List of video game console palettes

[2] With the NTSC format, a 128-color palette was available, built based on eight luma values and 15 combinations of I and Q chroma signals (plus I = Q = 0 for a pure grayscale): The above image assumes there is no limit on the number of colors per scan line.

With the system's actual color restrictions (and proper change in aspect ratio), the same image would look very different: With the PAL format, a 104-color palette was available.

With the system's actual color restrictions (and proper change in aspect ratio), the same image would look very different: The SECAM palette was reduced to a simple 3-bit RGB, containing only 8 colors (black, blue, red, magenta, green, cyan, yellow and white) by mapping the luma values: The MovieCart (by Rob Bairos) is a modern (2022) cartridge that implements sophisticated display techniques that allow more realistic images to be displayed on the Atari 2600.

The MovieCart format offers 80 pixels horizontally, and 192 (NTSC) or 242 (PAL, SECAM) scanlines of resolution.

Note that the original Atari 2600 hardware is still being used to display these images; the 6507 microprocessor is retrieving colours from memory, and the TIA chip is still producing the video data.

The following images are screen grabs using the Gopher2600 emulator, but increased in brightness to match what the human eye actually sees when viewing on hardware.

The video hardware was custom built and designed by Jay Miner and Dave Morse[3] It used two chips, named Mikey and Suzy.

The Picture Processing Unit (PPU) used in the Nintendo Entertainment System generates color based on a composite video palette.

[5] The 54-colors can be created based on four luma values, twelve combinations of I and Q chroma signals and two series of I = Q = 0 for several pure grays.

In addition to this, it had 3 color emphasis bits which can be used to dim the entire palette by any combination of red, green and blue.

The PPU's video memory layout allows choosing one subpalette for each 16×16 pixel area of the background.

Conversions with and without dithering follow, using the hex palette 0F160608 0F162720 0F090010 0F0A1910 (the repeated 0F represents black as the common backdrop color).

The handheld's successor, Nintendo DS Lite, has brighter screens which makes some old GBA and NDS titles look different.

The console used a proprietary chip called Video Display Processor (VDP) with the same internal design as the Texas Instruments TMS9918 (used in the SG-1000), although with enhanced features such as extra colors.

Because of the constraints mentioned above, there are no current accurate simulated screen images available for the Sega Master System.

Packed pixel and run length modes allowed for 256 colors at a given time, 317 including the Genesis' palette as the 32X video is overlaid on top of it.

[16] The Intellivision graphics are powered by the Standard Television Interface Chip (STIC), generating a 16-color palette.

The Magnavox Odyssey 2 is equipped with an Intel 8244 (NTSC) or 8245 (PAL) custom IC, and uses a 4-bit RGBI color palette.