Main page thing on Zorchenhimer.com

Main page thing on Zorchenhimer.com https://zorchenhimer.com/ Recent content in Main page thing on Zorchenhimer.com Hugo en-us © 2023 Zorchenhimer Sat, 13 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000 Software Overview https://zorchenhimer.com/studybox/software/ Tue, 23 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/studybox/software/ StudyBox software details Enjoy English - Power Trial Hearing Test https://zorchenhimer.com/studybox/tapes/enjoy-english-hearing/ Sat, 13 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/studybox/tapes/enjoy-english-hearing/ <p>We’ve only got two tapes here, but based on the titles of these two tapes we can presume that there are at least twelve tapes in this set.</p> <p>The two tapes we have are titled:</p> <ul> <li>エンジョイEnglish ヒアリングテープイングリッシュパワートライアル06号</li> <li>エンジョイEnglish ヒアリングテープイングリッシュパワートライアル12号</li> </ul> <p>The structure of these tapes are very different than that of the main Enjoy English lessons. Instead of a collection of scenes, interactive puzzles, and quizzes, these tapes are simply a short story being told. Each tape is broken up into scenes. Each scene is played in order from start to finish. There is a pause after each scene where the user must hit a button to continue.</p> Famicom Datach Joint Rom system https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/datach/ Thu, 26 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/datach/ <p>The Datach card system thing.</p> <p><a href="https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/datach/cards/">Cards</a></p> Famicom Oeka Kids Tablet https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/oeka-kids-tablet/ Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/oeka-kids-tablet/ <p>The Oeka Kids Tablet is rather large drawing tablet accessory for the Famicom.</p> Xerox's Proprietary Font Format https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/xerox-fonts/ Sat, 20 Jan 2024 07:15:00 -0400 https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/xerox-fonts/ <p>A dive into Xerox’s 9700 and 5Word FNT font formats.</p> Hori Track https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/hori-track/ Sat, 12 Aug 2023 19:40:00 -0400 https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/hori-track/ <p>The Hori Track is a trackball controller for the Famicom.</p> Enjoy English https://zorchenhimer.com/studybox/tapes/enjoy-english/ Tue, 23 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/studybox/tapes/enjoy-english/ StudyBox Enjoy English Tapes Tape Format https://zorchenhimer.com/studybox/tape-format/ Tue, 23 May 2023 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/studybox/tape-format/ Studybox Tape Format Family Trainer Mat https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/family-trainer/ Sun, 21 May 2023 10:48:44 -0400 https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/family-trainer/ <p>I acquired a Family Trainer mat a little while back and figured I’d share my findings.</p> Brainfuck https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/brainfuck/ Sat, 20 May 2023 10:48:44 -0400 https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/brainfuck/ <p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brainfuck">Brainfuck</a> is an esoteric programming language from 1993.</p> Animated Background https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/animated-background/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/animated-background/ <p>This ROM is a demonstration of an animated background that was originally apart of another game rom.</p> <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/animated-bg.gif" alt="animation"></p> <p>This ROM uses CHR RAM and some timed swapping of CHR banks to animate the background. The animation frames were created with Gimp and Aseprite and were designed to loop and tile seamlessly. The main animation is eight tiles high and eight tiles wide, or 64x64 pixels.</p> <p>A “poor-man’s frame buffer” is utilized for the animation. Each frame one row of eight tiles are written to CHR RAM. Once eight rows have been written, the currently used background pattern table is swapped and writing rows begins on the opposite pattern table. This whole process can be accomplished with CHR ROM and 1k banks, foregoing the poor-man’s frame buffer, but the original ROM was already using CHR RAM for other purposes.</p> DVD Screensaver https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/dvd-screensaver/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/dvd-screensaver/ <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/dvd.gif" alt="dvd animation"></p> <p>I think this can actually hit the corner. I haven’t seen it do that though.</p> Famicom Brainfuck https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/brainfuck/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/brainfuck/ <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/bf-1.png" alt="bf main menu"></p> <p>This is a fully functional Brainfuck interpreter <em>and</em> compiler. The Famicom Keyboard is required to use this ROM.</p> <p>There are a few example programs included with the ROM. The first is a Hello World program that just prints out that text. The second is an echo program that will echo back what is typed. This second program was used to debug and verify the engine and keyboard.</p> Keytest https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/keytest/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/keytest/ <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/keytest-0.png" alt="menu"></p> <p>This is a utility ROM that I wrote to figure out how to read the Famicom Keyboard. I also learned the specifics of the Family Trainer mat and provided some new details for the community. I’ve got more details on the Family Trainer in its <a href="https://zorchenhimer.com/posts/family-trainer/">own post</a>.</p> <p>So far, I only have a few peripherals implemented, but I do plan on getting a few more in there.</p> <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/keytest-2.png" alt="controllers"></p> <p>The standard controller test looks for the Famicom’s built-in controllers, famicom expansion controllers, as well as the NES standard controlers and controllers plugged into a Four Score.</p> Parallax https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/parallax/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/parallax/ <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/parallax.gif" alt="animation"></p> <p>This is a parallax demo using MMC3’s IRQ scanline counter and some cycle counting. The IRQ counter is the boundary between the clouds and the light blue mountains. After that triggers and updates scroll values, another IRQ is setup for the second split.</p> <p>The first boundary uses some sprites overlap some mountain tops across the first boundary. The second boundary only leaves about a scanline between the two without any overlap.</p> Platforming https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/platforming/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/platforming/ <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/platforming_000.png" alt="platforming demo"></p> <p>This is a simple little ROM that demonstrates some physics and collision logic that you might find in a standard side-scrolling game.</p> Pooh https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/pooh/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/pooh/ <p>This ROM was an exercise in CHR tile management that utilizes a <a href="http://localhost:1313/projects/go-nes/">Golang library</a> that I’ve also written.</p> <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/pooh-0.png" alt="pooh-0.png"></p> <p>The text on both of these screens is configurable at build-time.</p> <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/pooh-1.png" alt="pooh-1.png"></p> <p>Pressing A will swap between the two screens, while pressing Start will toggle the screen on and off.</p> Snek https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/snek/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/snek/ <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/snek_001.png" alt="snek_001"></p> <p>After writing the <a href="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/animated-background/">animated background</a> demo with a rudimentary snake, I wanted to write a more proper snake implementation. It’s not perfect, but it’s good enough. I figure it’s about 80% complete, and that last 20% is all polish that would be a lot more work than I’m willing to put into it.</p> Stratagem Hero https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/hero/ Mon, 01 Jan 0001 00:00:00 +0000 https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/hero/ <p><img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/stratagem-hero_001.png" alt="stratagem-hero_001"> <img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/stratagem-hero_002.png" alt="stratagem-hero_002"> <img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/stratagem-hero_003.png" alt="stratagem-hero_003"> <img src="https://zorchenhimer.com/nes/img/stratagem-hero_004.png" alt="stratagem-hero_004"></p> <p>I made a demake of the Stratagem Hero minigame from Helldivers 2!</p> <p>This ROM uses the MMC5 mapper. This was my first dive into some of the MMC5’s more advanced features like the extended attribute table. The game uses the same scoring and difficulties as the minigame in Helldivers 2. The only things missing are the themed rounds and some music.</p>