control the characteristics of the characters. Documented There are four documented screen modes available in the TMS9918A (as mentioned before, the TMS9918 lacks mode Graphic 2): Mode 0 (Text): 240×192 pixels total, as 40×24 characters, pulled from 1 character set of 256 6×8 pixel characters. The entire character set has a 2-color limitation. This mode doesn't support sprites. Mode 1 (Graphic 1): 256×192 pixels total, as 32×24 characters, pulled from 1 character set of 256 8×8 pixel characters. Each group of 8 characters in the character set has a 2-color limitation. For example, the characters "0" through "7" will all have the same color attributes. Mode 2 (Graphic 2): 256×192 pixels total, as 32×24 characters, pulled from 3 character sets of 256 8×8 pixel characters. Each 8-pixel-wide line of a character in the character sets has a 2-color limitation. This mode provides a unique character for every character location on screen, allowing for the display of bitmapped images. Mode 3 (Multicolor): 256×192 pixels total, 64×48 changeable virtual pixels, as 32×24 "semi-graphics" characters. These semi-graphics are defined in a special character set of 256 characters defined by 2×2 "fat-pixels". There are 4×4 pixels in each fat-pixel, but the pixels within a fat-pixel cannot be individually defined, although each fat-pixel can have its own color, hence the name of this mode (Multicolor). This mode is very blocky, and rarely used. Screen Mode 2 details Technically, mode 2 is a character mode with a colorful character set. The screen is horizontally divided into three 256×64 pixel areas, each of which gets its own character set. By sequentially printing the characters 0 through 255 in all three areas, the program can simulate a graphics mode where each pixel can be set individually. However, the resulting framebuffer is non-linear. The program can also use three identical character sets, and then deal with the screen like a text mode with a colorful character set. Background patterns and sprites then consist of colorful characters. This was commonly used in games, because only 32x24 bytes would have to be moved to fill and scroll the entire screen. The graphics can be drawn such that the 8×8 pixel borders are not too obvious, an art where Konami was particularly well known for their excellence. The challenge of using TMS9918 mode 2 was that every 8×1 pixel area could have only two colors, foreground and background. They could be freely