Kinda depends. I don't think there is a definitive answer, although I tend to lean towards PS1 these days as aging better. A lot of N64 games make me think I need glasses - the textures are just so muddy looking. A lot of the pre-rendered backgrounds in PS1 games are beautiful still today.
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Looking back I think PS1's graphics aged better than N64's (used to think opposite)
- Thread starter enigmatic_alex44
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Sapiens
Member
I think I was generally more impressed by what developers were able to pull off on the PS1 in spite of the technical limitations.
Maybe if the N64 had more talent outside of Nintendo and Rare developing for it, we might have been similarly impressed.
As it stands, PS1 games - THE BEST OF THE BEST - impress more than n64 game do.
Maybe if the N64 had more talent outside of Nintendo and Rare developing for it, we might have been similarly impressed.
As it stands, PS1 games - THE BEST OF THE BEST - impress more than n64 game do.
There were some utterly beautiful real-time PS1 games (Vagrant Story, Threads of Fate etc), but the comparisons from the first post are fairly weak, in terms of selecting for equivalent release windows and comparable genre/scene scope.
I agree that many PS1 games have aged better than the average N64 game, but a major component of that was the individual title's release year being a reflection of the state of industry experience in developing for contemporary 3D. Game budget was also as much a factor then as it is now.
I agree that many PS1 games have aged better than the average N64 game, but a major component of that was the individual title's release year being a reflection of the state of industry experience in developing for contemporary 3D. Game budget was also as much a factor then as it is now.
jackissocool
Member
I'm playing through the Spyro games right now and I'm really impressed with how well they hold up. Clean, colorful environments, Spyro himself looks really great, particle effects are impressive, and the environments are big with good draw distances.
enigmatic_alex44
Whenever a game uses "middleware," I expect mediocrity. Just see how poor TLOU looks.
The only one I can think of on N64 that's 2D is Mischief Makers. It's a great game, but here's a very fair comparison, against Silhouette Mirage from the same dev (top is Silhouette, bottom is Mischief):
Silhouette looks cleaner and more impressive imo than Mischief.
It wasn't until recently when I read another thread on GAF that the PS1 was VERY weak with 2D sprites (news to me), I was always under the impression it was a 2D beast (though the Saturn was king there). Apparently the sprite in Symphony of the Night weren't true sprite but a 3D model that was flattened or something (?!!!!)
But PS1 did have a lot of 2D stunners.
I agree with the OP, but it's kind of like comparing puke to shit. That whole generation of consoles aged terribly, but given the choice, I would take the PSone's jagged lines and busted perspectives over the N64's vasoline-o-vision 9 times out of 10. Blurry graphics are a huge, huge turn off for me.
Tom Nook Sawyer
Member
They did. Acclaim put out some fantastic looking games (Turok was amazing, in spite of the fog), and Factor 5 was put out some fantastic titles, including an Indiana Jones that had visual improvements over the PC version (they were also one of the few companies that rewrote the 64's microcode, allowing for more efficient use of the hardware)
There was also Yoshi's Story
PumpkinSpice
Banned
Framerates in N64 games were mostly awful, so I'd say no.
I'm not sure about "aging", but back in the day I usually preferred the PS1 visual output. The N64 had better IQ, but most games had "sparse" visuals while the top PS1 games seemed to have more detail (even if the result was gritty). I also think the later PS1 games did lighting much better. Lighting in N64 games was often flatter and more subdued. Since PS1 games had to subdivide polygons to reduce texture warping, later games took advantage of that and had lighting baked on the vertices.
Actually, the PS1 weakness wasn't sprites, but backgrounds. The Saturn had a very powerful traditional tilemap renderer chip while the PS1 had to everything entirely with polygons. However, the PS1 could put out a ton of polygons, specially if you weren't doing any 3D math with them. The PS1 GPU actually didn't know anything about 3D: it was just a dumb 2D triangle rasterizer. The GTE chip was the one used to do 3D math and calculate the on-screen positions for the 2D triangles.
Actually, the PS1 weakness wasn't sprites, but backgrounds. The Saturn had a very powerful traditional tilemap renderer chip while the PS1 had to everything entirely with polygons. However, the PS1 could put out a ton of polygons, specially if you weren't doing any 3D math with them. The PS1 GPU actually didn't know anything about 3D: it was just a dumb 2D triangle rasterizer. The GTE chip was the one used to do 3D math and calculate the on-screen positions for the 2D triangles.
