Support NeoGAF

[kubev]

Nice to see SotN mentioned in the first post. Incredible-looking game.

 

[Lukemon]

Oh, if we're doing "era" though, then I guess I'd have to go with an SNK game- Garou Mark of the Wolves.

Even though... I think NeoGeos were 16-bit machines.

Garou is beautiful as well, of course. So much good 2D art going on at the time, especially considering how 3D had the wow factor on its side and these games were getting flak just for being 2D, which was considered 'dated'. 3S/Garou/Metal Slug animations hold up so much better than any 3D work from the same period.

 

[leroidys]

This was going to be my contribution, especially because it's relatively obscure.



It is of course better than most anything in this thread, but it wasn't released in a 32-bit era console (PSX / Saturn / N64).

Dreamcast CPU according to Wikipedia:

Hitachi SH-4 32-bit RISC clocked at 200 MHz

 

[Zophar]

Holy shit that's beautiful, is that game any good though?

Egghhhhh

 

[panama chief]

10 post til metal slug and the Vs series. Not bad GAF

 

[Allnamestakenlol]

Well-done sprites are my kryptonite. These are all great examples. More, more!

 

[Dommo]

Metal Slug animation is on point:

 

[ULTROS!]

It's a toss up between Saga Frontier 2, Legend of Mana, and Breath of Fire 4.

 

[Version 3.0]

I think these aren't necessarily the same. I believe some artists did intend for this art to be crisp, while others did intend for it to be seen on the displays of the era (accounting for NES pixel ratios for circles, adding transparencies through flickering, etc.).

I for one prefer the crisp images. I want to cut my eyes on the pixels.

I agree. And I'd like to point out, there were some nice consumer displays, and better connectors widely available by then. I was done with coax and composite well before that gen started, and the TV I had during the PS1 era put my older ones to shame. Hell, by the end of that gen, I had a WEGA (which I still have and use for all my old systems).

 

[SmokedMeat]

Glad to see Princess Crown mentioned. Talk about stunning.

 

[MatrixMan.EXE]

I'm surprised you went with BOF3 and not BOF4

Same. I feel IV has a lot more character and charm.

 

[UnemployedVillain]

Street Fighter 3 solos every game in this thread.

Just look at this and ask "how can they compete?"

Look how smooth Alex ripping his shirt is! LOOK AT IT!

 

[Slermy]

I agree. And I'd like to point out, there were some nice consumer displays, and better connectors widely available by then. I was done with coax and composite well before that gen started, and the TV I had during the PS1 era put my older ones to shame. Hell, by the end of that gen, I had a WEGA (which I still have and use for all my old systems).

This is true. Hell, the Genesis supports RGB out of the box, and at these resolutions (240 p), you could clearly make out the individual pixels.

 

[jett]

Holy shit that's beautiful, is that game any good though?

The quality of the game is inversely proportional to how good it looks.

 

[zenspider]

I adored the chunky sprites, and everything zoomimg in and out really impressed me at the time.

 

[K.Jack]

Holy shit that's beautiful, is that game any good though?

Don't do it to yourself.

The first SaGa Frontier I will always love, the sequel was soul crushingly disappointing.

 

[BigPete]

Saga frontier 2 for sure. One of my favorite games ever.

Xenogears was pretty good. The sprites battle animations were especially well done.

 

[kswiston]

Dreamcast CPU according to Wikipedia:

OG Xbox had a 32bit processor as well. As did almost all PCs until the mid 2000s. Bits stopped being very meaningful in the mid 90s. Even then, it was mostly marketing.

 

[randomengine]

OP definitely needs Astal

The way it scaled when larger than the screen enemies appeared was a marvel.

 

[SkyOdin]

Holy shit that's beautiful, is that game any good though?

It is SaGa, so tastes will vary. I love it though. The final boss is on the list of hardest RPG final bosses though. On the plus side, the music is as amazing as the spritework.

 

[randomengine]

Waku Waku 7

Silhouette Mirage

Comes to mind

Are these emulated? The image filtering looks atrocious.

 

[Weltall Zero]

Dreamcast CPU according to Wikipedia:

Yes, so? The OP meant fifth-generation consoles, which incidentally includes the N64 even though it's 64 bits as the name suggests.

 

[Audible Phonetics]

 

[leroidys]

Yes, so? The OP meant fifth-generation consoles, which incidentally includes the N64 even though it's 64 bits as the name suggests.

Dreamcast both has a 32bit processor and overlaps the "32bit era".

The game in question (SF3) came out ~6 months after the N64, so I don't see how you could rationally exclude it.

 

[theaffection]

Are these emulated? The image filtering looks atrocious.

Yeah, just realized they have that awful emulator filter on them


Time to redeem that post:

Waku Waku 7:

Warzard/Red Earth

Gunners Heaven

 

[Kyne]

Project X Zone is one of my favs with all the fan service.

