Support NeoGAF

[Bluth54]

Late 90s Isometric CRPGs, and certain RTSs do it for me:

I agree 100% with the Infinity Engine games, those backdrops still look amazing.

I hope that Microsoft releases Rise of Legends on Steam like they did with RoN. Nations was my favorite RTS of all time but I never played Legends back in the day because I was super pissed it wasn't a direct sequel to Nations. Of course now I wish I had played it.

 

[PastorOfMuppets]

While it doesn't qualify as *looking* dated, Crysis is 8 years old(!) and in 2007 was outputting insane shit like this:

 

[DryvBy]

No One Lives Forever's character models look amazing to me today.

 

[Duggie_Brown]

Jaggies and blockiness welcome! Let's admire the games that managed to pull off beauty while being held back by the limitations of their systems.

I volunteer Panzer Dragoon Saga!




I can't find many screenshots to do it justice but i'm replaying the game at the moment and i'm stunned by what it can make the Saturn do. There are moments where it still looks astonishing today.

I love you. Panzer Dragoon Saga is still my personal favourite game. The Saturn was doing things that it wasn't meant to in this game as well as other games like Burning Rangers and Sonic R. Real time lighting, transparency, also the tech going into the Dragon's morphing ability in real time...man, absolutely stunning.

 

[Social]

This game still looks amazing!!! /Posts emulator shots

 

[system11]

This seems to be a thread about R-Type Delta!

Beautiful and criminally overlooked.

 

[oni-link]

I just beat Grandia last weekend, and I think that's a beautiful game, loved the sprites mixed with low poly models

 

[E92 M3]

I'll say Jet Set Radio Future:

Came to post this.

 

[GOOCHY]

Super Mario World looks awesome still to this day. I was playing it on an emulator a few weeks back and was struck by just how good it looks.

 

[Jonneh3003]

I love you. Panzer Dragoon Saga is still my personal favourite game. The Saturn was doing things that it wasn't meant to in this game as well as other games like Burning Rangers and Sonic R. Real time lighting, transparency, also the tech going into the Dragon's morphing ability in real time...man, absolutely stunning.

Aha but seriously it's stunning in every form imaginable, it's beautiful, the music is outstanding, the battle system is simple but intense and even walking around interacting with NPC's is enjoyable. What a great game.

 

[UCBooties]

Robotech Battlecry

 

[RowdyReverb]

I still love the way MDK 1 looks

Best thing about MDK is you could run it on just about any hardware when it released. It was very efficient. Things like making the player character a sprite to save polygons IIRC

 

[Son Of Sparda]

Don't know if it's dated enough but I think this looks crazy good for an 8 year old game.

 

[UCBooties]

I love Legend of Mana so much, great to see that it's still beautiful.

Thank you for posting the title.

 

[Duggie_Brown]

I keep posting the same Ridge Racer Type 4 gifs every time a similar thread pops up, man it just looks so fucking great to this day. It just has a timeless aesthetic.

And to this day, it still has my favorite GUI design in any game. Readable, clean, unique and gorgeous. What more can you ask for?

Still the best Ridge Racer, one of the best racing games ever made and one of the best gaming soundtracks ever, period!

 

[Duggie_Brown]

Aha but seriously it's stunning in every form imaginable, it's beautiful, the music is outstanding, the battle system is simple but intense and even walking around interacting with NPC's is enjoyable. What a great game.

Don't get me started hehe otherwise i'll be talking about this game all day, but yeah, stunning game from the 32bit era. I loved the way the water shimmered in places like Uru or over the Forbidden Zone...amazing.

 

[Duggie_Brown]

F-Zero GX

This gif doesn't come close to doing the game justice

Best racer ever! Period! 60fps without breaking a sweat! Gamecube was a beast and this game would still look stunning if a launched as a AAA title now. Look at it!! URRRGGGHH! Amazing! Stupid Bintendo!!! Where's F-Zero U! F-Zero NX or fail Big N!

 

[Glix]

This is a PS1 game?

Holy shit, that's beautiful.

Its such a classic. It holds up so well on Vita. Worth every penny.

 

[Zia]

"timeless aesthetic"

/watches a sport cars driving around normal generic city by night and normal roads.

...

ok.

It's in the running for the most aesthetically cohesive large-publisher game ever made.

 

[trixx]

Some of these games are visually more appealing to some current gen games. That pic of that Capcom racing game is amazing. Same with Viewtiful

Love different artstyles in games

 

[Bakemono64]

 

[ShamePain]

Black Ops 3 looks pretty good despite running on Quake 3 engine.

 

[Markoman]

Alone in the dark

Baddabum

 

[tbd]

We need some rules here. Is higher resolution/emulation allowed? Because then there are many, many games that still look beautiful today.

 

[Markoman]

We need some rules here. Is higher resolution/emulation allowed? Because then there are many, many games that still look beautiful today.

Yes, the funny thing is that we can't even replicate how most of those games looked on our CRTs

 

[Aostia]

F-Zero GX: the topic?

