The original NES had just 2 kilobytes of RAM — 2,048 bytes that could easily be saturated by even a simple email. Hardware limits were significant, but developers concentrated their efforts on implementing more creative and efficient ways to use it. Engineer Michael Fogleman wrote a NES emulator to better understand the console, and discovered that the contents of RAM converted to sparklines can create unique drawings worthy of hanging on a wall.
Fogleman explains that his emulator has the ability to capture RAM snapshots at each of the 60 frames per second. Specific memory addresses were transformed into lines (sparklines), but only those that changed at least once are recorded, which explains the fewer number of patterns in the drawings (otherwise they would all be 2,048 sparklines). The natural difference between games, the techniques used by developers, and a time variable (five or ten seconds is the most common) practically guarantee that each drawing is unique. If you want one, you just tell Fogleman the game, and pay the modest sum of $199.
Gallery of Sparkline Drawings
