Maybe even throw in a Nintendo Power magazine with additional reading material and tips for using the presentation and quiz software.

[@GriZmio]

@@NesHackerHow can i buy one of those?

[@Spikedude101]

Just wanted to highlight your EXCELLENT approach to computing fundamentals! In particular, found your explanation of buses to be really well done

[@sha2532]

Great video as always, I really love how you explain and show these things! And you're right, assembly code starts to have more sense when you understand what actually happens at hardware level.

[@NesHacker]

Thanks :D, yeah it really hits you what’s going on when you know the hardware on these older architectures.

[@Beastmode-hk3fj]

Best Mario 3 play I've seen in years @4:10

[@NesHacker]

Hahaha, I am so happy you pointed that out. I was trying to record something cool and I did that, then laughed until I was crying and decided "Nope. That's it, that's my clip for that segment."

[@Doc_Hollladay]

you don't know how awesome this video is. I'm still extremely new(1 day) so it's a lot to take in but i appreciate the effort you put into this for new players. thank you

[@johneman9553]

Love how the information is straight to the point, great format.

[@jhesski]

These videos are criminally under viewed. Keep it up I think once people find you this channel will blow up

[@3DSage]

It's so cool to see how one of my favorite consoles works! Great detailed video!

[@NesHacker]

I used to wonder about how it all worked when I was a kid. I was very happy when I finally sat down and learned it. Glad to know you feel the joy too.

[@brandonkamaka661]

Great video. You could have made a 20 part, 4 hour series but instead it's very efficiently presented while not being confusing. I really appreciated this. Thanks!

[@dcchillin4687]

I'm an old nerd going back to school for electrical engineering. This stuff is still a bit above me but still fascinating. Definitely going to keep checking back as I learn more

[@NesHacker]

Nice! I’d be lying if the thought hadn’t crossed my mind to go back and get a formal education in EE. I’m technically only trained in CS, but I dabble in electronics as a hobby.

[@RetroSho]

This is seriously my guilty pleasure as an FDS enthusiast. Can't wait til you discuss it, if ever. Also it might be interesting to discuss how palettes are generated and why there are so damn many across multiple emulators.

[@NesHacker]

I really want to do a video on it, but there is so much to cover since most people outside Japan aren’t aware of it and how it worked.

[@Appel070]

Super nice that you made the effort to put complex information in this easy to understand format! Keep it up

[@Hatchet2k4]

Been eagerly awaiting your next video! Definitely will give a full watch. 👍

[@NesHacker]

Thanks :D

[@chrisdemerski1101]

Super cool video. I was looking for a video that would explain the hardware on a level like this!

[@NesHacker]

I really wish I would have had it when I was learning the system, for sure.

[@SuperBrickDude-P1]

Super excited to start this video and continue the series! Huge fan of your work so far 😎

[@IgorIglesias]

What a beautiful and deep explanation! Very thanks!!! 😁

[@darrink6214]

These videos are great... I have always wanted to look at the assembly at some NES games to understand how the games were actually built, but actually programming assembly seems even more interesting. Looking forward to your NES videos and appreciate the hard work!

[@KouignaMAN]

Thanks a lot for all your explaination! I’m a 34 years old french IT guy who is currently experiencing his mid Life crysis way too early ;) Back in the good old days with 8 bit consoles and computers. I’m restoring the old VIC-20 of my family and it’s facinating that the NES uses the same CPU. One more subscriber!

[@theleviathan3902]

I lost interest at "French"

[@holiday22x]

hope to see more from you soon. keep up the awesome work

[@lars1588]

Watching videos like these has really helped me learn about computer science and apply previous knowledge as well. He explains it so clearly and thoroughly, making new (for me) concepts very understandable.

[@NesHacker]

CS is really cool, but often taught in the most bland ways :/

[@lars1588]

@@NesHacker I wouldn't know because I've just started learning, but I believe you.

[@matthewphillips3190]

This is a great channel. Please keep it up. I recommend that you make a video that explains exactly what happens when you turn on the NES with or without a cartridge inside and what happens when you press the reset button.

[@LebrancConvas]

Great work for providing the NES Information to us who interested in Game Console Architecture, Thanks for your hard work!

[@fiffy6572]

Love that youtube suggest me this channel your video and explainations rocks!

[@ChadLuciano]

WikiNES right here...this video is a treasure.

