Nintendo Entertainment System Architecture
version 1.4 [09/09/1996]
by Marat Fayzullin [fms@freeflight.com]
WWW: http://www.freeflight.com/fms/
IRC: RST38h
The following document describes the workings of Nintendo Entertainment
System videogame console, also known as Famicom in the East (Korea, Japan),
and Dandy in Europe (Russia, etc.). Note that this document is in no way
based on any official Nintendo information and may be incomplete and
incorrect in many places. "Nintendo Entertainment System" and "Famicom" are
registered trademarks of Nintendo.
I would like to thank following people for their help in obtaining this
information and writing a NES emulator, as well as the moral support from
some of them:
(sorted alphabetically)
Pascal Felber Pan of Anthrox John Stiles
Kawasedo Patrick Lesaard Tink
Marcel de Kogel Paul Robson Bas Vijfwinkel
Alex Krasivsky Serge Skorobogatov
The current version of this file is missing some information, such as
sound hardware. I will add these parts in later releases. If you have any
information on NES, which is not in this manual, feel free to write to
fms@freeflight.com. Your help will be appreciated.
******************************* Contents *******************************
1. General Architecture
2. Interrupts
3. I/O Ports
4. PPU Memory
5. Hit/VBlank Bits
6. Joysticks
7. Sprites
8. Memory Mappers
a) Sequential
b) Konami
c) VROM Switch
d) 5202 Chip
e) Others
9. Sound (to be written)
************************* General Architecture *************************
NES is based on the 6502 CPU, and a custom video controller known as PPU
(Picture Processing Unit). The PPU's video memory is separated from the
main CPU memory and can be read/written via special ports. Cartridges may
contain both ROM appearing in the main CPU address space at $8000-$FFFF,
and VROM or VRAM appearing in the PPU address space at $0000-$1FFF and
containing the Pattern Tables (aka Tile Tables). In smaller cartridges,
which only have 16kB ROM, it takes place at $C000-$FFFF leaving $8000-$BFFF
area unused. Internal NES VRAM is located at addresses $2000-$3FFF in the
PPU memory. Some cartridges also have RAM at $6000-$7FFF, which may or may
not be battery-backed.
CPU Memory Map
--------------------------------------- $10000
Upper Bank of Cartridge ROM
--------------------------------------- $C000
Lower Bank of Cartridge ROM
--------------------------------------- $8000
Cartridge RAM (may be battery-backed)
--------------------------------------- $6000
Expansion Modules
--------------------------------------- $5000
Input/Output
--------------------------------------- $2000
2kB Internal RAM, mirrored 4 times
--------------------------------------- $0000
****************************** Interrupts ******************************
NES uses non-maskable interrupts (NMIs) generated by PPU in the end of
each frame (so-called VBlank interrupts). Maskable interrupts, or IRQs,
can also be generated by circuitry in a cart, but most carts do not
generate them. The VBlank interrupts can be enabled/disabled by writing
1/0 into 7th bit of $2000. When a VBlank interrupts occur, CPU pushes
return address and the status register on stack, and jumps to the address
stored at location $FFFA (ROM in NES). The interrupt handler is supposed
to finish its execution with RTI command which returns CPU to the main
program execution. More information on the interrupt handling can be found
in a decent book on 6502 CPU.
****************************** I/O ports *******************************
NES internal I/O ports are mapped into the areas of $2000-$2007 and
$4000-$4017. Some ports' usage is unknown or unclear, and any information
is appreciated.
I/O Ports Map
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$2000 | RW | PPU Control Register 1
| 0-1 | Name Table to show:
| |
| | +-----------+-----------+
| | | 2 ($2800) | 3 ($2C00) |
| | +-----------+-----------+
| | | 0 ($2000) | 1 ($2400) |
| | +-----------+-----------+
| |
| | Remember, though, that because of the mirroring, there are
| | only 2 real Name Tables, not 4.
| 2 | Vertical Write, 1 = PPU memory address increments by 32:
| |
| | Name Table, VW=0 Name Table, VW=1
| | +----------------+ +----------------+
| | |----> write | | | write |
| | | | | V |
| |
| 3 | Sprite Pattern Table address, 1 = $1000, 0 = $0000
| 4 | Screen Pattern Table address, 1 = $1000, 0 = $0000
| 5 | Sprite Size, 1 = 8x16, 0 = 8x8
| 6 | Hit Switch, 1 = generate interrupts on Hit (incorrect ???)
| 7 | VBlank Switch, 1 = generate interrupts on VBlank
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$2001 | RW | PPU Control Register 2
| 0 | Unknown (???)
| 1 | Image Mask, 0 = don't show left 8 columns of the screen
| 2 | Sprite Mask, 0 = don't show sprites in left 8 columns
| 3 | Screen Switch, 1 = show picture, 0 = blank screen
| 4 | Sprites Switch, 1 = show sprites, 0 = hide sprites
| 5-7 | Unknown (???)
