Hires (C64)

Hires is the C64's monochrome bitmap mode at 320×200 pixels, unlike multicolor, which halves the width to 160 pixels to gain four colours per cell. Each 8×8 block shares one foreground and one background colour, giving sharp lines but forcing the artist to plan where colours change — otherwise the classic attribute clash appears.

The mode was the first choice for text, technical drawings and pixel art where edges had to stay clean. The demoscene used it for crisp logos and vector graphics, while multicolor took over for colourful pictures. Tools like KoalaPainter worked in multicolor, whereas hires artists often built their own.