Nintendo DMG-01 - Game Boy Console User manual

Sources by: Pan of Anthrox, GABY, Marat Fayzullin,

Pascal Felber, Paul Robson, Martin Korth, kOOPa, Bowser

Contents:

Assembly Language Commands, Timings and Opcodes, and

everything you always wanted to know about GB but were

afraid to ask.

THIS DOCUMENT IS PRINTED ON DIN A5 SIZE PAPER

(148mm x 210mm)!

Note: Game BoyTM, Game Boy PocketTM, Super Game BoyTM and Game

Boy ColorTM are registered trademarks of Nintendo CO., LTD.

Version: 1.01 by DP

Game BoyTM

CPU Manual

1. Foreword Game BoyTM CPU Manual

Table of Contents

1. Foreword...........................................4

2. Hardware specifications............................5

2.1. Forward:.......................................5

2.2. Terms..........................................5

2.3. Game Boy Specs.................................6

2.4. Processor......................................6

2.5. Memory Map.....................................8

2.5.1. General memory map.........................8

2.5.2. Echo of 8kB Internal RAM...................9

2.5.3. User I/O...................................9

2.5.4. Reserved Memory Locations.................10

2.6. Cartridge Types...............................13

2.7. Special modi..................................17

2.7.1. Power Up Sequence.........................17

2.7.2. Stop Mode.................................19

2.7.3. Low-Power Mode............................19

2.8. Video.........................................22

2.8.1. Tiles.....................................22

2.8.2. Sprites...................................25

2.8.3. Sprite RAM Bug............................27

2.9. Sound.........................................28

2.10. Timer........................................30

2.11. Serial I/O...................................31

2.12. Interrupts...................................32

2.12.1. Interrupt Procedure......................32

2.12.2. Interrupt Descriptions...................34

2.13. Special Registers............................35

2.13.1. I/O Registers............................35

Page 2V 1.01

Game BoyTM CPU Manual 1. Foreword

3. Game Boy command overview.........................61

3.1. Foreword......................................61

3.2. CPU Registers.................................61

3.2.1. Generally.................................61

3.2.2. Flag Register.............................62

3.2.3. Program Counter...........................63

3.2.4. Stack Pointer.............................63

3.3. Commands......................................65

3.3.1. 8-Bit Loads...............................65

3.3.2. 16-Bit Loads..............................76

3.3.3. 8-Bit ALU.................................80

3.3.4. 16-Bit Arithmetic.........................90

3.3.5. Miscellaneous.............................94

3.3.6. Rotates & Shifts..........................99

3.3.7. Bit Opcodes..............................108

3.3.8. Jumps....................................111

3.3.9. Calls....................................114

3.3.10. Restarts................................116

3.3.11. Returns.................................117

4. Super Game Boy commands..........................119

4.1. Foreword.....................................119

4.2. Palettes.....................................119

4.3. SGB Border...................................120

4.4. Main Action Window...........................121

4.5. Commands.....................................122

5. Appendix A.......................................134

5.1. Emulator Notes...............................134

5.2. Typical timing diagram.......................137

by DP Page 3

1. Foreword Game BoyTM CPU Manual

1. Foreword

This Document was designed to help you programming the

Game BoyTM Classic,Game BoyTM Pocket,Super Game BoyTM

and Game BoyTM Color (basics - you will need additional

documents for GBC specific programming). It was ment to

be a complete handbook to start right off coding for

the hardware. The documents consists of three major

parts.

The first is the 'GBSpec.txt' (also known as the Pan

Document) by Pan of Anthrox,Marat Fayzullin,Pascal

Felber,Paul Robson,Martin Korth,kOOPa. This will be

found in paragraph 1.

The second is a mixture of several documents from

'Game Boy Assembly Language Primer (GALP) V1.0'by GABY

(GAmeBoY). It contains opcodes, time duration and the

affected flags per ASM command and the. This can be

found in paragraph 2.

The third is a summary of specifications and commands

for Nintendo Super Game Boy speciffic programming by

kOOPa and Bowser. See paragraph 3.

Information on how to get your emulator proved

programs run on a real Game Boy can be found in the

Appendix (thanks to kOOPa). Also, a timing diagram of a

typical read and write operation on the classic GB bus

can be found here (thanks to Philippe Pouliquen).