PensivePen
Member
Many PS1 games weren't much better.
SmokedMeat
Gamer™
I'm not a fan of N64's "look". It almost seems like the system had a very limited color palette of primary and secondary colors only. I know that's not the reality, but they just appear that way.
broncobuster
Banned
I can agree with that. PS1 originally released in late 1994. Developers wrung everything out of that box. It had a huge advance from early to late gen games.
Overall, I tend to agree with OP's sentiments, though there are exceptions on both sides. 2D in general seems to hold up a lot better IMO. Comparing a smattering of SNES' games to N64's and I think it's fairly night and day.
Also, I think Square made a smart choice with pre-rendered backgrounds with the Final Fantasies, and they all still hold up today.
Also, I think Square made a smart choice with pre-rendered backgrounds with the Final Fantasies, and they all still hold up today.
Yep, playing Mission Impossible right now. Feels like 20fps, 25fps tops.
sixteen-bit
Member
Bangai-O and Ogre Battle 64 too
Wonder Project J2
Pokemon Puzzle League and Dr Mario 64The only one I can think of on N64 that's 2D is Mischief Makers. It's a great game, but here's a very fair comparison, against Silhouette Mirage from the same dev (top is Silhouette, bottom is Mischief):
Silhouette looks cleaner and more impressive imo than Mischief.
It wasn't until recently when I read another thread on GAF that the PS1 was VERY weak with 2D sprites (news to me), I was always under the impression it was a 2D beast (though the Saturn was king there). Apparently the sprite in Symphony of the Night weren't true sprite but a 3D model that was flattened or something (?!!!!)
But PS1 did have a lot of 2D stunners.
N64 didn't handle 2D stuff well. I think Tetris Attack looks better than Pokemon Puzzle League.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
Yeah the low quality textures really hurt the N64's look
xenorevlis
Member
You're basically doing the same thing the OP did, even if it was by accident.Wave Race 64 (released 1996):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxK62sEdRQ
Jet Moto 3 (released 1999):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZiN1YuB6Q0
Jet Moto 3 was not that contrast heavy, or blurry. There are ample amounts of Jet Moto 3 straight from PS1 or on PS3 without anything turned on that show the actual game.
Personally, I think both haven't aged THAT WELL, yet many games are still easy to visually digest and play through, especially when they have an art style that isn't reliant on realism.
Dat lack of a z buffer
jhmtehgamr20xx
Banned
They have.
More or less.
More or less.
Interesting; I've heard something similar about the Saturn and that the quads were really just flat sprites positioned into 3D space or something like that. If that's the case was the N64 the only "true" 3D polygon system that gen or did that do some funky stuff too I wonder...
Neff
Member
I largely agree with OP, I just don't agree with the comparisons. I'd say that all of the N64 examples in the first post (Quest 64 aside) are prettier/technically more impressive.
N64 has some visually stunning games, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 and Goldeneye 007 particularly, but I don't think it ever managed anything as truly jaw-dropping as RE2, Final Fantasy VII or Tekken 3 at the time.
N64 has some visually stunning games, Super Mario 64, Ocarina of Time, Star Fox 64 and Goldeneye 007 particularly, but I don't think it ever managed anything as truly jaw-dropping as RE2, Final Fantasy VII or Tekken 3 at the time.
plasmawave
Banned
N64 is filled with ugly ass games.
Ugly ass polygons covered in ugly ass textures.
Ugly ass polygons covered in ugly ass textures.
Although I think it is amazing what they squeezed out of the PS1, the N64 will always be the more impressive console to me. I can't believe how good Majora's Mask looked.
Can't even say I have nostalgia for either of them as I only really started playing games from sixth gen on in my teens.
Can't even say I have nostalgia for either of them as I only really started playing games from sixth gen on in my teens.
Agreed.
That's not to say the N64 didn't produce stunning games, but I definitely prefer the "PS1" look.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
I know nothing of the tech, what is this and why did this cause them to always shake
DJ_Lae
Member
PS1 stuff looks better in screenshots as it's just cleaner overall, plus the system benefits from a lot of 2D focused games that have aged a lot more gracefully.
However, the lack of z-buffer makes any heavily 3D game look atrocious in motion. N64 stuff may be blurry as shit but at least it doesn't wobble all over the place.
