HK1022363B - Hand-held color display game machine - Google Patents

Description

Hand-held colour display game machine

The present invention relates to a hand-held color display game machine and a storage medium thereof, and more particularly, to a hand-held game machine in which one of a 1 st storage medium storing black-and-white display tone data and a 2 nd storage medium storing color display color data can be selectively mounted, and a storage medium of the game machine.

In order to display a black and white tone using a dot matrix liquid crystal display, there has been a Game machine having an 8-bit hand-held liquid crystal display, for example, a Game machine manufactured and sold by the applicant of the present invention under the name "Game Boy (registered trademark)". In the portable hand-held game machine, when characters are to be displayed, 4 black and white tones are specified for each dot constituting the characters, and therefore the characters are displayed in black and white tones on the liquid crystal display.

Further, Japanese patent laid-open publication No. H7-204349 (A63F 9/22, 24/G06T 1/00) 8/1995, which was filed by the present applicant, discloses an inverter device capable of displaying a black-and-white image as a color image when a card for a 1 st game machine capable of displaying black and white is used in a 2 nd game machine capable of displaying color. This prior art implements color image display by inserting a color conversion converter between the card and the 2 nd game machine.

The hand-held game machine has character data stored on a card-insertion memory (ROM). However, such character data is only monochrome data. So that the characters can only be displayed in black and white tones.

The technique of japanese patent laid-open No. H7-204349 requires a converter to be connected between the card and the 2 nd game machine for color image display of black and white images. But this is inconvenient. In addition, the color conversion of the background and the moving picture to be displayed is realized by a monochrome color plate, which limits the color display to a few.

It is therefore a primary object of the present invention to provide a novel portable or hand-held color display gaming machine.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a portable or hand-held color display game machine capable of color displaying game characters regardless of whether a black-and-white display storage medium or a color image display storage medium is used.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a storage medium and a portable or hand-held color display game machine that can display a background image and a moving picture image, respectively, according to different color palettes.

According to the hand-held color display game machine of the present invention, a 1 st storage medium and a 2 nd storage medium can be selectively installed, the hand-held color display game machine comprising: storage medium determination means for making a 1 st determination when the 1 st storage medium is attached and a 2 nd determination when the 2 nd storage medium is attached; a 1 st color processing device for performing a 1 st color process on the data read from the 1 st storage medium in response to the 1 st determination and outputting a 1 st color display signal; a 2 nd color processing means for performing a 2 nd color processing on the data read out from the 2 nd storage medium in response to the 2 nd determination and outputting a 2 nd color display signal; and a color display device for displaying one of the 1 st color display signal and the 2 nd color display signal.

In a preferred embodiment, the 1 st storage medium includes a tone data output means for outputting tone data, and the 1 st color processing means includes a 1 st color palette for converting the tone data into a 1 st color display signal.

In a preferred embodiment, the 2 nd storage medium includes a color data output device for outputting color data, and the 2 nd color processing device includes a 2 nd color palette for rendering the color data as a 2 nd color display signal.

In a preferred embodiment, the 1 st color palette comprises a 1 st animated background color palette for displaying colored background characters and a 1 st animated character color palette for displaying colored animated characters.

In a preferred embodiment, the 1 st animation character color palette comprises a 2 nd plurality of animation color palettes.

In a preferred embodiment, the 2 nd color palette comprises a 2 nd background character color palette for color displaying background characters, and a 2 nd animation character color palette for color displaying animation characters.

In a preferred embodiment, the 2 nd background character color palette comprises a 3 rd plurality of background color palettes, and the 2 nd animation character color palette comprises a 4 th plurality of animation color palettes.

A hand-held game machine storage medium according to the present invention, detachably mounted on a hand-held game machine, supplying data and a program to an image processing apparatus included in the hand-held game machine, storing both tone data and color data for image display for color display; and selectively using one of the tone data and the color data by means of a function of an image processing device of the handheld game machine.

In a preferred embodiment, the color data includes color palette data, the image processing device of the hand-held game machine outputs respective display signals of a background character image and an animation character image, and the color palette data includes background color palette data to be utilized for the background character image and animation color palette data to be utilized for the animation character image.

