Sprite Status/Slot Select

Number	$303B
Decimal
Short desc.	Selects active sprite slot and palette address, and returns sprite status.
Bit Mask	%0011 0000 0011 1011 ??
Readable	Yes
Writable	Yes
Subsystem	Sprites

Used to select the sprite slot configured by Sprite Attribute Upload ($xx57 / 87) and Sprite Pattern Upload ($xx5B / 91). Once written, these ports may auto-increment the sprite number they are addressing. This auto-increment happens independently and so the two ports may end up addressing different sprites as a result. A write to this port will resynchronise them to the same sprite.

Also "initializes the address of the palette".

Write to this port with bit 7 set adds an offset of 128 to the pattern upload index (aiming at the second half of 256 byte pattern slot 0..63).

When read, returns sprite status information as follows:

Bit	Effect
2-7	Reserved
1	Max sprites per line flag (set if more than 12 sprites share a line)
0	Collision flag (set if non transparent areas of any 2 sprites overlap)

It is not possible to obtain from the sprite hardware the numbers or IDs of the sprites which overlapped. The collision flag should thus be seen as initial broad phase collision detection.