How can I replicate the look and limitations of the Super NES?

Posted by Mikalichov on Game Development See other posts from Game Development or by Mikalichov
Published on 2012-03-21T17:40:45Z Indexed on 2012/03/21 23:41 UTC
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I am looking to produce graphics with the same limitations / look that in the Super Nes era. I am specifically looking for graphics similar to Chrono Trigger / FF6.

It would be a lot easier to do if I had an idea of the resolution / dpi I am supposed to use. I found that the technical specs for the SNES are:

Progressive: 256 × 224, 512 × 224, 256 × 239, 512 × 239 Interlaced: 512 × 448, 512 × 478

But even by using these resolutions, it is pointless if I set it at 72dpi, as I will still have possibly very detailed graphics (that is the main thing, I don't want detailed graphics, I want to go pixelated).

I figured it might be related to the sprite size limit, i.e.:

Sprites can be 8 × 8, 16 × 16, 32 × 32, or 64 × 64 pixels, each using one of eight 16-color palettes and tiles from one of two blocks of 256 in VRAM. Up to 32 sprites and 34 8 × 8 sprite tiles may appear on any one line.

This would work for sprites (characters, objects), but what about maps? Are they built entirely from 8x8 tiles? And then, at what resolution is the end result displayed?

It might seem like I am giving the question and answers at the same time, but all of these are suppositions I am making, so could someone confirm or correct them?

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