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[MrCunningham]

During the 32bit/64bit era, your options were either pixalated, warping, shuttering polygons, or a Vaseline filter with perspective correction. Unless of course you had a PC with a Voodoo card, Rivia TNT, or something. But even those didn't come out until after 96, so just about all PC games from that era were still using software rendering modes and plagued by the same issues as PS1 games. It was mind blowing the first time I ran a PC game with hardware rendering.

Sega Saturn games generally did have less warping and shuttering than PS1 games though, because they were being rendered in quadrilaterals (this is also true for the 3DO)

Getting a Dreamcast in 1999 was amazing, visually the games were like night and day when compared to PS1/ N64 titles.

during the 90s, PC gamers had this:

I remember having some 23' Tagar branded monitor that could output at 1600x1200. I still remember playing Alien vs. Predator at that resolution and the game ran like a dream.

 

[Branduil]

3D DS games (not to be confused with 3DS games) also had a PS1 aesthetic:

...but by this point, the stigma against 2D games had (mostly) subsided, so most DS developers smartly opted for 2D, as it looked significantly better.

3D on the DS blows away both N64 and PS1, IMO. Better textures and vastly better framerates. It loses to N64 in terms of texture filtering and resolution, but those don't matter as much on the small screen, and those are easy tradeoffs to make for the benefit of 60 fps.

 

[Miguel81]

PSone-era games did benefit from the imagination of the player. It's one of the things I miss nowadays. Games are really detailed now, and everything is on display for you to see--no imagination required.

 

[ScOULaris]

I have a fondness for PS1-era 3D graphics just as I do with 8-bit and 16-bit. Some games have aged worse than others, of course, but I can definitely appreciate some good low-poly assets with an interesting art style to hold them together. Call it nostalgia, if you like, but I like the look of it.

I mean, come on... just look at this:

Those are some fantastic character models for the PS1.

 

[OmegaFax]

The PlayStation 2's a ability to smooth texture really helped some of these games.

 

[Cwarrior]

I used to own an ps1 & N64 back in those day and even then the wibbling woblying jumping pixlated textures of the ps1 look absolutely awful, when ever you moved the camera the pixlated texture jumped out to cut your eyes off.

Screenshots really does the system a huge favor in not displaying the horrors of ps1 jumpy 3d graphics.

No texture filtering really hurt any 3d games produced by the system.

 

[entremet]

I have a fondness for PS1-era 3D graphics just as I do with 8-bit and 16-bit. Some games have aged worse than others, of course, but I can definitely appreciate some good low-poly assets with an interesting art style to hold them together. Call it nostalgia, if you like, but I like the look of it.

I mean, come on... just look at this:

Those are some fantastic character models for the PS1.

Looks pretty bad in terms of models. The art is what saves it. I've been playing PS1 games recently on my Vita, even with dat OLED it's hard.

 

[charsace]

I have a fondness for PS1-era 3D graphics just as I do with 8-bit and 16-bit. Some games have aged worse than others, of course, but I can definitely appreciate some good low-poly assets with an interesting art style to hold them together. Call it nostalgia, if you like, but I like the look of it.

I mean, come on... just look at this:

Those are some fantastic character models for the PS1.

I don't think cut scene models and game play models are the same in Vagrant story. And a lot of the good looks due to the art style of the game.

 

[Augemitbutter]

i hated all 3D on PSX and SAT. even on N64 it wasn't that much better.

however, lots of 2D games were pretty damn gorgeous. if not for them, i would've played much less. i couldn't resist MGS and Panzer Dragoon Saga despite their visual shortcomings. somehow those games made up with excellent sound.

 

[petran79]

PC monitors weren't any less "analogue" CRTs. Main difference was resolution.

they also had better colors and sharpness and you could adjust geometry. also refresh rates from 85-120 hz made games less tiresome but only for Windows 95.
but true, only after Windows 95 and resolution from 1024x768 and above was there a huge difference when compared to consoles.

 

[Kain]

Looks pretty bad in terms of models. The art is what saves it. I've been playing PS1 games recently on my Vita, even with dat OLED it's hard.

Yup. But I believe Legend of Dragoon for example would look amazing on dat screen. If only they released the game for us european peasants...

 

[IdreamofHIME]

I love Metal Gear, but I always hated how the MGS1 cast looked like they'd all suffered burns to the face.

 

[EBreda]

[...] and would constantly jitter as you turned the camera around [...]

This. Horrible, horrible. There are great games, for sure, but this... just no.

And when the Dreamcast came.. THAT was a generational leap if I've ever seen one.

 

[Raonak]

as someone who grew up on them; i still find them charming.

 

[Muffdraul]

I don't think cut scene models and game play models are the same in Vagrant story. And a lot of the good looks due to the art style of the game.

You make it sound like having a talented art designer = cheating.

 

[Branduil]

This. Horrible, horrible. There are great games, for sure, but this... just no.

And when the Dreamcast came.. THAT was a generational leap if I've ever seen one.