The present invention is a storage medium storing a color display program and a hand-held color display game machine using the same, wherein the storage medium includes: a background image color palette data storage area for storing a plurality of color palette data of a background image; an animated image color palette data storage area for storing a plurality of color palette data of an animated image; and a color palette specifying data storage area for storing background image color palette specifying data for specifying an arbitrary color palette for each character of the background image, and animation image color palette specifying data for specifying an arbitrary color palette for each character of the animation image; and the hand-held color display game machine has: color image signal generating means for generating a background color image signal based on the background image color palette data specified by the background image color palette specifying data, and generating an animated color image signal based on the animated image color palette data specified by the animated image color palette specifying data.

According to the color display game machine of the present invention, any one of a 1 st storage medium storing a program for black-and-white display and a 2 nd storage medium storing a program for color display is selectively installed, the 1 st storage medium includes a background image tone data storage area storing background image tone data and a moving image tone data storage area storing moving image tone data, the 2 nd storage medium includes: a background image color palette data storage area for storing a plurality of color palette data of a background image; an animated image color palette data storage area for storing a plurality of color palette data of an animated image; and a color palette specifying data storage area for storing background image color palette specifying data for specifying an arbitrary color palette for each character of a background image, and animation image color palette specifying data for specifying an arbitrary color palette for each character of an animation image, any one of the 1 st storage medium and the 2 nd storage medium including a color compatible data storage area for storing data representing color incompatibility or data representing color compatibility, the color display game machine comprising: storage medium judging means for judging which of the 1 st storage medium and the 2 nd storage medium is mounted based on the data stored in the color-compatible data storage area; background image color palette storage means for storing background image color palette data corresponding to the background image tone data stored in the 1 st storage medium; animation image color palette storage means for storing animation image color palette data corresponding to the animation image tone data stored in the 1 st storage medium; and color image signal generating means for generating a color image of the background image and the motion picture image; wherein the color image signal generating means generates a color image signal of the background image based on a combination of the background image tone data and said background image color palette data and generates a color image signal of the moving image based on a combination of the moving image tone data and said moving image color palette data when the storage medium determining means determines that the 1 st storage medium is mounted, and generates a color image signal of the background image based on the background image color palette data designated by the background image color palette designating data and generates a color image signal of the moving image based on the moving image color palette data designated by the moving image color palette designating data when the storage medium determining means determines that the 2 nd storage medium is mounted.

In an embodiment, the moving picture color palette storage means stores 2 nd moving picture color palette data of 1 st moving picture color palette data, the 1 st storage medium further includes color palette specifying data for specifying color palette data of the moving picture, the color image signal generating means generates a color image signal of the moving picture based on a combination of moving picture tone data and the 1 st moving picture color palette when the 1 st moving picture color palette is selected based on the color palette specifying data, and generates a color image signal of the moving picture based on a combination of moving picture tone data and the 2 nd moving picture color palette when the 2 nd moving picture color palette is selected based on the color palette specifying data.

Further, the color display game machine further includes: and a color palette changing means for changing the background image color palette data and the moving image color palette data in accordance with the color palette data selected by the operator in response to an instruction to select a color palette by an operation of the operating means, the color image signal generating means generating a color image signal of the background image in accordance with a combination of the background image tone data and the background image color palette data changed by the color palette changing means, and generating a color image signal of the moving image in accordance with a combination of the moving image tone data and the moving image color palette data changed by the color palette changing means.

The 1 st storage medium stores, for example, monochrome tone data in advance, and the 2 nd storage medium stores, for example, color palette data and color palette specifying data in advance. The hand-held color display game machine judges whether the fashionable dress is the 1 st storage medium or the 2 nd storage medium according to the color incompatible code set in the 1 st storage medium and the color compatible code set in the 2 nd storage medium. The hand-held color display game machine includes, for example, a CPU for performing 1 st color processing on 1 st storage medium in response to black-and-white data read out by the 1 st judgment to output a 1 st color display signal. Specifically, a 1 st color display signal is generated by combining a 1 st color palette and tone data set in the hand-held color display game machine. In the 2 nd color processing, the 2 nd color palette data and the color palette specifying data read out from the 2 nd storage medium are combined to obtain a 2 nd color display signal. The 1 st color display signal or the 2 nd color display signal is displayed on, for example, a color LCD.

When the 1 st color palette includes a 1 st background character color palette for color-displaying the background character and a 1 st moving picture character color palette for color-displaying the moving picture character, the 1 st color processing for the background character is performed by the background tone data and the 1 st background character color palette data read from the 1 st storage medium. The 1 st color processing for the animation character is performed by the animation tone data and the 1 st animation character color palette data read from the 1 st storage medium.

