Support NeoGAF

[purseowner]

Nintendo (and the few third parties providing exclusives that rally around them) are masters of optimisation. Mario Kart 8 is one of the best looking games of the generation and yet only runs at 720p.

But the most underpowered device on the market today is their more successful failure - the 3DS.

I booted up the Monster Hunter Stories demo today and was stunned by how good it looked. Clear, crisp character models, expansive environments, vibrant colours, and a mostly silky smooth framerate.

So what's the most impressive technical feat seen on the 3DS to date, GAF? Is it Monster Hunter Stories? Smash Bros? Or something that's flown under most people's radars?

 

[harz-marz]

Luigi's Mansion 2 looks pretty great!

 

[Firemind]

xenoblade

 

[Parakeetman]

Nintendo (and the few third parties providing exclusives that rally around them) are masters of optimisation. Mario Kart 8 is one of the best looking games of the generation and yet only runs at 720p.

But the most underpowered device on the market today is their more successful failure - the 3DS.

I booted up the Monster Hunter Stories demo today and was stunned by how good it looked. Clear, crisp character models, expansive environments, vibrant colours, and a mostly silky smooth framerate.

So what's the most impressive technical feat seen on the 3DS to date, GAF? Is it Monster Hunter Stories? Smash Bros? Or something that's flown under most people's radars?

While it may not be visually impressive, from a technical viewpoint Xenoblade still pretty much beats down most other titles.

 

[big black woman]

3D land

 

[bananafactory]

Resident Evil Revelations looked great

 

[rjc571]

Gotta be Ironfall I think.

 

[novabolt]

Resident Evil Revelations.

 

[trugs26]

Luigi's Mansion 2 looks the best imo.

 

[And Grows]

Kid Icarus Uprising surprised me with its looks.

 

[robotrock]

Gotta be Ironfall I think.

Yeah probably

 

[Eolz]

Capcom and obviously Nintendo have been extremely impressive on this platform.
A short list for me would be MonHun Stories, RE:R and MH4U from Capcom, Kid Icarus, Smash and LM2 from Nintendo, and various others like SMT4A, Shinobi, Bravely Second...

 

[ghibli99]

For retro stuff, M2/Sega's 3D Classics series is a technical marvel, especially the arcade conversions.

I wish they'd turn all of these blog entries into a book. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. http://blogs.sega.com/category/sega-3d-classics/

 

[sanstesy]

 

[Oregano]

Bravely Second is the best looking but not the most technically impressive.

 

[Rymuth]

Re Revelations

Super Street Fighter IV running at 60fps is a good contender too.

Capcom really knew how to squeeze power out of the 3DS

 

[Grisby]

Revelations was damn impressive. I thought Kid Icarus was another one.

 

[mrmickfran]

Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice

Those animations are magnificent.

 

[Community Forum]

Kid Icarus Uprising surprised me with its looks.

This is the only correct answer.

 

[Shalashaska161]

Resident Evil: Revelations has to be up there.

 

[Intel_89]

Anything made by Capcom.

 

[Anth0ny]

revelaitons and kid icarus come to mind.

 

[Menitta]

Ace Attorney: Spirit of Justice

Those animations are magnificent.

I was gonna say this. While there's not a lot going on, there were multiple character models that I thought were just sprites.

 

[chrisPjelly]

Anything made by Capcom.

Done

 

[Randomizer]

Hmm there are some stunning titles on the 3DS. Too bad the resolution is so low, it makes everything a blurry mess. When they finally get proper emulation the quality of the assets will probably be a shock to a lot of people.

 

[Mr Fahrenheit]

Probably Resident Evil Ravioliations

 

[Producer]

Revelations maybe, havent seen MH Stories on my 3DS but it does look real good. Capcom are gods on the 3DS.

 

[Eolz]

Kid Icarus' reveal trailer honestly made me think it was a Wii game at first to be honest...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7detDcmMKY

 

[Steve McQueen]

For retro stuff, M2/Sega's 3D Classics series is a technical marvel, especially the arcade conversions.