Soul Caliber was certainly stunning.

 

[Oyashrio-Sama]

Having owned both at the time, I vastly preferred how games on the PS1 looked. Even though The textures and character models weren't always as good as some things you found on the N64. I remember even as a young teenager hating how N64 games were so blurry as if my TV screen had vaseline smeared on it.

 

[MercuryLS]

Soul Caliber was certainly stunning.

15 years later this still bugs me lol.

 

[charsace]

You make it sound like having a talented art designer = cheating.

Its not cheating. Its just that on a technical level those character models aren't something that the N64 and Saturn can't do. The key to their look is the texture work.

 

[SpecialAgentZ]

I didn't like the PS1 graphics that much too, mainly because I've been spoiled by N64 and PC graphics at that time. But I couldn't pass the awesome games on that platform. To me, gaming isn't only about impressive visuals.

I know how to appreciate the output of the machine considering its power too. Then we have Driver 2, Metal Gear Solid, Parasite Eve 2 and many others great games for the platform with good visuals considering what the machine was capable of.

 

[Augemitbutter]

15 years later this still bugs me lol.

same here. i can't stand seeing that. i thought i was the only one.

 

[Morrigan Stark]

Many of those 32-bit games aged badly, but I loved the graphics back in the day. Not for all of them, but Crash Bandicoot blew me away, as did Soul Reaver, Panzer Dragoon, NiGHTS, Metal Gear Solid, Xenogears, Breath of Fire III, FF7 (except the blocky non-battle models, now those I always thought looked goofy), FFTactics, Resident Evil, etc. Hell, I remember being blown away by the water in Crash Bandicoot 2, lol. I thought Tomb Raider looked (and played ) like shit even back then, though.

I thought Silent Hill looked great. The lo-fi graphics and fog effects really fit perfectly into the game's atmosphere.

That said, I was one of those who still preferred 2D for the longest time, and I was sad that Shining Force 3 opted for 3D instead of 2D. At least for the battle sequences. The maps being 3D was fine, because you could now integrate verticality into the gameplay, but the attacking screens should have used sprites, especially since the Saturn was so good at 2D and rather weak at 3D.

of course mario games looked good, they always do (drawn cartoons are easier to make great)

Very true. Also why games like Crash Bandicoot hold up better today than games like Metal Gear Solid, I think.

metal gear solid 2

That's PS2, lol, not quite fair.

 

[Fusebox]

Here's a PS1 cut-scene from FFIX, (Bahamut vs Alexander - spoilers) that still looks gorgeous as hell today imo:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsYpasHUVc8

Still gives me goosies.

Yeah it's FMV but I still think it's a huge bullet-point for the PS1 graphic capabilities, especially considering how other consoles at that time handled FMV.

 

[Septimus Prime]

SaGa Frontier 2 still holds up really well.

 

[Uncle Rupee]

Looks pretty bad in terms of models. The art is what saves it.

These two sentences make my head hurt. Considering the technical limitations of the era, the character and enemy models in Vagrant Story are among the best you can find. They expertly used textures to great effect to maximize the look of the low poly models.

I don't think cut scene models and game play models are the same in Vagrant story.

Well, you'd be wrong. You can go into a first-person view at any time during gameplay and you'll see that the models are identical to the ones you see in cutscenes and in the bestiary. (You fight many of the human characters you see in cutscenes over the course of the game -- besides the fact that all of the cutscenes in the game are done in-engine anyway!!)

And a lot of the good looks due to the art style of the game.

What exactly is your point? Are you saying if the art style was bad, the graphics would be bad? No shit.
The fact is the team was incredibly talented and made excellent use of the PS1's graphical capabilities.

 

[LamerDeluxe]

PSX games could look pretty good at the time.

 

[Tekniqs]

When up close, I agree. Those faces still haunt me.

couldn't care less how the visuals are in that...that game was solid

 

[jonkeee]

Yes it was horrible yes I can't possibly fathom playing these forced 3d games BUT it was hot shit at the time. Arcade level graphics!!

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

And N64 sound was generally sparse, low quality, and repetitive because of, again, the lack of space on cartriges, and because the N64 had no audio co-processor like the SNES and PS1 had. Each channel of sound stole about 1% of CPU time from the calculation of AI, physics, and graphics. And if you wanted to use effects like reverb, it needed even more of the pie. So most devs skimped on sound production on N64 games.

This is news to me, and frankly it's a terrible design decision on Nintendo's part. They could have afforded a DSP for N64; the design was already affordable thanks to Silicon Graphics.

It screams lazy tbh, and no wonder N64 sound was never that impressive as a whole.

 

[Muffdraul]

Its not cheating. Its just that on a technical level those character models aren't something that the N64 and Saturn can't do. The key to their look is the texture work.

Textures = graphics

Did you think this topic was only about polygons? I don't think it's about "Playstation can do what Saturn and Nintendont" either.