When the 2 nd color palette includes a 2 nd background character color palette for color-displaying the background character and a 2 nd moving image character color palette for color-displaying the moving image character, the 2 nd color processing for the background character is performed by the 2 nd background character color plate data read from the 2 nd storage medium. The 2 nd color processing for the animation character is performed by the 2 nd animation character color palette data read from the 2 nd storage medium.

When the 1 st background character color palette and the 2 nd background character color palette are set in plural numbers, the background characters can be expressed by plural colors. Similarly, if the 1 st animation character color palette and the 2 nd animation character color palette are set in plural numbers, respectively, animation characters can be expressed in plural colors.

The invention provides a color-displayable hand-held game machine capable of selecting and using a 1 st storage medium for black and white tone display and a 2 nd storage medium for color display.

Further, according to the present invention, the 1 st storage medium for black-and-white display of the hand-held game machine can be displayed in black-and-white on the color display game machine. Therefore, the existing software resources at hand can be effectively utilized, and the variety of software for color game machines is widened.

Further, according to the present invention, when the 1 st storage medium for black-and-white display is used in a color display game machine, the maximum number of colors displayed on the screen can be increased by performing color display of the background and the moving image by color palette data different from each other.

The above and other objects, features, aspects and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description of the present invention with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Brief description of the drawings

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram illustrating the interchangeability of color-compatible cards and color-display gaming machines with black and white dedicated cards and black and white gaming machines, to which the present invention is applied;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a color-compatible card and color display gaming machine according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 is a diagram illustrating a CPU accessible address space;

FIG. 4 is a diagram of a ROM memory map of an external ROM of a card (a color non-compatible card) dedicated for black and white insertion;

FIG. 5 is a diagram of a ROM memory map of an external ROM of the color compatible card;

FIG. 6 is a diagram of a memory map with specific color palette regions;

FIG. 7 is a diagram of an internal ROM memory map;

FIG. 8 is a diagram of a memory map having specific color palette data table regions;

FIG. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a color compatible code and a color incompatible code;

FIG. 10 is a diagram illustrating an example of body discrimination data;

FIG. 11 is a diagram illustrating an internal ROM memory map;

FIG. 12 is a diagram illustrating a RAM memory map;

FIG. 13 is a diagram illustrating the correspondence between BG display areas and LCD display areas;

FIG. 14 is a flowchart of a main program for running a game according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 15 is a flowchart of an initialization setting processing subroutine;

FIG. 16 is a flow chart of a game (color) processing subroutine;

fig. 17 is a flowchart of the CPU operating speed changing subroutine;

FIG. 18 is a flowchart of a color initialization setting subroutine;

FIG. 19 is a flowchart of a color palette selection subroutine;

FIG. 20 is a flowchart of a game (color) processing subroutine; and

fig. 21 is a diagram illustrating an example of a color palette selection window.

Detailed description of the preferred embodiments

Referring to fig. 1, a hand-held color display game machine 10 (hereinafter simply referred to as "color display game machine") according to the present invention has a jack (not shown) in which a color-compatible card 12 or a black-and-white dedicated card 14 also according to the present invention is selectively mounted, thereby color-displaying game characters on a color liquid crystal display LCD 16.

It should be noted that the hand-held monochrome display game machine (hereinafter simply referred to as "monochrome display game machine") 18 does not affect the present invention in which game characters are displayed in 4 black and white tones on the black and white liquid crystal display LCD20 using the color-compatible card 12 or the monochrome-dedicated card 14.

As will be described in greater detail below, when the color display gaming machine 10 is connected to a color compatible card 12, the color LCD16 displays a character, for example, up to 56 colors. In contrast, when a monochrome dedicated card 14 is used for the color display gaming machine 10, one game character is 10 colors at the maximum. That is, the color game machine 10 uses different color palettes of the color-compatible card 12 and the monochrome-dedicated card 14, and thus displays game images in different numbers of colors.

Referring to fig. 2, the color display game machine 10 includes the color liquid crystal display LCD16 as described above, constituting a dot matrix type display unit. This color liquid crystal display LCD16 is driven by the liquid crystal display drivers 22 and 24 to display color images on its screen. For example, driver 22 selects a row to be driven and driver 24 selects a column to be driven. These drivers 22 and 24 are supplied with color image signals by the color display processing circuit 28 contained by the central processing unit CPU 26.

