SN64 was a software development kit for the Nintendo 64 created by SN Systems and was especially popular with 3rd party game developers.
Sn Systems are a company that have always specialised in creating excellent tools for game developers. Their most popular product during the N64 lifecycle was called PSYQ and targeted Sony PlayStation and Sega Saturn consoles.
It was inevitable that SN Systems would create a SDK for the newly announced Ultra 64 to target the 3rd party development market as an alternative to Nintendos own offering.
This made it a really popular choice for 3rd party game developers as it was slightly easier to port code between the consoles using the SDK.
SN64 went under a multitude of different names as SN Systems were constantly re-branding it, these include:
Images on the left of the Development kit hardware are courtesy of ChrisCor on Twitter who kindly gave permission for us to include his photos on this page you can check out his Twitter here: ChrisCor (@Jackhead_ASG) / Twitter 1.
An early version of SN64 was released in the “Oman Archive” with a date of February 1997. It wasn’t specifically stated but the files at the top level of the Oman archive with the Feb 97 date are all from the SN64 development kit.
This SDK is version 106 which is the 10th release and the 6th patch and was released in early 1997.
These files are legitimately useless, why? Well they should list the contents of the folder but they actually only list themselves. They don’t give a single other filename that should be in the directory, total waste of space.
00_INDEX.HTM
00_INDEX.TXT
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| README.zip | Contains documentation for the Psy-Q debugger (Version 2, Release 10, Patch Level 6) in TXT and RTF formats |
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| SETCSUM.zip | Contains SETCSUM.exe |
| SETCSUM.exe | Program to Set checksum and entry point for your ROM image |
| PSYLINK3.zip | Contains psylink32.exe |
| PSYLINK32.exe | The PSYQ 32 bit linker |
| PSYLIB2.zip | Contains PSYLIB2.exe |
| PSYLIB2.exe | The PSYQ SDK Librarian |
| ELFCONV.zip | Contains ELFCONV.exe from December 1996 |
| ELFCONV.EXE | Convert resulting ELF to N64 executable format |
| CCN64.zip | Contains CCN64.exe from January 1997 |
| CCN64.exe | C compiler for N64 |
| REL106.exe | PSYQ Release setup |
| PAT106.exe | PSYQ Patch setup |
| N64104.exe | |
| LOADBIOS.exe | Program to load BIOS on to Sn64 cartridge |
Contains the PsyQ GNU C/C++ compiler toolchain for Nintendo 64:
This archive contains the 32bit SN64 SDK from late 1996 that run under Windows 95. Many of these are the same as the files in the Windows Executables section but from a slightly earlier date.
These files would normally be located in the developers C:\ drive at location c:\n64\bin32.
The Full List of files contained in the archive are included below:
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| TBIOS2.COM | BIOS replacement for psybios for N64 version only |
| asmn6432.exe | 32bit N64 Assembler for windows |
| ELFCONV.EXE | Convert resulting ELF to N64 executable format |
| PSYMAKE.COM | Fork of Make by SN Systems known as PSYMake (runs makefiles) |
| asn6432.exe | Another assembler Psy-Q ASN64 version 2.55 |
| RUN.EXE | Standard PSYQ program to load executables on to cartridge |
| CCN6432.EXE | N64 C compiler |
| KANJI.COM | Program that converts Kanji from one format to another |
| RUNCART.EXE | Program that loads a bios on to the SN64 cartridge that plays the pass through game connected to the cartridge |
| PSYLINK32.EXE | PSYQ Linker |
| SETCSUM.EXE | Program to Set checksum and entry point for your ROM image |
| LOADBIOS.EXE | Program to load BIOS to the SN64 cartridge |
| PSYLIB2.EXE | PSYQ Librarian |
| PSYQ.INI | Configuration file for the PSYQ SDK |
| DBUGN64.EXE | |
| README.N64 | Standard Readme with information about the files |
There is a folder inside the zip simply called test that contains a basic initialise example for N64.
| Name | Description |
|---|---|
| TEST.LNK | Link file configuration for the order in which to link files into the final executable |
| MAKEFILE.MAK | Makefile to run the example |
| PSYQDBG.OBJ | Compiled Object file (debug version) |
| PSYQ.H | Header file that only exports one function called init_debug |
| PSYQ.OBJ | Compiled Object file |
| SNMAIN.S | Assembly code for the entry point for the game |
| TEST.C | Simple C code to initialise the N64 |
