Do we have one of these every week? Not that I'm complaining about having 2D threads pop up often, but it's quite often just a relisting of the same games, lol.
Even though it might not be a 2D sidescroller, games like Jamestown still count, and are often left out (Even though it's modern!)
Was also nicely impressed with the quality of spritework in Delve Deeper:
And I think it's pretty funny, that Phantom Breaker Battlegrounds seems to be doing a better job at well-rounded 2D than it more-HD fighting game prequel. There's a certain Beauty to such classic 2D spritework that will always feel more lively and genuine to me than almost any of the 2.5D in the OP.
Same can be said for Scott Pilgrim, which I really like for getting the character and backgrounds in the same consistent pixel style, which is more rare than it needs to be:
And I might not be a huge fan of it's motion, but Persona 4 Mayoknockinpeoplearound looks great in many ways.
And by law, I'm required to mention:
Spritework and hand-drawn will always just be a notch above 2.5D polygon stuff for me. They're getting a LOT better at it though, but it's similiar to, say, how artist used to hand-drawn the Gundams fighting in the animes, now they use toon-shade CG models. They've gotten WAY, WAY better since the days of the G-Savior movie, but it'll never 100% replace the beauty of an OVA-quality hand-animated fight.