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$2002 | R | PPU Status Register
| 0-5 | Unknown (???)
| 6 | Hit Flag, 1 = PPU refresh has hit sprite #0
| | This flag resets to 0 when VBlank starts, or CPU reads $2002
| | (see "Hit/VBlank Bits").
| 7 | VBlank Flag, 1 = PPU is generating a Vertical Blanking Impulse
| | This flag resets to 0 when VBlank ends, or CPU reads $2002
| | (see "Hit/VBlank Bits").
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$2003 | W | Sprite Memory Address
| | Used to set the address in the 256-byte Sprite Memory to be
| | accessed via $2004. This address will increment by 1 after
| | each access to $2004. The Sprite Memory contains coordinates,
| | colors, and other attributes of the sprites (see "Sprites").
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$2004 | RW | Sprite Memory Data
| | Used to read/write the Sprite Memory. The address is set via
| | $2003 and increments after each access. The Sprite Memory
| | contains coordinates, colors, and other attributes of the
| | sprites (see "Sprites").
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$2005 | W | Background Scroll
| | There are two scroll registers, vertical and horizontal,
| | which are both written via this port. The first value written
| | will go into the Vertical Scroll Register (unless it is >239,
| | then it will be ignored). The second value will appear in the
| | Horizontal Scroll Register. The Name Tables are assumed to be
| | arranged in the following way:
| |
| | +-----------+-----------+
| | | 2 ($2800) | 3 ($2C00) |
| | +-----------+-----------+
| | | 0 ($2000) | 1 ($2400) |
| | +-----------+-----------+
| |
| | When scrolled, the picture may span over several Name Tables.
| | Remember, though, that because of the mirroring, there are
| | only 2 real Name Tables, not 4.
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$2006 | | PPU Memory Address
| | See "PPU Memory".
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$2007 | | PPU Memory Data
| | See "PPU Memory".
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$4000-$4013 | Sound Registers
| See "Sound".
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$4014 | W | DMA Access to the Sprite Memory
| | Writing a value N into this port, causes an area of CPU memory
| | at address $100*N to be transferred into the Sprite Memory.
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$4015 | W | Sound Switch
| 0 | Channel 1, 1 = enable sound
| 1 | Channel 2, 1 = enable sound
| 2 | Channel 3, 1 = enable sound
| 3 | Channel 4, 1 = enable sound
| 4 | Channel 5, 1 = enable sound
| 5-7 | Unused (???)
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$4016 | RW | Joystick 1 + Strobe
| 0 | Joystick 1 data
| 1 | Joystick 1 presence, 0 = connected
| 2-5 | Unused, set to 0 (???)
| 6-7 | Unknown, set to 10 (???)
| | See "Joysticks".
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
$4017 | R | Joystick 2
| 0 | Joystick 2 data
| 1 | Joystick 2 presence, 0 = connected
| 2-5 | Unused, set to 0 (???)
| 6-7 | Unknown, set to 10 (???)
| | See "Joysticks".
------+-----+---------------------------------------------------------------
****************************** PPU Memory ******************************
In a real NES, reading/writing PPU memory should only be attempted
during VBlank period. Many smaller ROMs have read-only memory (VROM) for
the Pattern Tables. In this case, you won't be able to write into this
memory. The $3F00 and $3F10 locations in VRAM mirror each other (i.e. it
is the same memory cell) and define the background color of the picture.
Writing to PPU memory:
a) Write upper address byte into $2006
b) Write lower address byte into $2006
c) Write data into $2007. After each write, the address will
increment either by 1 (bit 2 of $2000 is 0) or by 32 (bit 2 of
$2000 is 1).
