Games with impressive graphics from the 32/64-bit era still
- Thread starter J2 Cool
- Start date
I'm trying to base this off of games I can still put into my system today and be impressed by, so certain titles that looked amazing for the time aren't going to cut it.
Street Fighter III (Series)(CPS3)- Released in 1997, SF3 is still the best-animated 2D fighting game to date, and has yet to be topped in this area.
Metal Slug (Series)(Neo-Geo)- So much carnage goes on-screen in this action-packed shooting series started by Nazca for SNK. The games are all well-animated, and still so much damn fun to play.
Scud Race/Super GT (Model 3)
Virtua Fighter 3 (Model 3)
Daytona 2 Battle On The Edge (Model 3)- Model 3 games still look amazing to me with their clean, bright visuals and smooth frame rates. It's a CRIME that Scud and Daytona 2 never saw home releases, and sorry, but the tracks in Outrun 2 just don't cut it.
Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night (PSX)
Tobal 2 (PSX)
Metal Gear Solid (PSX)
Vagrant Story (PSX)- The visual "cream of the crop" for the Playstation. Out of all of these, MGS is CLEARLY the most aged, but it can still impress. SOTN still looks great, and playing Vagrant Story on a PS2 with the filters turned on is all you need to do to make the game look amazing.
But Tobal 2 is still the most impressive 3D title on the PSX to me. It was hard to believe this was a PSX game when it came out in '97; it came out alongside Starfox 64 in Japan, back when the N64 was seen as the most amazing piece of hardware ever, and was so much more impressive than Starfox ever was. It's a CRIME that this game never saw a U.S. release. Where were companies like Atlus and Working Designs when you needed them?
The Ridge Racer games don't make the list because the cars always lacked so much in detail. I could never play in 3rd person view just because of how damn ugly they looked, never mind that it never "felt" right.
Street Fighter III (Series)(CPS3)- Released in 1997, SF3 is still the best-animated 2D fighting game to date, and has yet to be topped in this area.
Metal Slug (Series)(Neo-Geo)- So much carnage goes on-screen in this action-packed shooting series started by Nazca for SNK. The games are all well-animated, and still so much damn fun to play.
Scud Race/Super GT (Model 3)
Virtua Fighter 3 (Model 3)
Daytona 2 Battle On The Edge (Model 3)- Model 3 games still look amazing to me with their clean, bright visuals and smooth frame rates. It's a CRIME that Scud and Daytona 2 never saw home releases, and sorry, but the tracks in Outrun 2 just don't cut it.
Castlevania: Symphony Of The Night (PSX)
Tobal 2 (PSX)
Metal Gear Solid (PSX)
Vagrant Story (PSX)- The visual "cream of the crop" for the Playstation. Out of all of these, MGS is CLEARLY the most aged, but it can still impress. SOTN still looks great, and playing Vagrant Story on a PS2 with the filters turned on is all you need to do to make the game look amazing.
But Tobal 2 is still the most impressive 3D title on the PSX to me. It was hard to believe this was a PSX game when it came out in '97; it came out alongside Starfox 64 in Japan, back when the N64 was seen as the most amazing piece of hardware ever, and was so much more impressive than Starfox ever was. It's a CRIME that this game never saw a U.S. release. Where were companies like Atlus and Working Designs when you needed them?
The Ridge Racer games don't make the list because the cars always lacked so much in detail. I could never play in 3rd person view just because of how damn ugly they looked, never mind that it never "felt" right.
Lyte Edge said:
Damn right it was a crime! I only sold my import version because i was convinced it was getting released stateside, thanks to "confirmation" from EGM(their article on several non-FF square games around that time, including Musashiden and Einhander). Still...hurts...especially considering when i went to this place in Chinatown to get it, they didn't even have any more, the guy sold me the copy that was in the store window PS.[/Pity party for one]
the only ones i'll nominate are
waverace 64 - the waves own just about anything else out there.
banjo-kazooie - for texture work and sharpness
everything else is pretty much low res, low poly. there are some admirable jobs out there but not impressive. of course they'll never compare to current consoles
waverace 64 - the waves own just about anything else out there.
banjo-kazooie - for texture work and sharpness
everything else is pretty much low res, low poly. there are some admirable jobs out there but not impressive. of course they'll never compare to current consoles
Katana_Strikes
Member
Whoever said Bug! :lol
Oh the horror. I remember having those.
