Palette Commands
SGB Command $00 — PAL01
Transmit color data for SGB palette 0, color 0-3, and for SGB palette 1, color 1-3 (without separate color 0).
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Pals 0 & 1 color #0 | Pal 0 color #1 | Pal 0 color #2 | Pal 0 color #3 | Pal 1 color #1 | Pal 1 color #2 | Pal 1 color #3 | ||||||||
The header byte is $00 << 3 | $01 = $01.
SGB Command $01 — PAL23
Same as PAL01 above, but for Palettes 2 and 3 respectively.
The header byte is thus $09.
SGB Command $02 — PAL03
Same as PAL01 above, but for Palettes 0 and 3 respectively.
The header byte is thus $11.
SGB Command $03 — PAL12
Same as PAL01 above, but for Palettes 1 and 2 respectively.
The header byte is thus $19.
SGB Command $0A — PAL_SET
Used to copy pre-defined palette data from SGB system color palettes to actual SNES palettes.
Before using this feature, System Palette data should be initialized by
PAL_TRN command, and (when used) Attribute File (ATF) data should be
initialized by ATTR_TRN.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Palette #0's ID | Palette #1's ID | Palette #2's ID | Palette #3's ID | Flags | ||||||||||
The header byte is $0A << 3 | $01 = $51.
All palette IDs are little-endian.
| 7 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flags | Apply ATF | Cancel MASK_EN | ATF number | |||||
- Apply ATF: If and only if this is set, then the ATF whose ID is specified by bits 0–5 is applied as if by
ATTR_SET. - Cancel
MASK_EN: If this bit is set, then any currentMASK_EN“screen freeze” is cancelled. - ATF number: Index of the ATF to transfer. Values greater than $2C are invalid.
SGB Command $0B — PAL_TRN
Used to initialize SGB system color palettes in SNES RAM. System color
palette memory contains 512 pre-defined palettes, these palettes do not
directly affect the display, however, the PAL_SET command may be later
used to transfer four of these “logical” palettes to actual visible
“physical” SGB palettes. Also, the OBJ_TRN feature will use groups
of 4 System Color Palettes (4*4 colors) for SNES OBJ palettes (16
colors).
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Header | |||||||||||||||
The header byte must be $59.
The palette data is sent by VRAM Transfer.
| …0 | …1 | …2 | …3 | …4 | …5 | …6 | …7 | …8 | …9 | …A | …B | …C | …D | …E | …F | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| $800… | Pal #0 color #0 | Pal #0 color #1 | Pal #0 color #2 | Pal #0 color #3 | Pal #1 color #0 | Pal #1 color #1 | Pal #1 color #2 | Pal #1 color #3 | ||||||||
| $801… | Pal #2 color #0 | Pal #2 color #1 | Pal #2 color #2 | Pal #2 color #3 | Pal #3 color #0 | Pal #3 color #1 | Pal #3 color #2 | Pal #3 color #3 | ||||||||
| … | … | |||||||||||||||
| $8FF… | Pal #510 color #0 | Pal #510 color #1 | Pal #510 color #2 | Pal #510 color #3 | Pal #511 color #0 | Pal #511 color #1 | Pal #511 color #2 | Pal #511 color #3 | ||||||||
The data is stored at 3000-3FFF in SNES memory.
SGB Command $19 — PAL_PRI
If the player overrides the active palette set (a pre-defined or the custom one), it stays in effect until the smiley face is selected again, or the player presses the X button on their SNES controller.
However, if PAL_PRI is enabled, then changing the palette set (via any PAL_* command besides PAL_TRN) will switch back to the game’s newly-modified palette set, if it wasn’t already active.
Donkey Kong (1994) is one known game that appears to use this.
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Header | Priority | ||||||||||||||
The header must be $C9.
Bit 0 of the priority byte enables (1) or disables (0) PAL_PRI.