When reverse engineering programs that have been compiled from C/C++ it is very likely that the toolchain was based on the GNU Compiler Collection (GCC).
Most game consoles had some form of GCC toolchain specifically built for their architecture and released as an official SDK. This continues into this very day with support for PS4 and Switch using GCC toolchains.
The following table will list the first major version released on the specific year, this can be useful to see what versions would have been in use in a certain date period 1.
| Year | Version |
|---|---|
| 1987 | 1.0 |
| 1988 | 1.17 |
| 1989 | 1.33 |
| 1990 | 1.37 |
| 1991 | 1.39 |
| 1992 | 1.41 |
| 1993 | 2.4.0 |
| 1994 | 2.5.8 |
| 1995 | 2.7.0 |
| 1996 | 2.7.2 |
| 1997 | 2.7.2.2 |
| 1998 | 2.8.0 |
| 1999 | 2.95 |
| 2000 | 2.95.2 |
| 2001 | 3.0 |
| 2002 | 3.1 |
| 2003 | 3.3 |
| 2004 | 3.4 |
| 2005 | 4.0 |
| 2006 | 4.1 |
| 2007 | 4.2 |
| 2008 | 4.3 |
| 2009 | 4.4 |
SN Systems released versions 2.8.0/2.8.1 for the Sony Playstation 1 2.
SN Systems released versions 2.8.0/2.8.1 for the Sony Nintendo 64 2.
Version 2.7 of the GNU Compiler Collection built in September 1996 specifically for the Sega Saturn.