The central processor CPU26 also includes a central processor core 30. This central processor core is connected to an internal read only memory ROM32 and an internal random access memory RAM 34. The internal read only memory ROM32 contains various data areas as shown in figure 7. Also, the internal random access memory RAM34 is a work memory used as a central processor core, and has a memory area as shown in fig. 11.

The central processing unit CPU26 also includes a basic oscillator 36. This basic oscillator 36, for example, formed by a crystal oscillator, supplies an oscillation signal to a programmable frequency divider 38, which divides the oscillation signal from the basic oscillator 36 by the frequency-divided data of the central processor core 30, and supplies it to the central processor core 30 as a clock.

The central processor CPU26 is connected to the connector 40 by a suitable bus. The latter option is connected to either the color-compatible card 12 or the black-and-white specialized card 14 of fig. 1. Both cards 12 and 14 include an external read only memory ROM42 or 44 and SRAM. In the case of the black-and-white dedicated card 14, the external rom44 thereof stores various data as shown in fig. 4 in advance. The external rom 46 of the color-compatible card 12 has the data of fig. 5 and 6 stored in advance. The SRAM46 is used to store game backup data.

The CPU26 also receives respective operation signals from the operation keys 48a to 48 e. The operation keys 48a are used to instruct the game characters displayed on the color liquid crystal display LCD16 to move in four directions, up, down, left, and right. The operation key 48a is a selection key for selecting a game mode. The operation key 48c is called a start key for starting a game or suspending the game in advance. The operation keys 48d and 48e are push-button switches and various actions such as using a weapon, jumping, etc. can be given to operate their game characters on the color liquid crystal display 16. All of these operation keys 48a to 48e are arranged on the front surface of the main body of the color-display game machine 10. The keyboard matrix (not shown) will send an operation signal as control data for these operation keyboards 48a-48e to the CPU 26.

If necessary, the expansion RAM50 and the CPU26 perform data processing based on the game program, the card 12 or 14, and the control data from the operation keys 48a to 48e, and write the display data into the display RAM 52. The random access memory RAM52 is shown to be comprised of first and second memory banks, as shown in fig. 12. The display RAM52 as a whole has a storage area larger than the display range of the color LCD16, and can realize scrolling display of up, down, and/or left and right on the screen of the color LCD 16.

One result of the central processor CPU26 processing the data is that the output sound signal level is adjusted by volume 54 and 56 and output to speaker 58 and/or headphone jack 60. The sound signals output through the speaker and/or headphone jack include game sound effects and game music.

Fig. 3 shows the address space that the central processing unit CPU26 has. The access address of the internal read only memory 32 (FIG. 2) of the CPU26 is "0000H-00 FH" (16-ary number, hereinafter, the same) or "0200-08 FFH", and the internal/external read only memory bank switch register R8 assumes "0". The other ROM address space (01000H-01FFH, 0900H-7FFFH) is accessed through either external ROM42 or 44. When the internal/external rom bank switch register R8 is assumed to be "1", all of the rom address space is accessible through the external rom42 or 44. The random access memory bank 52 (FIG. 2) is shown with an access address of "8000H-9 FFFH" after switching of the first or second bank. SRAM46 (FIG. 2) of card 12 or 14 has an address of "A000H-BFFFH" and extended random access memory RAM50 (FIG. 2) has an address of "C000H-DFFFH", wherein RAM50 has a main memory rank, i.e., rank 0, assigned as "C000H-CFFFH", and the other ranks 1-7 are assigned as "D0000H-DFFFH". The internal random access memory RAM34 (FIG. 2) of the central processing unit CPU26 is accessed by the address "FE 00H-FFFFH".

Fig. 4 shows a memory map of an external rom included in the card 44. A data register 44a is previously stored with Logo data to verify whether the card is authorized or not, as a color incompatible code, in the manner described below. The program area 44b stores the game program. The data area 44c includes background character data and animation character data. The color incompatible code is set differently from the color compatible code in this example, such as "00000000", as shown in fig. 9.

The background character data includes black-and-white tone data (4 tones) and character codes, and is set for each of the background characters BG0 to BGm. The animation character data includes monochrome tone data (4 tones) set for each animation character 0BJ0-Bn, coordinate data, character codes, attribute data, and register specifying data.

