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[Cepheus]

I'm gonna fudge this a little and say Street Fighter III, which is a few months out from being 20 years old. To the best of my knowledge, the spritework for the game wasn't really updated in the translation to its console port, meaning that the stuff released in the original arcade cabinet is as it was almost 20 years ago, and some of it is just remarkable.

http://www.zweifuss.ca/index.htm

This, and Sonic 3 & Knuckles.

 

[Voysa Reezun]

These sprites are so big and good and chunky. I love this game visually even more than I did when I dropped quarters on it as a very small child.

WWF Wrestlefest, by the way, for those not in the know.

 

[kamineko]

I would also say

Final Fantasy VI (1994)

yes

The old Infocom games look as good as they ever did--better, even.

 

[M3d10n]

Daytona USA

 

[Peltz]

Yes!

 

[pixelation]

Really? The environmental geometry is far, far more complex than SM64. The texture detail is much greater too. SM64 has very barren, low poly levels, and low-res, blurry textures.

Agreed!

 

[arigato]

Quake 3 Arena/Live has a timeless aesthetic which I have really admired. These pictures don't do the map or game justice but they were the best I could find.

 

[Creaking]

Why do find these easier to appreciate than anything I've seen from Tekken 7.

No chromatic aberration.

 

[Madrugador]

Another vote for Curse of Monkey Island. The game's visuals and humor are spectacular.

Hope we see a HD remaster one day.

 

[Platinumstorm]

Whenever a thread comes up regarding old games, this is the one I think of. [trying to avoid most 2d GAMES]

Zeus: About 16-17 years old. [one of my favorite games of all time]

Others

Sacrifice: 16-17 years old [one of my favorite games of all time]

Dominus 22-23 years old

And because I like to include it in everything:

Da da DASH.

The burning sun GLEAMING on my SHOUUUDLERSSSSSS
here we go
Start
the MACHINE COMES ALIIVVEEEEEE

and
Diddy Kong Racing 19yo

 

[Pilgrimzero]

Every 2D Castlevania. Especially SotN.

 

[Riposte]

Final Fantasy VI (1994)

Why did you choose the one pseudo-3D scene that looks kind of shitty? lol

Some 2D games hold up better than others. Metal Slug blows away most other 2D games. If you don't hold them to any benchmark, like you are for 3D games, then you are not really comparing them at all and so it makes sense for all of them to hold up (even the worse looking ports of arcade games).

 

[Plumpbiscuit]

The PSX Oddysee games... I get goosebumps still when I see the art style.

 

[Nicodemic]

Still looks so life like to this day.

More realistic than today's graphics.

I beg to differ. They couldn't add movement to the hair at the time.

 

[OldMan]

 

[SpookyFries]

Still looks great. Especially in motion

 

[capitalCORN]

Warcraft 2: Superfast SVGA graphics in '95!

 

[cRIPticon]

 

[chemicals]

super mario 3. hands down. it's crazy what they did with that old hardware.

 

[SURGEdude]

The old SimCity games like 2000.

 

[nOoblet16]

Undoubtedly Metal Slug...Game could come out today and still look good enough for today's standards due to its insanely advanced 2D animations and effects.

 

[Aquova]

2D is where it's at. A lot of 2d games look really great still.

Thunder Force IV for instance.

Thunder Force IV has some of the best parallax scrolling effects ever made.

I beg to differ. They couldn't add movement to the hair at the time.

On the contrary, they could add motion to the hair. But they chose not to.

 

[Grief.exe]

In my experience, if a 2D game on the SNES, Genisis, GBA, PC, or PS1 looked amazing back in the day, it still looks amazing today. 2D visuals upscale so cleanly to 1080p, 4K, etc that they end up looking better now then they did then.

 

[YaBish]

I nominate Pitfall! for the Atari 2600:

While not exactly a looker by today's standards, I think it holds up pretty well.

 

[Soltype]

let's appreciate some good 1996 3D

No wonder Sega had money problems, can't even imagine this games budget.

 

[luka]

quake

mechwarrior 2

 

[Vader1]

Ocarina of Time definitely. The use of color, lighting, and spatial awareness to create atmosphere are exceptional and imo unmatched.

 

[Bjoern the Smexy]

The Parodius games that came after the MSX game still look so damn awesome. Same for the Gradius series starting with II (not IV though).

