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{{Short description|2D bitmap displayed over a larger scene}}
In ], a '''sprite''' (also known by other names; see ] below) is a two-dimensional ] or ] that is integrated into a larger scene.
{{For-multi|the technique of combining images into a single bitmap|Texture atlas|the process of drawing sprites|Pixel art|other uses|Sprite (disambiguation)}}
==Development==
]'']]
Sprites were originally invented as a method of quickly compositing several images together in two-dimensional ]s using special hardware. As computer performance improved, this optimization became unnecessary and the term evolved to refer specifically to the two dimensional images themselves that were integrated into a scene. That is, figures generated by either custom hardware or by software alone were all referred to as sprites. As three-dimensional graphics became more prevalent, the term was used to describe a technique whereby flat images are seamlessly integrated into complicated three-dimensional scenes.
{{VG Graphics}}
==Examples==
]''. In this frame the sprouts of grass and brown puffs of smoke are integrated into the scene using sprites. Other objects in the frame such as the character (Link), the flower just behind his feet, and the rock walls and ground are more complicated three dimensional objects that employ ].]]
[[Image:SpriteExampleRevealed.jpg|346px|thumb|right|A closer look at the graphic can help reveal imperfections of this rendering technique. Take a look at the puffs of smoke about the character and to the left. Notice that one sprite at the bottom of the largest puff of smoke is cutting into the ground, revealing its actual geometry is not an amorphous puff but a flat plane. Also notice that the grass near his feet is interacting with the flower near his feet in a strange way. The base of the grass is closer to the camera than the flower yet the blades appear to be behind. For this to be a correct perspective the grass would have to be leaning toward the ground away from the camera at an obtuse angle. Even though the original image that created the grass sprite was clearly created using textured polygons, it is being added to this scene as a sprite.
These imperfections escape the notice of most viewers because they are rare, and often do not last very long as they and the camera move.]]


In ], a '''sprite''' is a ] ] that is integrated into a larger scene, most often in a 2D ]. Originally, the term ''sprite'' referred to fixed-sized objects composited together, by hardware, with a background.<ref name=dadgum/> Use of the term has since become more general.
More often ''sprite'' now refers to a partially transparent two dimensional animation that is mapped onto a special plane in a three dimensional scene. Unlike a ], the sprite plane is always perpendicular to the axis emanating from the camera. The image can be scaled to simulate ], it can be rotated two dimensionally, it can overlap other objects and be ], but it can only be viewed from the same angle. This ] method is also referred to as '''billboarding'''.


Systems with hardware sprites include ]s of the 1970s and 1980s; ] including as the ] (1977), ] (1982), ] (1983), ] (1988); and ] such as the ] (1979), ] (1979), ] (1982), ] (1983), ] (1985), and ] (1987). Hardware varies in the number of sprites supported, the size and colors of each sprite, and special effects such as scaling or reporting pixel-precise overlap.
Sprites create an effective illusion when:
* the image inside the sprite already depicts a three dimensional object
* the animation is constantly changing or depicts rotation
* the sprite exists only for a short period of time
* the depicted object has a similar appearance from many common viewing angles (such as something spherical)
* the viewer accepts that the depicted object only has one perspective. (such as small plants or leaves)


Hardware composition of sprites occurs as each ] is prepared for the video output device, such as a ], without involvement of the main ] and without the need for a full-screen ].<ref name="dadgum"/> Sprites can be positioned or altered by setting attributes used during the hardware composition process. The number of sprites which can be displayed per scan line is often lower than the total number of sprites a system supports. For example, the Texas Instruments ] chip supports 32 sprites, but only four can appear on the same scan line.
When the illusion works viewers will not notice that the sprite is flat and always faces them. Often sprites are used to depict phenomena such as fire, smoke, small objects, small plants (like blades of grass), or special symbols (like "1-Up"). The sprite illusion can be exposed in video games by quickly changing the position of the camera while keeping the sprite in the center of the view.


The CPUs in modern computers, video game consoles, and mobile devices are fast enough that bitmaps can be drawn into a frame buffer without special hardware assistance. Beyond that, ]s can render vast numbers of scaled, rotated, ], partially translucent, very high resolution images in parallel with the CPU.
Sprites have also occasionally been used as a special-effects tool in movies. One such example is the fire breathing ] in '']''; the effects designers utilized sprites to simulate fire emanating from the surface of the demon. Small bursts of fire were filmed in front of a black background and made transparent using a ]. Many bursts were then attached to the surface of the animated Balrog model and mixed with simulated smoke and heat waves to create the illusion of a monster made from fire.


== Etymology ==
The term "sprite" is often confused with low resolution 2D graphics drawn on a computer, also known as ]. However, in addition to pixel art, sprites can be created from ] ], dynamic ], ], and even ]. Likewise, pixel art is created for many purposes other than as a sprite, such as video game backgrounds, textures, icons, websites, display art, comics, and t-shirts. With the advancement in computer graphics and improved power and resolution, actual pixel art sprites are becoming increasingly infrequent outside of handheld game systems and cell phones.
According to Karl Guttag, one of two engineers for the 1979 ] video display processor, this use of the word ''sprite'' came from David Ackley, a manager at TI.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Guttag |first1=KArl |title=First, Be Useful (Home computers and Pico Projectors) |url=https://kguttag.com/2011/12/06/first-be-useful-home-computers-and-pico-projectors/ |website=KGOnTech |date=December 6, 2011}}</ref> It was also used by ] at Texas Instruments in the late 1970s.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Johnstone |first1=Bob |title=Never Mind the Laptops: Kids, Computers, and the Transformation of Learning |date=2003 |isbn=978-0595288427 |page=108 |publisher=iUniverse |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UsWRDjcuao8C&q=daniel+hillis+sprites&pg=PA108}}</ref> The term was derived from the fact that sprites "float" on top of the background image without overwriting it, much like a ghost or ].


Some hardware manufacturers used different terms, especially before ''sprite'' became common:
== Billboarding ==
Billboarding is one term used to describe the use of sprites in a 3D environment. In the same way that a billboard is positioned to face drivers on a highway, the 3D sprite always faces the camera.