Fig. 5 shows a memory map of an external ROM42 included in a color-compatible add-in card 12. A register area 42a is stored with similar Logo data and a color compatible code, similar to the black-and-white card 14. The program area 42b stores the game program and main body discrimination data of a discrimination program. The body discrimination data of this determination program is a program that detects the body discrimination data as shown in fig. 10, and determines whether or not the card is connected to the color-display game machine 10 or the black-and-white-display game machine 18. The data area 42c includes background character data and animation character data. Also, "10000000" of fig. 9 is set as the color compatibility code in this example. The external rom42 of the card 12 also includes a color palette area 42 d.

The background character data includes color tone data (4 tones), character codes, and attribute data set for each of the background characters BG 0-BGm. The attribute data includes color palette specifying data for specifying which one of 8 color palettes is set for the background character. In addition, the number of color palettes of the background character is set to 8 as described above, wherein different four colors are determined to be different for each color palette. The animation character data includes color tone data (4 tones), coordinate data, character codes and attribute data set for each animation character OBJ0-OBJn, and the attribute data includes a color palette specifying data for specifying which one of 8 palettes set for the animation character. In addition, the number of color palettes of the animated character is set to 8 as described above, wherein different 3 colors are set by each color palette.

To explain in more detail, the color palette region 42d shown in fig. 6 includes a Background (BG) character color palette region 42d1 and an animation (OBJ) character color palette region 42d 2. The BG color palette area 42d1 is defined by 8 color palettes, BG color palettes 0-7, each of which includes 4 colors, and palette data 0-3. The OBJ palette region 42d2 is composed of 8 color palettes of OBJ color palettes 0-7, each of which sets 3 colors in palette data 0-2. Each palette data is 2 bytes, i.e. 16 bits represent a single color.

By setting the background character color palette and the animation character color palette separately, as in the present example, it is possible to display a game image of many colors on the color liquid crystal display 16 with comparatively less palette data.

Further, it is explained in fig. 6 that each of the OBJ color palettes 0-7 is conveniently set by palette data 0-3. It should be noted, however, that the pallet data 3 is set not in the external read only memory 42 but in the internal random access memory 34.

Fig. 7 shows that the memory of the internal rom32 of the cpu26 of fig. 2 includes a register data area 32a, a program area 32b, a data area 32c and a color palette data table area 32d, similar to the external rom ROB42 or 44 of the card 12 or 14. The register data area 32a stores Logo data in advance to verify the authorization of the card 12 or 14, such as the external read only memory ROM42 or 44, and the body discrimination data shown in fig. 10. The color display game machine is set to, for example, "00010001" in the example. In addition, although not directly affecting the present invention, the black-and-white display game machine 18 sets the body discrimination data to "00000001" in one machine and "11111111111" in another machine.

Returning to fig. 7, the program area 32b includes an initialization program, which is described in detail with reference to fig. 15, and the color palette selection program is described in detail with reference to fig. 19. In short, the initialization program is a program for verifying whether a card is authorized, and the initialization program determines whether the Logo data in the register data area 42a or 44a of the external rom42 or 44 matches the Logo data in the register data area 32a of the internal rom 32. When the two Logo data are consistent, the corresponding plug-in card is allowed to be used.

Color palette selection process as shown in fig. 21, a color palette selection window 16A is displayed on the color LCD16 (fig. 1 or fig. 2) for selecting which of the monochrome card color palette regions 1-L is used. The data area 32c is set to display data necessary for this color palette selection window.

The color palette data table area 32d is a color palette area for displaying color palette selection windows 16A and 16B (fig. 21) on the game screen 16C (fig. 21), and includes a color palette selection window displaying color palette area 32d1 and black-and-white card color palette areas 32d21-32dL (L is an arbitrary number), as shown in fig. 8. The color palette selection window displays color palettes 32d1, each of which sets palette data 0 to 3. Each of the black-and-white boxed color palette regions 32d2-32dL sets a Background (BG) color palette and two animation (0BJ) color palettes 0/1.

As explained previously, the display RAM52 constitutes a display memory for displaying background characters, and two display memories are formed in this example, each having a storage capacity corresponding to the number of blocks (1024) much larger than the number of blocks (360) to be displayed on the color LCD16, as shown in fig. 12 and 13. Therefore, the game image displayed on the color LCD16 can be smoothly scrolled. Display RAM52 has two banks of memory, where each bank contains two display memories. Each bank is written with character data of background characters already stored as dot data and attribute data of each block, where "block" is a 64-dot area made up of 8 × 8 dots on the screen of the color LCD 16.