However, the lack of z-buffer makes any heavily 3D game look atrocious in motion. N64 stuff may be blurry as shit but at least it doesn't wobble all over the place.
Storm Raider
Banned
10.80p
shouamabane
Member
I loved my PS1, but first party N64 stuff was hard to beat at the time.
I think by and large, a good amount of the PS1's classics were more conservative with their engines. The Crash Bandicoots, the Resident Evil, and the Final Fantasies all used different ways of making 3D happen on PS1 that helped them age a lot better than most 3D fair on the N64. Metal Gear Solid used a lot of top-down perspective and distant cameras to kind of get around the PS1's limits in a way something like Perfect Dark obviously didn't.
Something more ambitious with 3D on PS1, like say the original Silent Hill, Spyro, or Gran Turismo, had to pull off some serious technical magic to do what they did at the time. The straight-up 2D catalog on PS1 aged really well for me (thinking off the top of my head about Castlevania SotN and Abe's Oddysee).
The N64 had less hits and classics than the PS1 (I'm sure some will argue against that but I don't think there's much evidence against it) and almost all of them were very reliant on traditional 3D. Goldeneye just doesn't hold up on a modern television set, especially if you get into split screen. Crash Bandicoot 3, however, doesn't look half bad to me.
TL,DR: PS1's library holds up better, but the N64 could do 3D better.
Something more ambitious with 3D on PS1, like say the original Silent Hill, Spyro, or Gran Turismo, had to pull off some serious technical magic to do what they did at the time. The straight-up 2D catalog on PS1 aged really well for me (thinking off the top of my head about Castlevania SotN and Abe's Oddysee).
The N64 had less hits and classics than the PS1 (I'm sure some will argue against that but I don't think there's much evidence against it) and almost all of them were very reliant on traditional 3D. Goldeneye just doesn't hold up on a modern television set, especially if you get into split screen. Crash Bandicoot 3, however, doesn't look half bad to me.
TL,DR: PS1's library holds up better, but the N64 could do 3D better.
Z-buffer don't have anything to do with it.
Lack of precision on the other hand did.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQMCDpomTK8
Depend.
Some of the best 3D console games that generation were on N64 IMO.
My man.
Tom Nook Sawyer
Member
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Agreed. God, going from the SNES to that... Makes me glad I started with the PS1 and had no idea how good the previous generation looked.
thewhitehawk
Member
I think the N64 had some great looking games but I have to say, for the most part, at least for me, the PS1 games aged better.
Just like in the 16 bit era, the lack of resolution helped disguise some of the technical limitations and some games that made good use of the limitations still look nice until this day. Though there were also cases of games that tried to go for a realistic aesthetic and look dreadful by today's standards.
The N64 was just blurry. Everything or almost everything was blurry. And the fog... the fog was dreadful :/ (Turok I'm looking at you)
There were some strong points going for the console, but graphics were not it.
Just like in the 16 bit era, the lack of resolution helped disguise some of the technical limitations and some games that made good use of the limitations still look nice until this day. Though there were also cases of games that tried to go for a realistic aesthetic and look dreadful by today's standards.
The N64 was just blurry. Everything or almost everything was blurry. And the fog... the fog was dreadful :/ (Turok I'm looking at you)
There were some strong points going for the console, but graphics were not it.
That version had some serious drawbacks when compared to the PS1 version. Compressing all those background textures down to a N64 cartridge... ouch.
NYCmetsfan
Banned
But what causes the shaking and how did the N64 not have that issue?
Slamtastic
Member
Low poly assets with pixeled textures is an aesthetic I really like.
N64's texture blurring is to me akin to modern emulator sprite filtering and hurts the artstyle.
I wish indie devs would move into 3D games using a MML/Vagrant Story/MGS1/other good looking PS1 game visual style.
Of course, there's plenty of technical flaws in this era that should be left behind, so I mean more like "good looking PS1 game run through an emulator to increase res and fix glitches".
Tom Nook Sawyer
Member
And improvements, such as running at a higher resolution.
TGO
Hype Train conductor. Works harder than it steams.
I preferred PSX back then and I prefer them now, when you add graphical enchantments to PSX games today those blocky textures just turn into low res textures, but the N64? it was bad back then let alone now.
But I suppose simple 3D stuff it ok.
But I suppose simple 3D stuff it ok.