Ah, Family Basic! Thank you for retroactively adding this to the playlist. Yes, BASIC is a bit clunky and limited and is often a bit of a waste of memory, but without it I think many of us wouldn't have bothered learning to code. It's the "kiddy pool," and it got me started. I began on the C64 as well, which has a very robust version of BASIC, but once I reached the limits of what I could do with it, I moved on to other languages. I got started late, in 1993/94, but I still had my first non-fast food jobs making internet games. I owe that to BASIC.
Absolutely fascinating. Something about the old days of Nintendo when they just threw everything at the wall and experimented with the most bizarre add ons for their consoles I just find extremely interesting, specially when its for something as old and rudimentary as the Famicom
Thanks for the video! I don't think there was a C compiler for Famicom or most other home computers at the time. It was either Basic or Assembly for most home computers of that era. Basic at the time was what Python could be used for today, a language a 7 yo could pick up and become hooked up on programming. And it looks like Nintendo did a pretty cool job with that. :)
@@RndStranger Right. I know there are some C compilers that target 6502. Although I'm unaware of any C compiler that would run on a 6502 itself... usually it's the much beefier PC that does the compilation part (i.e. acts as the "host" system, with 6502 being the "target" for the resulting binary program). 2..8Kb of RAM on Famicom/NES seems like an incredibly strict limitation for a C compiler to run on that platform without resorting to cross compilation.
Replying very late to say that Koei's NES strategy games were actually written in C, but targeting a VM instead of the 6502 directly. This allowed them to port the same game to many platforms without having to totally rewrite it every time.
It was Rock 'n Rouge, a sample program from the manual and it was a hit song in early 1984. Including it in the program code was a bit of a get. You can hear the non-8-bit version at ruclips.net/video/KT0qwtvIZN0/видео.html
Rad, I was coming to the comments to ask this! Any idea who wrote the program? It absolutely sounds like Hip Tanaka’s earliest work, but that’s probably mostly the first-wave famicom sound driver.
@@SovrinnK The book doesn't give an author except the original song writer. I'm not going to say it can't be Tanaka, but it was probably the uncredited person who was writing music for Hudson at the time. Unfortunately, not a lot is known about those very early days; the people who are known for working at Hudson started with the 1985 releases...
@@RndStranger Oh, right, Hudson. I can definitely hear a bit of the “stank” from the vintage of Nuts & Milk and Lode Runner. Interesting that a pop song that was essentially brand new was included in the manual! It’s hard to imagine RPG Maker 2022 launching with a kit to make a Dua Lipa chip tune in the code. It was even more unusual in the early 80s!
Count me in as a kid who learned Basic (in middle school) and didn't get anything more advanced until highschool (when it became Pascal and then finally C)
yeah I remember grade school learning to use the Apple II computers and also learned a bit about programming in BASIC. but I certainly would've loved nintendo's take on it! also I'd believe it if Family Basic had a huge community of indie developers (I know I've seen a lot of folks still developing stuff for MSX) so that had to have been quite the scene back then.
I have a copy of this, but I don't have any of the material(books, etc) for it. I only have the box, cartridge and Family Keyboard… I wish it was a way to get a copy of Merlin 8(Apple ][) or something in a chip form to replace HuBASIC with an assembler or something… but I'm not good enough to actually do it myself…
This is the sort of high-quality, obscure content that I signed up for. This project just keeps on giving!
Ah, Family Basic! Thank you for retroactively adding this to the playlist. Yes, BASIC is a bit clunky and limited and is often a bit of a waste of memory, but without it I think many of us wouldn't have bothered learning to code. It's the "kiddy pool," and it got me started. I began on the C64 as well, which has a very robust version of BASIC, but once I reached the limits of what I could do with it, I moved on to other languages. I got started late, in 1993/94, but I still had my first non-fast food jobs making internet games. I owe that to BASIC.
Absolutely fascinating. Something about the old days of Nintendo when they just threw everything at the wall and experimented with the most bizarre add ons for their consoles I just find extremely interesting, specially when its for something as old and rudimentary as the Famicom
Thanks for the video! I don't think there was a C compiler for Famicom or most other home computers at the time. It was either Basic or Assembly for most home computers of that era. Basic at the time was what Python could be used for today, a language a 7 yo could pick up and become hooked up on programming.
And it looks like Nintendo did a pretty cool job with that. :)
I wouldn't be shocked if someone wrote a 6502a C compiler by 1991, but everyone developing before 1986 was definitely coding in assembly.
@@RndStranger Right. I know there are some C compilers that target 6502. Although I'm unaware of any C compiler that would run on a 6502 itself... usually it's the much beefier PC that does the compilation part (i.e. acts as the "host" system, with 6502 being the "target" for the resulting binary program). 2..8Kb of RAM on Famicom/NES seems like an incredibly strict limitation for a C compiler to run on that platform without resorting to cross compilation.
Replying very late to say that Koei's NES strategy games were actually written in C, but targeting a VM instead of the 6502 directly. This allowed them to port the same game to many platforms without having to totally rewrite it every time.
Don't forget Pascal! It had it's own issues, but at least it was structured.
all right! once you're finished with Famidaily, I'm pumped to play your Family Basic demake of Minecraft!
oh yeah... great little tune at the end there. Thanks for that!
It was Rock 'n Rouge, a sample program from the manual and it was a hit song in early 1984. Including it in the program code was a bit of a get.
You can hear the non-8-bit version at ruclips.net/video/KT0qwtvIZN0/видео.html
Rad, I was coming to the comments to ask this! Any idea who wrote the program? It absolutely sounds like Hip Tanaka’s earliest work, but that’s probably mostly the first-wave famicom sound driver.
@@SovrinnK The book doesn't give an author except the original song writer. I'm not going to say it can't be Tanaka, but it was probably the uncredited person who was writing music for Hudson at the time. Unfortunately, not a lot is known about those very early days; the people who are known for working at Hudson started with the 1985 releases...
@@RndStranger Thank you.
@@RndStranger Oh, right, Hudson. I can definitely hear a bit of the “stank” from the vintage of Nuts & Milk and Lode Runner.
Interesting that a pop song that was essentially brand new was included in the manual! It’s hard to imagine RPG Maker 2022 launching with a kit to make a Dua Lipa chip tune in the code. It was even more unusual in the early 80s!
Count me in as a kid who learned Basic (in middle school) and didn't get anything more advanced until highschool (when it became Pascal and then finally C)
yeah I remember grade school learning to use the Apple II computers and also learned a bit about programming in BASIC. but I certainly would've loved nintendo's take on it! also I'd believe it if Family Basic had a huge community of indie developers (I know I've seen a lot of folks still developing stuff for MSX) so that had to have been quite the scene back then.
It's pretty wild there were a few cassette game releases for Famicom. I had no idea.
I have a copy of this, but I don't have any of the material(books, etc) for it. I only have the box, cartridge and Family Keyboard… I wish it was a way to get a copy of Merlin 8(Apple ][) or something in a chip form to replace HuBASIC with an assembler or something… but I'm not good enough to actually do it myself…
FYI hu basic was THE basic for japan pcs