Homebrew (video games)

This article is about video games unofficially produced by hobbyists for closed systems. For modifications to ROM images of video games, see ROM hacking. For modifications to video games in general, see Video game modding. For other uses, see Homebrew (disambiguation).

Homebrew is a term for software produced by hobbyists for proprietary video game consoles, which are not intended to be user-programmable.

The official documentation for many video game consoles is often only available to licensed developers, and these systems may use storage formats that make distribution difficult, such as ROM cartridges or encrypted CD-ROMs. Many consoles also have hardware restrictions to prevent unauthorized development.

Targets for homebrew games are typically those which are no longer commercially relevant or produced and with simpler graphics and/or computational abilities, including (but not limited to) the Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, Genesis, Super Nintendo Entertainment System, PlayStation, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, Game Boy Advance, Nintendo DS, Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Wii U. Development can use unofficial, community maintained toolchains or official development kits such as Net Yaroze, Linux for PlayStation 2, or Microsoft XNA.

Several groups within the homebrew community have created unofficial games and software for consoles, as well as circumventing the hardware and software restrictions imposed on them to allow for the use of homebrew.

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