Famicom BASIC

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Famicom_BASIC

Was a NES version ever released? I would love to get my hands on either that or Famicom BASIC, seems like a great alternative to ASM

 

No never released for NES and no it's not a good alternative to assembly, especially not for game programming.

 

Anyone knows how much did it cost when it was released?
It was sold only in Japan, right? The version of the BASIC cart i've seen is entirely on japanese, but I don't know he it's the only one.

 

it's like trying to build a high-rise with LEGOs in a sandbox. Basic is a training language, not a serious tool.

 

Well obviously, but it would mean getting something up and running on the NES, which is a total no hoper any other way as far as I can see (I'm no ASM fiend)

Although: http://neshla.sourceforge.net/

 

You can't use a Japanese Famicom Basic cart with an adapter?

 

Indeed, those GOTO use a lot of resources, and the Nes had a subpar CPU...

 

I'm not thinking I can make Super Mario Bros 50 on it, but plenty of good Spectrum and C64 games were made in BASIC so I am sure creative types could bring something to the table.

 

Indeed logic is logic for non-action games, but a lot of resources would be wasted by the BASIC interpreter. If one compiled the BASIC, you could expect the performance of any unoptimized game which may even be retail worthy.

BTW, a GOTO statement if compiled would DIRECTLY translate to a jump instruction, absolutely no resources wasted there. Where you would be hit is any snippets dealing with abstraction.

NESHLA is a good idea, it should save a lot of user time by handling loops and conditions for you but other than that it's still is an assembly environment.