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| Release date | April 2, 1987; 38 years ago (1987-04-02) |
|---|---|
| Cards | |
| Entry-level | IBM PS/2 Model 30 &25 motherboards;Epson Equity Ie motherboard;Delta Computer DG-630 motherboard[1] |
| History | |
| Predecessor | Color Graphics Adapter |
| Successor | Video Graphics Array |
TheMulti-Color Graphics Array orMCGA is avideo subsystem built into themotherboard of theIBM PS/2 Model 30, introduced in April 1987,[2] andModel 25, introduced later in August 1987;[3] no standalone MCGA cards were ever made.[4][5][6][7][8][9][10]
The MCGA supports allCGA display modes plus640 × 480 monochrome at a refresh rate of 60 Hz, and320 × 200 with 256 colors (out of an18-bit RGB palette of 262,144) at 70 Hz.[11][3][2] The display adapter uses aDE-15 connector, sometimes referred to as HD-15.
MCGA is similar toVGA in that it had a 256-color mode (the 256-color mode in VGA was sometimes referred to as MCGA) and uses 15-pin analog connectors. The PS/2 chipset's limited abilities preventEGA compatibility and high-resolution multi-color VGA display modes.
The tenure of MCGA was brief; the PS/2 Model 25 and Model 30 were discontinued by 1990, and the only manufacturer to produce a clone of this display adapter wasEpson, in theEquity Ie andPSE-30, since the VGA standard introduced at the same time was considered superior.[12][13]
The 256-color mode proved most popular for gaming. 256-color VGA games ran fine on MCGA as long as they stuck to the basic320 × 200 256-color mode and didn't attempt to use VGA-specific features such as multiple screen pages.
Games lacking support for 256-color graphics were either forced to fall back to four-color CGA mode, the two-color CGA mode (or never run at all) due to the incompatibility with EGA video modes (320 × 200,640 × 200, or640 × 350, all in 16 colors). Some games, including point-and-click adventures fromSierra On-line andLucasfilm Games, as well as simulation and strategy titles fromMicroprose, solved this problem for low-resolution titles by supporting the MCGA's320 × 200 256-color mode and picking the colors most resembling the EGA 16-color RGB palette, while leaving the other available colors in that mode unused.
Higher resolution titles were often unsupported unless graphics could be converted into either MCGA low or high (640 × 480 monochrome, which would also support640 × 400 and640 × 350 with some letterboxing) resolution mode in an acceptable fashion. An alternative approach used by a small number of (generally earlier) games was to use four-color CGA assets but make use of the adaptor's ability to freely change the palette for a slightly enhanced appearance.
CGA compatible modes:
