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[sixteen-bit]

i remember looking at dreamcast games thinking it couldn't get any better than that

 

[Jack Scofield]

I remember being really impressed by the grass texture in Halo back in 2001.

http://i.imgur.com/W5Xm6qV.jpg[IMG]

Literally next-gen grass lol. Even PC shooters at that time tended to avoid grass, so it was really cool to see a high-res texture like that.[/QUOTE]

Halo 1's textures were so good. I remember being so disappointed by Halo 2 in comparison.

 

[Hazelhurst]

Basically anything on the N64.

With the exception of Wave Race 64 and 1080 Snowboarding. I still appreciate the graphics on these two.

 

[cr0w]

Daytona arcade,
but tbh, the blue skies still look rad

The blue, blue skies?

The blue, blue skies you see?

 

[mcz117chief]

The draw distance in Shadow of the Colossus. It looked so incredibly good back in the days. You could see so far with no fog or anything. It was really awesome.

 

[BlindJesus]

Perfect Dark Zero's bumpmapping

Far Cry Instinct Predator's water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1qPue2I5qQ

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory's Lighting

 

[Cirerus]

Breast physics in some 3D fighters

 

[blame space]

i remember looking at dreamcast games thinking it couldn't get any better than that

I specifically remember thinking this while playing nfl 2k2 with the camera oriented on the side like it was a TV broadcast.

just then, I thought, was the moment video games reached photorealism.

 

[Daingurse]

i remember looking at dreamcast games thinking it couldn't get any better than that

I fondly remember looking at Sonic Adventure like it was some next level shit. Once again, the lens flare in Emerald Coast comes to mind hahaha.

 

[cr0w]

The water and weather effects in Wave Race for the Gamecube almost blew my face off.

 

[Kevin Atomic]

I can't remember much of what blew me away when I was younger; it was all a mystical time of magic with each new video game I got. Be it from the crazy late NES titles to when I got Sonic 2 or all the awesomeness of Yoshi's Island and Super Mario RPG. Of course all the PC shooters later on as well.

I do recall actually having to show my dad how awesome Pikmin was though. The detail in the water and how I really felt like I was in a tiny world just under my own feet. Pretty cool stuff back then. Now I look at it and notice how garbage the ground textures are and were.

 

[Sephzilla]

The draw distance in Shadow of the Colossus. It looked so incredibly good back in the days. You could see so far with no fog or anything. It was really awesome.

To be honest I still kind of find this impressive. I remember being marveled at how much of the world you could see when

Spoiler

you were on top of the final colossus

 

[Pagusas]

Yeah, Halo 1's normal mapped environments are nuts. They've got a pretty complex lighting model including (greyscale) specular from major dynamic lights, and the tiled nature of the synthetic surfaces allowed them to make the textures extremely sharp.

...Halo 1 also filters the normal maps, which massively reduces shader aliasing compared to a lot of PS360 games, at the cost of making surfaces appear smooth as you get more distanced from them. Sometimes this smoothing effect can break the "look" of a material, but because most of these surfaces are using the normal maps to represent large clean etches on smooth-ish surfaces, it sort of doesn't.

I know it's technically a "wrong" opinion, but I still feel Halo CE looks better than Halo 2.

 

[Glass Shark]

What is the point of this? To show how above it all you are?

yeah you caught me, i was trying to look like a really cool dude who is better than everyone else

(or maybe I was just sharing my opinion in a thread that asks for opinions)

 

[TheKastorian]

Metal Gear Solid, the thread

Seeing rats moving around the dock in MGS1. No one had ever added such small environmental details in a game up until then.

 

[Atlas157]

The water physics in Halo 3.

 

[dc89]

I remembering playing GRAW back in early 2006 and thinking, "Holy shit, this game looks amazing. The lighting, the geometry, and textures all look great. Next gen is finally here." Now?



Not so much.

I remember getting this before launch and being blown away by it.

 

[Lightning Count]

Alone In The Dark The New Nightmare on the Dreamcast specifically the torch and lighting.

 

[blame space]

I remember being really blown away by seeing a Vita running for the first time. it was a tennis game on a demo unit.

does anyone know what it was? virtua tennis? top spin?

I also remember being really impressed by metal Mario's chrome finish in SM64.

 

[veloxStrix]

The water physics in Halo 3.

Bodies floating down the streams in Valhalla is still impressive to me. ;=;

 

[Sephzilla]

Bodies floating down the streams in Valhalla is still impressive to me. ;=;

Spartans shouldn't float *hmph*

I know it's technically a "wrong" opinion, but I still feel Halo CE looks better than Halo 2.

Nah, I'm with you on that one. Halo 2 has some things that look better but overall Halo 1 has a cleaner more colorful/vibrant (almost Jet Force Geminy-ish) look to it that I really appreciate.

 

[Business]

The birds flying away from the road at the beginning of Sega Rally's second stage.

 

[epmode]

Polygons were pretty cool for a while.

 

[Driw3r]

Live For Speed: Sky.
Mafia 2: When you run, jacket swings beautifully. And seeing yourself in the mirror.
Uncharted 1. Drake's pants got wet when in water.

