Game Boy Coding Adventure

by Maximilien Dagois

Fall 2025, 456 pp.

ISBN-13:

9781718503908

The Game Boy is an iconic handheld console and a remarkable piece of gaming history familiar to people around the world. Game Boy Coding Adventure uses this classic technology to teach assembly language to beginners who have perhaps a passing familiarity with programming but no experience with assembly or computer science.

By teaching how the assembly language interacts with the Game Boy’s relatively simple hardware, this book takes readers on a fun, hands-on exploration of how to manipulate computer systems through the power of programming. This book imparts a strong understanding of the relationship between hardware and software and the programming techniques to properly leverage that connection.

Author Bio

Maximilien Dagois has programmed games for more than 15 years. He worked on titles like Final Fantasy XIV, Dragon Quest Builders and Pokémon Ranger and has shipped a dozen games on PC, mobile, Nintendo DS, PS3, PS Vita, PS4 and Stadia.

Maximilien now works as an engineer at Google. He lives with his wife and two kids in Tokyo, and you are most likely to find him playing on a good old gaming system.

Table of contents

Foreword
Introduction

Part I: Getting Started
Chapter 1: Game Boy Fundamentals
Chapter 2: Assembly Language
Chapter 3: Game Boy Toolchain
Chapter 4: Introducing the Sample Template

Part II: Game Boy Programming Essentials
Chapter 5: Graphics Overview
Chapter 6: Graphics Assets Management
Chapter 7: High-Level Features
Chapter 8: Joypad
Chapter 9: Audio

Part III: Advanced Game Boy Programming
Chapter 10: Counter and Timer
Chapter 11: Serial Communication
Chapter 12: Advanced Graphics
Chapter 13: Memory Bank Controller
Chapter 14: Interrupts
Chapter 15: Programming and Debugging Tricks

Part IV: Beyond the Game Boy
Chapter 16: Game Boy Color
Chapter 17: Game Boy Printer
Chapter 18: Super Game Boy
Chapter 19: Going Further

Appendix A: Instructions
Appendix B: Opcodes
Index

The chapters in red are included in this Early Access PDF.