GBC color limitations

[zye1984]

So, I'm currently working on a project using Mega Man Xtreme 2 sprites as a base/style for practice.  However, my perfectionism is making me make sure I'm following the rules for the colors for the GBC.

I was told by another spriter that's is working on a similar project that the GBC sprites are 4 colors and one of those being transparency.  I'm not sure if that is just dealing with this game in particular, though, as other games, such as Shantae, has quite a few colors on the sprites.  Shantae herself has *6* colors; black outline, white, tan, red, blue, and yellow.

So color me confused!  I *think* it may be because Shantae is exclusively on the GBC and isn't backwards compatible with the GB.  From what I remember though, GBC cartridges didn't have the little nick on the corner so you couldn't put it in the GB, yet I see Shantae carts that have that nick.  Maybe I'm thinking about this too hard and Shantae is just a special case?

Anyway, the sprite I'm creating has 4 colors..I'm not sure if that falls in line with the GBC's capabilities though, since one is supposed to be a "transparent color."  I noticed that Zero on MM Xtreme 2 has 4 colors when you include his saber..so I'm still a bit confused.

Anybody got some insight on this?

Also, I'm providing a snippet of what I'm working on as an attachment.

[Barack Obama]

https://www.nintendo.com/consumer/system...ychart.jsp

- They are two different systems like Wii and Wii U.
- They are backwards compatible (GB games on GBC is possible), but not forwards compatible (GBC games on GB is not possible).
- So even if the manufacturer forgot to put some nick on the GBC cardridge, the GB cannot play it.

The colour limit probably applies to 8x8 tiles. Shantae has sprites which have 10-11 different colours, so they're different parts stored in multiple sections within the game and each section applies a different palette to its sprites.

[zye1984]

Yes, do understand that the GB and GBC are totally different systems. Sorry if there was some confusion that made it seem like I didn't know that. However, I also know that some GBC games are able to be played on the GB if not specifically for it.

In the link you provided, the games that are GBC games but can be played on the GB are called "Duel Mode Games." Those that weren't in the clear cartridges were the Duel Mode Games, aka the ones without the notches in the cartridge corner. It does seem that Shantae is a GBC only game, though; the images I saw online of the game cartridges with the normal GB cartridge shape must be rip-offs/illegal copies.

The second part of your message does have some merit though, I hadn't thought of that. I wonder how much finagling with the game had to be done to do that? =o

Anyway, anyone that has more insight about what I should do to be true to the system (specifically for MMXtreme 2) with my original sprites, lemme know! =] I think my plan of her size might not even be valid! D=

[zye1984]

I think I figured some stuff out on my own; I failed to remember that each 8x8 tile is limited to the 3 colors plus the transparent color. I kept thinking of the sprite as the whole image so I couldn't quite grasp how the transparent color was being used.

Being that the case, you can have a whole bunch of colors for a sprite as long as those colors are contained in in their respective tile, which is probably what's going on with Shantae. I'll have to study her sprite to get a full understanding to see if my hypothesis is correct, I'm just kinda just piecing things together as I go along.