[@milos5247]

So glad I stumbled on to this channel, surprisingly well explained, and animated as well!

[@NesHacker]

Hey, thanks! Glad you like it 😄

[@ralphmunoz4582]

Wow! Thanks for all the information one place! And a easy to follow style!

[@dwightdixon8508]

7 grade math teacher scolded us whenever saying O when referring to zero. Said: “O’s are in the alphabet”. Yeah, that stuck with me for life

[@BubblegumCrash332]

I've never coded anything but this is so interesting. I love retro console system architecture. BTW you have a great voice for explaining things

[@NesHacker]

Thanks! It’s taken me a bit, but I feel like my presentation voice is starting to get passable :)

[@MexicanCat999]

So well done, thank you for making it so easy to follow!

[@gilperez3581]

You sir, in my pov, are a legend. It was about time someone like yourself, gifted the earths with your attention to detailed explanations some of us have been wanting to know, but never knew it. This is all very interesting, as it may help me develop a product I've been dreaming of for quite some time now... ... ... *thinking of ways to apply this new knowledge to idea in my dreams*... ... ... time will tell, but very interesting subject none-the-less. Thank you.

[@usptact]

Always wondered as a kid what those chips on the cartridge actually do and how they work… now here we are :) This was a fantastic video! A little bit slower presentation with some animation and/or example code would perhaps better drive a point.

[@SpikeViper]

Amazing work. Keep it up!

[@Nutt11g]

The only time in my life where I instantly hit like and subscribe out of request.

[@NesHacker]

You know I started just asking at the end, cause I figured if you watch to the end it’s more likely that you’ll do both 😂

[@wadz668]

Excellent video! I was always fascinated by my childhood computers and never really understood how they worked until much later. While it's all still a bit overwhelming and hard to follow, I get the general concept. I even started to write a few things in assembly for use in emulators. They were nothing of any major significance but it was fascinating to learn how these systems used and interpreted data and memory locations which gave me a much broader scope of the talent required to code on these old 8-bit machines. C# is much easier than assembly!

[@SATANMYNINJAS]

Your 100K subscriber milestone should come soon. The animation quality and transitions are smooth, you have a great speaking voice, you present the information in a format that's easy on the eyes yet still retains technical knowledge. Very informative videos and great channel you got going. I hope you unbox your first plaque from KZbin in the future :3

[@NesHacker]

Thank you so much, yeah thar plaque does feel closer and closer every day ☺️

[@johneymute]

After all these years,the nes is still an amezing beast.

[@mrdummy_nl]

Not all KZbinrs have huge knowledge of NES (some can only look at functionality and games and just review them in playing games), so this is special KZbin channel for sure. And you can even program yourself same games on NES. That is not what we see from every channel. Thanks a lot for deep explanation. Already watched other videos, so it's interesting to know about NES system, and we can see how clever it's designed, especially in the future. You need make sure console can hold it for long time or it will quickly obsolete for new gen games (the PCs for example with floppy drive need everything in home to play many as possible - makes them more expensive). NES is designed in expandable way, makes console itself less expensive.

[@NesHacker]

Yeah I feel like a lot of other channels have the "game reviews" or "cool stories" angle kinda covered. I just wanted a place to show people how to make games and mess around with old hardware.

[@RaulRodriguez-zq2pt]

Thank you for the breakdown. It helped me understand a lot of CS concepts better.

[@federicosalvetti7703]

Your videos are amazing for somebody that is trying to learn bare metal programming in general and game dev history!

[@fredimachadonet]

Awesome channel! I found it today, already subscribed and just finished watching all videos. Gotta sleep now (it's 1:52 in Australia now, haha). Thank you!

[@yourfreakingrayofsunshine]

holy crap! a channel i can actually learn stuff from! you go super dude!

[@pedrogabrielnogueira1068]

I just tell you 1 thing my man. Thank you. This is exatly what i was looking for.

[@NesHacker]

You're welcome :)

[@milo9845]

high quality content with not enough views! looking forward to more

[@NesHacker]

Thanks :)

[@carlesmartorell1922]

I love your channel. Very high quality content. Keep going!

[@NesHacker]

Appreciate the kind words :)

[@scottnicholes321]

This is a well-organized video and explanation of computer architecture. Thank you.

[@xard4spl]

I can't believe I wasn't subbed to this channel before. Fixed now!

