(Feel free to move this to the appropriate section)

Hey guys, I was doing a bit of research recently, on how the old classics on the Atari 2600, NES, etc. were made. It turns out they are made using 6502 assembly language. Ever since I've found this discovery, I wanted to make my own homebrew game, starting with Atari.

Doing a bit more research into 6502 assembly and Atari itself, it seems its programming is based around drawing sprites with scanlines and other crap. I've found a couple of tutorials on how to program, but to me, they are so complicated (for example Atari 2600 101, it looked like a promising set of tutorials, but I didn't know what the hell he was on about) they aren't entirely for beginners, who are totally new to this language like me. I've found a series of tutorials that use BASIC programming, but because of the limited sprite capability I wanted to do it the proper, old fashioned way.

So basically, what I'm asking for is: does anyone know where I can find appropriate resources and tutorials on 6502 programming itself, and specifically for Atari 2600 games itself. Most tutorials I've found mention of a DASM assembler, but I can't seem to find one.

Yes, I have used Google many times to help me out, but it shows the most unrelated crap.

I have a homebrew game planned, but I'm not sure it will ever see the light of day.

Side Note:
For those curious how I'm getting on with my NES Top Loader
Well, my NES Top Loader has came and it's in very good condition actually. It came with two controllers, a zapper, Super Mario Bros./Duck Hunt, the RF Switch Box and the huge fat-ass AC adapter.

Sadly, I am awaiting on a Step-down Voltage Converter, so I can't say whether it works or not. Hopefully, fingers crossed, it will work. I had to get a Coaxial Cable FEMALE so the damn RF thing will go into my TV (luckily it supports it). For a little coax cable, it cost me £2.39! And they did sell Step-downs in Maplin, but it costed £25 for a 45VA one (I got mine brand new off Amazon for £7, exactly the same).

When I do get a chance to test it, I will report my findings.

So, you do realize that, if you plan on writing a game in 6502 assembly that code will only run on a 6502 architecture or emulator, right? This is a really bad idea for a beginning programmer, way too esoteric and you really need to understand a lot of low level stuff. If you want to do it for fun, fine, just realize that you will probably be discouraged very quickly.

As for 6502 resources, the architecture is fully documented, you just need a compiler. Here is a good site witrh a lot of 6502 related resources: http://www.6502.org/

This isn't Java; you are unlikely to find as many hand-holding resources as you would for a mainstream language/architecture. Like I said, this is not really a project for a beginner, but if you are at least an intermediate level programmer then the documentation and development tools should really be all you need.

Well, to be honest I'm not much of a programmer. I agree with your points there; I couldn't understand any of the tutorials that were around, so maybe, just for a while, until I get the hang of programming, I'll come back to this... For now, I'll just stick with BASIC. To my knowledge, you can still make 2600 games with BASIC, so... I'll give it a try. I've found a 1977 book that teaches you BASIC, but it 'talks' to you like you're an idiot. Back in the day, it probably wouldn't be, since computers was a new thing at the time.

But, I will still take a look at these resources. I guess I'll continue my studies on C++. Thanks for the advice.