'''Player/Missile Graphics''' was a term used by ] for hardware sprites in the ] (1979) and ] console (1982).<ref name=dere>{{cite web|title=De Re Atari|url=http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/chapt04.php|date=1981|access-date=2017-08-10|archive-date=2017-07-31|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170731041803/http://www.atariarchives.org/dere/chapt04.php|url-status=live}}</ref> The term reflects the use for both characters ("players") and smaller associated objects ("missiles") that share the same color. The earlier ] and some Atari arcade games used ''player'', ''missile'', and ''ball''.
=== Rationale ===
There is both a performance advantage and an aesthetic advantage to using billboarding. Most 3D rendering engines can process "3D sprites" much faster than other types of 3D objects. So it is possible to gain an overall performance improvement by substituting sprites for some objects that might normally be modeled using texture mapped polygons. Aesthetically sprites are sometimes desirable because it can be difficult for polygons to realistically reproduce phenomena such as fire. In such situations, sprites provide a more attractive illusion.


'''Stamp''' was used in some arcade hardware in the early 1980s, including '']''.<ref name=golson/>
=== Alternative terms ===
* '''3D Sprite''' is a term often used to refer to sprites that are essentially texture mapped 3D facets that always have their ] facing into the camera.
* '''Z-Sprite''' is a term often used for 3D environments that contain only sprites. The Z-parameter provides a scaling effect that creates an illusion of depth. For example in ''adventure games'' such as '']'' where the camera never moves, normal 2D sprites might suffice, but Z-sprites provide an extra touch.
* '''Impostor''' is a term used instead of billboard if the billboard is meant to subtly replace a real 3D object.


<span id="MOB">'''Movable Object Block''', or '''MOB'''</span>, was used in ]'s graphics chip literature. ], the main user of MOS chips and the owner of MOS for most of the chip maker's lifetime, instead used the term ''sprite'' for the Commodore 64.
== Hardware sprites ==
In early ], sprites were a method of integrating unrelated ]s so that they appear to be part of a single bitmap on a ].


'''OBJ'''s (short for ''objects'') is used in the developer manuals for the ], ], and ]. The region of ] used to store sprite attributes and coordinates is called '''OAM''' (Object Attribute Memory). This also applies to the ] and ].
The ] is a hardware implentation of the ].
For each frame the sprites are first ]ed (short for "bit block transfer") into the fast, large, double, and costly ] and then the ] is sent to the screen.
The '''Blitter''' was renamed to ] as more complicated rendering algorithms are used. The '''Blitter''' has a high initial cost for simple scenes.


==History==
The '''Sprite Engine''' is a hardware implementation of ].
===Arcade video games===
For each scanline the appropriate scanlines of the sprites are first copied (the number of texels is limited by the memory bandwidth and the length of the horizontal retrace) into very fast, small, multiple (limiting the # of sprites on a line), and costly ]s (the size of which limit the horizontal width) and as the ]s are ] ], these ]s are combined with each other and the ]. It may be larger than the screen and is usually ], where the tile map is cached, but the tile set is not. For every pixel, every sprite unit signals its presence onto its line on a ], so every other unit can notice a collision with it. Some sprite engines can automatically reload their "sprite units" from a ]. The '''Sprite Engine''' has ] with the ]. To save registers, the height of the sprite, the location of the texture, and the zoom factors are often limited. On systems where the word size is the same as the texel there is no penality for doing unaligned reads needed for rotation. This leads to the limitations of the known implementations:
The use of sprites originated with ]s. ] came up with the original concept when he developed the first arcade video game, '']'' (1971). Technical limitations made it difficult to adapt the ] '']'' (1962), which performed an entire ] for every little movement, so he came up with a solution to the problem: controlling each individual game element with a dedicated ]. The ] were essentially hardwired ] that moved around the screen independently of the background, an important innovation for producing screen images more efficiently and providing the basis for sprite graphics.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Swalwell |first1=Melanie |last2=Wilson |first2=Jason |title=The Pleasures of Computer Gaming: Essays on Cultural History, Theory and Aesthetics |date=12 May 2015 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-7864-5120-3 |pages=109–10 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BbW_DUV-pP4C&pg=PA110 |access-date=16 May 2021 |archive-date=16 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210516025657/https://books.google.com/books?id=BbW_DUV-pP4C&pg=PA110 |url-status=live }}</ref>


The earliest video games to represent ] as human player sprites were arcade ], beginning with ]'s '']'',<ref>{{cite book |last1=Colby |first1=Richard |last2=Johnson |first2=Matthew S. S. |last3=Colby |first3=Rebekah Shultz |title=The Ethics of Playing, Researching, and Teaching Games in the Writing Classroom |date=27 January 2021 |publisher=] |isbn=978-3-030-63311-0 |page=130 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vZoXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 |access-date=3 May 2021 |archive-date=3 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210503195104/https://books.google.com/books?id=vZoXEAAAQBAJ&pg=PA130 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105041440/http://allincolorforaquarter.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/video-game-firsts.html |date=2017-11-05 }}, The Golden Age Arcade Historian (November 22, 2013)</ref><ref> {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140708201534/http://flyers.arcade-museum.com/?page=wide-flyer&db=videodb&id=4036&image=2 |date=2014-07-08 }} (1974), Arcade Flyer Museum</ref> released in April 1974 and licensed to ] for release in North America.<ref name="Akagi">{{cite book |last1=Akagi |first1=Masumi |title=アーケードTVゲームリスト国内•海外編(1971-2005) |trans-title=Arcade TV Game List: Domestic • Overseas Edition (1971-2005) |date=13 October 2006 |publisher=Amusement News Agency |lang=ja |location=Japan |isbn=978-4990251215 |pages=40-1, 51, 129 |url=https://archive.org/details/ArcadeGameList1971-2005/page/n41/mode/2up}}</ref> Designed by ], he wanted to move beyond simple '']''-style rectangles to character graphics, by rearranging the rectangle shapes into objects that look like ] players and ]s.<ref name="Smith">{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Alexander |title=They Create Worlds: The Story of the People and Companies That Shaped the Video Game Industry, Vol. I: 1971-1982 |date=19 November 2019 |publisher=] |isbn=978-0-429-75261-2 |pages=191–95 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Cxy_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT191 |access-date=16 May 2021 |archive-date=2 May 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210502064515/https://books.google.com/books?id=Cxy_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PT191 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Nikkei">{{cite news |title=スペースインベーダー・今明かす開発秘話――開発者・西角友宏氏、タイトー・和田洋一社長対談 |trans-title=Space Invader, Development Secret Story Revealed Now―Interview With Developer Tomohiro Nishikado, Taito President Yoichi Wada |url=http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/special/20080318/1008218/ |access-date=3 May 2021 |work=] |date=March 21, 2008 |lang=ja |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080323064622/http://trendy.nikkeibp.co.jp/article/special/20080318/1008218/ |archive-date=March 23, 2008}}
{| class="wikitable"
*{{cite web |title=Space Invaders – 30th Anniversary Developer Interview |url=http://shmuplations.com/spaceinvaders/ |website=Shmuplations}}</ref> ] released another sports video game in October 1974, ''Baseball'',<ref name="Akagi"/> which similarly displayed human-like characters.<ref>{{cite magazine |last1=Thorpe |first1=Nick |title=The 70s: The Genesis of an Industry |magazine=] |date=March 2014 |issue=127 |pages=24–7 |url=https://archive.org/details/retro_gamer/RetroGamer_127/page/26/mode/2up}}</ref>
| Computer using Chip || '''sprites on screen''' || '''sprites on line''' || '''max texels on line''' || '''texture width''' || '''texture height''' || '''colors''' || '''anisotropic zoom''' || '''rotation''' || '''background''' || '''collision detection''' || <small> transparency </small> || '''source'''

