Mode 7

The Mode 7 comes from the Game console Super Nintendo, it is a graphic mode of application of texture which makes it possible a background to be swivelled and redimensionné by processes of rotation and of zoom. By modifying with each horizontal line (Scanline) the scale and the angle of this plan, an effect of prospect can be created, thus transforming the plan into a tilted and textured ground.

The effect Mode 7 is generally used on systems with strong capacities 2D but not of management of the 3D because it allows in fact to simulate an impression of depth by using only functions 2D. Among the Super sets of BORN ones using Mode 7, one finds F-Zero and Super Mario Kart , all two having been adapted thereafter on Game Boy Advance, while keeping this effect, make possible by the circuit 2D of the console.

Many plays PC, in particular Wacky Wheels , have an effect entirely generated Mode 7 in a software way, the charts VGA of the time not including/understanding such a circuit of advanced posting 2D allowing the rotation and the Zoom.

Technical description

Mode 7 is based on operations in 2D. In-house, mode 7 does not use coordinates in 3D but it makes it possible to obtain an illusion of three-dimensional ground thanks to transformations on a bitmap .

Mode 7 is controlled thanks to a series of registers:

  • a register of 8 bits to indicate the type of effect (horizontal/vertical mirror, superposition)
  • 4 registers of 16 bits for the parameters of a matrix of transformation 2x2
  • 2 registers of 16 bits to give the center (cx, cy) of the effect

While varying the parameters of the matrix, one obtains a rotation, a zoom (on the two axes or an axis at the same time) or a slope (effect of shearing). To ensure the translation, two additional coordinates are necessary.

List plays Super Nintendo using Mode 7

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