As for the main routine of the game execution shown in fig. 14, if the paddle card 12 or 14 is loaded into a jack (not shown) of the color-display game machine 10, the CPU26 (actually, the CPU core 30, see fig. 2) executes the initial setting routine shown in step S2.

As shown in the first few steps S21, S22 and S23 of the initial setting routine shown in fig. 15, the register 34c of the internal RAM34 (fig. 11) is initialized, and the OBJ data area 34a is cleared. And the color palette 34b is initialized. In the subsequent step S24, the CPU (CPU core 30) reads the Logo data from the register data area 42a or 44a of the external ROM42 or 44 and transfers the Logo data to the character data area of the display RAM52 (fig. 12). In the present example, the Logo data is set to the Logo data of the Logo mark "NINTNEDO" to be displayed on the LCD16, this registered trademark being owned by the present applicant. Note that any Logo data may be used.

Next step S26 the CPU26 reads the Logo data set in the register data area 32a of the external ROM32 and compares it with the Logo data of the external ROM42 or 44 read in the previous step S24, thereby determining whether these Logo data coincide with each other. In addition to step S27, the CPU26 determines the complement of the total amount of register data set in the register data area 42a or 44a of the external ROM42 or 44 and determines whether it coincides with complementary data separately set in the register data area of the external ROM42 or 44.

In order to verify whether the card mounted on the color-display game machine at this time is authentic, not counterfeit, S26 and S27, these steps are performed in accordance with the initialization program set in the program area 32b of the external ROM 32. If any of these steps is determined to be "NO" (NO), it means that incorrect production cannot be performed. In this case, the CPU executes the error notification processing of S28, enters an infinite loop of the internal ROM32, and does not restart the game. And thus cannot be used if an improper card is attached to the color-display game machine 10. Thus a counterfeit card is excluded.

If it is judged "YES" in both steps S26 and S27, it is judged that the card is loaded at this time as a genuine card, and the process returns to the main routine as shown in FIG. 14.

At step S3 of the main routine, the CPU26 determines whether the loaded card is a color-compatible card 12 or a color-incompatible card (monochrome card) 14. Each card has a color-compatible or color-incompatible code placed in its register data field 42a or 44a in advance, as shown in fig. 9. Then, the CPU26 reads out a code in step S3, and determines whether at least the highest-ranked bit is 0 or 1. If the color incompatible code "0" is detected in step S3, it is determined that the black-and-white card 14 is connected, and if the color compatible code "1" is detected, it is determined that the color card 12 is connected.

When the color-card 12 is mounted, game processing (including color processing) is executed in step S4. In the first step S41 in the program of the game (color) processing shown in fig. 16, the CPU26 reads a Background (BG) color palette and an animation (OBJ) color palette, reads them from the color palette area 42d of the external ROM42, and transfers them to the color palette area 34b of the internal RAM 34. In the S42 step, the CPU26 presses the game program CPU26 at this time to read OBJ data of one animated character to be displayed from the data area 42c of the external ROM 42. This OBJ data is written in the OBJ data area 34a of the internal RAM 34. Further, the step S43 is that the character code of a background character to be displayed is shifted to the BG display data area of the display RAM 52. Subsequently, the step S44 shows that the RAM52 switches to bank 1, and the attribute data contained in the BG data is written to each block.

In the subsequent step S45, a Background (BG) character is displayed in color on the color LCD16, which is obtained by designating an OBJ color palette using color palette specifying data included in the OBJ data transferred to the internal RAM 34.

Note that, in practice, the two steps S45, S46 are executed by hardware processing of the color display processing circuit 28 (fig. 2) included in the CPU 26. Meanwhile, in fig. 16, the actual game process is executed by the game program (for example, conflict, decision, core processing, and the like), which has little relation with the present invention, and thus will not be mentioned.

The step S5 determines whether the instruction given by the game program changes the operating speed of the CPU, and if so, executes the rate change routine of fig. 17 in S6. Its first step S51 is to place a speed switching signal (data) into the CPU operating speed register R5, which is contained in the register area 34c of the internal RAM 34. The step S52 is to place the frequency division ratio corresponding to the speed switching signal into the programmable divider 38, thereby changing the clock frequency of the system. Therefore, the CPU26 follows the changed speed in step S53 and subsequent operations, i.e., the process of the game (color) is executed at the changed CPU operation speed from the main routine S7 and onward.

