Editing Sprite (computer graphics) (section)

===Home systems===
[[Signetics]] devised the first chips capable of generating sprite graphics (referred to as ''objects'' by Signetics) for home systems. The Signetics 2636 video processors were first used in the 1978 [[1292 Advanced Programmable Video System]] and later in the 1979 [[Elektor TV Games Computer]].

The [[Atari VCS]], released in 1977, has a hardware sprite implementation where five graphical objects can be moved independently of the game playfield.  The term ''sprite'' was not in use at the time. The VCS's sprites are called ''movable objects'' in the programming manual, further identified as two ''players'', two ''missiles'', and one ''ball''.<ref>{{cite web|last1=Wright|first1=Steve|title=Stella Programmer's Guide|url=http://atarihq.com/danb/files/stella.pdf|date=December 3, 1979|access-date=April 14, 2016|archive-date=March 27, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160327103553/http://atarihq.com/danb/files/stella.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> These each consist of a single row of pixels that are displayed on a [[scan line]].  To produce a two-dimensional shape, the sprite's single-row bitmap is altered by software from one scan line to the next.

The 1979 [[Atari 8-bit computers|Atari 400 and 800]] home computers have similar, but more elaborate, circuitry capable of moving eight single-color objects per scan line: four 8-bit wide ''players'' and four 2-bit wide ''missiles''. Each is the full height of the display&mdash;a long, thin strip. [[Direct memory access|DMA]] from a table in memory automatically sets the graphics pattern registers for each scan line. Hardware registers control the horizontal position of each player and missile. Vertical motion is achieved by moving the bitmap data within a player or missile's strip. The feature was called ''player/missile graphics'' by Atari.

[[Texas Instruments]] developed the [[Texas Instruments TMS9918|TMS9918]] chip with sprite support for its 1979 TI-99/4 home computer. An updated version is used in the 1981 [[TI-99/4A]].