NES Bundler

Transform your NES-game into a single executable targeting your favourite OS!

Did you make a NES-game but none of your friends own a Nintendo? Don't worry.
Put your ROM and configuration in NES Bundler and build for Mac, Windows or Linux.
What you get is a single executable with

• Simple UI for settings (Show and hide with ESC).
• Re-mappable Keyboard and Gamepad input (you bundle your default mappings).
• Save/Restore state (F1 = Save, F2 = Load).
• Netplay! (Optional feature, can be disabled if not wanted).

Bundling

To create a bundle you first need to configure it with your ROM and a build configuration.
After that you can either ship your game with the configuration inside the executable or next to it.

Next to it (the easy way)

• Put your configuration in a zip-file called bundle.zip
• Download the binary of your choice
• Run the executable next to the bundle!

Inside it (the not so easy way)

• Install Rust.
• Make sure your bundle configuration is in the config directory.
• Build with the static bundle-feature enabled cargo build --release --features static-bundle. Enable the netplay-feature for Netplay.

Limitations

• It's built on rusticnes-core so it's limited to what that can emulate (f.ex no PAL).
• Save/load state and thus netplay is currently working for mappers nrom, mmc1, mmc3, uxrom, axrom, bnrom, cnrom, gxrom and ines31.
  If you want to contribute, please implement save/load for a mapper over here.

Future stuff/ideas/bugs/todo

• Move this list to the issues feature in GitHub :)
• Implement save_state(...)/load_state(...) for all the mappers.
• Fullscreen mode (alt+enter is standard to toggle between full screen and windowed, on Windows)
  • Some way to quit without closing the window will be needed for fullscreen. Probably a button in the settings menu.
• Perhaps freeze the game while settings is open?
• BUG (windows): You have to press a key on the gamepad before it appears as an option in settings.
• A little toast at the start that says "Press ESC to change settings"
• Netplay
  • Save and restore session - save game state every 100th or so frame (when all peers have reached that 100th frame).
  • More control on who becomes P1 and P2 etc.
  • Make it possible to wait for peers to reconnect if disconnected.
• More customizable UI.
• A hosted bundling service where you can drop your config and get binaries?
• wasm?
• ...