[@NesHacker]

That’s why I remind everyone every video! ;)

[@bradnimbus4836]

Dood, absolutely fantastic video!

[@MrPs103]

Thank you for this information! I enjoyed seeing in detail what gave me such strong core memories as a child

[@Chepakishui]

I don't have enough underlying knowledge to understand half of this but still find it really interesting.

[@stephensteele2844]

excellent video, first time viewer, you popped up after searching for NES console bending.

[@SatansLtlBaby]

just found this in my feed. GREAT video

[@NesHacker]

Thanks, I’m glad you liked it!

[@blueseveryday1]

Brilliant content- so well done. Thank you. I'm going to watch everything you've made.

[@pedroepires]

Great video, awesome shirt, well done sir!

[@NesHacker]

Thank you! I loved this shirt the minute I saw it, though I was a bit sad as it would have been perfect for “NES Controllers Explained”.

[@thegibsonserver]

I am in heaven. This..........there's no words how insanely technical + disgustingly on-point with your animations you've created. It's beautiful. If you're still on the bench about Patreon, don't be. I'll be the first to sub.

[@creightonholub]

This is great! I learned a lot about computers as a kid because of the OG NES.

[@Pawl0solidus]

I wish I knew about this channel when I was doing my final project in college. I was trying to make an old school gaming console with the z80 processor, but it was so hard that I just gave up.

[@AT-zr9tv]

Excellent video, thank you so much for this. One humble request: could you at some point create a video in which you show step by step how a chunk of audio data is processed? Like a jump sound FX for instance.

[@NesHacker]

Thanks for watching! A full treatment of the APU and how it works is on my list and I’m definitely planning on doing a video on it.

[@ikonix360]

That was a very easy to follow thorough explanation.

[@hanspeterbestandig2054]

What a brilliant explanation! Thank you!

[@vgp128]

When you get to explaining the programs themselves, can you give a visual overview of what the components you just showed in this video are doing during program execution, from power on? Then can you show some examples of game code from some of the games that have had commented disassemblies made of them? It would make stepping through a debugger easier to follow, and help those who are trying to improve their rom hacking skills.

[@NesHacker]

This is a fantastic suggestion! I have been working on my animation skills and trying to move towards this style of explanation, so I hope I can live up to what you’re seeing in your head someday.

[@norvin41granada91]

@@NesHacker were looking forward to that sir. Thanks. New subscriber here.

[@retrogamestudios7649]

Time for a master class, wake up get coffee brewing and start setting up the tripod.....get a move on.....

[@schlangengrube157]

Another very useful video. Thanks.

[@NesHacker]

No problem, thanks for watching!

[@Ninja76100]

I love these videos and your background music is fire!!

[@NesHacker]

Lol, so so sooooo many people hate the background music. To the point where I am highly considering just tossing it for the next video xD

[@Krahfty]

@@NesHacker Im in both boats. It IS hard to follow what you're saying over music mainly because its so catchy and i cant help but want to bob my head and zone out what you're saying haha, also if you do read this who is the artist? its a great track

[@SquirreliciousMe]

Really good video - and really get explanation and graphics to describe it.

[@davidstephens6120]

I really enjoy your videos. Great graphics work to make things understandable and enough information to be useful even to people that already know a lot about the topics. I look forward to more of the heavy duty video topics you mentioned.

[@NesHacker]

It's somewhat entertaining, perhaps even more so if you already have a base level of knowledge about 8-bit systems or the NES in particular. Glad you liked it. They are fun to make but take a lot of effort.

[@Hwi1son]

I used NESmaker to make a really cool NES prison themed adventure game. So, this was cool and helpful. I will definitely have to watch the rest of these for research. Awesome channel. (It would be cool to learn 6502 assembly)

[@mattmmilli8287]

This might be the deepest one of the NES hardware videos out there

[@Darkl0ud_Productions]

Great video... Just wish you continues making more.

[@Vaporrocketnorth]

You have a new subscriber my guy! I appreciate the content! Learned so much!

[@NesHacker]

Awesome, I am glad you like my stuff.

[@diegocrusius]

I know this is a lot of work. Thank you very much.

[@NesHacker]

You are very welcome! It can be a lot of work but it feels worth it :)

[@sloppycee]

As a computer science / software engineer, this has completely illuminated how the hardware works for me.

[@pfever]

More videos, pleeeeeeease, your videos are amazing!