 

[Scarecrow]

Rez still looks great to me.

 

[mcz117chief]

The last leaf of Autumn...

 

[Duggie_Brown]

Rez still looks great to me.

In my top ten games ever. It looked stunning on the Dreamcast, but the Xbox 360 HD update took it to the level of fidelity that it truly deserved. The first game I would want in VR, I'd never leave Eden!

 

[old manatee]

Quake 1. It looks great, sounds great, and the gameplay is so pure and perfectly balanced. To me it holds up better than any other first person game from the 90's.

 

[PulseONE]

Slap Happy Rhythm Busters (PSX)

I think it was the first time I saw cell shaded graphics. It's on the japanese PSN if anyone is interested.

Wow, that is gorgeous!

 

[Nullabe]

Surprised nobody mention the first Half-life.

 

[Leatherface]

It's amazing to think about how many Gamecube games made this list. Windwaker. Metroid Prime. Fzero GX. Rogue Leader. RE4. GC may have looked like a lunch box but was a powerhouse! Loved that little system SO much.

 

[DJ Lushious]

No One Lives Forever's character models look amazing to me today.

NOLF 1&2 have very special places in my heart. They're both outstanding games with a great sense of humor and gameplay to match.

Also, it never fails that these types of threads will have the occasional poster through up a screenshot and comment on the game, all the while completely failing to reference the game's name. I don't understand these people.

 

[Aroll]

Two games always stand out to me. Secret of Mana and World of Warcraft. Secret of Mana is my favorite game of all time, but setting aside that bias it just as a timelessness to it's art direction in 2D sprite form. It's just masterful and I feel still looks fantastic today.

World of Warcraft was intentionally not top shelf when it released in 2004 and it's remained that way through 2015, even as they have enhanced visuals and models slowly over time. Reality is, they have masterfully kept the visuals not that impressive for the sake of allowing millions with different computer setups to enjoy the game. I don't think the game looks fantastic, but what they did with that choice to create clever enemy and spell effects... along with believable worlds you can feel like you're part of, is something I find facinating. People push realism and other graphic styles to immerse yourself into a believable world.

World of Warcraft threw that idea out the window and chose art style to pull it off with. Worked well for them.

 

[tuxfool]

No One Lives Forever's character models look amazing to me today.

Heh. I was about to post the same. Though they're lacking in the typical numbers of bones on the face so the expressions, particularly around the eyes, don't change a lot.

 

[lazygecko]

Surprised nobody mention the first Half-life.

After having played Unreal earlier the same year, I found Half-Life to look kind of crude and muddy in comparison. I think it has not aged as elegantly as other shooters from the period.

Quake2. Well ok, this shot has a hint of ca and aa added.

Is this an official map?

 

[Dictator93]

Is this an official map?

Pretty sure it is one of the last levels.

 

[tuxfool]

After having played Unreal earlier the same year, I found Half-Life to look kind of crude and muddy in comparison. I think it has not aged as elegantly as other shooters from the period.

That isn't at all surprising as GoldSrc was based on the Q1 engine.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

The texture work in Sonic Adventure will always be impressive to me.

 

[Sinatar]

Is this an official map?

That screenshot is heavily modded.

 

[tuxfool]

The last leaf of Autumn...

Yeah. Those VGA updates to LucasArts titles still hold up pretty nicely today.

From here

 

[Nights Owl]

Aliasing is super bad, but upscale that badboy and I'd love it to death.

 

[LevelNth]

Goddamn, that's gorgeous. Why don't we have arcade flight sims like this any more?!

Never forget. I still hate to this day all the early promises of Warhawk PS3 only for it to be gutted into an MP only shell of it's potential. It's the day the arcade flight shooter died.

 

[PositiveGamer]

The very underrated exclusive, Breakdown(2004) for the Xbox. It's a mix between Godhand and Mirror's Edge.



You drink sodas and eat burgers as well as energy bars to replenish your health, what more do you want?

The original mirrors edge.. I still own this game!!

 

[Apathy]

To this day I still think factor 5 were sacrificing orphans to demonic forces and using their tainted hearts and Souls to power their rogue squadron engine. It's really the only explanation that makes sense.

 

[mpafighter]

I'm surprised nobody mentioned the Jak and Daxter collection!

 

[mclem]

Black (2005)

Visually stunning shooter on PS2, spectacle still holds up today.

My overwhelming memory of this is suffering so much by the media pushing the line of "Is this the PS2's Halo killer?".

 

[I'm Spartacus]

To this day I still think factor 5 were sacrificing orphans to demonic forces and using their tainted hearts and Souls to power their rogue squadron engine. It's really the only explanation that makes sense.

They then went on to put in a 2 player split screen co-op with increased enemy count which was the entire first game and include it free with the sequel, just for fits and giggles! Madness.

 

[TheAdmiester]

My overwhelming memory of this is suffering so much by the media pushing the line of "Is this the PS2's Halo killer?".

Was that not Killzone? Black was available on Xbox too so that wouldn't make much sense.