The ] ], for the 1979 arcade game '']'', displays animated, multi-colored sprites over a scrolling background.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YVTNBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA59|title=The Golden Age of Video Games: The Birth of a Multibillion Dollar Industry|first=Roberto|last=Dillon|date=19 April 2016|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781439873243|via=Google Books}}</ref> It became the basis for ]'s '']'' and '']'' arcade hardware and ]s such as the ].<ref>, ''Nikkei Electronics'' (September 12, 1994)</ref> According to Steve Golson from ], the term "stamp" was used instead of "sprite" at the time.<ref name=golson>{{cite AV media |people=Steve Golson |year=2016 |title=Classic Game Postmortem: 'Ms. Pac-Man' |medium=Conference |language=en |url=http://www.gdcvault.com/play/1023366/Classic-Game-Postmortem-Ms-Pac |access-date=2017-01-26 |time=20:30 |publisher=] |quote= 6 moving characters, what you would call today "sprites" we called them "stamps" back then, .}}</ref>

===Home systems===
] devised the first chips capable of generating sprite graphics (referred to as ''objects'' by Signetics) for home systems. The Signetics 2636 video processors were first used in the 1978 ] and later in the 1979 ].

The ], released in 1977, has a hardware sprite implementation where five graphical objects can be moved independently of the game playfield. The term ''sprite'' was not in use at the time. The VCS's sprites are called ''movable objects'' in the programming manual, further identified as two ''players'', two ''missiles'', and one ''ball''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wright|first1=Steve|title=Stella Programmer's Guide|url=http://atarihq.com/danb/files/stella.pdf|date=December 3, 1979|access-date=April 14, 2016|archive-date=March 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327103553/http://atarihq.com/danb/files/stella.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> These each consist of a single row of pixels that are displayed on a ]. To produce a two-dimensional shape, the sprite's single-row bitmap is altered by software from one scan line to the next.

The 1979 ] home computers have similar, but more elaborate, circuitry capable of moving eight single-color objects per scan line: four 8-bit wide ''players'' and four 2-bit wide ''missiles''. Each is the full height of the display&mdash;a long, thin strip. ] from a table in memory automatically sets the graphics pattern registers for each scan line. Hardware registers control the horizontal position of each player and missile. Vertical motion is achieved by moving the bitmap data within a player or missile's strip. The feature was called ''player/missile graphics'' by Atari.

] developed the ] chip with sprite support for its 1979 TI-99/4 home computer. An updated version is used in the 1981 ].

===In 2.5D and 3D games===
]
Sprites remained popular with the rise of ] games (those which recreate a 3D game space from a 2D map) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A technique called ] allows 2.5D games to keep onscreen sprites rotated toward the player view at all times. Some 2.5D games, such as 1993's ], allow the same entity to be represented by different sprites depending on its rotation relative to the viewer, furthering the illusion of 3D.

Fully 3D games usually present world objects as ], but sprites are supported in some 3D ]s, such as ]<ref>{{cite web |url=https://the303.org/tutorials/gold_sprite.htm |title=GoldSrc Sprite Tutorial |author=<!--Not stated--> |website=the303.org |publisher= |access-date=September 26, 2024}}</ref> and ],<ref> {{Cite web |url=https://dev.epicgames.com/documentation/en-us/unreal-engine/how-to-import-and-use-paper-2d-sprites-in-unreal-engine |title=How to import and use Paper 2D Sprites in Unreal Engine |author=<!--Not stated--> |date=<!--Not stated--> |website=epicgames.com |publisher=Epic Games |access-date=October 31, 2024 |quote=}}</ref> and may be billboarded or locked to fixed orientations. Sprites remain useful for small details, ], and other applications where the lack of a third dimension is not a major detriment.

