Era and hardware
Era: 1985 · Hardware: Ricoh 2C02
Key facts
- Hardware palette of 64 colors; 25 simultaneously per scene
- No true black or white in the master palette; #1d2b53 stands in for black
- Each tile uses one of four 4-color subpalettes
How to use this palette for cursor design
Use a tight 4-color subset with a deep navy background, a chunky red, a sky blue, and pure white. Do not add pastels.
Open your pixel editor of choice (Aseprite, Piskel, or LibreSprite), import the palette, and follow the five-pass cursor design tutorial: silhouette, outline, fill, highlight, accent. The palette will impose its own discipline — that is the entire point. For deeper background on retro palettes in general, see the retro palette guide.
Cursor packs already in this palette
If you would rather download than design, browse the collections page — collections are organized by palette family and several map directly to the historic palettes documented here.