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[chickdigger802]

Picked up Mario & Luigi 3 cheap the other day and am blown away at how amazing this game looks (even on upres 3ds! haters). Sprites aren't the most detailed, but the level of detail in the animations is pretty mind blowing. Sprite games had a grand time on the ds with lots of great titles that harken back to ps1 games that refused to go 3d. A lot of sprites mixed with 3d elements that usually worked pretty well.

But the problem is that now the curtains has nearly fallen on the ds, will sprite games slowly transition out? From what I can tell, SMT Devil Survivor OC is the only sprite based 3ds game out right now. With paper mario on 3ds now, the future of Mario & Luigi seems iffy at best. PSP had pretty few sprite games and I pretty sure Vita won't change that.

I guess it's pretty much dependent on indie studios now. And the occasional Arc studio game and Wayforward game =/

 

[Gravijah]

The-there's always... Pokemon...

-cries into hands-

 

[XANDER CAGE]

sup

 

[cj_iwakura]

Great minds, Jiant.

 

[chickdigger802]

/face palm. How could I forget Vanillaware T_T

So 3 studios lol.

The-there's always... Pokemon...

-cries into hands-

With Black and White, I will be surprised if pokemon still stick with sprites more than 1 more generation.

 

[watershed]

I was just about to say vanillaware. Also does stuff like ghost trick count or is that something else?

 

[PokéKong]

One thing that never looks good to me is when a game is filled with a ton of really well drawn detailed sprites, but the art is all ruined by overusing rotation and scaling, usually while every object gets tossed around in some physics-heavy platformer. This seems most common in PC games like Aquaria and Capsized.
I know it saves a ton of time have to animate a million more frames by hand, and I don't expect every little developer to go all KoFXII, but just keep it to the minimum. It really kills immersion for me and just makes sprites look like floaty little stickers, not grounded within the world around them.

 

[Finaika]

KOFXIII

 

[KTallguy]

Wizorb!

 

[LuchaShaq]

I don't get the praise for the art in the new vanillaware game, am I crazy or is the style hideous?

 

[LiK]

Persona 4 Fighting game

 

[chickdigger802]

I don't get the praise for the art in the new vanillaware game, am I crazy or is the style hideous?

It's... unique.

It does give off the statement "Fuck moe". Which I can dig.

 

[XANDER CAGE]

I don't get the praise for the art in the new vanillaware game, am I crazy or is the style hideous?

You're not a thigh man, clearly

 

[likeGdid]

Hi-res hand-animated frames akin to skullgirls, wario land: shake it, and others(?)

and honestly, that's not really so bad. This is coming from someone who was and still is a very big fan of the pixel art from when 2D was prevalent.

 

[ArachosiA 78]

I don't get the praise for the art in the new vanillaware game, am I crazy or is the style hideous?

It's hideous.

 

[Dilli666]

Wizorb!

This looks great.

Sprites will have a big future in the mobile and portable gaming segment.

 

[Busaiku]

ArcSys will likely stick with it.

 

[Seik]

Wizorb!

Wow, this looks great.

Zelda + BrickBreaker = Wizorb

 

[PetriP-TNT]

sup

what the hell is that?

 

[Android18a]

Sprites you say? Disgaea 4 will fulfil your needs.

 

[Giolon]

BloodRayne: Betrayal demands your attention. It's currently sexing my eyeballs, and not because Rayne is an attractive (Dhampir) lady.

It's hideous.

Nope!

 

[Brobzoid]

what the hell is that?

the answer to the thread title.

 

[StreetsAhead]

With Black and White, I will be surprised if pokemon still stick with sprites more than 1 more generation.

With the 3Dex, I'd be surprised if the next game uses sprites at all, at least for battles.

 

[chickdigger802]

Sprites you say? Disgaea 4 will fulfil your needs.

Haha really want to pick that up someday, but after spending a few hundred hours in 1 and 2. Not sure if I can jump in one of these again anytime soon =/

 

[Jamie OD]

sup

Was the artist inspired by Rob Liefeld?

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Sprites you say? Disgaea 4 will fulfil your needs.

This looks really strange, but I can't put my finger on why.

 

[Mik2121]

This looks really strange, but I can't put my finger on why.

It doesn't have shadows.

 

[Augemitbutter]

somebody, bring on the KoF XIII sprites.