==Systems with hardware sprites==
These are base hardware specs and do not include additional programming techniques, such as using ]s to repurpose sprites mid-frame.
{{clear}}
{| class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align: center;"
|+
! System !! Sprite hardware !! Introduced!! Sprites on screen !! Sprites per scan line !! Max. ] on line !! ] width !! Texture height !! Colors !! Zoom !! ] !! ] !! <small>]</small> !! Source
|- |-
| ] || ] || 1990 || 16 || 16 || ? || 16 || 16 || 15 || {{partial|2, 4× vertical, 2, 4× horizontal}} || {{no}} || {{no}} || ] ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Plus |title=Plus - CPCWiki |publisher=Cpcwiki.eu |access-date=2009-11-29 |archive-date=2011-07-20 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720154941/http://cpcwiki.eu/index.php/Plus |url-status=live }}</ref>
| ] using ] || display list || 8 || || 16 || arbitrary || 3,15 || no || no || bitmap || yes || ] ||
|- |-
| ] || ] || 1977 || 5 || 5 || 19 || 1, 8 || 262 || 1 || {{partial|2, 4, 8× horizontal}} ||{{partial|Horizontal mirroring}} ||{{yes}} || Color key ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atariarchives.org/dev/tia/description.php |title=Television Interface Adaptor |publisher=AtariArchives.com |access-date=2011-02-06 |archive-date=2010-08-25 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100825163151/http://www.atariarchives.org/dev/tia/description.php |url-status=live }}</ref>
| ] using ] || display list || || || 2,8 || 128, 256 || 1,3 || || || || || color key ||
|- |-
| ] || ]/] || 1979 || 8 || 8 || 40 || 2, 8 || 128, 256 || 1 || {{partial|2× vertical, 2, 4× horizontal}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || Color key ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.atarihq.com/5200/5200faq/04_02.html |title=Atari 5200 FAQ - Hardware Overview |publisher=AtariHQ.com |access-date=2011-02-06 |archive-date=2011-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110514110844/http://www.atarihq.com/5200/5200faq/04_02.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| ] using ] || display list run by ] || 8 || || 12,24 || 21 || 1,3 || 1,2 || no || 1 tile layer || yes || color key ||
|- |-
| ] || ] || 1982 || 8 || 8 || 96, 192 || 12, 24 || 21 || 1, 3 || {{partial|2× integer}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || Color key ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.minet.uni-jena.de/~andreasg/c64/vic_artikel/vic_article_1.htm |title=The MOS 6567/6569 video controller (VIC-II) and its application in the Commodore 64 |access-date=2006-01-08 |url-status=bot: unknown |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060830024142/http://www.minet.uni-jena.de/~andreasg/c64/vic_artikel/vic_article_1.htm |archive-date=August 30, 2006 }}</ref>
| ] || 40 || 10 || 80 || 8 || 8,16 || 3 || no || no || || || color key ||
|- |-
| ] || ] || 1985 || 8, can be reused horizontally per 4 pixel increments || Arbitrary, 8 unique || Arbitrary || 16 || Arbitrary || 3, 15 || {{partial|Vertical by display}} list || {{no}} || {{yes}} || Color key ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD_2.1/Hardware_Manual_guide/node00AE.html |date=1989 |title=Amiga Hardware Reference Manual 4: sprite hardware |access-date=2017-05-23 |archive-date=2017-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814170220/http://amigadev.elowar.com/read/ADCD_2.1/Hardware_Manual_guide/node00AE.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
| ] || 128 || 32 || 256 || 8 || 8 || || yes || yes || affine mapped tile layer || || alpha ||
|- |-
| ] using RP2C0x || 64 || 8 || 64 ||8 || 8,16 || 3 || no || no || 1 tile layer || partial || color key || | ] || ] || 1992 || 8, can be reused horizontally per 2 pixel increments || Arbitrary, 8 unique || Arbitrary || 16, 32, 64 || Arbitrary || 3, 15 || {{partial|Vertical by display list}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || Color key ||
|- |-
| ] || ]||1983||32||4||64|| 8, 16||8, 16||1|| {{partial|2× integer}} ||{{no}}||{{partial}}|| Color key ||
| ] using dedicated hardware || 128 || 32 || || 8 || 8 || || yes || no || 3 tile layers || || alpha || ,
|- |-
| ] || ]||1979||32||4||64|| 8, 16||8, 16||1|| {{partial|2× integer}} ||{{no}}||{{partial}}|| Color key ||
| ] using HuC6270A || 64 || 8 || || 16,32 || 16,32,64 || 15 || no || no || || || color key ||
|- |-
| Gameduino || || 2011 || 256 || 96 || 1,536 || 16 || 16 || 255 || {{no}} || {{yes}} ||{{yes}} || Color key ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://gameduino.com/ |title=Gameduino Specifications |publisher=excamera.com |access-date=2011-06-13 |archive-date=2021-12-13 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211213052910/https://excamera.com/sphinx/gameduino3/ |url-status=live }}</ref>
| <small> ] <br> ] </small> || 64 || 8 || ||8 || 8,16 || || || || || || color key ||
|- |-
| ] || STIC AY-3-8900 || 1979 || 8 || 8 || 64 || 8 || 8,16 || 1 || {{partial|2, 4, 8× vertical, 2× horizontal}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{yes}} || Color key || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://wiki.intellivision.us/index.php?title=STIC|title=STIC - Intellivision Wiki|website=wiki.intellivision.us|access-date=15 March 2018|archive-date=9 July 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180709215702/http://wiki.intellivision.us/index.php?title=STIC|url-status=live}}</ref>
| ] || 80 || 20 || 320 || 8,16,24,32 || 8,16,24,32 || 15 || no || no || 2 tile layers || yes || color key ||
|- |-
| ] ||]||1983||32||4||64|| 8, 16||8, 16||1|| {{partial|2× integer}} ||{{no}}||{{partial}}|| Color key ||<ref>{{cite book |url=http://emu-docs.org/VDP%20TMS9918/Datasheets/TMS9918.pdf |title=TEXAS INSTRUMENTS 9900: TMS9918A/TMS9928AITMS9929A Video Display Processors |access-date=2011-07-05 |archive-date=2017-08-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170814231446/https://emu-docs.org/VDP%20TMS9918/Datasheets/TMS9918.pdf |url-status=dead }}</ref>
| ] || 128 || 32 || 256 || 8 || 8 || 16 || yes || yes || affine mapped tiles || || color key, averaging ||
|- |-
| ] || 32 || 4 || 64 || 8,16 || 8,16 || 1 || 1,2 || no || 1 tile layer || yes || color key || | ] || ] || 1986 || 32 || 8 || 128 || 8, 16 || 8,16 || 1, 3, 7, 15 per line || {{partial|2× integer}} || {{no}} || {{partial}} || Color key ||
|- |-
| ] / ] || ] || 1988 || 32 || 8 || 128 || 8,16 || 8,16 || 1, 3, 7, 15 per line || {{partial|2× integer}} || {{no}} || {{partial}} || Color key ||
| Computer using Chip ||'''sprites on screen'''|| '''sprites on line''' || '''max texels on line''' || '''texture width''' || '''texture height''' || '''colors''' || '''anisotropic zoom''' || '''rotation''' || '''background''' || '''collision detection''' || <small> transparency </small> || '''source'''
|-
| ]<br />(arcade) || TTL || 1980 || 6 || 6 || 96 || 16 || 16 || 3 || {{no}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{no}} || Color key || <ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=DqePfdz_x6gC&pg=PA68|title=Racing the Beam: The Atari Video Computer System|first1=Nick|last1=Montfort|first2=Ian|last2=Bogost|date=9 January 2009|publisher=MIT Press|isbn=9780262261524|via=Google Books}}</ref>
|-
| ] || HuC6270A || 1987 || 64 || 16 || 256 || 16, 32 || 16, 32, 64 || 15 || {{no}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{yes}} || Color key || <ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.chibiakumas.com/6502/platform4.php#LessonP33|title=Learn Multi platform 6502 Assembly Programming... For Monsters! Platform Specific Series|access-date=2021-12-04|archive-date=2021-12-04|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204193150/https://www.chibiakumas.com/6502/platform4.php#LessonP33|url-status=live}}</ref>
|-
| ]<br />(arcade) || TTL|| 1979 || 7 || 7 || 112 || 16 || 16 || 3 || {{no}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{no}} || Color key || <ref>{{cite web |title=Galaxian-derived video hardware |url=https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/video/galaxian.cpp |website=] |publisher=] |access-date=October 23, 2018 |archive-date=November 30, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171130235821/https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/video/galaxian.cpp |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Galaxian-derived hardware |url=https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/galaxian.cpp |website=] |publisher=] |access-date=October 23, 2018 |archive-date=September 5, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905051639/https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/galaxian.cpp |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Galaxian hardware family |url=https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/includes/galaxian.h |website=] |publisher=] |access-date=October 23, 2018 |archive-date=February 24, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210224150309/https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/includes/galaxian.h |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| ] ], ]<br />(arcade) || || 1979 || 128 || 16 || 256 || 16 || 16 || 3 || {{partial|Integer}} || {{no}} || {{yes}} || Color key || <ref>Nathan Altice (2015), {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161112194623/https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=GVDpCAAAQBAJ&pg=PA53 |date=2016-11-12 }}, ]</ref>
|-