 

[dc89]

Bodies floating down the streams in Valhalla is still impressive to me. ;=;

Agreed

 

[Peltz]

i remember looking at dreamcast games thinking it couldn't get any better than that

It never did dude..... It never did.

Dreamcast games really still feel modern visually to be on the right display.

 

[LucidMomentum]

I do recall actually having to show my dad how awesome Pikmin was though. The detail in the water and how I really felt like I was in a tiny world just under my own feet. Pretty cool stuff back then. Now I look at it and notice how garbage the ground textures are and were.

Yeah, I do not remember Pikmin looking that rough.

 

[OverturePT]

The 12 levels of parallax scrolling in Shadow of the Beast, on the Commodore Amiga in 1989:

The (brutally hard) game also featured an amazing soundtrack: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YKyB51o9AJg

Simply jaw dropping for the time.

Damn, that looks fantastic for something released in 89.

 

[Bruce Springsteen]

I remembering playing GRAW back in early 2006 and thinking, "Holy shit, this game looks amazing. The lighting, the geometry, and textures all look great. Next gen is finally here." Now?



Not so much.

GRAW's SP graphics were mind blowing at the time, nothing this gen has made me feel anything close to that

also DOA3 on Xbox was amazing to me, the water, snow, overall detail....

 

[Maxathon]

Killzone looked impossible to me at one point but now I can see right through its tricks

What are the tricks? Would be interested to hear them pointed out. I never played any game in this series, and that screen looks great to me.

 

[jotun?]

Deformable 3D terrain in Magic Carpet, 1994

 

[Nafai1123]

The lighting in Doom 3. I somehow got my hands on that leaked Alpha level or whatever it was and my buddies and I were blown away huddled around my monitor playing it.

 

[Bloodporne]

"I'M TELLING YOU GUYS, THE CHARACTERS LOOK SO REAL"

"Photo-realistic faces, guys, finally!!!!" That was my reaction.

 

[blame space]

worms 3D's destructible environments

 

[Sinatar]

the "3D" effect ...still love the game ,...

 

[Alo81]

Perfect Dark Zero's bumpmapping

Far Cry Instinct Predator's water
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t1qPue2I5qQ

Splinter Cell Chaos Theory's Lighting

I think all 3 of those still look pretty great.

Good shadows still continues to impress me in games.

 

[Optimus Prime]

The bouncy independent suspension in Rally Cross.

 

[Daingurse]

Was about to mention the faces in Max Payne, but honestly that shit still impressed me when I was playing it this year hahaha. Max Payne has like the best grimace I've seen to date.

 

[rainz]

NBA 2K on the Dreamcast...
I remember thinking we had reached the pinnacle of real to life player models..

 

[Caith_Sith]

This level from Mickey Mania

 

[Lux R7]

Shadow Man's Flambeau on N64
Running with that flame was amazing to me.

 

[Lunarwhale]

The draw distance in Shadow of the Colossus. It looked so incredibly good back in the days. You could see so far with no fog or anything. It was really awesome.

Seconding this. I remember Shadow of the Colossus being mind blowing all-around. The detail on the colossus designs surprised me as well.

I can't think of anything specific, but I remember playing Metal Gear Solid 4 for the first time and thinking video game visuals had hit their peak right then and there.

 

[vcc]

 

[mcz117chief]

To be honest I still kind of find this impressive. I remember being marveled at how much of the world you could see when

Spoiler

you were on top of the final colossus

Yeah, but it isn't really very impressive compared to today's standards, but back in the days it was pretty rad.

 

[blame space]

why were we do convinced this shit looked real? like it's pretty obvious it's not. some kind of reverse uncanny valley.

 

[Lumpy Onion]

In Battle Arena Toshinden I thought the monitor in the background showing the fight was an impressive trick at the time. It made me think the PS1 was really powerful. The swirling tube vortex thing in Gaia's stage was neat too.

 

[Bloodporne]

Splinter Cell 1 in general impressed the shit out of me. Then again, the shadows/lighting still somehow looks great to this day so maybe not for this thread?

 

[Stoze]

I know it's technically a "wrong" opinion, but I still feel Halo CE looks better than Halo 2.

Nah, I'm with you on that one. Halo 2 has some things that look better but overall Halo 1 has a cleaner more colorful/vibrant (almost Jet Force Geminy-ish) look to it that I really appreciate.

Agreed. In fact outside of the multiplayer (which I adored), there's really not much about Halo 2 that I like or prefer over Halo 1.

Pikmin textures and lighting were pretty mind-blowing for me back at the Gamecube launch.

 

[ApharmdX]

I thought the shadows which reflected geometry and the "curved" architecture in Quake 3 Arena were great. And the particle effects in Zone of the Enders 2, which are trivial now.

 

[Kevin Atomic]

Yeah, I do not remember Pikmin looking that rough.

Granted it isn't the best screen cap. But Even upscaled with the dolphin emulator the ground looks like a weird brown blob mess. Back when it came out though I would have talked about how real the little streams and puddles looked.