CPU memory map

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Revision as of 22:15, 20 July 2012 by Tepples (talk | contribs) (Don't give the idea that the vectors are some separate area of memory, just data at the end of cart space)
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Addr Size Device
$0000 $0800 2KB internal RAM
$0800 $0800 Mirrors of $0000-$07FF
$1000 $0800
$1800 $0800
$2000 $0008 NES PPU registers
$2008 $1FF8 Mirrors of $2000 every 8 bytes
$4000 $0018 NES APU and I/O registers
$4018 $BFE8 Cartridge Space: PRG-ROM, PRG-RAM, and Mapper Registers (See Note)

Note: Most Common Boards address ROM and Save/Work RAM in this format, Especially in Common INES mappers:

  • $6000-$7FFF = Battery Backed Save or Work RAM
  • $8000-$FFF9 = Usual ROM, commonly with Mapper Registers (see MMC1 and UxROM for example)

The CPU expects three addresses called "vectors" in fixed places at the end of the cartridge space, like so:

  • $FFFA-$FFFB = NMI vector
  • $FFFC-$FFFD = Reset vector
  • $FFFE-$FFFF = IRQ/BRK vector

Any mapper that switches $E000-$FFF9 will switch $FFFA-$FFFF along with it. If a mapper doesn't fix $C000-$FFFF to the last bank or use some sort of reset detection, the vectors need to be stored in all banks.