Between the graphics and the sound, the IIGS was a great gaming platform. The IIGS was the first personal computer to use a fully digital synthesizer chip, the 8-bit Ensoniq 5503, which has its own memory and supports 32 channels and 15 separate stereo voices (the 16th is reserved for the operating system). A higher resolution 640 x 200 pixel mode was limited to 4 colors per line, 800 colors total. What set the IIGS apart was that each scanline could have its own 16-color palette, so it was possible to display up to 3,200 (16 colors x 200 lines) colors on the display at once. The GS stands for graphics and sound, two areas where the IIGS stood head and shoulders ahead of the rest of the Apple II line – not to mention the black-and-white Macs of the day or the 16-color EGA that was becoming standard in the PC world.Īt 320 x 200 pixel resolution, the IIGS supported 16 colors from a palette of 4,096, not unlike EGA. Prior to the September 1986 introduction of the Apple IIGS, every Apple II computer ran an 8-bit processor, used 5-1/4″ floppy disks, had a very limited color palette, and sound was nothing to write home about.
