Thanks for the responses. It sounds like I should decide between either a different DirectX header library or an OpenGL library.

After I posted my message last night, I took another look at Asphyre and downloaded Asphyre Extreme, which looks like a better fit for me than Asphyre Casual as there is some minimal documentation and there are VCL components (which I like though I understand they are not necessary). Do people think Asphyre is the best DirectX library or should I look at PhoenixLib or Andorra 2D?

As for OpenGL, do people think DGLOpenGL.pas is the way to go if using OpenGL?

As to whether DirectX or OpenGL, I liked the advantages waran listed re: easy and good 2D acceleration and very fast rotation, scaling, translation, filtering, blending. Cross-platform or more marketable skill is not important as I am designing this as a Windows only game in my spare time. About two years ago I ported my game from the regular windows/delphi graphics to DelphiX and at the time I debated between DirectX and OpenGL (can't honestly remember why I choose one and not the other). My code is pretty modularized, but it still will take time to change so I want to make sure I make the "right" decision this time.

One final note: I would put some value on being able to eventually add some 3D to my map, so being able to perform 3D and not switch libraries is a plus, but it sounds like all choices would allow this.

Thanks in advance for any more thoughts you may have.