| ] || Integrated PPU || 2004 || 128 || 128 || 1,210 || 8, 16, 32, 64 || 8, 16, 32, 64 || 65,536 || {{yes|]}} || {{yes|]}} || {{no}} || Color key, blending ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nocash.emubase.de/gbatek.htm#dstechnicaldata |title=Specifications |publisher=Nocash.emubase.de |access-date=2009-11-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621131721/http://nocash.emubase.de/gbatek.htm#dstechnicaldata |archive-date=2009-06-21 }}</ref>
|-
| ] || ] ] || 1983 || 64 || 8 || 64 || 8 || 8, 16 || 3 || {{no}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{partial}} || Color key ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nesdev.parodius.com/NESDoc.pdf |title=Microsoft Word - NESDoc.doc |access-date=2009-11-29 |archive-date=2011-09-30 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110930163140/http://nesdev.parodius.com/NESDoc.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| ] || Integrated PPU || 1989 || 40 || 10 || 80 || 8 || 8, 16 || 3 || {{no}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{No}} || Color key ||<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.at-mix.de/gameboy.htm |title=GameBoy - Spielkonsolen Online Lexikon |publisher=At-mix.de |date=2004-06-22 |access-date=2009-11-29 |archive-date=2010-05-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100506132321/http://www.at-mix.de/gameboy.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| ] || Integrated PPU || 2001 || 128 || 128 || 1210 || 8, 16, 32, 64 || 8, 16, 32, 64 || 15, 255|| {{yes|]}} || {{yes|]}} || {{no}} || Color key, blending ||<ref>{{cite web|url=http://nocash.emubase.de/gbatek.htm |title=Specifications |publisher=Nocash.emubase.de |access-date=2009-11-29 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090621131721/http://nocash.emubase.de/gbatek.htm |archive-date=2009-06-21 }}</ref>
|-
| ],<br />] || YM2602B VDP<br />(TMS9918-derived) || 1985 || 64 || 8 || 128 || 8, 16 || 8, 16 || 15 || {{partial|2× integer, 2× vertical}} || {{partial|Background tile mirroring}} || {{yes}} || Color key || <ref>{{cite web|url=http://cgfm2.emuviews.com/txt/msvdp.txt |title=Sega Master System VDP documentation |author=Charles MacDonald |access-date=2011-07-05 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318183214/http://cgfm2.emuviews.com/txt/msvdp.txt |archive-date=2014-03-18}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.smspower.org/uploads/Development/richard.txt |format=TXT |title=Sega Master System Technical Information |website=Smspower.org |access-date=2016-11-28 |archive-date=2019-06-24 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190624130810/http://www.smspower.org/uploads/Development/richard.txt |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| ] || YM7101 VDP<br />(SMS VDP-derived) || 1988 || 80 || 20 || 320 || 8, 16, 24, 32 || 8, 16, 24, 32 || 15 || {{no}} || {{Partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{Yes}} || Color key || <ref>{{cite web |url=http://fly.hiwaay.net/~jfrohwei/sega/genesis.html |title=Sega Programming FAQ October 18, 1995, Sixth Edition - Final |access-date=2015-12-10 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050122094914/http://fly.hiwaay.net/~jfrohwei/sega/genesis.html |archive-date=January 22, 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last=Staff |first=Polygon |url=http://www.polygon.com/features/2015/2/3/7952705/sega-genesis-masami-ishikawa |title=How Sega built the Genesis |publisher=Polygon |date=2015-02-03 |access-date=2016-11-28 |archive-date=2015-11-03 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151103090922/http://www.polygon.com/features/2015/2/3/7952705/sega-genesis-masami-ishikawa |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| ] (arcade) || || 1986 || 128 || 128 || 1600 || 8 to 512 || 8 to 256 || 15 || {{yes|]}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{yes}} || Alpha || <ref>{{cite web |url=http://system16.com/hardware.php?id=697 |title=Sega Out Run Hardware (Sega) |publisher=System 16 |date=2016-03-31 |access-date=2016-11-28 |archive-date=2016-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128203655/http://system16.com/hardware.php?id=697 |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/segaorun.c|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141121130850/https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mame/drivers/segaorun.c|url-status=dead|title=mame/segaorun.c at master · mamedev/mame · GitHub|date=21 November 2014|archive-date=21 November 2014|website=github.com|access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://emustatus.rainemu.com/games/outrun.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20010227042525/http://emustatus.rainemu.com/games/outrun.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2001-02-27 |title=Out Run |date=2001-02-27 |access-date=2016-11-28}}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://www.system16.com/hardware.php?id=697
|title=Out Run Hardware (Sega)
|publisher=System 16
|access-date=2009-11-29
|archive-date=2016-11-28
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128203655/http://system16.com/hardware.php?id=697
|url-status=live
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/faqs/faq-sega%20outrun.html |title=Version 0.3 - 7th February 1998 |website=Coinop.org |access-date=2016-11-28 |archive-date=2016-05-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514060702/http://www.coinop.org/kb_dl.aspx/KB/faqs/faq-sega%20outrun.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web
|url=http://imame4all.googlecode.com/svn-history/r146/Reloaded/trunk/src/mame/video/segaic16.c
|title=Sega 16-bit common hardware
|access-date=2016-02-09
|url-status=dead
|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160125144902/http://imame4all.googlecode.com/svn-history/r146/Reloaded/trunk/src/mame/video/segaic16.c
|archive-date=2016-01-25
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://cgfm2.emuviews.com/txt/loftech.txt|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140318183606/http://cgfm2.emuviews.com/txt/loftech.txt |url-status=dead |archive-date=2014-03-18 |format=TXT |title=Sega "X-Board" hardware notes |access-date=2016-11-28}}</ref>
|-
| ] || Cynthia jr. (original), Cynthia (later models) || 1987 || 128 || 32 || 512 || 16 || 16 || 15 || {{partial|2× integer}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{partial}} || Color key || <ref>{{cite web |url=http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/personal/0038.html |title=X68000-Computer Museum |website=Museum.ipsj.or.jp |access-date=2016-11-28 |archive-date=2014-10-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141002234300/http://museum.ipsj.or.jp/en/computer/personal/0038.html |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mess/video/x68k.c|archive-url=https://archive.today/20141121130816/https://github.com/mamedev/mame/blob/master/src/mess/video/x68k.c|url-status=dead|title=mame/x68k.c at master · mamedev/mame · GitHub|date=21 November 2014|archive-date=21 November 2014|website=github.com|access-date=15 March 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|last=Yoshida|first=Koichi|url=http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~yosshin/my_works/postmortem.html|title=超連射68K 開発後記|website=Yosshin's web page|date=12 September 2001|access-date=2016-11-28|lang=ja|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190512090239/http://www2.tky.3web.ne.jp/~yosshin/my_works/postmortem.html|archive-date=12 May 2019|url-status=live}} ( by Shmuplations. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190702153846/http://shmuplations.com/chorensha68k/|date=2019-07-02}}).</ref>
|-
| ] || LSPC2-A2 || 1990 || 384 || 96 || 1536 || 16 || 16 to 512 || 15 || {{partial|Sprite shrinking}} || {{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{partial}} || Color key || <ref>{{cite web |url=http://furrtek.free.fr/noclass/neogeo/mvstech.txt |format=TXT |title=Neo-Geo MVS Hardware Notes |website=Furrtek.free.fr |access-date=2016-11-28 |archive-date=2018-09-16 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180916101030/http://furrtek.free.fr/noclass/neogeo/mvstech.txt |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://furrtek.free.fr/noclass/neogeo/NeoGeoPM.pdf |title=Neo-Geo Programming Manual |website=Furrtek.free.fr |access-date=2016-11-28 |archive-date=2016-12-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161206012848/http://furrtek.free.fr/noclass/neogeo/NeoGeoPM.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.neo-geo.com/index.php?title=Neo-Geo_Big_List_of_Debug_Dipswitches |title=Big List of Debug Dipswitches |publisher=Neo-Geo |date=2014-07-09 |access-date=2016-11-28 |archive-date=2016-11-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161128134201/http://www.neo-geo.com/index.php?title=Neo-Geo_Big_List_of_Debug_Dipswitches |url-status=live }}</ref>
|-
| ] || S-PPU1, S-PPU2 || 1990 || 128 || 34 || 256|| 8, 16, 32, 64 || 8, 16, 32, 64 || 15 ||{{No}} ||{{partial|Horizontal and vertical mirroring}} || {{No}} || Color key, averaging || <ref>{{cite web|title= snes sprite engine design guide|date=30 March 2021 |url=https://megacatstudios.com/blogs/retro-development/snes-sprite-engine-design-guidelines|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211204193150/https://megacatstudios.com/blogs/retro-development/snes-sprite-engine-design-guidelines |archive-date=2021-12-04 }}</ref>
|- class="sortbottom"
! System !! Sprite hardware !! Introduced !! Sprites on screen !! Sprites on line !! Max. ] on line !! ] width !! Texture height !! Colors !! Hardware zoom !! ] !! ] !! <small>]</small> !! Source
|} |}


