In today's "Games that never got enough love" segment, we have Threads of Fate (Dewprism)
Most of what is being posted looks great in motion, not so much in screenshots. It's hard to show how smooth Virtua Fighter 2 looks in high resolution at 60 fps in a screenshot. The Tobal 2 gifs posted look like they're going slow because they're showing all the frames.
A good example of this is the Sega Super Scaler games, they look really bad in screenshots:
But in motion they look incredible:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6nmsQhOkRo#t=7m35s
Was about to comment on the posting of Thunder Force VI as well. It's not the best looking PS2 game but it looks far beyond what they could have achieved on a system from the prior era. TFV is much uglier.
It has some low res textures as anything has from that era, but I still find the Banjo games to be pleasing to look at.
Most of their charm comes from the good animation on everything and the stylized models of everything. Tick Tock Woods with it's massive central tree is still pretty impressive as well as how the entire aesthetic of the level changes as you change the seasons. Even the enemies will dress differently.
Clanker's Cavern was also a really cool, great looking level, especially how Clanker actually moves and breaths:
It's all very subjective, though I'll admit. Games like Metal Gear Solid are very impressive to see knowing they were made back on the PS1, but the textures (especially on people) are so bad and it has all the built in PS1 polygonal limitations. However I still find it to be pretty impressive when you account for the era it was made. Maybe not as "timeless" looking as Super Metroid or stuff like that, but still impressive.
I still like how Final Fantasy 7 looks, LEGO mini-fig character models and all.
it's an arcade game from 1988...But that draw distance :
?No n64 games, dang. Well i think Mario 64 looks phenomenal especially since it was a launch title, one of the best launch titles ever as well.
It has some low res textures as anything has from that era, but I still find the Banjo games to be pleasing to look at.
Most of their charm comes from the good animation on everything and the stylized models of everything. Tick Tock Woods with it's massive central tree is still pretty impressive as well as how the entire aesthetic of the level changes as you change the seasons. Even the enemies will dress differently.
Clanker's Cavern was also a really cool, great looking level, especially how Clanker actually moves and breaths:
I also think Powerslave and Doom 64 look quite ace, although those are using 2D sprites in a 3D world (well, pseudo-3D, at least in Doom's case), so it's a bit more debatable how much they count.
Mario 64 still looks pretty damn good if you ask me.
Personally I think just about every first and second-party N64 game look good.
I think a number of 64 games still look great; Mario, both Zeldas, BK, SSB. They don't try to make things too busy visually, so while the graphics look simple, they still look visually appealing.
Banjo Kazooie gets my vote as well. fly up to the top of any level - no fog anywhere and it keeps a pretty good framerate. impressive
sörine;126418454 said:Last Bronx, Wave Race 64 and the Mega Man Legends games are some notables I haven't seen mentioned yet.
Banjo was one of the best looking games of that gen.
Yeah, no N64 games at all.I've been playing a lot of Banjo Kazooie lately and I can agree with this, game is aging pretty well.
Honestly, I'm more surprised the Saturn's getting as much love as it has, given 3D really isn't its strong suit.
Saturn development also halted early. If we cut N64 and PSX off at mid 1998 the Saturn is highly competitive with both for top games imo.I know people say that, but Saturn 3D isn't anywhere near as bad as the 3DO or Jaguar. It's really not that far off from the PS1.
This, however, is mostly 3D:
Not only does Tobal no.1 run at a pretty solid 60fps (a few effects in Quest Mode bring on frame drops), but it's also one of the few PS1 games to run at 480p.
480i, actually. Unfortunately! But full 480i.
sörine;126442421 said:Saturn development also halted early. If we cut N64 and PSX off at mid 1998 the Saturn is highly competitive with both for top games imo.
I knew something was wrong with those images.This is Thunder Force VI on PS2.
Here's Thunder Force V on Saturn.
Sure but Sega killed internal development in 1998 and most of what we saw after that were just arcade ports or 2D games. Dreamcast had official retail releases through 2007 but I wouldn't say developers were really pushing it past 2001.The last official Saturn games came out in 2000 though...
sörine;126461189 said:Sure but Sega killed internal development in 1998 and most of what we saw after that were just arcade ports or 2D games. Dreamcast had official retail releases through 2007 but I wouldn't say developers were really pushing it past 2001.
I agree with all 3 choices. The desert stage in Top Gear Rally (sunny, no fog) still looks great.Of the games I ve played recently on real hardware/TV:
N64
Top Gear Rally: fast framerate, almost no pop in and good use of the AA filter.
Banjo Kazooie: it s remarkable how well it still hold up.
Doom 64: at the time of release Doom 64 was criticized for not being an "advanced" FPS like Turok or Goldeneye however the "simple" gameplay, fast framerate and moody lightning (it s a 3D engine) makes this game well worth to be played to this day (it s basically the third Doom)
Pre-rendered backgrounds suck for two reasons:
1. You can't rotate your view
2. The low resolution images don't scale well (as 3D backgrounds do with emulators)
It looks miles better than Shenmue II or Sonic Adventure 2? Under Defeat's a great looking shooter (as was Border Down before it) but come on. Naomi helped DC more than STV helped Saturn I guess, but ground up Dreamcast development essentially ended after 3 years. After Sega dropped the system it was basically like Saturn; a home for lower budget arcade conversions and 2D games.Under Defeat, a 2006 Dreamcast release is far and away one of the best looking DC games and looks miles better than 2001 output.
This thread is full of emulator images. Some of these games originally rendered at something like 320x240, guys. The most impressive were certainly the higher-res ones, like VF2. That was like double the usual resolution at 60fps.
Soul Edge still looks really impressive I think. Arcade perfect with fully 3D backgrounds, neat lighting and shadow effects and moving stages. Only runs at 30fps though, sadly.
I know people say that, but Saturn 3D isn't anywhere near as bad as the 3DO or Jaguar. It's really not that far off from the PS1.
That's alright with me. There are PC games that weren't feasible for me to run at 1440p back in the day, but I do it now and it looks good and feels good. I don't have any problem cutting old console games the same slack. Some PS1 games have detailed textures that weren't even discernible back then with that postage stamp sized res.
Not only is Silent Bomber one of my all time favorite PSX games, it still looks and plays awesome to this day.
http://youtu.be/OLHPVxGJ66M
Yup, this was the best.Some of the best looking games from that era were a mixture of 2D sprites on 3D backgrounds, and imo they still look great today:
Breath of Fire 3
Breath of Fire 4
Xenogears
Final Fantasy Tactics
Grandia
I guess that's fair reasoning, but I was under the impression the OP implied we should talk about older games that still look good in their original form.