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Main Full listing Megademos 16x16 Record Demo history F.A.Q.

History of 16x16 sprite record

This is a collection of videos that are in some way (some less than others) connected to the infamous 16x16 2-bitplane sprite record that plagued the Atari scene for years. It is now getting closer to a decade since the last record was released, and we thought, why not make a video collection of them all to sum up what was made?

The information and record history has been mostly nicked from Leonard/Oxygenes webpage about the matter, see link below.

If you think we have got something wrong, or you found more screens related to this topic, don't hesitate to contact us!

» Check out Leonard/Oxygenes page with more descriptions
» Download an archive including all demos below

	1989-?? Sprite Record Preview by The Carebears	Approx 120 sprites This remained unreleased for almost 30 years, but popped up in a compilation disk in 2017.

	1989-12 So Watt by The Carebears	134 sprites The first 16x16 record screen, asking the rest of the scene to beat it.

	1990-04 Delirious Demo 2 by Overlanders	136 sprites Overlanders have a go at it as well, but cheating by having a 14 line sprite.

	1990-08 Overdrive by Ghost	143 sprites Ghost responds back in the Overdrive demo with a magazine-style mockery to TCB.

	1991-03 Digicomposer intro by Istari	148 sprites Il Professore of Istari surprisingly slapped together a record-breaking intro to his soundtracker called Digicomposer. The sprite is optimized so most of it is one bitplane only.

	1992-05 O-Demo Sprites by Oxygene	206 sprites Leonards first try to break the record. Using a clever clearing method that doesn't allow for a background image. The 16x16 part starts about halfway into the video.

	1993-?? A New Gfa Basic World Record (Plucked Goose demo) by Oxygene	38 sprites Leonard breaks the record for 16x16 sprites in GFA Basic as well.

	1993-?? 16x16 Sprite Record by Sector One	270 sprites Total devastation by Sector One. 270! Of course, not following the "rules" that was later set up. Probably using the movem.l clearing method as well as a sprite with mostly 1 bitplane and mirror possible.

	2000-12 Nostalgic-O-Demo Sprites by Oxygene	165 sprites Leonards second attempt, now with a 2-bitplane background.

	2001-08 Optimize night and day by Oxygene	197 sprites Leonard is at it again.

	2002-05 Optimize to death by Oxygene	212 sprites Leonard still going at it. Needs 1 MB memory (TCB's original works on 512k).

	2002-07 16x16 Sprite record! by Spiceboys	270 sprites Spiceboys presents a new technique, which in theory can do any number of sprites, as long as the big majority are placed in the center part of the screen. Needs 1MB memory, so not really competing with TCB that works on 512k.

	2002-09 Definitive revenge by Oxygene	220 sprites Leonard refuses to give up. Here's a solid 220 sprite version on 512k ! On 1 MB machines, it will show 271 sprites.

	2002-11 Sprite record by Gwen	360 sprites 50 frames of delta packed animation, nice and quick depack code, but limited runtime.

	2004-08 Contest screen by Oxygene	268 sprites Leonard puts up a competition for coders to beat his previous record of 220 sprites. Some rules apply such as 512k memory, the same TCB waveform, 2 bitplane background, SOS music. Leonards screen for the contest was locked by a password until somebody broke his old 220 record. The password is 'LEONARD REALLY LOVES RC4'.

	2004-09 Limited by Paulo Simoes	2000 sprites Paulo kills all records there are. 2000 sprites, and even masked 3 bitplane ones. Of course it's a cheat (unlimited sprite s via screen cycling).

	2004-10 Phantom screen 1 by Phantom	250 sprites Phantoms first entry for the compo. It was not within the rules of the competition.

	2004-11 Phantom screen 2 by Phantom	221 sprites Phantom returns with a 221 sprite screen that follow the rules of the compo. Leonards old record is beaten!

	2004-11 238 sprites by Unlimited Matricks	238 sprites The second screen that beat Leonards old 220 record. After this screen was released, Leonard gave out the password to his screen that showed 268 sprites. The contest is over, but the coding goes on.

	2004-12 Panic by Paulo Simoes	70 sprites This is not a 16x16 record screen at all, but we include it here anyways. It does show 70 sprites on screen via the 'unlimited sprites' trick, and the sprites are in three bitplanes. But that's not the main thing; this screen is fullscreen with a 15 kHz 8-voice module playing meanwhile. A real cool technical screen.

	2005-02 269 sprites by Scum Of The Earth	269 sprites Post-contest number one. S.O.T.E. crushes Leonard with a whole new ball. The coding must go on.

	2005-03 Phantom screen 3 by Phantom	270 sprites Another one-sprite increment, this time by Phantom.

	2005-03 Phantom screen 4 by Phantom	271 sprites One more they said!

	2005-03 Phantom screen 5 by Phantom	280 sprites Phantom goes out and beats himself. A good improvement of nine sprites.

	2005-03 312 Sprites Blast by Oxygene	312 sprites Leonard is back. Phantom didn't get much time to enjoy his record. Leonard rises the bar a lot with 32 more sprites to the impossible 312! So far, nobody has been able to beat or match this one.

	2015-04 Industrially Safe 93 16x16 Sprites by Effect	93 sprites This is a ten year tribute to Leonards record. It doesn't come near the record (or the original TCB version from 1989) but it does feature a nice remix of the SOS tune using PWM sound effects.

To be continued ?