 

[Spiral Insanity]

I adored the chunky sprites, and everything zoomimg in and out really impressed me at the time.

I love everything about this game, the character design, the graphics, the music.. it is a remarkable gem.

 

[Honey Bunny]

Time to look for my Symphony of the Night album again.

I'd love to see it if you find it.

Project X Zone is one of my favs with all the fan service.

Shit no one told me it had this. Brb amazon.

 

[Zubz]

Who would filter this beautiful sprite work?

 

[MrCunningham]

I love everything about this game, the character design, the graphics, the music.. it is a remarkable gem.

Here are some screenshots that I took on an emulator that was displaying at 2048 × 1536...

The game makes fantastic use of the Saturn's sprite manipulation abilities.

 

[D.Lo]

Street Fighter 3 solos every game in this thread.

Just look at this and ask "how can they compete?"

Yeah, even Mark of the Wolves, Metal Slug and the very good effort KOF 13 can't compete with the king. It's been almost 20 years and not been topped. One day, one day, I hope we will get a real successor, instead of the low-rent Dimps nightmares.

 

[Argall]

I was always impressed by the size of the Juggernaut sprite originally from Children of the Atom. He was really imposing.

 

[TylersProphecy]

The only game I've found that gave saga frontier 2 a run for its money in the 32 bit gen is Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari.

Seems to play a lot like the Wonder Project games with a fantasy theme but I couldn't get that far without being able to read japanese.

 

[cj_iwakura]

Dragon Force.

200 soldiers going to town all at once, full fledged chaos.

Project X Zone is one of my favs with all the fan service.

That second isn't from PxZ. Probably Endless Frontier?

Neither is the fourth.

 

[Fou-Lu]

Breath of Fire 4 sprites and battle animations are the top.

 

[Noogy]

I think the pixel art and technical achievement of Lomax impress me more than any game from that generation:

 

[UpUpDownDown]

Mmmm. Good thread...

 

[tiebreaker]

Just off top of my head.

Marvel vs Capcom
Breath of Fire IV
Suikoden 2
Legend of Mana

 

[Crayon]

The only game I've found that gave saga frontier 2 a run for its money in the 32 bit gen is Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari.

Seems to play a lot like the Wonder Project games with a fantasy theme but I couldn't get that far without being able to read japanese.

Wow that is something else.

Good thread!

 

[eso76]

SOTN is a weird answer because a lot of sprites were from the 16-bit turbo game. It also has like zero parallax.

Tbh it has tons of parallax, but I agree.
SOTN sprites are from a previous generation and they were never that good to begin with. The actual pixel art is quite coarse, very low res and flat if you compare it to even older stuff like, idk.. Demon's Crest or Ghouls'n'Ghosts.
Nice usage of transparencies and special effects but that's about it

 

[Kyne]

That second isn't from PxZ. Probably Endless Frontier?

Neither is the fourth.

mhmm good question. I just grabbed gifs of results from PxZ!

 

[TheRedSnifit]

 

[JimPanzer]

SaGa Frontier 2 had an excellent sprite + watercolor background combo that IMO works better than Legend of Mana's, which came later.

so beautiful. a shame that the game is utter shit.

 

[Dark_castle]

Can someone explain to me why I'm more impressed by these sprites from many years ago more so than the 3D graphics of today's mainstream video games? And I'm not being nostalgic either. I've seen some sprites here only for the first time and I'm in awe.

 

[punkmaggit]

so beautiful. a shame that the game is utter shit.

The soundtrack is GODLY though.

 

[Lulubop]

Can someone explain to me why I'm more impressed by these sprites from many years ago more so than the 3D graphics of today's mainstream video games? And I'm not being nostalgic either. I've seen some sprites here only for the first time and I'm in awe.

idk

anyway bof4 is probably king

 

[tsundoku]

I saw Saga Frontier 2, 3rd Strike, Legend of Mana, and the Breath of Fire games.

Ragnarok fuckin Online tho also

Also high quality sprites mixed with 3d is dank as fuck. Fuck the haters

 

[Basileus777]

The soundtrack is GODLY though.

The first Saga Frontier has a better soundtrack too.

 

[Jack The Nipper]

Street Fighter 3 solos every game in this thread.

Just look at this and ask "how can they compete?"

If only a new street fighter was like this but better

 

[TylersProphecy]

If only a new street fighter was like this but better

Well, here's the thing. It would probably be possible on a budget, IF Capcom did it at that resolution, but would fans accept a 640x480 game anymore? I would (someone previously mentioned yatagarasu earlier and I think it's evidence that I'm not alone in that feeling), but I think a lot, if not most would complain if the sprites weren't at least kof13 level which would be much more expensive and something barely anyone seems willing to attempt anymore. I'd honestly expect a fan to do it before Capcom right now.