 

[Celine]

The only hopes remained seems to be Alphadream (maybe ), Vanillaware and Good-Feel at least for retail games.

EDIT:
Also wayforward and SNK ( if won't bankrupt )

 

[XANDER CAGE]

Was the artist inspired by Rob Liefeld?

He wouldn't ever give a woman muscles that thick or a waist that large.

 

[DanteFox]

 

[dimb]

There's enough well done indie stuff to satiate my sprite needs. Like Owlboy.

 

[geebee]

Persona 4 Fighting game

Animation-wise, it looked kind of crappy. Low amount of frames it looked like and it seemed they try to hide this with other visual effects that accompany the attacks.

 

[squall23]

It seems TC doesn't know what Super Robot Wars is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXcQk-F3GhA

 

[ShockingAlberto]

Was the artist inspired by Rob Liefeld?

I see feet, so I don't understand the question.

 

[Giolon]

Here we go. GiantBomb's BloodRayne Quick Look: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-bloodrayne-betrayal/17-4814/

It looks so good...if only the latter half didn't descend into platforming hell.

 

[bkw]

Does that new Rayman game count? It looks pretty sweet.

 

[Pietepiet]

I was just about to say vanillaware. Also does stuff like ghost trick count or is that something else?

Ghost Trick uses 3D models, not sprites.

I'm really hoping for another Brownie Brown game with sprites. Hell, I wouldn't mind a big RPG franchise like Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest going back to sprites for the next mainline title. Could be interesting, especially with the amount of one-off animations Brownie Brown does for cutscenes (see Mother 3).

Also, I'd be pretty fucked if these games died out. Pixelart and animation is my daily job...

 

[Haunted]

I see feet, so I don't understand the question.

also no pouches

 

[PokéKong]

It seems TC doesn't know what Super Robot Wars is:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXcQk-F3GhA

If only these people were offered to make a Fire Emblem game. That series went straight downhill as soon as it turned its back on dramatic sprite animations.

 

[tangmaster96]

ahh this makes me want to load up m.u.g.e.n
or play any gba game

 

[jump_button]

Sprites are a art style that start out in games it will always be part of it

 

[Emitan]

Persona 4 Fighting game

I would kill for P5 to be sprite based. It will never happen

EDIT: But on the other hand, I hated P3P's interface so maybe it's not such a good idea.

 

[Atomski]

As long as their are indie devs there will be sprite based games. Honestly I find it kinda funny anyone would worry about them disappearing..

 

[Dr.Palutena]

I'm sure we will get sprite games by studios that like that art style. If not...we still have download games.

 

[Alexios]

As long as their are indie devs there will be sprite based games. Honestly I find it kinda funny anyone would worry about them disappearing..

Visual quality like Owl Boy or Cave Story is pretty rare for indie games though. And not everyone doing them is successful, as Konjak & Bit Blot show. So yes, there's danger of such caliber work becoming less and less prominent as and less and less studios with the manpower to make such games (rather than tiny teams that work themselves to death to achieve this, and then don't even necessarily sell enough to feel like doing it all over again for the next game) actually do so...

 

[kokujin]

While a lot of smaller companies still make 2D games, their games still lack in the animation department.Very few 2D truly have great animation, the best recent example I've seen would be KoF XIII.

 

[catapult37]

Wizorb looks freaking brilliant. It's the same genius sort of genre mashup as puzzle quest. Thinking about designing my own games, I remember casting about for a combination that would work as well, and never quite hit on it. Wizorb -- definite buy for me, when it hits Steam.

Edit: also the dragon's crown art style is just horrible. you can draw, and you choose to draw THAT?

 

[Atomski]

Visual quality like Owl Boy or Cave Story is pretty rare for indie games though. And not everyone doing them is successful, as Konjak & Bit Blot show. So yes, there's danger of such caliber work becoming less and less prominent as and less and less studios with the manpower to make such games (rather than tiny teams that work themselves to death to achieve this, and then don't even necessarily sell enough to feel like doing it all over again for the next game) actually do so...

Its not that rare and honestly I think some of these indie devs are doing great. Like the guys who did Terraria and Super Meat Boy..

There is probably more sprite bases games this generation that last generation.

 

[Alexios]

Woudln't put games like Terraria among those with great sprite work myself... Nostalgic/neat, sure, but I wouldn't go further than that...