Reading from PPU memory:
a) Write upper address byte into $2006
b) Write lower address byte into $2006
c) Read data from $2007. The first byte read from $2007 will be
invalid. Then, the address will increment by 1 after each
read.
Name Table contains tile numbers organized into 32 rows of 32 bytes
each. Tiles are 8x8 pixels each. Therefore, the whole Name Table is 32x32
tiles or 256x256 pixels. In the NTSC version of NES, upper and lower 16
pixels are not shown, thus, the screen becomes 256x224 pixels. In the PAL
version of NES, upper and lower 8 pixels are not show, thus, the screen
becomes 256x240 pixels.
Pattern Table contains tile images in the following format:
Character Colors Contents of Pattern Table
...o.... 00010000 00010000 $10 +-> 00000000 $00
..O.O... 00202000 00000000 $00 | 00101000 $28
.0...0.. 03000300 01000100 $44 | 01000100 $44
O.....O. 20000020 00000000 $00 | 10000010 $82
ooooooo. -> 11111110 11111110 $FE | 00000000 $00
O.....O. 20000020 00000000 $00 | 10000010 $82
0.....0. 30000030 10000010 $82 | 10000010 $82
........ 00000000 00000000 $00 | 00000000 $00
+---------+
Note that only two bits for each pixel of a character are stored in the
Pattern Table. Other two are taken from the Attribute Table. Thus, the total
number of simultaneous colors on the NES screen is 16.
Each byte in the Attribute Table represents a 4x4 group of tiles on the
screen, which makes an 8x8 attribute table. Each 4x4 tile group is
subdivided into four 2x2 squares as follows:
(0,0) (1,0) 0| (2,0) (3,0) 1
(0,1) (1,1) | (2,1) (3,1)
--------------+----------------
(0,2) (1,2) 2| (2,2) (3,2) 3
(0,3) (1,3) | (2,3) (3,3)
The attribute byte contains upper two bits of the color number for each
2x2 square (the lower two bits are stored in the Pattern Table):
Bits Function Tiles
--------------------------------------------------------------
7,6 Upper color bits for square 3 (2,2),(3,2),(2,3),(3,3)
5,4 Upper color bits for square 2 (0,2),(1,2),(0,3),(1,3)
3,2 Upper color bits for square 1 (2,0),(3,0),(2,1),(3,1)
1,0 Upper color bits for square 0 (0,0),(1,0),(0,1),(1,1)
There are two 16-byte Palette Tables: the one at $3F00, used for the
picture, and another one at $3F10, containing the sprite palette. The
$3F00 and $3F10 locations in VRAM mirror each other (i.e. it is the same
memory cell) and define the background color of the picture.
There is only enough VRAM for 2 Name Tables and Attribute Tables. Two
others are going to be mirrors of the first two, i.e. exact copies of them.
Which pages are mirrored depends on the cartridge circuitry. With vertical
mirroring, tables 2 and 3 are the mirrors of pages 0 and 1 appropriately.
With horizontal mirroring, pages 1 and 3 are the mirrors of pages 0 and 2
appropriately.
PPU Memory Map
--------------------------------------- $4000
Empty
--------------------------------------- $3F20
Sprite Palette
--------------------------------------- $3F10
Image Palette
--------------------------------------- $3F00
Empty
--------------------------------------- $3000
Attribute Table 3
--------------------------------------- $2FC0
Name Table 3 (32x25 tiles)
--------------------------------------- $2C00
Attribute Table 2
--------------------------------------- $2BC0
Name Table 2 (32x25 tiles)
--------------------------------------- $2800
Attribute Table 1
--------------------------------------- $27C0
Name Table 1 (32x25 tiles)
--------------------------------------- $2400
Attribute Table 0
--------------------------------------- $23C0
Name Table 0 (32x25 tiles)
--------------------------------------- $2000
Pattern Table 1 (256x2x8, may be VROM)
--------------------------------------- $1000
Pattern Table 0 (256x2x8, may be VROM)
--------------------------------------- $0000
*************************** Hit/VBlank Bits ****************************
The VBlank flag is contained in the 7th bit of read-only location $2002.
It indicates whether PPU is scanning the screen, or generating a vertical
blanking impulse. It is set in the end of each frame (scanline 232), and
stays on until the next screen refresh starts from the scanline 8. The
program can reset this bit prematurely by reading from $2002.
