Case study

Kaboom!: an annotated Atari 2600 disassembly

A labeled and commented 6502 assembly listing reconstructs Kaboom!, Activision's 1981 paddle game for the Atari 2600, as a 2K ROM source on the MiniDig disassembly page. Assembler switches select NTSC or PAL timing and colors and choose between the original back-and-forth Mad Bomber movement and a smooth variant. Labeled constants cover paddle limits, bomb-group sizes and the display kernels, and comments note bomb-group table entries the game never reads.

Targets: Game
Category: Independent reconstruction cases
Relationship: Independent reconstruction project
Sources reviewed: 2026-11-09

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Requirements & limits

Prerequisites: A 6502 assembler and the vcs.h header that the listing includes.
Scope: COMPILE_VERSION selects the NTSC or PAL build and MAD_BOMBER_MOVEMENT selects the original or smooth bomber movement; the listing targets a 2K ROM.
License: No licence stated on the project page.

Cite

BibTeX

@misc{kaboom-atari-2600-disassembly-case,
  title = {{Kaboom!: an annotated Atari 2600 disassembly}},
  howpublished = {\url{https://www.qotile.net/minidig/disassembly/kaboom.asm}},
  url = {https://www.qotile.net/minidig/disassembly/kaboom.asm},
  urldate = {2026-11-09},
  note = {Awesome REA entry: \url{https://awesomerea.org/resources/kaboom-atari-2600-disassembly-case/}}
}

Plain text

Kaboom!: an annotated Atari 2600 disassembly. https://www.qotile.net/minidig/disassembly/kaboom.asm (accessed 2026-11-09). Awesome REA entry: https://awesomerea.org/resources/kaboom-atari-2600-disassembly-case/

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About this entry

The description was reviewed against primary sources.

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