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The 9918 was used in much more hardware than the TI-99/4(a), and Yamaha produced a more capable version: "The TMS9918 and its variants were used in the ColecoV

by chasil 2y ago

The 9918 was used in much more hardware than the TI-99/4(a), and Yamaha produced a more capable version: "The TMS9918 and its variants were used in the ColecoVision, CreatiVision, Memotech MTX, MSX, NABU Personal Computer, SG-1000/SC-3000, Spectravideo SV-318, SV-328, Sord M5, Tatung Einstein, TI-99/4, Casio PV-2000, Coleco Adam, Hanimex Pencil II, and Tomy Tutor... "Texas Instruments' TMS9918A was succeeded by Yamaha's V9938, which added additional bitmap modes, more colorful sprites, a vertical full-screen scroll register, vertical and horizontal offset registers, a hardware blitter and a customizable palette." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9918 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TMS9918 MAME also implements the 9918 in software, as many of its emulation targets bundled it as a component (mostly video arcade games). https://www.reddit.com/r/MAME/comments/pw8285/is_it_possible_to_dump_vram/?rdt=47529 https://www.reddit.com/r/MAME/comments/pw8285/is_it_possible...

MegaDeKay 2y ago
The Colecovision was awesome for its time. I bought one brand new just after it came out. It's graphics and sound walked all over the 2600 and Intellivision. A great Donkey Kong port as a pack-in? Yes please. Some other real gems in its library as well. The Super Action Controller as standard vs the crappy Intellivision-like one would have been icing on the cake.
- bitwize 2y ago
  The TI-99/4A version of Donkey Kong was the only home port (that I know of) that had all four screens from the arcade original. Graphics and sound-wise it's a bit inferior to the ColecoVision port, but the ColecoVision version, afaik, had only three screens.
  - MegaDeKay 2y ago
    You are indeed correct: only three screens on the CV port.
  - nsxwolf 2y ago
    It was missing the bouncing springs on the ladders stage though. If I knew what I was doing, I would try to add them back in.
  - deleted 2y ago
    [deleted]
bitwize 2y ago
The designers of the 9918 also coined the term "sprite" for pixel-movable graphic elements. It was the basis for all Sega console graphics chips up through the Genesis (most of which had additional capabilities), and even the NES PPU is patterned somewhat after the 9918 design (albeit, again, with more capability).

by chasil 2y ago

MegaDeKay 2y ago

The Colecovision was awesome for its time. I bought one brand new just after it came out. It's graphics and sound walked all over the 2600 and Intellivision. A great Donkey Kong port as a pack-in? Yes please. Some other real gems in its library as well. The Super Action Controller as standard vs the crappy Intellivision-like one would have been icing on the cake.

bitwize 2y ago
The TI-99/4A version of Donkey Kong was the only home port (that I know of) that had all four screens from the arcade original. Graphics and sound-wise it's a bit inferior to the ColecoVision port, but the ColecoVision version, afaik, had only three screens.
- MegaDeKay 2y ago
  You are indeed correct: only three screens on the CV port.
- nsxwolf 2y ago
  It was missing the bouncing springs on the ladders stage though. If I knew what I was doing, I would try to add them back in.
- deleted 2y ago
  [deleted]

bitwize 2y ago

The designers of the 9918 also coined the term "sprite" for pixel-movable graphic elements. It was the basis for all Sega console graphics chips up through the Genesis (most of which had additional capabilities), and even the NES PPU is patterned somewhat after the 9918 design (albeit, again, with more capability).