The Hit flag is contained in the 6th bit of read-only location $2002.
It goes to 1 when PPU starts refreshing the first scanline where sprite#0
is located. For example, if sprite#0's Y coordinate is 34, the Hit flag
will be set in scanline 34. The Hit flag is reset when vertical blanking
impulse starts. The program can reset this bit prematurely by reading from
$2002.
******************************* Joysticks ******************************
There are two joysticks which are accessed via locations $4016 and
$4017. To reset joysticks, write first 1, then 0 into $4016. This way, you
will generate a strobe in the joysticks' circuitry. Then, read either from
$4016 (for joystick 0) or from $4017 (for joystick 1). Each read will
give you the status of a single button in the 0th bit (1 if pressed, 0
otherwise):
Read # | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8
-------+---------------------------------------------------------
Button | A B SELECT START UP DOWN LEFT RIGHT
Bit 1 indicates whether joystick is connected to the port or not. It is
set to 0 if the joystick is connected, 1 otherwise. Bits 6 and 7 of
$4016/$4017 also seem to have some significance, which is not clear yet.
The rest of bits is set to zeroes. Some games expect to get *exactly* $41
from $4016/$4017, if a button is pressed, which has to be taken into
account.
******************************* Sprites ********************************
There are 64 sprites, which can be either 8x8 or 8x16 pixels. Sprites
patterns are stored in on of the Pattern Tables in the PPU Memory. Sprite
attributes are stored in the Sprite Memory of 256 bytes, which is not a
part of neither CPU nor PPU address space. The entire contents of Sprite
Memory can be written via DMA transfer using location $4014 (see above).
Sprite Memory can also be accessed byte-by-byte by putting the starting
address into $2003 and then writing/reading $2004 (the address will be
incremented after each access). The format of sprite attributes is as
follows:
Sprite Attribute RAM:
| Sprite#0 | Sprite#1 | ... | Sprite#62 | Sprite#63 |
| |
+---- 4 bytes: 0: Y position of the left-top corner - 1
1: Sprite pattern number
2: Color and attributes:
bits 1,0: two upper bits of color
bits 2,3,4: Unknown (???)
bit 5: if 1, display sprite behind background
bit 6: if 1, flip sprite horizontally
bit 7: if 1, flip sprite vertically
3: X position of the left-top corner
Sprite patterns are fetched in the exactly same way as the tile patterns
for the background picture. The only difference occurs in the 16x8
sprites: the top half of the sprite is taken from the Sprite Pattern Table
set in the $2000 port, while the bottom part is taken from the same
location of the alternative Pattern Table. Therefore, if PPU is displaying
a 16x8 sprite, and the Sprite Pattern Table is set to $1000, the bottom
half of this sprite will be taken out of the $0000 Pattern Table, and vice
versa.
**************************** Memory Mappers ****************************
There are many diffirent memory mappers (aka MMCs) used in the NES
cartridges. They are used to switch ROM and VROM pages, and do some other
tasks. I will only describe the MMCs I'm familiar with. Any new
information on these and other MMCs is highly appreciated. The MMC
numbers are given in terms of the .NES file field "Mapper Type".
1. Mapper #1, Sequential
This is a sequential mapper used in many 256kB cartridges, such as
Bomberman 2, Destiny Of The Emperor, Megaman 2, Airwolf, Operation Wolf,
Castlevania 2, Silk Worm, Yoshi, Break Thru. It may be used to switch ROM
and VROM. If there is no VROM, 8kB of VRAM is present at $0000. In some
cases (mostly RPG games) such cartridges also contain battery-backed RAM
at $6000-$7FFF. The mapper has four 5bit registers, which are accessed via
following addresses:
Register Address Range Function
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 $8000-$9FFF Mirroring and VROM Page Size select
The 0th bit of this register selects the mirroring type (1 for
horizontal, 0 for vertical). The 4th bit selects the size of
VROM pages. When it is 1, two 4kB VROM pages can be switched
independently at $0000 and $1000. Otherwise, there is a single
8kB VROM page at $0000.
1 $A000-$BFFF VROM page select
This register sets either 8kB or 4kB VROM page at $0000,
depending on the page size selected via register 0.
2 $C000-$DFFF Second VROM page select for 4kB pages
If 4kB VROM pages selected via register 0, this register sets
the VROM page at $1000. Otherwise, its value is ignored.
