> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://ersanio.gitbook.io/assembly-for-the-snes/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://ersanio.gitbook.io/assembly-for-the-snes/getting-started.md).

# Getting started

## IDE

There are no dedicated IDEs for 65c816 assembly. You can use any ASCII editor, such as Notepad or VS Code. However, some people made various plugins for existing code editors to add extra features, such as syntax highlighting:

* Josh Neta's "[65816 Assembly](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=joshneta.65816-assembly)" plugin for VS Code
* Vice's "[65816 SNES Assembly Language Server](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=vicerust.snes-asm)" plugin for VS Code
* lx5's "[Asar syntax highlight](https://github.com/TheLX5/AsarSyntaxHighlight-VSCode)" plugin for VS Code.
* Telinc1's "[65c818 ASM syntax for highlight.js](https://github.com/telinc1/smwcentral-highlightjs-asar)" as a JavaScript plugin

Assembly files are generally saved with the file extension ".asm".

## Assemblers

This tutorial uses syntax which is used by an assembler called "Asar", originally written by Alcaro, now maintained by various members of the SMW Central community. This assembler is hosted on SMW Central and can be downloaded [here](https://www.smwcentral.net/?p=section\&a=details\&id=19043). The GitHub repository of Asar can be found [here](https://github.com/RPGHacker/asar).