[coldpie]

Ah, didn't know that about the MMC3!

Regarding SMB1, I'm quite sure it uses the sprite 0 thing to keep the status bar stationary while the level scrolls smoothly beneath it by setting the scroll register only after when the status bar is done drawing. See more thorough description here: https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/1898/how-...

[papln]

The article is confusing. The headline/lede claim is about partial vertical scrolling. The middle is a long detour to partial horizontal scrolling (well documented, including SMB1), and then the end goes back to talk about partial vertical scrolling (Zelda).