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djmips

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Are you sure about that anecdote around the GBA? It would make more sense that they used the Sharp SM83 core - which is pretty far from a Z80 considering it's missing IX, IY and the entire alternate register set. It certainly does have some Z80 instructions and even some SM83 specific instructions. On the dial between 8080 and Z80 it feels closer to 8080 to me.

It used Microsoft Basic (unlicensed) which came from the Apple II variant! It had impotent Apple II graphics commands from such. Unfortunately they did not add commands to directly support the NES / Famicom graphics hardware.

Back in the day, I had an early pre-release Xbox One Devkit and mouse and now I realize it was likely outfitted with Dazzle camouflage - but we just called it zebra.

The comment is prejudice to conclude from the Google Engineer's supposed thought process as fact and to say that it's an example of why he isn't an 'engineer'. But you can find classic engineering fields where due process is ignored due to systemic pressures - like the Challenger incident. They were engineers but the system was broken. So it's not good enough to spit on the ground and say this is why they are not engineers.