Oh the horror. I remember having those.
mattiewheels
And then the LORD David Bowie saith to his Son, Jonny Depp: 'Go, and spread my image amongst the cosmos. For every living thing is in anguish and only the LIGHT shall give them reprieve.'
I still really love Suikoden 2's 2d art. Especially the little details in the houses.
psx/n64 3d makes my eyes hurt.
psx/n64 3d makes my eyes hurt.
Waverace 64 - I'm amazed that no one has yet to outdo the water in this game. The characters were a blocky mess, but no one gave a damn when the water is what drew your attention. I played this nonstop back in the day, and I can still do it now and be impressed.
Banjo Kazooie - the textures in the game blew my mind back then. This was a perfect example of a developer that knew how to use the N64 hardware. And it was clean without the RAM pack!
Vagrant Story - very nice combination of art direction and 3d modeling that produced an absolutely amazing looking game. It also managed to avoid the jittery, looks-like-its-going-to-fall-apart look that most playstation games had.
FF IX - I think square did an awesome job with the 3d models for this and Chrono Cross, but the look of the entire world of this one impressed me more than CC.
Klonoa - so clean and sharp at the time, as a matter of fact it still looks impressive now. Now I should just get around to playing more than the first 5 stages to see if the game gets even better looking.
Banjo Kazooie - the textures in the game blew my mind back then. This was a perfect example of a developer that knew how to use the N64 hardware. And it was clean without the RAM pack!
Vagrant Story - very nice combination of art direction and 3d modeling that produced an absolutely amazing looking game. It also managed to avoid the jittery, looks-like-its-going-to-fall-apart look that most playstation games had.
FF IX - I think square did an awesome job with the 3d models for this and Chrono Cross, but the look of the entire world of this one impressed me more than CC.
Klonoa - so clean and sharp at the time, as a matter of fact it still looks impressive now. Now I should just get around to playing more than the first 5 stages to see if the game gets even better looking.
Dagless M.D.
Member
Ogre Battle 64
FortNinety
Member
Many great choice here.
I'm glad Decathlete and Panzer Dragoon Zwei was mentioned more that once. And...
Very. The music, the presentation, it was also all so incredible.
The Saturn was the last system that I really enjoyed for it's "pushing", for it doing stuff amazing on so-so hardware. Sorta how really good Genesis games were [i[really[/i] good, even in the face of their SNES equivalents.
Also, Radiant Silvergun still looks better than Ikaruga. Yeah Ikargua has much cleaner graphics, but it's really missing personality.
On the PSone side, it's either R4 (those color choices were simply brilliant) and Vagrant Story.
I'm glad Decathlete and Panzer Dragoon Zwei was mentioned more that once. And...
Shinobi said:
Very. The music, the presentation, it was also all so incredible.
The Saturn was the last system that I really enjoyed for it's "pushing", for it doing stuff amazing on so-so hardware. Sorta how really good Genesis games were [i[really[/i] good, even in the face of their SNES equivalents.
Also, Radiant Silvergun still looks better than Ikaruga. Yeah Ikargua has much cleaner graphics, but it's really missing personality.
On the PSone side, it's either R4 (those color choices were simply brilliant) and Vagrant Story.
You should really go back and look at it again. I've played it recently, and the water really doesn't look very good anymore. The interaction with the water is stellar, though. If that's what you were referring to, you are kinda right...but from a pure visual perspective, it really isn't impressive anymore.
cybercrash
Member
Terracon was by far the most impressive PS1 game technically:
http://www.terracon-game.com/english/flash/terracon.mpg
The game did a consistent huge streaming outdoor world like in Jak And Daxter with very clever LOD, amazingly complex particle effects, relatively high-res texturing, very impressive water animation, dynamic lighting and more cool stuff... Too bad it was only released in europe though (and yeah, it bombed).
http://www.terracon-game.com/english/flash/terracon.mpg
The game did a consistent huge streaming outdoor world like in Jak And Daxter with very clever LOD, amazingly complex particle effects, relatively high-res texturing, very impressive water animation, dynamic lighting and more cool stuff... Too bad it was only released in europe though (and yeah, it bombed).
