The Wii U and its ability to produce amazing visuals.

D

delta25

Banned
We all know the system is an absolute dinosaur in terms of hardware, yet the deeper I get within its library the more convinced I am that having the best hardware is only a small part of a much larger picture when it comes to producing a games visuals, as evident with any first party exclusive the system has to offer. I know design and art direction play a big part in this, but that's not to say there isn't some decent tech at play.
For instances both Pikmin and 3D world have some of the best texture work I've ever seen and wind waker has some pretty spectacular lighting . All in all Nintendo may have not aimed for the stars with the Wii U' hardware, but that still hasn't stopped it from shining pretty damn bright.
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also, the ability to release games that look as advertised, and run well without major breaking bugs, or running below FPS target.

say whatever you want about Nintendo, but they know how to deliver quality.

The content in most nintendo games is ridiculous.
 
Yep. Been playing and replaying some Wii U games. 3D World looks so perfect and is so fucking great!

Mario Kart 8 is quite stunning too.
 
We have about one of these threads a month. Yes, art style is more important to creating timeless looks than things like polycount. No, most western publishers don't care. No, it has nothing to do with the Wii U's hardware either.

Kinda funny to see everyone fawning over the "nintendo in HD!" though after last gen was full of excuses over why it didn't matter. Resolution and IQ always help, even for games like Wind Waker, which, other than bloooooooooooooom really does look quite a bit nicer.
 
PS3 and 360 games also had games with amazing visuals also


Art

also

Why are people shocked by this? This is like the 5th thread about this same topic
 
Mario 3D World is one of the most visually pleasing games I had ever seen. It's so vibrant and full of life and the depth of field of the screenshots you posted are so good.
 
I've only played a few games so far but I agree. The only complaint I have is that sometimes the aliasing is rather noticeable (e.g. in parts of MK8), but it doesn't really detract from the impressive visuals as a whole.

How are you capturing these screens btw?
 
I wasn't sure why Nintendo went with the hardware specifications they did, but it made more sense to me after seeing Mario Kart and 3D World. Feels like they weren't really thinking about other devs at the time - they knew what they wanted to do and what they needed to do it. All other issues aside they pulled off some damn nice looking games.
 
It depends by what you mean by amazing visuals.
A lot of these screenshots looks good because of great art direction and good use of effects.

But it also pretty average on some technical aspects.
 
Yup, they certainly know how to make art direction and lighting make up for raw CPU power. It's games like these that will age incredibly, too.
 
delta25 said:
All in all Nintendo may have not aimed for the stars with the Wii U' hardware, but that still hasn't stopped it from shining pretty damn bright.
Click to expand...

I'd say Nintendo designed Wii U with their development teams in mind first and foremost which seems to be powerful enough for their games.
 
Its the same reason why most Nintendo games will always look great.

They are knocking it out of the park in this gen though. Their games are just so damn polished. They look fantastic. We need some Captain Toad pictures in this thread.
 
Totally agree. One of the best things of this generation is to finally have Nintendo games in HD. Nintendo knows how to squeeze until the last bit of tech-power on their consoles by bringing the best mix of graphics/gameplay/art direction. Super Mario 3D World, MK8, Pikmin 3 are the best examples. Smooth as hell gameplay and Pixaresque graphics <3
 
Jigolo said:
PS3 and 360 games also had games with amazing visuals also


Art

also

Why are people shocked by this? This is like the 5th thread about this same topic
Click to expand...

you have to understand that its the first time nintendo fans got this games on HD,ps3 and 360 owners got that seven years ago,let them have fun,nintendo games on hd are glorious btw

in some sense..these games looks awesome but aren asking much..a open world game like zelda will really test the machine
 
Those games aren't beautiful because of the Wii U, they are beautiful because of their art styles and lush colors. The Wii U would be dishing out ugly shit if it wasn't for the developers making these decisions.

Edit: Actually, I take that back. I don't think the games would be ugly. But I think it's necessary and great that most of these games choose to be so alive and colorful rather than grim and real, otherwise if the first party games opted for realism, they wouldn't look as good as compared to the Xbox One and PS4 games. That's what I meant to say!
 
Mupod said:
I wasn't sure why Nintendo went with the hardware specifications they did, but it made more sense to me after seeing Mario Kart and 3D World. Feels like they weren't really thinking about other devs at the time - they knew what they wanted to do and what they needed to do it. All other issues aside they pulled off some damn nice looking games.
Click to expand...

Seems like they had a very specific thermal envelope in mind. They didn't want a huge box that ran hot, which would be required for a more powerful CPU&GPU. They made a good choice with the GPU and kinda skimped on the CPU, but considering how hot even the latest PS3 and 360 revisions run I don't know that it's the worst decision. Then they took that and gave developers twice as much RAM as PS3 and 360, the biggest complaint about those systems specs.

What they came up with is good enough for some really great looking games, without getting super hot, and without requiring devs to spend oodles on "more graphics" like the other newgen systems. It's a good mix.
 
The hardware works for the beautiful art style they go with, but their games would be beautiful on more powerful hardware and they'd likely have better third party support.
 
Imagine what Nintendo could do if they weren't a Gen behind almost technology-wise with their consoles. Or better yet, developed on PC.
 
Has nothing to do with the Wii U. Nintendo could have achieved the same exact results on a ps3 or xbox 360.
 
Art Direction + Skill + Time * Resources > Hardware Power

Nothing surprising there.

Skillful people with time, money, and support can pull off some pretty neat things.
 
Nintendo has always been great at pushing some bright, colorful, and pretty images on shitty hardware. I'd love to see what they could do on something with some actual horsepower.
 
Sayter said:
Bayonetta 2 and Zelda U disagrees.

I think it's amazing what Nintendo has achieved with the Wii U in terms of graphics. I'm looking forward to XCX and Starfox U.
Click to expand...

Pointing at a game that's at least 10 months from release isn't a great argument to make. Even then though, again, adhering to an artstyle can do wonders.

And Bayo 2 CHUGS at certain points, it is the LAST example you want to be using.
 
It's a shame Nintendo delayed the jump to HD. We'd have been playing games like this eight years ago and God knows what they'd be putting out now on a PS4-level Wii U.
 
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