# OneLoneCoder/olcNES

NES Emulator, and Tutorial Video Code

Repository: https://github.com/OneLoneCoder/olcNES
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/olcnes
Language: C++
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-01-09T10:17:34+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2566, "days_push": 967, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1538, forks 243 (observed 2026-08-28T04:05:00.303356+00:00)

## What it is
olcNES is a Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) emulator written in C++ by OneLoneCoder, built as companion code for a tutorial video series. It implements the NES hardware including the 6502 CPU, PPU, and cartridge mappers.

## Use cases
- emulate NES games on my computer
- learn how an emulator works internally
- study 6502 CPU and PPU emulation in C++
- follow a tutorial building an NES emulator from scratch
- run classic NES ROMs

## When to choose
- you want readable, educational emulator source code
- you're learning low-level emulation concepts like CPU/PPU timing and memory mapping
- you want a compact C++ NES emulator to hack on

## When to avoid
- you need a production-grade, high-accuracy NES emulator for serious play
- you need a license beyond the restrictive OLC-3 for commercial use
- you need active development or community support

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: simulation, graphics
- domain: gaming-tools, education, tutorials
- platform: cross-platform, cpp
- tags: nes-emulator, emulation, 6502, tutorial-code, retro-gaming

## Member repositories
- OneLoneCoder/olcNES (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:00.303356+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:30:56.177793+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/OneLoneCoder/olcNES (fetched 2026-08-28T04:05:00.303356+00:00, sha a4c79fe029a7)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.