Sprite (Concept)

Sprite

CONCEPT

A two-dimensional image or animation overlaid into a scene. The foundation of early 2D games, making up everything from props to the player-controlled character.

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Overview

A sprite is a two-dimensional (2D (Concept)) bitmap graphic object that can be a static image or animation that is integrated into a larger scene. Sprites are used in games to collectively create a scene. Each sprite is used to represent each object. A "Sprite Sheet" is simply a collection of still images that progress. Once displayed sequentially it creates animation.

Sprites can be used fortwo-dimensional games, or pseudo-3D sprite-scaling (such as Super Scaler (Concept), Mode 7 (Concept) and Ray Casting (Concept)), or pre-rendered games.

Sprites can also be used for, and have been used in, three-dimensional games. The way that they are typically used within 3Dgames is through rendering or imitating a rendered frame from certain perspectives. This removes the computational overhead of rendering each position dynamically. Sprites are also often used in 3D games today to display grassand foliage, in the form of billboarding. Sprites can also be used in conjunction with cel-shading.

In recent years, sprites have been used beyond gaming, such as CSS sprites which are used in web design as a way to improve performance by combining numerous small images or icons into a larger image called a sprite sheet or tile set, and selecting which icon to show on the rendered page using Cascading Style Sheets.

Sprite Drawing Methods

The following are the two most common methods for drawing sprites.

Buffering / Blitting

Using the buffering method, or blitting method, the CPU (central processing unit) and/or GPU (graphics processing unit) modify a frame-buffer held in RAM (random-access memory), which requires more memory cycles to load and store the pixels and refresh the backgrounds behind moving objects. The sprites are usually processed through a display list. This method frequently requires double buffering to avoid flickering and tearing, but place fewer restrictions on the size and number of moving objects.

This method is ideal for systems with high processing power (a fast CPU and/or GPU), and/or a high amount of fast RAM memory. However, it was usually only arcadesystems that were capable of using this method very effectively up until the early 1990s (such as Sega (Company)'s Super Scaler (Concept) systems), due to their expensive CPU, GPU and RAM technologies. A number of personal computers also used this method in the 1980s (such as the Amiga (Platform)), as well as a few consoles (such as the Atari 7800 (Platform)), but due to limited processing power and memory at the time, these systems were often unable to match the quality of hardware sprites without suffering slowdowns. But as processors and memory technology improved, buffering/blitting became the most common method for drawing sprites in the mid-1990s, for both personal computers and home consoles (such as the Sega Saturn).

Hardware Sprites

Mega Man sprite

Hardware sprites, rather than being part of the bitmap data in the frame-buffer, instead float around on top without affecting the data in the frame-buffer below, much like a ghost or "sprite". Using this method, there is a defined limit to the number of sprites on screen and their sizes, but two-dimensional shapes could be moved around the screen horizontally and vertically with minimal software overhead. In other words, hardware sprites have very little impact on overall system performance.

This method was ideal for systems with limited processing power and RAM memory. It was the most commonly used method for classic home consoles in the 1980s and early 1990s (such as the Sega Mega Drive/Genesis and Super Nintendo Entertainment System (Platform)), some arcade systems in the early 1980s (such as the Namco Pac-Man), the more advanced personal computers of the 1980s (such as the Sharp X68000 (Platform)), and handheld systems up until the 2000s (such as the Game Boy Advance (Platform)). But as processing power and RAM memory improved, the use of hardware sprites eventually fell into disuse in the mid-1990s, though it continued for handhelds up until the 2000s.

History

1970s

The first video games did not use sprites. Pong (Game), for example, when it released in 1972, used simple rectangular blocks and lines to display the ball, paddles and points. The use of sprites became possible with the use of ROM (read-only memory) for several arcadegames in 1974.

Basketball, released by Taito for arcades in 1974. It was the first game to use sprites.

Taito released the earliest video games with sprites in 1974. The first game to use sprites was Basketball, a sports game released in Japan (Location) by Taito in early 1974 and imported to North America (Location) by Midwayas TV Basketball in February 1974. Basketball represented four basketballplayers as well as two baskets as sprite images. These basketball players were the first player characters and the first representation of humans in gaming history.

Speed Race (Game), which was designed by Tomohiro Nishikado (Person) and ran on Taito Discrete Logic hardware, released shortly afterwards in 1974. It featured sprites with collision detection, moving along a vertical scrolling playfield (see Bill Loguidice & Matt Barton, Vintage games: an insider look at the history of Grand Theft Auto, Super Mario, and the most influential games of all time, page 197, 2009).

