Sprite (hardware)

On the SNES hardware, a sprite is an image drawn at a specific part of the screen. Unlike regular layers, each sprite image can move independently from each other. Furthermore, sprites also always use 4bpp graphics, no matter which BG mode is used. Only two different sprite sizes can be used at the same time - the two sizes available depend on bits 5, 6 and 7 of $2101. In SMW, the two sizes used are 8x8 and 16x16. The sprite data is stored in OAM, the graphics for them are stored in VRAM and the palette in CGRAM.

OBJ Size Combination Select
000	8 dot	16 dot
001	8 dot	32 dot
010	8 dot	64 dot
011	16 dot	32 dot
100	16 dot	64 dot
101	32 dot	64 dot
110	16 dot x 32 dot	32 dot x 64 dot
111	16 dot x 32 dot	32 dot x 32 dot

The last two non-square size combinations are not documented in the official dev manual.^[2]

Limitations

• Only 32 sprites can be used on the same scanline (this is refered to as 'Range Over')
• Only 34 sprite tiles (8x8) can be used on the same scanline (this is refered to as 'Time Over')
• The OAM can only hold up to 128 sprites.
• Sprites are never hi-res.
• Interlacing does not double the possible sprite vertical positions^[3]

See Also

Other Layers
Backdrop Color	Layer 4	Layer 3	Layer 2	Layer 1	Sprite	BG3 High Prio

References

1. Chapter 2, "Object (OBJ)" on page 2-2-1 of Book I of the official Super Nintendo development manual
2. page 2-27-1 of Book I, lbid
3. 18.3 OBJ on page 2-18-1 of Book I, lbid.