PPU palettes

Memory Map

The palette for the background runs from VRAM $3F00 to $3F0F; the palette for the sprites runs from $3F10 to $3F1F. Each color takes up one byte.

Address	Purpose
$3F00	Universal background color
$3F01-$3F03	Background palette 0
$3F05-$3F07	Background palette 1
$3F09-$3F0B	Background palette 2
$3F0D-$3F0F	Background palette 3
$3F11-$3F13	Sprite palette 0
$3F15-$3F17	Sprite palette 1
$3F19-$3F1B	Sprite palette 2
$3F1D-$3F1F	Sprite palette 3

Each palette has three colors. Each 16x16 pixel area of the background can use the backdrop color and the three colors from one of the four background palettes. The choice of palette for each 16x16 pixel area is controlled by bits in the attribute table at the end of each nametable. Each sprite can use the three colors from one of the sprite palettes. The choice of palette is in attribute 2 of each sprite (see PPU OAM).

Addresses $3F04/$3F08/$3F0C can contain unique data, though these values are not used by the PPU when normally rendering (since the pattern values that would otherwise select those cells select the backdrop color instead). They can still be shown using the background palette hack, explained below.

Addresses $3F10/$3F14/$3F18/$3F1C are mirrors of $3F00/$3F04/$3F08/$3F0C. Note that this goes for writing as well as reading. A symptom of not having implemented this correctly in an emulator is the sky being black in Super Mario Bros., which writes the backdrop color through $3F10.

Thus, indices into the palette are formed as follows:

43210
|||||
|||++- Pixel value from tile data
|++--- Palette number from attribute table or OAM
+----- Background/Sprite select

As in some second-generation game consoles, values in the NES palette are based on hue and brightness:

76543210
||||||||
||||++++- Hue (phase, determines NTSC/PAL chroma)
||++----- Value (voltage, determines NTSC/PAL luma)
++------- Unimplemented, reads back as 0

Hue $0 is light gray, $1-$C are blue to red to green to cyan, $D is dark gray, and $E-$F are mirrors of $1D (black). The canonical code for "black" is $0F or $1D. $0D should not be used; it results in a "blacker than black" signal that may cause problems for some TVs. It works this way because of the way colors are represented in an NTSC or PAL signal, with the phase of a color subcarrier controlling the hue. For details, see NTSC video.

The 2C03 RGB PPU used in the PlayChoice-10 and Famicom Titler renders hue $D as black, not dark gray. The 2C04 PPUs used in many Vs. System arcade games have completely different palettes as a copy protection measure.

RGB PPU palettes

The 2C03, 2C04, and 2C05 all output RGBS, with each of the three video channels using a 3-bit DAC. Their look-up tables (one digit for each of red, green, and blue, in order) are given below:

2C03 and 2C05

This palette is intentionally similar to the NES's standard palette, but notably is missing the greys in entries $2D and $3D.

333,014,006,326,403,503,510,420,320,120,031,040,022,000,000,000
555,036,027,407,507,704,700,630,430,140,040,053,044,000,000,000
777,357,447,637,707,737,740,750,660,360,070,276,077,000,000,000
777,567,657,757,747,755,764,772,773,572,473,276,467,000,000,000

2C04

All four 2C04 PPUs contain the same master palette, but in different permutations. This image shows all the colors except the six shades of grey:

RP2C04-0001

755,637,700,447,044,120,222,704,777,333,750,503,403,660,320,777
357,653,310,360,467,657,764,027,760,276,000,200,666,444,707,014
003,567,757,070,077,022,053,507,000,420,747,510,407,006,740,000
000,140,555,031,572,326,770,630,020,036,040,111,773,737,430,473

RP2C04-0002

000,750,430,572,473,737,044,567,700,407,773,747,777,637,467,040
020,357,510,666,053,360,200,447,222,707,003,276,657,320,000,326
403,764,740,757,036,310,555,006,507,760,333,120,027,000,660,777
653,111,070,630,022,014,704,140,000,077,420,770,755,503,031,444

RP2C04-0003

507,737,473,555,040,777,567,120,014,000,764,320,704,666,653,467
447,044,503,027,140,430,630,053,333,326,000,006,700,510,747,755
637,020,003,770,111,750,740,777,360,403,357,707,036,444,000,310
077,200,572,757,420,070,660,222,031,000,657,773,407,276,760,022

RP2C04-0004

430,326,044,660,000,755,014,630,555,310,070,003,764,770,040,572
737,200,027,747,000,222,510,740,653,053,447,140,403,000,473,357
503,031,420,006,407,507,333,704,022,666,036,020,111,773,444,707
757,777,320,700,760,276,777,467,000,750,637,567,360,657,077,120

Backdrop color (palette index 0) uses

During forced blanking, when neither background nor sprites are enabled in PPUMASK ($2001), the picture will show the backdrop color. If only the background or sprites are disabled, or if the left 8 pixels are clipped off, the PPU continues its normal video memory access pattern but uses the backdrop color for anything disabled.

The background palette hack

If the current VRAM address points in the range $3F00-$3FFF during forced blanking, the color indicated by this palette location will be shown on screen instead of the backdrop color. (Looking at the relevant circuitry in Visual 2C02, this is an intentional feature of the PPU and not merely a side effect of how rendering works.) This can be used to display colors from the normally unused $3F04/$3F08/$3F0C palette locations. A loop that fills the palette will cause each color in turn to be shown on the screen, so to avoid horizontal rainbow bar glitches while loading the palette, wait for a real vertical blank first using an NMI technique.

RGB palette values

The NES does not generate RGB video. Using this table will result in video that looks more like a PlayChoice than like an NES, and some games will look graphically sterile if quirks of the NES's video output are not emulated. However, sometimes people want something quick, dirty, and functional before they bother with adding correct NTSC video decoding, or they're making an emulator for a low-end device that cannot decode NTSC video in real time. In a predefined palette, such as one commonly stored in Classic VGA Palette format (.pal), each sRGB triplet represents the color that results from decoding a large flat area with a given palette value.

The following table was generated using blargg's Full Palette demo on Nestopia:

 84  84  84    0  30 116    8  16 144   48   0 136   68   0 100   92   0  48   84   4   0   60  24   0   32  42   0    8  58   0    0  64   0    0  60   0    0  50  60    0   0   0
152 150 152    8  76 196   48  50 236   92  30 228  136  20 176  160  20 100  152  34  32  120  60   0   84  90   0   40 114   0    8 124   0    0 118  40    0 102 120    0   0   0
236 238 236   76 154 236  120 124 236  176  98 236  228  84 236  236  88 180  236 106 100  212 136  32  160 170   0  116 196   0   76 208  32   56 204 108   56 180 204   60  60  60
236 238 236  168 204 236  188 188 236  212 178 236  236 174 236  236 174 212  236 180 176  228 196 144  204 210 120  180 222 120  168 226 144  152 226 180  160 214 228  160 162 160

Other tools for generating a palette include one by Bisqwit and one by Drag.