The Fujitsu MB14241 was used to accelerate the drawing and buffering of sprite graphics for various 1970s arcade games from Taito and Midway, such as Gun Fight (Game) (1975), Sea Wolf (Game) (1976) which ran on the Midway 8080 hardware (ref), and the blockbuster hit Space Invaders (Game) (1978). The Taito 8080 hardware engineered by Tomohiro Nishikado (Person) for Space Invaders, which also used the Fujitsu MB14241 (ref), could display up to 11 sprites per scanline (see here,here and here for more information).

In 1977, the Taito Z80 arcade system board used for Super Speed Race was capable of generating up to 16 sprites in hardware and display 4 sprites per scanline. Each sprite could have a size up to 32 pixels in width or height and display up to 15 colors (see references here, here and here).

Galaxian, released by Namco for arcades in 1979. Its Namco Galaxian hardware, featuring multi-colored sprites, was widely used during the early 1980s.

The Namco Galaxian arcade system, developed by Namco for the 1979 arcade hit Galaxian, used specialized graphics hardware supporting RGB color, multi-colored sprites and tilemap backgrounds. It could display up to 15 hardware sprites across each scanline. Each sprite could be up to 16x16 pixels in size, with 3 colors each.^[1] The Namco Galaxian hardware was widely used during the golden age of arcade video games, by game companies such as Namco (Company), Centuri,Gremlin, Irem, Konami (Company), Midway, Nichibutsu, Sega (Company) and Taito (see references hereand here).

1980s to 1990s

In the 1980s, sprite-scaling became a popular technique in arcadegames to represent a three-dimensional perspective using 2D (Concept) sprite graphics, i.e. pseudo-3D graphics.

After Burner, released by Sega for arcades in 1987. Its Super Scaler technology featured advanced sprite scaling and rotation capabilities.

Sega (Company) in particular was at the forefront of sprite-scaling graphics with its powerful custom Super Scaler (Concept) graphics boards, which could quickly scale and rotate many large colourful sprites at high frame rates. Sega's Super Scaler hardware powered a string of 1980s arcade hits, such as Hang-On and Space Harrier (Game) in 1985, and Out Run in 1987. Sega introduced sprite rotation with After Burner (Franchise) in 1987, and went on to produce more hits, such as Galaxy Force (Franchise), Power Drift (Game) and Last Survivor (Game) in 1988.

Other arcade manufacturers such as Namco (Company), Capcom (Company) and SNK (Company) also relied on custom graphics processors in order to produce similarly advanced sprite graphics in the 1980s to early 1990s. Eventually, the Sega Saturn console, released in 1994, was able to rival the sprite graphics of the arcades. Along with its arcade counterpart, the Sega ST-V, the Saturn had the most advanced sprite capabilities of the 1990s.

Following the rise of true 3D polygon graphics in the early-mid-1990s, the sprite graphics, including the sprite-scaling technique, eventually declined in popularity.

Hardware Capabilities

This is a table listing the sprite capabilities of various classic gaming systems and/or graphics chips.

For the sprite scaling/zooming and rotation/mirroring capabilities of these systems and chips (the ones with hardware support for these features), see here. For a full detailed table of sprite capabilities, with references, see here.