== See also ==
Many third party graphics cards offered sprite capabilities.
* ]
'''Sprite Engines''' often scale badly, starting to flicker as the number of sprites increases above the number of sprite units,
or uses more and more silicon as the designer of the chip implements more units and bigger caches.


=== Background === == References ==
{{Reflist|refs=

<ref name=dadgum>{{cite web |last1=Hague |first1=James |title=Why Do Dedicated Game Consoles Exist? |url=https://prog21.dadgum.com/181.html |website=Programming in the 21st Century |access-date=2019-09-02 |archive-date=2018-04-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180423173142/http://prog21.dadgum.com/181.html |url-status=live }}</ref>
No sprite engine was implemented which would not cache the sprites texels, but use a ] at the pixel-output instead. This would allow sprites of arbitrary width. So while blitter based hardware uses a unified model for foreground and background and a fixed flat frame-buffer, sprites need a special background engine. It has to provide scrolling backgrounds for ] and ] (]) backgrounds.
}}

A similar discrimination is known from software rendering.
A technique called "dirty rectangles" is used to redraw only those parts that have changed since the last repainted and a scrolling frame buffer is used. On more powerful CPUs the whole frame-buffer is flat and redrawn completely.

===History===

In the mid-1970s, ] devised the first video/graphics processors capable of generating sprite graphics. The ] video processors were first used in the 1979 ].

The Atari 400 and Atari 800 systems were among the first PCs capable of generating sprite graphics, which Atari referred to as player/missile graphics (PMGs).

During most of the 1980s, hardware speed was in the low, single-digit ] and ] was measured in mere ]. Beside ] processors, all chips are ]. Sprites are rare in most video hardware today.

The ] can instruct the external chips to fetch source images and integrate them into the main screen using ] channels. Calling up external hardware, instead of using the processor alone, greatly improved graphics performance. Because the processor is not occupied by the simple task of transferring data from one place to another, software can run faster; and because the hardware provided certain innate abilities, programs that use ] or ] were also smaller.

Separate locations in memory were used to hold the main display and the sprites.

Some sprite engines could only store a small amount of positions in their registers and the unchallenged CPU was programmed to update them several times per frame. Software blitting was complicated by some very strange addressing modes into video ram.

===Application===
Sprites are typically used for characters and other moving objects in video games. They have also been used for ] pointers and for writing letters to the screen.

For on-screen moving objects larger than one sprite's extent, sprites may sometimes be scaled and/or combined.

=== Synonyms ===
Sprites have been known by several alternative names:
*'''Player-Missile Graphics''' was used on the ] and Early Atari Coin Op games to refer to hardware-generated sprites. The term reflected the usage for both characters ("players") and other objects ("missiles"). They had restricted horizontal resolution (8 or 2 pixels, albeit with scalability, and a potential 192 lines of vertical resolution), limiting their use somewhat.
*'''Movable Object Block''', or '''MOB''' was used in ]'s graphics chip literature (data sheets, etc). However, ], the main user of MOS chips and the owner of MOS for most of the chip maker's lifetime, applied the common term "sprite".
*On the ], ], and ], sprites were referred to as '''OBJ'''s (short for "objects"), and the region of RAM used to store sprite attributes and coordinates was known as '''OAM''' (Object Attribute Memory). This still applies today on the ] and ] handheld systems.
*'''BOB's''' or 'Blitter Objects', popular name for graphics objects drawn with the dedicated graphics blitter in the Amiga series of computers, which was available in addition to its true hardware sprites.
*'''Software sprites''' were used to refer to subroutines that used bit blitting to accomplish the same goal on systems such as the ] and the ] whose graphics hardware had no sprite capability.
*The computer programming language ] used the term '''Bob''' (for "blitter object") to refer to its software-sprite functions, before switching to the more conventionally-used "sprite" term.