On the last page a quick reference of ASM commands is

included.

Have fun!

Page 4V 1.01

Game BoyTM CPU Manual 2. Hardware specifications

2. Hardware specifications

2.1. Forward:

The following was typed up for informational purposes

regarding the inner workings on the hand-held game

machine known as Game Boy, manufactured and designed by

Nintendo Co., LTD. This info is presented to inform a

user on how their Game Boy works and what makes it

"tick". GameBoy is copyrighted by Nintendo Co., LTD.

Any reference to copyrighted material is not presented

for monetary gain, but for educational purposes and

higher learning.

2.2. Terms

GB = Original GameBoy (GameBoy Classic)

GBP = GameBoy Pocket/GameBoy Light

GBC = GameBoy Color

SGB = Super GameBoy

by DP Page 5

2.3. Game Boy Specs Game BoyTM CPU Manual

2.3. Game Boy Specs

•CPU: 8-bit (Similar to the Z80 processor.)

•Main RAM: 8K Byte

•Video RAM: 8K Byte

•Screen Size 2.6"

•Resolution: 160x144 (20x18 tiles)

•Max # of sprites: 40

•Max # sprites/line: 10

•Max sprite size: 8x16

•Min sprite size: 8x8

•Clock Speed: 4.194304 MHz

(4.295454 SGB, 4.194/8.388MHz GBC)

•Horiz Sync: 9198 KHz (9420 KHz for SGB)

•Vert Sync: 59.73 Hz (61.17 Hz for SGB)

•Sound: 4 channels with stereo sound

•Power: DC6V 0.7W (DC3V 0.7W for GB Pocket)

Nintendo documents describe the CPU & instructions

speed in machine cycles while this document describes

them in clock cycles. Here is the translation:

1 machine cycle = 4 clock cycles

GB CPU Speed NOP Instruction

Machine Cycles 1.05MHz 1 cycle

Clock Cycles 4.19MHz 4 cycles

2.4. Processor

The GameBoy uses a computer chip similar to an Intel

8080. It contains all of the instructions of an 8080

except there are no exchange instructions. In many

ways the processor is more similar to the Zilog Z80

processor. Compared to the Z80, some instructions

Page 6V 1.01

Game BoyTM CPU Manual 2.4. Processor

have been added and some have been taken away.

The following are added instructions:

ADD SP,nn ;nn = signed byte

LDI (HL),A ;Write A to (HL) and increment HL

LDD (HL),A ;Write A to (HL) and decrement HL

LDI A,(HL) ;Write (HL) to A and increment HL

LDD A,(HL) ;Write (HL) to A and decrement HL

LD A,($FF00+nn)

LD A,($FF00+C)

LD ($FF00+nn),A

LD ($FF00+C),A

LD (nnnn),SP

LD HL,SP+nn ;nn = signed byte

STOP ;Stop processor & screen until

button press

SWAP r ;Swap high & low nibbles of r

The following instructions have been removed:

Any command that uses the IX or IY registers.

All IN/OUT instructions.

All exchange instructions.

All commands prefixed by ED (except remapped RETI).

All conditional jumps/calls/rets on parity/overflow

and sign flag.

The following instructions have different opcodes:

LD A,[nnnn]

LD [nnnn],A

RETI

by DP Page 7

2.5. Memory Map Game BoyTM CPU Manual

2.5. Memory Map

2.5.1. General memory map

Interrupt Enable Register

--------------------------- FFFF

Internal RAM

--------------------------- FF80

Empty but unusable for I/O

--------------------------- FF4C

I/O ports

--------------------------- FF00

Empty but unusable for I/O

--------------------------- FEA0

Sprite Attrib Memory (OAM)

--------------------------- FE00

Echo of 8kB Internal RAM

--------------------------- E000

8kB Internal RAM

--------------------------- C000

8kB switchable RAM bank

--------------------------- A000

8kB Video RAM

--------------------------- 8000 --

16kB switchable ROM bank |

--------------------------- 4000 |= 32kB Cartrigbe

16kB ROM bank #0 |

--------------------------- 0000 --

* NOTE: b = bit, B = byte

Page 8V 1.01

Game BoyTM CPU Manual 2.5.2. Echo of 8kB Internal RAM

2.5.2. Echo of 8kB Internal RAM

The addresses E000-FE00 appear to access the internal

RAM the same as C000-DE00. (i.e. If you write a byte to

address E000 it will appear at C000 and E000.

