Support NeoGAF

[Huggers]

The PS1/Saturn gen is usually considered pretty ugly in retrospect. The jump to 3D did not stand the test of time that well. Some games bucked the trend at the time and remained sprite based although perhaps not that many comparatively.

What are some of the best? Looking at Symphony of the Night has inspired me to check out some more.

 

[Phediuk]

The Adventures of Lomax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hUi_B0CdY

 

[ponpo]

Breath of Fire IV for PS1 is pretty nice. And Mad Stalker.

Princess Crown for Saturn I like.

 

[Bastos]

Loved Lomax! But this game was hard af

 

[c0de]

Saturn had some good looking beat'em ups.

Also "Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari" looks quite good.

 

[Holygriever]

SYMPHONY OF THE-

Looking at Symphony of the Night has inspired me to check out some more.

Dammit, OP!

WELL... Guardian Heroes? Street Fighter Alpha (pretty much every Capcom Fighter, really)? Breath of Fire 3? Klonoa? Hmmm, kinda hard to come up with more...

 

[Labadal]

Legend of Mana is the best looking PS1 game in my opinion.

 

[thewhitehawk]

The Adventures of Lomax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hUi_B0CdY

The sprite art is nice but damn the music is so obnoxious on every singe stage.

 

[hipgnosis]

On the top of my head for the PS1:

Rapid Reload
Tomba/Tombi
Herc's Adventures
Megaman X4-X6
Megaman 8
Gradius Gaiden
Yattaman Time Bokan
Capcom fighters (all of them)
In The Hunt
Alundra
Suikoden 1 and 2
Strider 1 and 2
Gekioh Shooting King
Metal Slug X

 

[Holygriever]

Xenogears!

But it looked like ass even back then.

I'm thinking Square re-releases (FF6, Chrono Trigger) don't count, eh?

Edit:FF Tactics! Gorgeous sprites.

 

[ResidentDante]

The Adventures of Lomax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hUi_B0CdY

Very pretty 2D game, it was the first title I got with my PS1. The levels were very repetitive though, and they looked a lot like each other.

 

[Dunkley]

Legend of Mana

 

[boybrushdRED]

I liked Grandia and Breath of Fire 4

 

[@MUWANdo]

Saga Frontier 2 is gorgeous.

 

[InfiniteCombo]

Street Fighter Alpha (pretty much every Capcom Fighter, really)

THIS, so much. The stuff that came out towards the end of that generation, especially those games that use the Sega Saturn 4Mb cart, are something close to a technological marvel: beautiful-looking games that are close to arcade perfection.

X-Men vs Street Fighter, Vampire Savior (I'm forgetting what the US name is... maybe Darkstalkers 3?), Street Fighter Zero 3.

On the SNK side, Real Bout Fatal Fury Special is also nice, with KoF 96/97 being slightly less so.

Of course, these examples are pretty much universally better on the Saturn, because of the extra cart. Some of them are just downright unplayable in their arcade form on the PlayStation. The earlier gen stuff (e.g, the original Street Fighter Zero, the original Vampire/Darkstalkers, etc) and some less intensive stuff (e.g, Pocket Fighter) is decent on the PlayStation as well.

Stay away from the original Marvel Super Heroes, as it doesn't run very well on either console. (I have the Japanese Saturn version, and even its "3Mb" mode doesn't help with the slowdowns or the loading much at all).

 

[KOMANI]

Mega man 8?

 

[Dio]

It really sucks that a lot of really good sprite-based Saturn games were never localized because of Sega's USA branch avoiding non-3D games as much as possible. The Saturn was an awesome system for 2D games if you were Japanese.

Off the top of my head, the must haves for Saturn are Princess Crown, Dragon Force and Keio's Flying Squadron 2.

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Breath of Fire IV for PS1 is pretty nice.

Yeah, BoFIV has some of the most beautiful spritework I've ever seen (outside of SNK, lol). BoFIII is a superior game in many respects, but definitely not in the visual department.

Screenshots don't do it justice, as you really have to see how fluid and watercolor-like it is in motion, but here's a small sample of its art style:

 

[Holygriever]

Of course, these examples are pretty much universally better on the Saturn, because of the extra cart.

That disappointment when you couldn't switch characters in X-Men vs SF...

(Still played the shit outta that game.)

 

[Celine]

Of course SNK and Capcom fighting games got some nice conversion on Saturn.

Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari is also very beautiful:

Heart of Darkness:

 

[SmokedMeat]

Can't believe Astal hasn't been mentioned yet.

 

[djlr181]

Super Tempo (Saturn)

 

[GenG3000]

Valkyrie Profile for PSX and PSP. Awesome 2D visuals and one of the finest RPG ever made.

 

[Earthpainting]

Legend of Mana is the best looking PS1 game in my opinion.

One of the finest looking games on the PS1 and on any system if you ask me. It's gorgeous sprite art is only rivalled by its handdrawn backgrounds and its beautiful soundtrack. The resolution and colour depth may hold it back a bit, its use of colour and shapes especially just make it a very pleasant game to look at.