I wish they'd turn all of these blog entries into a book. I'd buy it in a heartbeat. http://blogs.sega.com/category/sega-3d-classics/

This. And Capcom stuff.

 

[JinjoUnchained]

I thought Smash for 3DS was widely considered the best looking/most technically impressive game on the system.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

In battle the pokemon games look great.

 

[LewieP]

Hyrule Warriors is quite impressive to me, although I gather less so on an Old 3DS.

 

[chronic_archaic]

Ironically what disappointed me about the 3DS was how it graphically peaked within the first year, not kidding Ocarina of Time, Mario Kart 7, 3D Land and Kid Icarus all made me think this thing was going to be on par with Wii graphics but I was super wrong.

 

[Waddle Dee]

Probably Resident Evil: Revelations. There were times where, if you squinted, it looked like RE5. I remember game review sites hyping it up for it's graphics alone.

 

[Princess Viola]

I'd say Resident Evil Revelaitons

 

[Regginator]

Xenoblade and Majora's Mask are technical showcases as far as I'm concerned, though they're exclusive to the New series.

 

[Opa-Pa]

Resident Evil: Revelations is simply nuts, and Kid Icarus: Uprising is up there as well.

Hell, Revelations ruined 3DS graphics for me due to how good I expected other games to look after it.

Xenoblade running as well as it does is impressive, but the game looks atrocious more often than not. And I say that as someone who adores it and beat it on n3DS.

 

[Oregano]

Ganbarion's game seem to be really impressive, especially One Piece Unlimited Red and Dragonball Fusions.

 

[Ebisumaru]

Xenoblade and Majora's Mask are technical showcases as far as I'm concerned, though they're exclusive to the New series.

Majora's Mask is not exclusive for the New 3DS.

 

[Shepard]

Kid Icarus is super impressive, and one of the best uses of 3d too.

Bravely Second is the best looking but not the most technically impressive.

I agree with this.

 

[Platy]

Revelations have the prettiest screens, but Smash 4 technical stuff is simply out of this world.

 

[Neoleo2143]

Capcom games on the 3DS are stupidly handsome. Great animations, artstyles and generally decent enough framerates.

Xenoblade and Smash 4 push the system to its absolute limit though.

Yokai Watch is superb looking as well. The combination of smart animations and surprising amounts of detail sell the feel of the area.

KI:U Still holds up.

 

[The Last Lombax]

Capcom the Thread
HarmoKnight is impressive too, it runs smoothly on 60FPS and it looks so clean even on XL screen.

 

[allenpergallon]

Resident Evil: Revelations and Kid Icarus: Uprising from a base-game visual perspective probably.

SFIV3D (Capcom was on fire) and Smash 3DS get points for their technical performance prowess. Games like 3D Land and the Sega M2 series

Spoiler

and the amazing to behold 3D Kirby's Adventure

come alive with 3D and are also worth mentions. And while they weren't aiming for anything over the top, a lot of games like Luigi's Mansion 2 and Kirby Triple Deluxe have a nice mixture of artistic direction and good use of 3D to stand a cut above the rest.

 

[JonnyDBrit]

Ace Attorney probably takes the cake here. Since the games are mostly visual novels, they rely on a lot of drawn art for backgrounds, while the 3D models can have a relatively high polygon count even on the 3DS screen. Add in some generally great animation work, and yeah, stuff looks amazing.

 

[ryushe]

Resident Evil: Revelations is simply nuts, and Kid Icarus: Uprising is up there as well.

This and this.

 

[James Scott]

Capcom's stuff is quite good.
RE Revelations and Kid Icarus are up there

 

[LordKano]

Kid Icarus Uprising

Ace Attorney Spirit of Justice

Bravely Second: End Layer

Zelda : Majora's Mask 3D

Dragon Quest VII

 

[FStubbs]

Ironfall takes this I think.

 

[Slick Butter]

Technically, probably Ironfall. Though it's not used to great effect since the art isn't very good.
Xenoblade is also pretty crazy, and the Zelda remakes look impressive. Smash is amazingly optimized, though not otherwise particularly impressive graphically.