Incidentally, the reason why the operation speed of the CPU is changed at S6 and S7 in the case of using the color-compatible card is to prevent the processing from being burdensome due to an increase in displayable color or data in order to realize a higher processing speed than the case of using the color-incompatible card.

If the end of the game is detected in the game (color) processing, the main routine of this game execution ends in S8.

The card loaded in the previous step S3 is judged as a black-and-white card, and the color initial setting process of step S9 is performed.

As a first step S91 of the color initial setting process shown in fig. 18, the CPU26(CPU core 30) is set to the black-and-white card insertion mode in the CPU mode register R4 formed in the register area 34c of the internal RAM 34. In the next step S92, a color palette corresponding to the loaded black-and-white card is read from the color palette area 32d21-32d2L of the internal ROM32 and written to the color palette area of the internal RAM 34.

Explained in more detail, in S121 (fig. 20) of the game (color) process program that executes the step S12, BG tone data set in the data area 44c of the external ROM44 is written to the BG tone palette register R1, and OBJ tone data set in the data area 44c of the external ROM44 is written to the OBJ tone palette register R2 or OBJ1 tone palette register R3. In the S122 step, the CPU26 reads out OBJ data of one animated character to be displayed from the data area 44c of the external ROM 44. This OBJ data is written to the OBJ data area 34a of the internal RAM 34. Further in S123, the character code of a background character to be displayed is now shifted to the BG display data area of the display RAM 52.

After setting an arbitrary black-and-white card color palette in the internal RAM34, BG tone data and OBJ tone data are treated in the same manner, and in step S124, the color display processing circuit 28 (fig. 2) displays a Background (BG) character of one color set in the BG color palette 0 on the LCD16 based on the tone data written in the BG tone palette register R1. In step S125, the color display processing circuit 28 displays an animation (OBJ) character of one color set in the OBJ color palette 0 or OBJ color palette 1 on the color LCD16 based on the tone data written in the OBJ0 tone palette register R2 or OBJ1 palette register R3, and selects the character according to the register designation data set in the data area 44c of the external ROM 44.

In step S111 of the color palette selection program of fig. 19, a hardware interrupt occurs due to simultaneous pressing of two operation keys. In the next step S112, the Background (BG) data of the color palette selection window set in the data area 32c of the internal ROM32 is transferred to the display RAM52 for the color palette selection program set in the program area of the internal ROM32, and the window 16a and the cursor 16b shown in fig. 20 are displayed on the color LCD 16.

In step S114, the CPU26 determines whether or not the user or the player has selected a color palette, and if so, any of the operation keys 48a to 48e is used, so that the CPU26 can determine whether or not a color palette has been selected, and can determine whether or not the relevant operation key has been operated.

When the user or the player selects the color palette, the determination in step S114 is yes. Next, in step S115, the palette "color" data of the background color palette 0, the animation color palette 0, and the animation color palette 1 in the color palette area 34b of the internal random access memory RAM34 is changed according to the selected palette data. In step S116, the color palette specifying registers R10 and R11 for palette data of the background color palette 0, the moving picture palette 0, or the moving picture color palette 1 are changed and written into the color palette area 34b of the internal RAM34 in step S115. The colors of the color palette selected for the user are thus displayed in the window 16a of fig. 21.

If it is determined in step S117 that the button is pressed or the color palette selection is canceled by the user or the player, the display of the window 16a and the cursor 16b is suspended in step S118, and the hardware interrupt is canceled in step S119.

In this manner, a user or player can correctly change or select an animation color palette of the background color palette to be displayed in accordance with the black-white tone data when playing a game using the color incompatible insert card 14.

Because of this, in the program of the game (color) process executed after the step S11 (fig. 14), the colors of the background characters and the animation characters can be displayed in a color palette selected by the user.

Also, when the color-compatible card 12 is mounted on the black-and-white display game machine 18, only the background tone data and the animation tone data are naturally used in the data area 42c, and the displayed characters are colored in black-and-white tones.

Although the invention has been described and illustrated in detail, it is clearly understood that the same is by way of illustration and example only and is not to be taken by way of limitation. The spirit and scope of the present invention is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims.