Templar Wizard
Member
Jacobi said:
and in High-Res mode too... dont mention the framerate!
The PSX DOA models weren't as detailed as the Saturn ones. 
They lacked a lot of facial detail especially, and the camera could never zoom in close on them, probably an attempt to "hide the uglieness." The PSX version is still the better game, but DOA is one game I couldn't ever go back to after DOA2 came out.
I'd count Dreamcast as a system from this generation, not the last one.
I was going through my collection and found a few more games that still hold up, especially Slap Happy Rhythm Busters.
They lacked a lot of facial detail especially, and the camera could never zoom in close on them, probably an attempt to "hide the uglieness." The PSX version is still the better game, but DOA is one game I couldn't ever go back to after DOA2 came out.RiZ III said:
I'd count Dreamcast as a system from this generation, not the last one.
I was going through my collection and found a few more games that still hold up, especially Slap Happy Rhythm Busters.
Lyte Edge said:The PSX DOA models weren't as detailed as the Saturn ones.
You couldn't really zoom in all that close on the Saturn models, either, you know.
The gouraud shading in the Playstation version did a nice job of creating the illusion of curved surfaces, giving the impression of a higher polycount, and created a smooth look that I find more appealing than the texturing on the Saturn models. There's just a stylized cleanness to the game that appeals to me. (Much like Tobal 2, another game from the Playstation generation that I still find eye-pleasing.) I have to agree about DoA 2--once I saw that on the DC, it was impossible to look at DOA PS the same way again...
soundwave05
Member
Super Mario 64 looks good today still IMO.
Banjo-Kazooie as well.
Banjo-Kazooie as well.
PSone DOA has no backgrounds, though. And the early goraud shading was impressive then, but looks silly now. Saturn version has much more interesting backgrounds, and looking at the games now I'd say the Saturn version definitely looked better.Tellaerin said:You couldn't really zoom in all that close on the Saturn models, either, you know.
seismologist
Banned
1080 still holds up pretty well
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Rocket Punch
Member
Society said:
IAWTP
DCX
DCX
2D games should be baned from this thread because 2D games will forever look good but alas, i will add some on my list.
- Metal Gear Solid-PSX: First game that i played played where the visuals enhanced the story that was being told, just a great game overall.
- Astal-SAT: Just amazing, like an interactive museum quality painting
- Rayman-Jaguar: The birth of a franchise. Just cartoon like visuals with great animations and character designs.
-Gex: Enter the Gecko-PSX: First 3D platformer that wowed me! Mario 64 is a pioneer, a legend but Gex made me believe in this genre and the potential behind it.
- Wipeout XL-PSX: Just simply amazing, a rush touching all your senses
Honorable Mention:
- Castlevania-SOTN-PSX
- Mario 64-N64
- One-PSX
- NiGHTS-SAT
- Burning Rangers-SAT
DCX
- Metal Gear Solid-PSX: First game that i played played where the visuals enhanced the story that was being told, just a great game overall.
- Astal-SAT: Just amazing, like an interactive museum quality painting
- Rayman-Jaguar: The birth of a franchise. Just cartoon like visuals with great animations and character designs.
-Gex: Enter the Gecko-PSX: First 3D platformer that wowed me! Mario 64 is a pioneer, a legend but Gex made me believe in this genre and the potential behind it.
- Wipeout XL-PSX: Just simply amazing, a rush touching all your senses
Honorable Mention:
- Castlevania-SOTN-PSX
- Mario 64-N64
- One-PSX
- NiGHTS-SAT
- Burning Rangers-SAT
DCX
