Mode 7 was the SNES graphics mode that allowed for things like rotating and zooming a background layer - used for things like the track in Mario Kart and F-Zero, or the worldmap in Final Fantasy 6 (while you're in the airship). The Scroll Register was used for scrolling in Mode 7.
H-Blank is the horizontal blanking period (and associated interrupt) - a time period between the drawing of scanlines on the screen (there's also V-blank, between frames). Changes made during H-Blank could make for some interesting effects - it was used for things like the circle that closes around Mario at the end of a level of Super Mario World: The rectangle draw routine is used, but the size of the rectangle is changed between scanlines, creating a circle. I'd imagine this was used for some of the wavy distortion effects in games like Chrono Trigger and Earthbound as well.
> used for things like the track in Mario Kart and F-Zero, or the worldmap in Final Fantasy 6 (while you're in the airship).
Even the 3D plane effect in F-Zero and Mario Kart requires an hblank interrupt routine that changes the scale and scroll registers for the tile map. Without such trickery Mode 7 technically only does 2D rotozooming. That said, in colloquial use "Mode 7" tends to refer (somewhat inaccurately) to that 3D plane effect.
I believe he's right, though - I've heard that Mode 7, and specifically the fact that it could simulate a 3D perspective with that effect, was a selling point of the SNES over the Genesis/Megadrive to developers (that, and its higher number of colors). I admittedly haven't played around with Mode 7 much myself.
Oh, I meant I found it amusing that something as obscure as Mode 7 could be referred to "colloquially." I'm in no position to hold an opinion on the intricacies of SNES graphics modes.
Mode 7 was the SNES graphics mode that allowed for things like rotating and zooming a background layer - used for things like the track in Mario Kart and F-Zero, or the worldmap in Final Fantasy 6 (while you're in the airship). The Scroll Register was used for scrolling in Mode 7.
H-Blank is the horizontal blanking period (and associated interrupt) - a time period between the drawing of scanlines on the screen (there's also V-blank, between frames). Changes made during H-Blank could make for some interesting effects - it was used for things like the circle that closes around Mario at the end of a level of Super Mario World: The rectangle draw routine is used, but the size of the rectangle is changed between scanlines, creating a circle. I'd imagine this was used for some of the wavy distortion effects in games like Chrono Trigger and Earthbound as well.