Mode 7

This article is about the graphics mode of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. For the video game developer and publisher, see Mode 7 Games. For other uses, see Mode 7 (disambiguation).
This basic Super NES demo uses Mode 7.

Mode 7 is a graphics mode on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System video game console that allows a background layer to be rotated and scaled on a scanline-by-scanline basis to create many different depth effects.[1] It also supports wrapping effects such as translation and reflection.[2]

The most famous of these effects is the application of a perspective effect on a background layer by scaling and rotating the background layer in this manner. This transforms the background layer into a two-dimensional horizontal texture-mapped plane that trades height for depth. Thus, an impression of three-dimensional graphics is achieved.

Mode 7 was one of Nintendo's prominent selling points for the Super NES platform in publications such as Nintendo Power and Super NES Player's Guide.[3] Similar faux 3D techniques have been presented on a few 2D systems other than the Super NES, in select peripherals and games.

  1. ^ "The Next Generation 1996 Lexicon A to Z: Mode 7". Next Generation. No. 15. Imagine Media. March 1996. p. 37.
  2. ^ "Random: Discover How Mode 7 Works On Super NES, In Just 10 Minutes". Nintendo Life. 2022-03-15. Retrieved 2023-08-31.
  3. ^ Super NES Player's Guide, Redmond WA, USA: Nintendo®, retrieved 2018-09-13