==Move to 3D==
Prior to the popularizing of true 3D graphics in the late 1990s, many 2D games attempted to imitate the look of three-dimensionality with a variety of sprite production methods. These included...
*'''Live Actors''' - The filmed performances of live-actors were sometimes used for creating sprites, most famously in the case of ] which added a relative element of realism to a gruesome fighting game. The method was used in a number of other ]s, mostly in the mid 90s.
*''']''' or the use of ''posable models'' which were used for characters that could not be portrayed by actors. Famous early examples include ] of Mortal Kombat and various enemies from Doom. Used to a greater extent in games like ].
*'''Pre-rendered ] models''' - First seen in ]'s ] and later used to a great extent in PC ] and ] games prior to the move to true 3D. Since computers of the day could not run complex 3D graphics, footage of pre-rendered three-dimensional character models were often used which created (a relative) illusion of 3D.

== Sprite culture ==
{{Main|Spriting}}

"Spriters" mostly use them to become ] artists, for the purpose of creating a comic. It has been continued by ] animators who create ]s. In these communities, spriting has been made into small sections; recoloring, edits, customs, etc. Sprites can be alternated by using techniques such as the ones above. By doing this, Spriters can create their very own "Sprite character" to use in "Sprite sheets" to show that the sheet was made by that spriter but the spriter must put a "sprite tag" on the sheet saying something like "Please do not steal" or "give credit" or "If you wish to put this on your site, do not remove this tag", etc. Sprites can be edited from any game where sprites are available. Making pictures with sprites is called a "Hoax" which is the sprites in a group or doing certain actions but a "Hoax" is not a true image from a game.


{{DEFAULTSORT:Sprite (Computer Graphics)}}
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Latest revision as of 23:16, 18 November 2024

2D bitmap displayed over a larger scene For the technique of combining images into a single bitmap, see Texture atlas. For the process of drawing sprites, see Pixel art. For other uses, see Sprite (disambiguation).
Tank and rocket sprites from Broforce
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In computer graphics, a sprite is a two-dimensional bitmap that is integrated into a larger scene, most often in a 2D video game. Originally, the term sprite referred to fixed-sized objects composited together, by hardware, with a background. Use of the term has since become more general.

Systems with hardware sprites include arcade video games of the 1970s and 1980s; game consoles including as the Atari VCS (1977), ColecoVision (1982), Famicom (1983), Genesis/Mega Drive (1988); and home computers such as the TI-99/4 (1979), Atari 8-bit computers (1979), Commodore 64 (1982), MSX (1983), Amiga (1985), and X68000 (1987). Hardware varies in the number of sprites supported, the size and colors of each sprite, and special effects such as scaling or reporting pixel-precise overlap.

Hardware composition of sprites occurs as each scan line is prepared for the video output device, such as a cathode-ray tube, without involvement of the main CPU and without the need for a full-screen frame buffer. Sprites can be positioned or altered by setting attributes used during the hardware composition process. The number of sprites which can be displayed per scan line is often lower than the total number of sprites a system supports. For example, the Texas Instruments TMS9918 chip supports 32 sprites, but only four can appear on the same scan line.

The CPUs in modern computers, video game consoles, and mobile devices are fast enough that bitmaps can be drawn into a frame buffer without special hardware assistance. Beyond that, GPUs can render vast numbers of scaled, rotated, anti-aliased, partially translucent, very high resolution images in parallel with the CPU.

Etymology

According to Karl Guttag, one of two engineers for the 1979 Texas Instruments TMS9918 video display processor, this use of the word sprite came from David Ackley, a manager at TI. It was also used by Danny Hillis at Texas Instruments in the late 1970s. The term was derived from the fact that sprites "float" on top of the background image without overwriting it, much like a ghost or mythological sprite.

Some hardware manufacturers used different terms, especially before sprite became common:

Player/Missile Graphics was a term used by Atari, Inc. for hardware sprites in the Atari 8-bit computers (1979) and Atari 5200 console (1982). The term reflects the use for both characters ("players") and smaller associated objects ("missiles") that share the same color. The earlier Atari Video Computer System and some Atari arcade games used player, missile, and ball.

Stamp was used in some arcade hardware in the early 1980s, including Ms. Pac-Man.

Movable Object Block, or MOB, was used in MOS Technology's graphics chip literature. Commodore, the main user of MOS chips and the owner of MOS for most of the chip maker's lifetime, instead used the term sprite for the Commodore 64.

OBJs (short for objects) is used in the developer manuals for the NES, Super NES, and Game Boy. The region of video RAM used to store sprite attributes and coordinates is called OAM (Object Attribute Memory). This also applies to the Game Boy Advance and Nintendo DS.

History

Arcade video games

The use of sprites originated with arcade video games. Nolan Bushnell came up with the original concept when he developed the first arcade video game, Computer Space (1971). Technical limitations made it difficult to adapt the early mainframe game Spacewar! (1962), which performed an entire screen refresh for every little movement, so he came up with a solution to the problem: controlling each individual game element with a dedicated transistor. The rockets were essentially hardwired bitmaps that moved around the screen independently of the background, an important innovation for producing screen images more efficiently and providing the basis for sprite graphics.

The earliest video games to represent player characters as human player sprites were arcade sports video games, beginning with Taito's TV Basketball, released in April 1974 and licensed to Midway Manufacturing for release in North America. Designed by Tomohiro Nishikado, he wanted to move beyond simple Pong-style rectangles to character graphics, by rearranging the rectangle shapes into objects that look like basketball players and basketball hoops. Ramtek released another sports video game in October 1974, Baseball, which similarly displayed human-like characters.

The Namco Galaxian arcade system board, for the 1979 arcade game Galaxian, displays animated, multi-colored sprites over a scrolling background. It became the basis for Nintendo's Radar Scope and Donkey Kong arcade hardware and home consoles such as the Nintendo Entertainment System. According to Steve Golson from General Computer Corporation, the term "stamp" was used instead of "sprite" at the time.

