Hey guys!

I was messing around with Pico and I've discovered a total of 6 new screen modes!! Please check
the GIF attached to see them in action. Some of them are sort of screen effects (mirror) but the others include
2x1 aspect ratio, 64 x 64 pixels and so on. I am so excited about this. I think this could change the look and feel of many games and makes Pico feel like the Amstrad CPC, C64 or other retro computers. I hope this is a feature and not a bug :)

I will post a cartridge soon.

Oh, cool! I assume you're poke-ing memory in the drawstate somewhere?

Please give values and addresses to poke to use each mode. Screen mode 6 looks like it could be very useful when making level with water or another reflective surface in the middle.

0x5f2c

1 to 7

Hi again!
Here you have a cartridge with a little demo

Use cursor to move and Z/X to dec/inc mode

Screen Mode Hack for Pico8 example

Cart File | Forum Post |

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Screen Mode Hack for Pico8 example

by sta64

Cart #14897 | 2015-10-03 | Code ▽ | Embed ▽ | No License

6

That's it. You can poke 0x5F2C the next values :

0 or 4 = Normal mode
1 = 2x1 aspect ratio
2 = tall mode :)
3 = 64x64 pixels
5 = horizontal mirror
6 = reflection
7 = trippy :p

neat!!

Awesome findings. I hope zep won't "patch it out" like with other thing that fixed one of my only issues with pico-8, was completely happy with that solution and it got patched out. Hmph.

Really incredible findings!

That's awesome, I can think of many usages, for example mode 7 for four quarters mirrored tunnel or kaleidoskope.

Hey! Just bumping this so everyone knows cause #lowrezjam is starting tomorrow so 64x64 resolution is super handy here!!
Just use "poke(0x5F2C,3)" at the very beginning of your code!
Happy jamming!

I just added some more modes to the list on the wiki.

https://pico-8.fandom.com/wiki/Memory#Draw_state

0 = normal mode
1 = horizontal stretch, 64x128px screen, left half of normal screen
2 = vertical stretch, 128x64px screen, top half of normal screen
3 = both stretch, 64x64px screen, top left quarter of normal screen
5 = horizontal mirroring, left half copied and flipped to right half
6 = vertical mirroring, top half copied and flipped to bottom half
7 = both mirroring, top left quarter copied and flipped to other quarters
65-71 = same as 1-7?
129 = horizontal flip
130 = vertical flip
131 = both flip
133 = clockwise 90 degree rotation
134 = 180 degree rotation (effectively equivalent to 131)
135 = counterclockwise 90 degree rotation
193-199 = same as 129-235?

@sparr you are a treasure ! I didn't know there was a +128 set. Superb work !

Apparently the 128+ ones are only in 12d and aren't released to the binary pico8 yet. My bad ;)

If making a low res game 6 could be used for a make shift cocktail cabinet mode.

thanks for the tips! Do you know if it's possible to have a 96x96 resolution with this technique?

no.
to get a resolution of 96×96px on a 128×128px screen, you would need to make every pixel 1⅓× bigger, which is physically not possible.
if you want a play area of 96×96px, you can add a 16px border on every side.