Morphcat Games explains how they fit Micro Mages, a full-featured NES game, into 40 kilobytes. It covers compression of sprites and level layouts and other space-saving tricks.
Why Hacker News points people here: HN points to it whenever discussion turns to how old games were so small, as a clear tour of 8-bit optimization and creative work under hardware limits.
“Here is my favorite video about 8-bit era optimisations. Makes you appreciate games from this era even more.”HN comment, 2023
“I definitely recommend checking this out as they go over interesting compression methods and more general thought processes.”
Morphcat explains compression methods and thought process behind a 40KB NES game
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I love this video: this video As part of a Kickerstarter campaign, Morphcat Games made this video explaining how they eked out a really incredible game with only 40 Kb (a lot like Super Mario Bros 2). I definitely recommend checking this out as they go over interesting compression methods and more general thought processes.
Strongly recommendsarnaudsmNov 2023
“Here is my favorite video about 8-bit era optimisations. Makes you appreciate games from this era even more.”
8-bit era optimisation tricks that deepen appreciation of old games
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Here is my favorite video about 8-bit era optimisations. Makes you appreciate games from this era even more. This arcane magic survived in the demoscene to this day. this video
RecommendsMrFoofOct 2019
“take a look at a how a recently released NES game (Micro Mages) managed it.”
How Micro Mages crammed a full NES game into 40KB
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Very much agree with the parent. If you want a better idea on how you can cram everything into 40KB — using every trick in the book, including ones not considered 30+ years ago — take a look at a how a recently released NES game (Micro Mages) managed it. Their primary design constrain was that they restricted themselves to 40KB, despite wanting to do far more than the games that were done in 40KB back in the 80s. this video
RecommendsaleccoDec 2019
“How we fit a NES game in 40KiB”
Listed among best talks of 2019
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ZFS for newbies link main ideas behind ZFS and why it blows out the competition in many scenarios Making C Less Dangerous in the Linux Kernel link NUMA optimizations in the FreeBSD stack (Netflix) link How we fit a NES game in 40KiB this video
RecommendsTimpyOct 2020
“is an interesting illustration of just how small these games are.”
Illustrates how small old games really are
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I'm absolutely blown away by some of the games they managed to make in under 13kb. This video "How we fit an NES game into 40 Kilobytes" is an interesting illustration of just how small these games are. this video
RecommendsMrFoofNov 2023
“The goal with Micro Mages was to get a full-featured game into the same footprint of the original”
Summary of fitting Micro Mages into a 40KB ROM
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A similarly interesting story is regarding the NES homebrew game, Micro Mages. The goal with Micro Mages was to get a full-featured game into the same footprint of the original, "Black Box" NES releases for the North American launch, where a fair number of games fit in 40KB of ROM or less. Video, but it's a good summary: this video Morphcat has done other great NES games as well, such as Space Gulls and Bobl.
Recommendsthrowawayk7hAug 2024
“there's a great video for this 40 kb nes game, micro mages”
Video about the 40KB NES game Micro Mages
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Incredible. I love these stories of kb games. For those interested, there's a great video for this 40 kb nes game, micro mages: this video
Cites itnineteen999Aug 2020
“I remember seeing this video on that about the clever compression tricks used to cram the sprites and map layouts into 40K.”
Compression tricks for sprites and map layouts in 40K
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I remember seeing this video on that about the clever compression tricks used to cram the sprites and map layouts into 40K. this video
Cites itlatexrJun 2023
“there are games created in the 2000s which work on the NES.”
Example of creativity under hardware limits
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Let’s take pixel art on console gaming as an example. In the early days, games used pixel graphics due to technical constraints. Artists were limited in what they could achieve and had to get creative within the limitations to push the software and hardware to its limits in pursuit of a specific vision. Everyone had the same set of restrictions but thanks to creative technical decisions some rose above as exceptional. There is a particular kind of enjoyment in creating a lot with very little. If your digital art can be hundreds of GBs in size, your 3D rendition of the Sistine Chapel will be judged by its faithfulness; but if you’re only allowed a handful of KBs and everyone believes any kind of 3D graphics are impossible at that size, your dinky little rotating cube becomes an impressive technological feat. Context matters. A tractor pulling a plane is not impressive; a man pulling a plane is. Most people could do the former but not the latter. Furthermore, not all limitations are equally interesting. Nostalgia and popularity also play a role. Today, pixel graphics are an aesthetic choice. Developers and artist can go beyond what was possible when they were a necessity and create something entirely new. Yet some still derive enjoyment and pride from following the limitations of yore to the letter: there are games created in the 2000s which work on the NES. linkthis video
Cites ithollow-moeJul 2026
“Love to see new stuff on ancient platforms.”
Micro Mages as new software on ancient hardware
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Love to see new stuff on ancient platforms. Surprised I couldn't find a post about Micro Mages on HN, only comments. this video Spoiler, when the time will come you'll never see something like this on the play station 4.
