Writing Emulators For Fun And Self Loathing

Rebecca Martin

NI Dev Conf 2020

Introductions

• Parrot, software engineer at Flexera
• Did I say I really like parrots?
• Did I also say that I stan Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and also you should stan as well?
• stan twice and loona ;)
• In all seriousness...
• Send all hatemail, flames to @laches1sm on Twitter and Github

What we're going to talk about

• What is emulation, exactly?
• Why do we emulate?
• Brief overview of Assembly and Game Boy/DMG processor
• How to start building your own emulator

What is emulation?

• Bascially, the process which a computer can emulate another processor or system, or behave like it
• Emulators you may have heard of before:
  • Visual Boy Advance (GB/GBA -> Windows/MacOS/Linux)
  • Pizza Boy (GB/GBA -> Android)
  • Dolphin (GameCube -> Windows/MacOSLinux)
  • DOSBox (DOS -> Windows/MacOS/Linux)
  • ZSNES (SNES/Super Famicom -> Windows/MacOS/Linux)
• Can also be used for simulating processors, terminals... etc

Why emulate in the first place?

• Preservation - older hardware is becoming harder to find in a working condition
• Ease of access - fan translations, ROM hacks...

Why emulate in the first place?

• Preservation - older hardware is becoming harder to find in a working condition
• Ease of access - fan translations, ROM hacks...