 

[sixteen-bit]

couldn't care less how the visuals are in that...that game was solid

Nice pun

 

[ascii42]

This is news to me, and frankly it's a terrible design decision on Nintendo's part. They could have afforded a DSP for N64; the design was already affordable thanks to Silicon Graphics.

It screams lazy tbh, and no wonder N64 sound was never that impressive as a whole.

They should have gotten Ken Kutaragi to design the sound chip.

 

[~Devil Trigger~]

me too

I hated them even back then. I loved Tekken 3 cuz fighting games.

plus the facts that 2D sprite games where looking SOOOOOOOO much better, the the 3D games look worst.

i mean, who was fucking with SF3: Third Strike!!?

 

[KojiKnight]

The PlayStation 2's a ability to smooth texture really helped some of these games.

PS2 couldn't smooth textures could it? It just applied a hazy full screen filter over the entire image right? Been ages since I tried it so maybe I'm remembering wrong.

 

[Mr Nash]

I got swept away in polygons being the new hotness when the PS1 came along. It was all so next gen at the time. In retrospect, I still have a bit of a soft spot for the clunky, primitive graphics, but I like sprites far more now. <3 Saturn. =)

 

[MercuryLS]

couldn't care less how the visuals are in that...that game was solid

I loved MGS in spite of the visuals. Great art direction helped a lot but those swimmy textures tried my patience

 

[PixyJunket]

I actually quit gaming (for the most part) for a couple of years because I hated PS1-era graphics (and Final Fantasy VII) so much.

I didn't even know that Ocarina of Time was a good game until I got that pre-order bonus for Wind Waker.

 

[turnbuckle]

One problem with these threads is that people will often, whether they realize it or not, post pictures of games that look much better than they really did. Either because of emulation or a PC version or some other form of what's ultimately a bullshot for this thread's purposes.

 

[soxinthebox]

I would absolutely love it if 32bit aesthetics came back in vogue.

 

[BigDug13]

PSX games could look pretty good at the time.

Driving games are a poor genre to use for screenshots to show how graphics were "a ok" on PS1. They always look serviceable since the player controlled thing is a car and more easily rendered than a character with moving parts, a face, animations, etc.

It's the genre to use to showcase how good the graphics can get. That's why Ridge Racer made such a good living as console launch titles and why Forza's 1080p/60fps was such a hot bulletpoint. NFS Rivals also has arguably the best parity of all games between the PS4 and XBO.

 

[jett]

Driving games are a poor genre to use for screenshots to show how graphics were "a ok" on PS1. They always look serviceable since the player controlled thing is a car and more easily rendered than a character with moving parts, a face, animations, etc.

It's the genre to use to showcase how good the graphics can get. That's why Ridge Racer made such a good living as console launch titles and why Forza's 1080p/60fps was such a hot bulletpoint. NFS Rivals also has arguably the best parity of all games between the PS4 and XBO.

Can't use racers, can't use fighters, can't use anything apparently.

Can't use Vagrant Story either?

 

[soxinthebox]

Can't use racers, can't use fighters, can't use anything apparently.

Can't use Vagrant Story either?

Can't use emulator screenshots

 

[Pimpbaa]

I loved the graphics on the PS1 at the time. It was a major step up from the software rendered 3D on PC. And I didn't mind the graphics even when the N64 came out because the PS1 had games coming out at a regular pace.

 

[Pimpbaa]

PS2 couldn't smooth textures could it? It just applied a hazy full screen filter over the entire image right? Been ages since I tried it so maybe I'm remembering wrong.

You're remembering wrong. It had no problem bilinear filtering textures. Couldn't do mip mapping tho (except through software), so far away textures became a pixelated mess.

 

[GysahlGreens]

nope
psx 3d is perfect
you guys are wrong

I agree

and yes, PSX

 

[MagnaderAlpha]

God I wish more games would use an art style like this....

Not in a world where the majority believe that 3D photorealism is the standard ALL should abide by and the future all developers should strive to achieve.

 

[-MD-]

I remember being blown away by PS1's visuals when it came out, granted I was like 7 years old. I still love the look of some games to this day though.

The only problem with PS1/N64 games to me is the frame rate. Everything else is fine.

 

[King Mystery]

I've been slowly wading through my PSOne backlog and playing games on the original console (modded). Using a S-Video cable instead of AV improves the image tons. It also helps if you can set your TV to 4:3. 2D games like SoTN look really nice too. I snagged a copy of Legen of Mana from eBay, but I haven't had the time to play it yet.

 

[Zeppeli]

I remember being blown away by PS1's visuals when it came out, granted I was like 7 years old. I still love the look of some games to this day though.

The only problem with PS1/N64 games to me is the frame rate. Everything else is fine.

N64 especially

 

[Zing]

You actually preferred the blurriness of the N64?

You missed out on some damn good games.

No kidding. I was all for anti-aliasing, mip mapping, trilinear filtering and such on my voodoo 2 at the time, but the filtering on the N64 looked terrible even back then. The PlayStation was crisp and literally arcade equivalent for games such as Tekken.