Breath of Fire 4 is another one that deserves some props, but sadly enough the overall package is a little bit stained by rather gnarly looking 3D from time to time. They look out of place and sadly enough they most often appear during the larger monsters that should have had the most opportunity to shine. BoF3 had some stunning bosses that spanned across the screen, but I guess it perhaps was not viable for the upped ante in the animation department. I'm ending on this, because it is the game's strongest point. Some of the finest animations you'll see in a video game. I could watch the BoF4 mimics chomp down on things all day long, but sadly enough there aren't a ton of proper gifs out there of the game. The high amount of frames and the difficulty to line them up as intended makes it more work than most are willing to put in.

 

[killatopak]

Both have a lot of great ones like Princess Crown for Saturn and SOTN for PSX.

Valkyrie Profile for PSX and PSP. Awesome 2D visuals and one of the finest RPG ever made.

I really love this game.

 

[TEJ]

Yeah, Legend of Mana and Breath of fire 4 are GORGEOUS

 

[wapplew]

Guardian heroes

 

[killatopak]

A name would be nice.

Edit: Saw the image url. So Guardian Heroes?

 

[Canis lupus]

So much detail and lovely art style, imo the best looking sprite based game.

 

[efyu_lemonardo]

The Adventures of Lomax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hUi_B0CdY

Legend of Mana is the best looking PS1 game in my opinion.

As someone who never owned a PS1, both of these look stunning!

 

[ACESmkII]

Elavtor Action Returns is a sprite based masterpiece on the Saturn.

Gradius Gaiden has already been mentioned and is one of my favorites 2d shooters on PSX.

 

[Mephala]

Suikoden 2 looks great as well.

The Legend of Mana is probably my favourite though.

 

[drspeedy]

On the top of my head for the PS1:

Rapid Reload
Tomba/Tombi
Herc's Adventures
Megaman X4-X6
Megaman 8
Gradius Gaiden
Yattaman Time Bokan
Capcom fighters (all of them)
In The Hunt
Alundra
Suikoden 1 and 2
Strider 1 and 2
Gekioh Shooting King
Metal Slug X

Alundra looked great, a little too much brown in the color palette, but the sprites were really nice (and the game is excellent).


Now I need to check out Adventures of Lomax!

 

[Tizoc]

On the top of my head for the PS1:

Rapid Reload
Tomba/Tombi
Herc's Adventures
Megaman X4-X6
Megaman 8
Gradius Gaiden
Yattaman Time Bokan
Capcom fighters (all of them)
In The Hunt
Alundra
Suikoden 1 and 2
Strider 1 and 2
Gekioh Shooting King
Metal Slug X

Metal Slug X has choppy animation though, when I saw that playing it on the PS Vita I nearly vomited =X

 

[Stairouais]

Gegege No Kitaro on Playstation

 

[GooWop]

Guardian heroes

Damn i loved this game....great times

 

[Teknopathetic]

Definitely gotta give a shout to Astal.

 

[stay gold]

Suikoden 2 still looks lovely.

 

[mnz]

Street Fighter Zero 3 on Saturn is just fantastic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAOl0YfV7GU

 

[HORRORSHØW]

lunar silver star story

 

[Triggerhappytel]

On the top of my head for the PS1:

Rapid Reload
Tomba/Tombi
Herc's Adventures
Megaman X4-X6
Megaman 8
Gradius Gaiden
Yattaman Time Bokan
Capcom fighters (all of them)
In The Hunt
Alundra
Suikoden 1 and 2
Strider 1 and 2
Gekioh Shooting King
Metal Slug X

Some good suggestions there. Ones I've personally experienced (and would recommend) are in bold.

 

[piggychan]

As a saturn owner:

Cotton 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P7RfBRI36uc

Astal
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHHfdeFZRoU

Silhouette Mirage
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMdjowK86hg

Princess Crown
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DJfNCxPxxR4

Vampire Saviour


Saturn Bomberman
Marvel VS Street Fighter
Sengoku Blade
Tengai Makyou IV
Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari

 

[WarpathDC]

The Adventures of Lomax

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=70hUi_B0CdY

Mah gawd that is gorgeous how did I miss this game during the ps1 era?

 

[FlyingSaucer]

Saga Frontier 2 is gorgeous.

Seconded.

Also, Rayearth (Saturn).

 

[Darkroronoa]

Valkyrie Profile for PSX and PSP. Awesome 2D visuals and one of the finest RPG ever made.

Great game, awesome music too!

 

[John Kowalski]

Klonoa

kind of

 

[Zevenberge]

Rayman. I'm pretty sure that one is sprite-based, even though the game tries to hide it.

 

[gunstarhero]

Saturn has a lot of awesome 2D:

Silohette Mirage
Battle Garegga
Batsugun
Guardian Heros
Legend of Oasis
Xmen CotA
Xmen vs SF
Dungeons and Dragons (2 games)
Keio Flying Squadron
Princess Crown
Astal
Elevator Action Returns
Thunderforce Gold Packs 1&2



...those are just off tr top of my head.

Edit: Almost forgot - I always forget the name, but there's a Capcom feudal Japan era brawler where you get to ride horses... That game!

 

[am_dragon]

I really enjoyed both of these systems and still love sprite based games. The Capcom and SNK stuff was really my favorite, I had the Saturn RAM cart and my US Saturn modded to play imports. Vampire Savior, SFZ 3, X-Men Vs Street Fighter, X-Men COTA all of them were so good. It beat the heck out of standing at the 7-11 and playing them anyway.

I really can only think of two games that have not been mentioned.
Rayman
DoDonPachi

 

[OsirisBlack]

Final Fantasy Tactics without a doubt.