• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Largest Leap Graphics in a Single Generation

I was thinking about this while playing Halo 4 and noticing just how much better it looked than Halo: Reach.

The question I'm posing is; What was the largest improvement in graphics between two consecutive games of the same franchise within a single console generation?

I'm not talking about the difference between Fifa 07 to Fifa 13, but rather Fifa 08 to Fifa 09. Mass Effect to Mass Effect 2 counts, but Mass Effect to Mass Effect 3 doesn't.

Make sense?

Obviously this question can't apply to PC games. *dodges tomatoes*
 

Skel1ingt0n

I can't *believe* these lazy developers keep making file sizes so damn large. Btw, how does technology work?
Either Uncharted -> Uncharted 2

or

Halo Reach -> Halo 4
 

batbeg

Member
Jak -> Jak II
Super Mario Bros 2 -> Super Mario Bros 3

edit: 2 more generations, 1 franchise. FFIV to V, and VII to VIII.
 

Zaventem

Member
Uncharted 1 - 2, Halo Reach to Halo 4, Forza for all 3 sequels on the 360 jesus fuck, i think they take the cake for best graphical improvements for your question.I don't really think Mass Effect 2 was that huge of a jump though..
 

BigTnaples

Todd Howard's Secret GAF Account
Mass Effect 1-2

BFBC to BFBC2 to BF3.

Bioshock to Bioshock Infinite

Borderlands 1-2

Crysis 2- Crysis 3

Gears 2-3

Oblivion to Skyrim

Uncharted 1-2
 

Gartooth

Member
Probably Super Mario Bros. 2 (Lost Levels) ---> Super Mario Bros. 3 for me.

Oh and also Super Mario Land:

Super_mario_land.png


to Super Mario Land 2:

super-mario-land-boss.gif
 
Not sure it's the biggest, but the jump in presentation between Streets of Rage and Streets of Rage 2 always seemed pretty big to me.

Streets%20of%20Rage-1.gif


Streets-of-Rage-2-3.jpg


Uncharted 1 -> 2 is also a good one, can't believe I forgot that.
 

Dali

Member
Final Fantasy X to XII was pretty big too. I think they should be counted as sequels as XI was its own thing.
 
Why not? The Witcher to The Witcher 2 is perfect for this.

It's not really the same generation though? Massive amounts of hardware releases between the 2 games. At the very least people go by DirectX versions for a generation if not major hardware releases.
 

i-Lo

Member
  • Uncharted 2 from Uncharted DF
  • Halo 4 from Halo Reach (albeit with certain sacrifices like 2D backgrounds for horizon)
  • inFAMOUS 2 from inFAMOUS
  • Forza Horizon from Forza 4 (made possible by halving the framerate)
  • FF12 from FF10
 

Papercuts

fired zero bullets in the orphanage.
I'd second Hitman: Blood Money to Hitman: Absolution. Very on the edge to meet the critera but it was on 360, Absolution looks pretty insane visually.
 
I'd second Hitman: Blood Money to Hitman: Absolution. Very on the edge to meet the critera but it was on 360, Absolution looks pretty insane visually.
First one was a port though, if that game counts as being the same gen it's on a technicality.

Gotta agree with the people saying Oblivion to Skyrim, I've been playing Skyrim recently on 360 and it's pretty amazing to me how good it looks for such a big game.

Everyone's saying Reach - 4, but I remember Halo 2 being a pretty incredible jump over CE at the time.
 

gaming_noob

Member
Gears of War 1 to Gears of War 3 - # 1 runs sluggish with 8 characters on screen (4 protagonists, 4 enemies) and that's why they only limited the battle field to 4 enemies at a time.
 
Resistance 2 --> Resistance 3

I think Resistance 3 looks absolutely great. Definitely of the best looking console games to date in my eyes. It's also leaps and bounds better looking than its predecessor.
 

i-Lo

Member
One more:

  • Halo Reach from Halo 3: ODST- This was THE leap in the franchise. The difference between Reach and 4 is actually smaller.
 
There were too many sacrifices made going from Reach to Halo 4. In many instances Reach looks much better. The visual downgrades are just as noticeable as the improvements. The leap in the Forza series this gen definitely gets my vote.
 

batbeg

Member
As someone who recently played J&D, bollocks

:p

I disagree with J&D being psx-like, but 2 is still a substantial improvement. 3 almost as much of one, too.

I hate to stick to the same franchise for a third entry, but on the DS FFIII-IV is my only nomination.

On the PSP, I'm left no choice but to choose Locoroco 2 - Midnight Carnival. Yes, I can do that.
 
Top Bottom