The following are the two most common methods for drawing sprites. Using the buffering method, or blitting method, the CPU (central processing unit) and/or GPU (graphics processing unit) modify a frame-buffer held in RAM (random-access memory), which requires more memory cycles to load and store the pixels and refresh the backgrounds behind moving objects. The sprites are usually processed through a display list. This method frequently requires double buffering to avoid flickering and tearing, but place fewer restrictions on the size and number of moving objects.
This method is ideal for systems with high processing power (a fast CPU and/or GPU), and/or a high amount of fast RAM memory. However, it was usually only arcade systems that were capable of using this method very effectively up until the early 1990s (such as Sega's Super Scaler systems), due to their expensive CPU, GPU and RAM technologies.
A number of personal computers also used this method in the 1980s (such as the Amiga), as well as a few consoles (such as the Atari 7800), but due to limited processing power and memory at the time, these systems were often unable to match the quality of hardware sprites without suffering slowdowns.
But as processors and memory technology improved, buffering/blitting became the most common method for drawing sprites in the mid-1990s, for both personal computers and home consoles (such as the Sega Saturn).
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