Claims (9)

1. A hand-held color display game machine in which a 1 st storage medium and a 2 nd storage medium are selectively usable, comprising:

storage medium determination means for making a 1 st determination when the 1 st storage medium is used and a 2 nd determination when the 2 nd storage medium is used;

1 st color processing means for performing 1 st color processing on the data read out from the 1 st storage medium in response to the 1 st determination and outputting a 1 st color display signal;

a 2 nd color processing means for performing a 2 nd color processing on the data read out from the 2 nd storage medium in response to the 2 nd determination and outputting a 2 nd color display signal; and

a color display device for displaying one of the 1 st color display signal and the 2 nd color display signal,

wherein said 1 st storage medium includes a tone data output means for outputting tone data, said 1 st color processing means includes a 1 st color palette for converting said tone data into said 1 st color display signal,

the 2 nd storage medium includes a color data output device for outputting color data, and the 2 nd color processing device includes a 2 nd color palette for converting the color data into the 2 nd color display signal.

2. The hand-held color display gaming machine of claim 1 wherein said 1 st color palette comprises a 1 st number of colors and said 2 nd color palette comprises a 2 nd number of colors greater than said 1 st number.

3. The hand-held color display game machine according to claim 2, wherein the 1 st color palette comprises a 1 st animated background color palette for color displaying background characters, and a 1 st animated character color palette for color displaying animated characters.

4. The hand-held, color-display, game-playing machine of claim 3, wherein said 1 st animated character color palette comprises a 2 nd plurality of animated color palettes.

5. The hand-held color display game machine according to claim 2, wherein the 2 nd color palette comprises a 2 nd background character color palette for color displaying background characters, and a 2 nd animation character color palette for color displaying animation characters.

6. The hand-held color display gaming machine of claim 5 wherein said 2 nd background character color palette comprises a 3 rd plurality of background color palettes and said 2 nd animation character color palette comprises a 4 th plurality of animation color palettes.

7. A color display game machine in which any one of a 1 st storage medium storing a black-and-white display program and a 2 nd storage medium storing a color display program is selectively installed,

the 1 st storage medium includes a background image tone data storage area storing background image tone data and a moving picture image tone data storage area storing moving picture image tone data,

the 2 nd storage medium includes: a background image color palette data storage area for storing a plurality of color palette data of the background image; an animated image color palette data storage area for storing a plurality of color palette data of the animated image; and a color palette specifying data storage area for storing background image color palette specifying data for specifying an arbitrary color palette for each character of the background image, and animation image color palette specifying data for specifying an arbitrary color palette for each character of the animation image,

either one of the 1 st storage medium and the 2 nd storage medium includes a color compatible data storage area to store data representing color incompatibility or data representing color compatibility,

the color display game machine includes:

storage medium determining means for determining which of a 1 st storage medium and a 2 nd storage medium is mounted based on the data stored in the color-compatible data storage area;

background image color palette storage means for storing background image color palette data corresponding to the background image tone data stored in the 1 st storage medium;

animation image color palette storage means for storing animation image color palette data corresponding to the animation image tone data stored in the 1 st storage medium; and

color image signal generating means for generating a color image of the background image and the motion picture image; wherein

The color image signal generating means generates a color image signal of the background image based on a combination of the background image tone data and the background image color palette data and generates a color image signal of the moving image based on a combination of the moving image tone data and the moving image color palette data when the storage medium determining means determines that the 1 st storage medium is mounted, and generates a color image signal of the background image based on the background image color palette data designated by the background image color palette designating data and generates a color image signal of the moving image based on the moving image color palette data designated by the moving image color palette designating data when the storage medium determining means determines that the 2 nd storage medium is mounted.

8. The color display game machine according to claim 7, wherein said moving picture image color palette storage means stores 2 nd moving picture image color palette data of 1 st moving picture image color palette data,

the 1 st storage medium further includes color palette specifying data to specify color palette data of the animated image,

the color image signal generating means generates a color image signal of the moving image based on a combination of the moving image tone data and the 1 st moving image color palette when the 1 st moving image color palette is selected based on the color palette specifying data, and generates a color image signal of the moving image based on a combination of the moving image tone data and the 2 nd moving image color palette when the 2 nd moving image color palette is selected based on the color palette specifying data.

9. The color display gaming machine of claim 8, wherein said color display gaming machine further comprises:

an operating device operated by a user, and

color palette changing means for changing the background image color palette data and the animation image color palette data according to the color palette data selected by the operator in response to an instruction to select a color palette by an operation of the operating means,

the color image signal generating means generates a color image signal of the background image based on a combination of the color tone data of the background image and the color palette data of the background image changed by the color palette changing means, and generates a color image signal of the moving image based on a combination of the color tone data of the moving image and the color palette data of the moving image changed by the color palette changing means.