Most 2D games, especially from the 16 and 32 bit eras, still stand the test of time graphics wise.
Most of the time it's the earlier SNES/SFC RPGs that don't (Dragon Quest V and Final Fantasy IV come to mind).

But you shouldn't judge a game by its graphics anyway. Judge it by its gameplay or by the story it tells.

 

[dreamcastluvr]

D&D Tower of Doom ('93)

Soukyugurentai/ Terra Driver ('96)

Punisher ('93)

Just to name a few...

Pretty much anything Capcom, Nintendo, Raizing/ Eighting, Taito, or Treasure, now that I think about it.

 

[Nanashrew]

I'm stretching this a bit but it will be 20 years old next year, but Kirby's Dreamland 3 with its pastel colors and hand drawn art style are gorgeous. Still one of my favorite games and art styles for Kirby.

 

[Elitist1945]

Titanic Adventure Out of Time

 

[PigSpeakers]

Titanic Adventure Out of Time

These look like screens from 999.
But the ship in that game was based on the titanic, I think.

 

[Outrun]

Sony BVM makes all 8 bit game with beautiful art stand the test of time.

 

[Outrun]

Anything bitmap bros.

 

[vonStirlitz]

[Redacted as the member no longer wishes to be associated with this website, and the reputational damage and distress caused by association with this website. In addition, the user considers that the action of the management, and the nature of the site and members of its community, renders the original terms and conditions of this site void, and it unconscionable for either side to be bound to them. The user reasserts their IP rights in all content and does not give any authority for its continued usage on this website. Despite requesting that the user's account be deleted, in accordance with data protection rules which apply to this website over multiple jurisdictions, the admin team have failed to delete this account, requiring the user to take its own steps to ensure the valid deletion of data.]

 

[oneida]

No wonder Sega had money problems, can't even imagine this games budget.

it made profit out the ass. suzuki has said that the success of VF3 more than made up for the cost of Shenmue I & II

 

[Tahnit]

The Legend of Zelda:A Link to the past.

Blew me away when i saw it for the first time and still looks amazing.

 

[doctorcdcs]

I'm on a cellphone otherwise I'd post pictures, but Wing Commander II is still a beauty to look at afterall this time, and that came out, when? 91 I think?

Definitely Wing Commander II.

Edit:

Boy i hope this works

 

[Titoin]

Mr Nutz still looks great and the animations are still great too.

 

[DonMigs85]

Who woulda thunk 2D sprite games would hold up much better over time? Most PS1, Saturn and N64 3D games look hideous today. However I will make exceptions for Crash Bandicoot, Spyro, Mario 64, 1080 Snowboarding, and Virtua Fighter 2

 

[Schlorgan]

Zork

 

[KillerIsJed]

Earthworm Jim.

 

[JaseC]

Logical Journey of the Zoombinis (1996)

Oh, wow. I've been hit in the head with a brick of nostalgia.

 

[gfxtwin]

 

[old manatee]

Quake 1 has held up better than most 3d games from that era.

 

[Kaleinc]

2d or cell shaded 3d (killer7 etc).

Siri, enhance

 

[Red Devil]

Good to see Curse of the Monkey Island getting mentioned, I always thought it had nothing to envy from the cartoons of the time, and still looks fairly good.

Gonna be a lot 16-bit games in this thread.

I nominate Super Metroid as being timeless:

Between the SNES games, I think Super Metroid is the one that still holds up the best on that deparment(not only that one of course).

 

[Tagyhag]

I'm cheating with Age of Empires since it's from '97 but I loved how clean it looked.

 

[JaseC]

I'm cheating with Age of Empires since it's from '97 but I loved how clean it looked.

Oh, how I wish it received the HD remaster treatment. Since Mythology followed 2, I can only assume a remaster wasn't practical due to source assets having been lost over time.

 

[Klart]

usually 2d stuff holds up...well, forever really. Its not even a case of "man look at this crisp hd 2d we have today (like the Blazblue games for example), the old stuff looks shit in comparison" except it doesnt, it still looks fine.

3d games on the other hand, you go back to most stuff pre-PS2 and yeesh.

Agreed. You can include some PS2 (not looking fine) as well for me.

A lot of 2D stood the test of time better than 3D. I never understood this necessity for publishers to make genres switch dimensions. It didn't turn out good for my favourite genre, brawlers.