Home systems

Signetics devised the first chips capable of generating sprite graphics (referred to as objects by Signetics) for home systems. The Signetics 2636 video processors were first used in the 1978 1292 Advanced Programmable Video System and later in the 1979 Elektor TV Games Computer.

The Atari VCS, released in 1977, has a hardware sprite implementation where five graphical objects can be moved independently of the game playfield. The term sprite was not in use at the time. The VCS's sprites are called movable objects in the programming manual, further identified as two players, two missiles, and one ball. These each consist of a single row of pixels that are displayed on a scan line. To produce a two-dimensional shape, the sprite's single-row bitmap is altered by software from one scan line to the next.

The 1979 Atari 400 and 800 home computers have similar, but more elaborate, circuitry capable of moving eight single-color objects per scan line: four 8-bit wide players and four 2-bit wide missiles. Each is the full height of the display—a long, thin strip. DMA from a table in memory automatically sets the graphics pattern registers for each scan line. Hardware registers control the horizontal position of each player and missile. Vertical motion is achieved by moving the bitmap data within a player or missile's strip. The feature was called player/missile graphics by Atari.

Texas Instruments developed the TMS9918 chip with sprite support for its 1979 TI-99/4 home computer. An updated version is used in the 1981 TI-99/4A.

In 2.5D and 3D games

Player interactions with sprites in a 2.5D game

Sprites remained popular with the rise of 2.5D games (those which recreate a 3D game space from a 2D map) in the late 1980s and early 1990s. A technique called billboarding allows 2.5D games to keep onscreen sprites rotated toward the player view at all times. Some 2.5D games, such as 1993's Doom, allow the same entity to be represented by different sprites depending on its rotation relative to the viewer, furthering the illusion of 3D.

Fully 3D games usually present world objects as 3D models, but sprites are supported in some 3D game engines, such as GoldSrc and Unreal, and may be billboarded or locked to fixed orientations. Sprites remain useful for small details, particle effects, and other applications where the lack of a third dimension is not a major detriment.

Systems with hardware sprites

These are base hardware specs and do not include additional programming techniques, such as using raster interrupts to repurpose sprites mid-frame.

System Sprite hardware Introduced Sprites on screen Sprites per scan line Max. texels on line Texture width Texture height Colors Zoom Rotation Collision detection Transparency Source
Amstrad Plus ASIC 1990 16 16 ? 16 16 15 2, 4× vertical, 2, 4× horizontal No No Color key
Atari 2600 TIA 1977 5 5 19 1, 8 262 1 2, 4, 8× horizontal Horizontal mirroring Yes Color key
Atari 8-bit computers GTIA/ANTIC 1979 8 8 40 2, 8 128, 256 1 2× vertical, 2, 4× horizontal No Yes Color key
Commodore 64 VIC-II 1982 8 8 96, 192 12, 24 21 1, 3 2× integer No Yes Color key
Amiga (OCS) Denise 1985 8, can be reused horizontally per 4 pixel increments Arbitrary, 8 unique Arbitrary 16 Arbitrary 3, 15 Vertical by display list No Yes Color key
Amiga (AGA) Lisa 1992 8, can be reused horizontally per 2 pixel increments Arbitrary, 8 unique Arbitrary 16, 32, 64 Arbitrary 3, 15 Vertical by display list No Yes Color key
ColecoVision TMS9918A 1983 32 4 64 8, 16 8, 16 1 2× integer No Partial Color key
TI-99/4 & 4A TMS9918 1979 32 4 64 8, 16 8, 16 1 2× integer No Partial Color key
Gameduino 2011 256 96 1,536 16 16 255 No Yes Yes Color key
Intellivision STIC AY-3-8900 1979 8 8 64 8 8,16 1 2, 4, 8× vertical, 2× horizontal Horizontal and vertical mirroring Yes Color key
MSX TMS9918A 1983 32 4 64 8, 16 8, 16 1 2× integer No Partial Color key
MSX2 Yamaha V9938 1986 32 8 128 8, 16 8,16 1, 3, 7, 15 per line 2× integer No Partial Color key
MSX2+ / MSX turbo R Yamaha V9958 1988 32 8 128 8,16 8,16 1, 3, 7, 15 per line 2× integer No Partial Color key
Namco Pac-Man
(arcade)		 TTL 1980 6 6 96 16 16 3 No Horizontal and vertical mirroring No Color key
TurboGrafx-16 HuC6270A 1987 64 16 256 16, 32 16, 32, 64 15 No Horizontal and vertical mirroring Yes Color key
Namco Galaxian
(arcade)		 TTL 1979 7 7 112 16 16 3 No Horizontal and vertical mirroring No Color key
Nintendo Donkey Kong, Radar Scope
(arcade)		 1979 128 16 256 16 16 3 Integer No Yes Color key
Nintendo DS Integrated PPU 2004 128 128 1,210 8, 16, 32, 64 8, 16, 32, 64 65,536 Affine Affine No Color key, blending
NES/Famicom Ricoh RP2C0x PPU 1983 64 8 64 8 8, 16 3 No Horizontal and vertical mirroring Partial Color key
Game Boy Integrated PPU 1989 40 10 80 8 8, 16 3 No Horizontal and vertical mirroring No Color key
Game Boy Advance Integrated PPU 2001 128 128 1210 8, 16, 32, 64 8, 16, 32, 64 15, 255 Affine Affine No Color key, blending
Master System,
Game Gear		 YM2602B VDP
(TMS9918-derived)		 1985 64 8 128 8, 16 8, 16 15 2× integer, 2× vertical Background tile mirroring Yes Color key
Genesis / Mega Drive YM7101 VDP
(SMS VDP-derived)		 1988 80 20 320 8, 16, 24, 32 8, 16, 24, 32 15 No Horizontal and vertical mirroring Yes Color key
Sega OutRun (arcade) 1986 128 128 1600 8 to 512 8 to 256 15 Anisotropic Horizontal and vertical mirroring Yes Alpha
X68000 Cynthia jr. (original), Cynthia (later models) 1987 128 32 512 16 16 15 2× integer Horizontal and vertical mirroring Partial Color key
Neo Geo LSPC2-A2 1990 384 96 1536 16 16 to 512 15 Sprite shrinking Horizontal and vertical mirroring Partial Color key
Super NES / Super Famicom S-PPU1, S-PPU2 1990 128 34 256 8, 16, 32, 64 8, 16, 32, 64 15 No Horizontal and vertical mirroring No Color key, averaging
System Sprite hardware Introduced Sprites on screen Sprites on line Max. texels on line Texture width Texture height Colors Hardware zoom Rotation Collision detection Transparency Source

See also

References

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