[@NesHacker]

Working on a new one about the CIC right now :)

[@pfever]

@@NesHacker Aweeeeesome! :D

[@SantaDragon]

I have understood nearly nothing, but impressive what someone can tell about electronics if he knows it by heart.

[@JasonCummer]

Neat stuff, glad I have a background in computer architecture

[@hobbesip1]

Awesome brief of how 8 bit systems tie their hardware together to accomplish things. Only suggestion would be to include a blurb at the end about system timing, which helps explain how fast these chips are getting selected to address memory and perform their instructions in a coordinated way.

[@NesHacker]

I feel like the rabbit hole goes so deep. I had to stop somewhere.

[@TheRedCap]

Am I developing for or messing around with an NES right now? no. Did I still watch this video through entirely because it's fascinating? yes. I've screwed around with things like game genie codes, and I even developed my own that fixes the shortened Mushroom sound in SMB3. That's the most I've ever done with an NES or 6502 Assembly.

[@NesHacker]

I think it's fun to just mess around and look at carts then dig into their code and stuff. There are all sorts of levels to NES hacking, and it can be fun at all of them.

[@joaquin4654]

This is so cool, currently taking a microprocessor systems class right now and I had no idea the NES used machine code, I was surprised to see some of the lines of code familiar with me lol

[@bryan_dx]

This video is amazing to understand microprocessors

[@dmitriyv4557]

Amazing! Thank you!

[@sulrich70]

Damn you explain things well. Good work!

[@NesHacker]

Thank you! I say words good sometimes 😂

[@flounder31]

Forgive if someone already asked below, but how do the "helper" chips such as the FX in later, more advanced carts fit into this scheme?

[@ArneChristianRosenfeldt]

With multiple processors there needs to be hardware for an atomic lock. A special memory where each CPU reads a byte and then writes back. In between this address is blocked from the other processor. You can store FIFO pointers there.

[@notdavlu]

I'll promise myself to come back here in a few years and already understand everything :)

[@LukasPukenis]

Very good video. Thanks for the effort!

[@Cyril29a]

I know the NES had the capacity for various enhancement chips. I find it really off that they didn't sell those as addons for the system rather than including one in every single cart. The cost associated with including what is essentially another computer inside the cartridge would have led me to surmise this wasn't a good option but clearly that wasn't the case. I mean they could have sold the upgrade dongle once and left those chips out of most cartridges saving lots of money. I guess they didn't want to confuse people with too many operations and they didn't want to rely on users to correctly match upgrades with specific titles and in the end the price didn't end up being a concern. Still this is a very odd concept when looking back at it from a world where adding things to your home equipment is no more complicated than plugging it via usb.

[@NesHacker]

Hmm... I think they were thinking more about their licensed developers than the consumer angle. Who knows, Nintendo works in mysterious ways to this day...

[@ovalteen4404]

Most of the NES mappers were pretty simple, the equivalent of maybe 5 or so 74xx chips. So it's not exactly a second computer, and the chips were likely manufactured at scale for a few cents each.

[@LukeAvedon]

Wow. Your graphics as soooooo good.

[@NesHacker]

Yeah they’re starting to feel really smooth, though it still takes me ages to finish them, haha.

[@riebeck1986]

Thanks for making this video !

[@abdelazizkara2352]

Really good video, it smells passion, thank you for that. I've a small question for you, I am looking for a good documentation/datasheet for the PPU, it seems somewhat difficult for to find a good one, can you please guide me ?

[@NesHacker]

Thanks, appreciate it! It’s a bit disjointed but there is a lot of good information the NES Dev wiki: wiki.nesdev.org/w/index.php?title=PPU

[@abdelazizkara2352]

Thank you very much 👍, I saw it before, but every time I tried to read it, I was submerged with a lot of technical shattered stuff. I will try it again, and this time I will be more careful not being lost. Good luck for the upcoming videos.

[@mateuspinesi]

Really good video!

[@-danberg-2554]

Good Job. I have tested a Clone Cpu and ppu by UMC Ua6528 and ua6527. A difference is Palette color and strange Sound. I love 6502 Genereation cpu and C64. Thank you for all information. Great job. Good bye.

[@brunoivanfonsecam133]

I love all this explanation, these video greetings are great,greetings from chile 🇨🇱 👍

[@NesHacker]

Thanks!