Systems / Chips	Year	Sprites on screen	Sprites on line	Texels on line	Texture width	Texture height	Colors per sprite	Back-ground
Fujitsu MB14241	1975	60	9	144	4 to 32	1 to 224	1	1 bitmap layer
Fairchild Channel F	1976	Display list (run by CPU)	9	56	4, 8	5, 8	1	1 bitmap layer
Atari 2600 (Platform)	1977	9 (5 multiplied by CPU)	9 (with triplication)	51 (with triplication)	1, 8	192	1	1 bitmap layer
Taito Z80	1977	7	7	224	32	16	15	1 tile or bitmap layer
Atari 8-Bit & 5200	1979	Display list	8	40	2, 8	128, 256	1, 3	1 bitmap layer
Namco Galaxian	1979	Display list	15	240	8, 16	8, 16	3	1 tile layer and 1 bitmap layer
ColecoVision (Platform), MSX (Platform), Sega SG-1000	1979	32	4	64	8, 16	8, 16	1	1 tile layer
Namco Pac‑Man	1980	8	8	128	16	16	3	2 tile layers
Sega G80	1981	64	32	256	8, 16	8, 16	3	2 tile layers
Sega VCO Object	1981	64	16	315	8 to 20	8 to 20	3, 7	1 tile layer and 1 bitmap layer
Commodore 64	1982	Display list (run by CPU)	8	96, 192	12, 24	21	1, 3	1 tile or bitmap layer
Namco Pole Position	1982	64	32	512	16, 32	16, 32	15	1 tile layer and 1 bitmap layer
Sega 315‑5011 & 315‑5012	1982	128	100	800	8 to 256	8 to 256	15	2 tile layers and 1 bitmap layer
Famicom / NES	1983	64	8	64	8	8, 16	3	1 tile layer
Atari 7800 (Platform)	1984	100 (without back-ground)	30 (without back-ground)	160	4 to 160	4, 8, 16	1, 3, 8	1 bitmap layer
Amiga (Platform) (OCS)	1985	Display list	8	128	16	Up to 256	3, 15	2 bitmap layers
Sega Master System (Platform) & Game Gear (Platform)	1985	64	8	128	8, 16	8, 16	15	1 tile layer
MSX2	1985	32	8	128	8, 16	8, 16	1, 3, 7, 15 per line	1 tile or bitmap layer
Sega OutRun	1986	128	128	1600	8 to 512	8 to 256	15	2 tile layers and 1 bitmap layer
Namco System 2	1987	128	128	2081	8 to 64	8 to 64	255	7 tile layers and 1 bitmap layer
PC-Engine / TurboGrafx-16	1987	64	16	256	16, 32	16, 32, 64	15	1 tile layer
Sharp X68000 (Platform)	1987	512 (128 multiplied by raster interrupt)	32	512	16	16	15	1-2 tile layers and 1-4 bitmap layers
Sega X Board	1987	256	256	3200	8 to 512	8 to 256	15	4 tile layers and 1 bitmap layer
Taito Ninja Warriors	1987	128	108	1737	16	16	15	6 tile layers
Taito Z System	1987	512	108	1737	16 to 128	8 to 128	15 to 255	2-4 tile layers and 1 bitmap layer
Capcom CPS	1988	256	65	1048	16 to 256	16 to 256	15	3 tile layers and 2 bitmap layers
Sega System 24	1988	2048	512	4096	8 to 1024	8 to 1024	15 to 255	4 tile layers
Sega Y Board	1988	2176	400	3200	8 to 512	8 to 512	15 to 511	1 bitmap layer
Taito B System	1988	408	110	1768	16 to 256	16 to 256	15 to 63	2 tile layers and 1 bitmap layer
MSX2+ andamp;amp;amp; MSX TurboR	1988	32	8	128	8, 16	8, 16	1, 3, 7, 15 per line	1 tile layer and 1 bitmap layer
Sega Mega Drive / Genesis	1988	80	20	320	8, 16, 24, 32	8, 16, 24, 32	15	2 tile layers
Fujitsu FM Towns	1989	1024	64	1024	16	16	15	1-2 bitmap layers
Game Boy (Platform)	1989	40	10	80	8	8, 16	3	1 tile layer
SuperGrafx (Platform)	1989	128	32	512	16, 32	16, 32, 64	15	2 tile layers
Amstrad Plus	1990	Display list (run by CPU)	16	256	16	16	15	1 bitmap layer
Neo Geo (Platform)	1990	384	96	1536	16	16 to 512	15	1 tile layer
Sega System 32	1990	8192	512	4096	8 to 1024	8 to 1024	15 to 512	4 tile layers and 1 bitmap layer
Super Famicom andamp;amp;amp; SNES	1990	128	34	272	8, 16, 32, 64	8, 16, 32, 64	15	1-4 tile layers or 1 affine mapped tile layer
Amiga (Platform) (AGA)	1992	Display list	8	448	16, 32, 64	Up to 256	3, 15	2 bitmap layers
Taito SZ System	1992	1024	162	2604	16 to 128	8 to 128	15 to 255	4 tile layers and 1 bitmap layer
Atari Jaguar	1993	1000	90	720	8 to 360	Up to 220	Up to 255	1 bitmap layer
Capcom CPS2	1993	900	65	1048	16 to 256	16 to 256	15	3 tile layers and 2 bitmap layers
Sega Saturn & ST-V	1994	16,384	512	4096	8 to 504	1 to 255	15 to 32,768	3-6 tile layers and 1-4 bitmap layers
Sony PlayStation	1994	4000	128	1024	8, 16, 256	8, 16, 256	15, 255	1 bitmap layer
Capcom CPS3	1996	1024	482	3861	8, 16	8, 16	63, 255	4 tile layers
Data East MLC System	1996	614	176	2828	16	16	15 to 255	2 tile layers
Hyper Neo Geo 64	1997	1535	384	3072	16	16 to 512	15, 255	4 tile layers
Game Boy Advance (Platform)	2001	128	128	1210	8, 16, 32, 64	8, 16, 32, 64	15, 255	2-4 layers or 1-2 affine layers
Nintendo DS (Platform)	2004	256 (128 per screen)	128	1210	8, 16, 32, 64	8, 16, 32, 64	15 to 32,768	8 layers (4 per screen); each layer is independent
Systems / Chips	Year	Sprites on screen	Sprites on line	Texels on line	Texture width	Texture height	Colors	Back-ground

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