/vr/ - Retro Games

>>5531486
The amount of detail in this picture is impossible.

Backgrounds are limited to 12 colours + black; and while this respects this limit, you can't use the 12 colours however you want.

Those 12 colours are divided in 4 small palettes of 3 colours+black each.

Each 16*16 square, constituing the TSA is limited to one of those 3 colours + black palette. Only the next 16*16 square can use another of those palette

Now - that is for backgrounds. Sprites use the exact same limitation, with their own palette. So, if needed, you can mix background and sprite for extra detail, however this is very limited as you can only have 16 8*8 sprites on the same row at once.
During gameplay, a few years after the NES release, devs started using routines to make sprite flicker rapidly when there is more sprites than possible, and therefore not render them all at all times.
However, MM games never used the sprite flicker during cutscenes, because while flicker is acceptable during gameplay, it would be ugly in a cutscene. So, they just work with the sprite limitations and only used them during cutscenes for small things such as eyes animation, or explosions.