3 $E000-$FFFF ROM page select
This register sets 16kB ROM page at $8000. The page at $C000 is
always hardwired to the last ROM page in the cartridge. The
cartridge starts with page 0 at $8000.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In order to write to a mapper register, write $80 into any of the
locations first. This will reset the mapper. Then write the value bit by
bit into an appropriate address range. For example, the following assembly
code will write $0C into register 3:
lda #$80 ; Resetting mapper
sta $8000 ;
lda #$0C ; This is our value
sta $EFD9 ; Writing bit 0
lsr a ; Shifting
sta $EFD9 ; Writing bit 1
lsr a ; Shifting
sta $EFD9 ; Writing bit 2
lsr a ; Shifting
sta $EFD9 ; Writing bit 3
lsr a ; Shifting
sta $EFD9 ; Writing bit 4
2. Mapper #2, Konami
This is a quite simple mapper used in most Konami (Life Force,
Castlevania, Metal Gear) and some other cartridges. It only switches the
ROM. All cartridges with this mapper have 8kB VRAM at $0000 (i.e. no
VROM). The mapper has a single 8bit register which can be written via
locations $8000-$FFFF. It contains a number of 16kB ROM page at $8000.
The page at $C000 is always hardwired to the last ROM page in the
cartridge. The cartridge starts with page 0 at $8000.
There is one more thing to note about this mapper: although any address
in the $8000-$FFFF range can be used to access the mapper, most games
prefer to use the address with the last digit equal to the value they
write out. Thus, $07 can be written to $9FF7, $05 to $9FF5, and so forth.
The reason for this is unknown.
3. Mapper #3, VROM Switch
Mapper #3, also known as a VROM switch, is used in the Goonies series
and many Japanese-only games. It only allows you to switch 8kB pages of
VROM. The ROM is either 16kB or 32kB and is not paged. The mapper has a
single 8bit register which can be written via locations $8000-$FFFF. It
contains a number of 8kB VROM page at $0000.
As with mapper #2, many games use locations with the last digit equal to
the value being written. I do not know why.
4. Mapper #4, 5202 Chip (???)
This mapper (or should I say 'an expansion chip'?) is used in many
recent cartridges, such as Batman Returns, Super Contra, Vindicators,
Silver Surfer, etc. It is an extremely complicated device, which is able
to generate its own interrupts via IRQ line, and has a set of commands to
switch ROM and VROM. VROM pages are 1kB, ROM pages appear to be 8kB. I do
not completely understand how this mapper works, so any information is
appreciated.
The chip is controlled via following locations:
Address Function
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
$8000 A command number (0-7) is written here. Also, write to this
register appears to reset the change made by a write into $E000.
$8001 An value for command is written here.
$A000 The 0th bit controls mirroring (1 = horizontal mirroring).
$A001 Same as $8001 (???)
$C000 Unknown
$C001 Unknown
$E000 The 5th bit appears to swap memory at $8000-$8FFF and
$A000-$AFFF, when set to 1.
$E001 Unknown
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In order to use the mapper, you should first write a command number
into $8000, and then a value (page number) into $8001. Following commands
exist:
Cmd Function
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
0 Select 2 consequent 1kB VROM pages at $0000. The 0th bit of a value
written into $8001 does not matter, i.e. 5 will always select pages
4 and 5.
1 Select 2 consequent 1kB VROM pages at $0800. The 0th bit of a value
written into $8001 does not matter, i.e. 5 will always select pages
4 and 5.
2 Select a 1kB VROM page at $1000.
3 Select a 1kB VROM page at $1400.
4 Select a 1kB VROM page at $1800.
5 Select a 1kB VROM page at $1C00.
6 Select a 8kB ROM page at $8000. The initial value seems to be 0.
7 Select a 8kB ROM page at $A000. The initial value seems to be 1.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Note that the ROM pages at $C000 and $E000 are hardwired to the last
pages of the ROM, and can not be switched (they can be swapped via
$E000 though).
5. Other mappers
There are several other mappers, some of them very sophisticated. iNES
partially supports them, but as this support either doesn't work
correctly, or the mappers are uncommon (such as 100-in-1 cartridge mapper,
I don't cover them here.
******************************** Sound *********************************
To be written.
---------------------
Marat Fayzullin
