Chapter 2. The Gameboy as a Target

Table of Contents

8 bits + 6 registers + C = tricky

Size of variables

Avoiding Promotion

Using global variables

Other

8 bits + 6 registers + C = tricky

The Gameboy is not an ideal target for C code due to a combination of being eight bit, having a small register set (pity those who have the 6502 as a target...), no indexed addressing mode and no hardware multiplication or division. The processor being eight bit is the biggest limitation as most modern C assumes that an int is at least 16 bits - see later.

This section is on the methods used to get around or avoid the limitations of the processor which boils down to ways of staying within eight bits.