Similarly, writing a byte to C000 will appear at C000

and E000.)

2.5.3. User I/O

There are no empty spaces in the memory map for

implementing input ports except the switchable RAM bank

area (not an option on the Super Smart Card since it's

RAM bank is always enabled). An output only port may be

implemented anywhere between A000-FDFF. If implemented

in a RAM area care should be taken to use an area of

RAM not used for anything else. (FE00 and above can't

be used because the CPU doesn't generate an external

/WR for these locations.)

If you have a cart with an MBC1, a ROM 4Mbit or

smaller, and a RAM 8Kbyte or smaller (or no RAM) then

you can use pins 6 & 7 of the MBC1 for 2 digital output

pins for whatever purpose you wish. To use them you

must first put the MBC1 into 4MbitROM/32KbyteRAM mode

by writing 01 to 6000. The two least significant bits

you write to 4000 will then be output to these pins.

by DP Page 9

2.5.4. Reserved Memory Locations Game BoyTM CPU Manual

2.5.4. Reserved Memory Locations

0000 Restart $00 Address

(RST $00 calls this address.)

0008 Restart $08 Address

(RST $08 calls this address.)

0010 Restart $10 Address

(RST $10 calls this address.)

0018 Restart $18 Address

(RST $18 calls this address.)

0020 Restart $20 Address

(RST $20 calls this address.)

0028 Restart $28 Address

(RST $28 calls this address.)

0030 Restart $30 Address

(RST $30 calls this address.)

0038 Restart $38 Address

(RST $38 calls this address.)

0040 Vertical Blank Interrupt Start Address

0048 LCDC Status Interrupt Start Address

0050 Timer Overflow Interrupt Start Address

0058 Serial Transfer Completion Interrupt

Start Address

0060 High-to-Low of P10-P13 Interrupt

Start Address

An internal information area is located at 0100-014F in

each cartridge. It contains the following values:

0100-0103 This is the begin code execution point in a

cart. Usually there is a NOP and a JP

instruction here but not always.

Page 10 V 1.01

This manual suits for next models

Table of contents

Other Nintendo Game Console manuals

Nintendo

Nintendo Wii User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Wii U User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Pokewalker User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo 2DS User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Switch Operating manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Wii RVL-AUS-S User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Switch User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Switch User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Game Boy Link Cable Owner's manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Wii U Operating manual

Nintendo

Nintendo TETRIS User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Nintendo Switch Joy-Con HAC 001 Manual

Nintendo

Nintendo 3DS XL User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Game Boy Advance Manual

Nintendo

Nintendo EDEV HAT-002 Parts list manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Switch User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo CLASSIC MINI User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo 2DS User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo 3DS User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Wii U User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo 3DS XL User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo CTRSKAAA User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo 3DS User manual

Nintendo

Nintendo Game Boy Advance User manual

Popular Game Console manuals by other brands

Atari

Atari 2600 quick start guide

PLAYNETIC

PLAYNETIC GameNetic user manual

Sony

Sony SCPH-50008 instruction manual

Saitek

Saitek Alchemist Plus quick start

Sears

Sears Tele-Games 637.99743 owner's manual

AYANEO

AYANEO 2 user manual

Sony

Sony PlayStation 3 (Uncharted: Drake's Fortune Limited Edition... quick reference

Mattel

Mattel My Meebas N2214 instructions

Entex

Entex PacMan2 user manual

Sega

Sega 32X instruction manual

Saitek

Saitek Cougar quick start

View-Master

View-Master Interactive Vision Installing and operating instructions

Sony

Sony SCPH-35003 GT instruction manual

Sony

Sony PSP go instruction manual

Sony

Sony PSVITA quick start guide

Excalibur

Excalibur ABC Wide 333 operating manual

Microsoft

Microsoft XBOX Product and Regulatory Guide

LEXIBOOK

LEXIBOOK JL2700 instruction manual