Uncommon graphics mode games

A list of games that use less common graphics modes.

BG Mode 0
BG Mode 0 is somewhat uncommon, but provides 4 independent layers of 2bpp graphics.

BG Mode 3 8bpp
BG Mode 3 is uncommon, but provides 8bpp graphics. Mode 3 Direct Color cases are listed below instead.

BG Mode 4 8bpp
BG Mode 4 provides 8bpp graphics on BG1 with Offset-Per-Tile.

BG Mode 7 EXTBG
While BG Mode 7 was very popular, BG Mode 7 EXTBG was not very common.

Direct Color
See: Direct color

High-Resolution and Interlacing
PPU register $2133 SETINI can enable hi-res mode, allowing a 512-pixel horizontal resolution.

Outside of BG Mode 5, this is usually used as a way to do a 50% blend of the main and sub screens (a.k.a. "pseudo hi-res"). Starting from 0, it causes every even column to display the sub screen and every odd column to display the main screen. The sub screen is the left column in each pixel pair. Because composite television signals had limited bandwidth, this could result in a smooth horizontal blending of the columns, but through S-Video or RGB the vertical stripes might be clearly visible.

In BG Mode 5, hi-res is automatically forced, and the main and sub screen are automatically overridden with alternating columns of the BG layers, allowing the tilemaps to be used at double-width resolution.

PPU register $2133 SETINI can also enable interlacing, causing the scanlines of every second frame (field) to be offset downward by half a line. In mode 5 this allows a double-height tilemap resolution, but at half the frame rate, and with the other visual compromises of interlacing.

Because of the visual complexity of Japanese text characters, hi-res was often used to improve their detail for legibility. On high-contrast shapes like text, this is beneficial even with the limited bandwidth of composite output.

Hi-res Japanese text:

Links:
 * Forum thread - CRT photos of various hi-res effects.

Offset-Per-Tile: Horizontal
The horizontal version of Offset-Per-Tile is especially rare, since scanline horizontal scroll changes can already do a smooth horizontal offset, and this hardware feature only provides a coarse one.

Offset-Per-Tile: Vertical
See: Offset-Per-Tile

Overscan (239 lines)
PPU register $2133 SETINI can choose either 224 or 239 lines of visible picture. Most games used 224, allowing a significantly longer VBLANK period, and the extra lines weren't normally visible on contemporary NTSC televisions.