Sprite Scaling (Concept)

Sprite Scaling

CONCEPT

Whether it's Super Scaler or Mode 7, growing and shrinking sprites/textures is a concept often used in sprite-based games. It was a popular technique used to create three-dimensional games with sprites, mostly during the 16-bit to early 32-bit eras. Sprite-scaling was an early form of 3D texture-mapping.

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Overview

As game hardware improved, sprite scaling became a popular technique, first for arcade games in the 1980s, and then for console and computer games in the 1990s. Scaling allowed for characters, items, or other sprites to smoothly grow or shrink on the fly, allowing the development of three-dimensional games using sprites. Sprite-scaling was an early form of 3D texture-mapping.

History

The first games to use sprite-scaling were arcade games, by companies such as Sega (Company) and Namco (Company); some of the earliest examples include Sega's Fonz (Game)(1976) and Turbo (Game)(1981), and Namco's Pole Position (Game) (1982). Some of the earliest action games to make use of extensive sprite-scaling were Sega's SubRoc-3D (1982) and Buck Rogers: Planet of Zoom (1982).

Super Scaler

After Burner, released for the Sega X Board arcade system in 1987. Its Super Scaler technology featured advanced sprite scaling and rotation capabilities.

See: Super Scaler (Concept)

Sprite-scaling was later popularized by Sega's powerful Super Scaler (Concept) arcade graphics boards, which were capable of scaling thousands of sprites every second; some of Sega's popular Super Scaler arcade games included Hang-On (1985), Space Harrier (Franchise) (1985) and Out Run (1986). With After Burner (Franchise) (1987), Sega introduced sprite rotation, adding greater three-dimensional depth. They continued producing hits such as Thunder Blade (Franchise) (1987), Galaxy Force (Game) (1988) and Last Survivor (Game) (1988).

Following the success of Sega's Super Scaler games, rival arcade developers such as Konami (Company), Namcoand Taitobegan producing their own sprite-scaling arcade games in the late 80s.

X68000 and Neo Geo

Knight Arms, released by Arsys Software for the Sharp X68000 computer in 1989, made use of sprite-scaling graphics.

See: Sharp X68000 (Platform) and Neo Geo (Platform)

Among home gaming systems, the Sharp X68000 (Platform) computer (launched 1987) was capable of smooth sprite-scaling, though it wasn't able to scale as many sprites as Sega's Super Scaler arcade systems.

SNK (Company)'s Neo•Geo arcade-based console (launched 1990) was notorious for utilizing sprite scaling in its games to simulate a camera "zooming" in and out of the actions depending on how close the combatants were to each other.

Mode 7

Doom, released for PC in 1993, uses software to project and scale sprites in its 3D world.

See: Mode 7 (Concept)

Another popular type of sprite-scaling was Mode 7 (Concept), used to scale and rotate backgrounds for various games on the SNES console (launched 1990).

Billboarding

See: Billboarding (Concept)

While long past its heyday, sprite-scaling is still used today in polygonal 3D games, in the form of billboarding. This technique was commonly used for rendering trees in early 3D games, although this has become less common in modern games. It is still frequently used when rendering smoke and fire.

Hardware Capabilities

This is a table listing the sprite scaling/zooming and rotation/mirroring capabilities of various classic gaming systems and/or graphics chips. Only systems and chips with hardware support for some form of hardware zooming/scaling or rotation/mirroring are listed here.

Integer zooming (including 1/2/4/8× vertical and 1/2/4/8× horizontal) indicates that sprites can only be zoomed in terms of integers (such as doubling or quadrupling), rather than smooth scaling. Voltage control indicates an analog method of smooth scaling through hardware voltage control. Anisotropic and affline indicate smooth scaling, i.e. what usually comes to mind when thinking of sprite scaling. Similarly for rotation effects, screen orientation means the screen can only be rotated in right-angles, while mirroring means it can only be flipped, whereas affline indicates smooth rotation.

For the other sprite capabilities of these systems and chips, see here. For a full detailed table of sprite capabilities, with references, see here.

Systems / Chips \|\|Year\|\|Zooming / Scaling\|\|Rotation
Fujitsu MB14241	1975	1, 2× vertical, 1, 2× horizontal	Screen orientation
Atari 2600 (Platform)	1977	1, 2, 4, 8× horizontal	Horizontal mirroring
Taito Z80	1977	No	Screen orientation
Atari 8-Bit & 5200	1979	1, 2× vertical, 1, 2, 4× horizontal	No
Namco Galaxian	1979	1, 2, 3× vertical, 1, 2, 3× horizontal	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
ColecoVision (Platform), MSX (Platform), Sega SG-1000	1979	1, 2× integer	No
Namco Pac‑Man	1980	No	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega G80	1981	Vector scaling	Screen orientation
Sega VCO Object	1981	Voltage control scaling	Background tile mirroring
Commodore 64	1982	1, 2× integer	No
Namco Pole Position	1982	Yes, anisotropic	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega 315‑5011 & 315‑5012	1982	Yes, anisotropic	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Famicom / NES	1983	No	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Amiga (Platform) (OCS)	1985	Vertical by display list	No
Sega Master System (Platform) & Game Gear (Platform)	1985	1, 2× integer, 1, 2× vertical	Background tile mirroring
MSX2	1985	1, 2× integer	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega OutRun	1986	Yes, anisotropic	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Namco System 2	1987	Yes, anisotropic	Yes, affine
PC-Engine / TurboGrafx-16	1987	No	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sharp X68000 (Platform)	1987	1, 2× integer	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega X Board	1987	Yes, anisotropic	Yes, affine
Taito Ninja Warriors	1987	No	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Taito Z System	1987	Yes, anisotropic	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Capcom CPS	1988	No	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega System 24	1988	Yes, anisotropic	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega Y Board	1988	Yes, anisotropic	Yes, affine
Taito B System	1988	Sprite shrinking	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
MSX2+ andamp;amp;amp; MSX TurboR	1988	1, 2× integer	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega Mega Drive / Genesis	1988	1, 2× integer	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Fujitsu FM Towns	1989	1, 2× vertical, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5× horizontal	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
SuperGrafx (Platform)	1989	No	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Amstrad Plus	1990	1, 2, 4× vertical, 1, 2, 4× horizontal	No
Neo Geo (Platform)	1990	Sprite shrinking	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega System 32	1990	Yes, anisotropic	Yes, affine
Super Famicom andamp;amp;amp; SNES	1990	Background, affine	Background affine rotation and sprite mirroring
Amiga (Platform) (AGA)	1992	Vertical by display list	No
Taito SZ System	1992	Yes, anisotropic	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Atari Jaguar	1993	Yes, anisotropic	Yes, affine
Capcom CPS2	1993	No	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Sega Saturn & ST-V	1994	Yes, anisotropic	Yes, affine and distortion
Sony PlayStation	1994	Yes, anisotropic	Yes, affine
Capcom CPS3	1996	Yes, anisotropic	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Data East MLC System	1996	Yes, anisotropic	Horizontal and vertical mirroring
Hyper Neo Geo 64	1997	Yes, anisotropic	Yes, affine
Game Boy Advance (Platform)	2001	Yes, affine	Yes, affine
Nintendo DS (Platform)	2004	Yes affine	Yes, affine
Systems / Chips	Year	Zooming / Scaling	Rotation

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