How did N64 and PS games get this ugly this fast?

O

Odoul

Member
I hadn't played either system in about a year and a half. I remeber the games looking a little dated but still tolerable.

I was over my cousins and threw on Turok 1 and MGS. They were nearly unplayable. I mean all the game I used to think looked great, Banjo-Kazooie, Ape Escape, Jet Force Gemini, Tekken 3: all looked like garbage.

Even SNES/Genesis, hell even NES games didn't age this bad.
 
Turok still looks decent, you're just a spoiled brat now :) I wonder if we'll see a thread in 10 years how terrible XBOX/PS2/GC games looked.
 
Whenever I see old Gameday and Madden PSone pics, I cringe. I can't believe I had been happy playing football games which look so bad and ran so poorly! I always wonder how we will reflect on this gen graphics once Xenon hits late next year!

I don't think it will seem as bad though. PSone games had warped and pixillated textures ugh.
 
I can put up with the best-looking Nintendo 64 games because of the stability, texture filtering, and decent polygonal characters.

I cannot tolerate any 3D PSX games. They just look like total ass to me. To be honest, I played N64 first, so PSX games looked assy to me even in 1997.
 
I haven't seen Banjo in a while, surely It can't be that bad. I remember it being one of the prettiest N64 games.
 
I'd say NES aged "this bad." PSX and N64 did not age worse than NES, that's an exaggeration.

I still think some N64 games aren't bad to look at. I don't mind looking at some games at PSX either, but usually they're the ones with pre-rendered backgrounds or something.
 
All 3D games age ver badly. Only the 2D games on PSone still look good. I'm sure we'll say the same about most current games too, except a few very stylized games like Zelda, Viewtiful Joe and Ico.

And no, cel shading doesn't automatically stop graphics aging. Jet Set Radio looks horrible.
 
Diddy Kong still looks nice...

diddy01.jpg
 
I have a hard time going back to 34/64 bit games aswell, most of which i found looking amazing back then now gets on my nerves with graphical weakness, especially psx and its polygon warping/texture popping.

Only game from that gen that impressed me recently has been Sin & Punishment.
 
How far are you sitting from your tv, Odoul?

If too close like 3ft or closer it will look like ass on certain games. Move as far as possible from your tv to see if it helps. I know the controller don't have extra long cords but hopefully it will works. You might want to use the regular 20 in tv instead of using high-definition tv.
 
I remember like 2 years ago I bought a new TV and some 1st party S-Video cables for my N64, booted up Zelda 64, and was like, "Damn!!"

It looked awesome.
 
This is why you oughta play with the PSone LCD screen, which makes any game look like a winner.
 
32-bit era 3D is some of the ugliest stuff ever. Only some of the really late 3D PS games are even playable anymore. And only a handful of N64 games can still hold up (like Mario 64).
 
MetatronM said:
32-bit era 3D is some of the ugliest stuff ever. Only some of the really late 3D PS games are even playable anymore. And only a handful of N64 games can still hold up (like Mario 64).
Click to expand...
And NiGHTS. And Sonic R still looks amazingly good, I had it on the other day and was shocked. The game is a bit crap frankly but this is about graphics.

JSR still looks good, wtf unless you never liked the way it looked to begin with.
Click to expand...
I would not put Dreamcast in the 32-64 bit era. That's an insult.
 
CVXFREAK said:
A lot of the pre-rendered games from last gen survived alright; RE2 on PSOne and N64 for example.
Click to expand...

Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy 8/9 still hold up pretty well as well.

I don't really have a problem with N64 games at all. I still play them all the time :|
 
Ha, I should pop in Tekken 1(sans PS2 enhancements) for shits&giggles.

I know if i play Beetle Adventure Racing for the N64, the frame rate would kill me :(
 
I forgot World Driver Championship. I can't believe people were making comparisons between it and Gran Turismo before it was released. Despite clearer textures and more-stable polygons, the game didn't stick up against Gran Turismo. Gran Turismo would occassionally fool my eyes (however rare it was), but WDC never could do that.

And the music sucked.
 
Koshiro said:
And NiGHTS. And Sonic R still looks amazingly good, I had it on the other day and was shocked. The game is a bit crap frankly but this is about graphics.
Click to expand...
I'll definitely give you NiGHTS, though I haven't seen Sonic R in ages.
 
Sonic R does indeed still look nice. Other picks of mine for still good looking 32bit games would be FFVII, Devil Dice, Twisted Metal 2, Fighters Megamix, and Xenogears. *ducks*
 
Helena said:
Sonic R does indeed still look nice. Other picks of mine for still good looking 32bit games would be FFVII, Devil Dice, Twisted Metal 2, Fighters Megamix, and Xenogears. *ducks*
Click to expand...

FFVII? When I first played it, I thought it looked bad. Today, I think it looks like absolute crap.

I don't see how anyone can find FFVII to look good
 
Plenty of PSone games are totally playable and still look good.

Metal Gear Solid
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Wipeout 3
Crash Team Racing
Colin McRae Rally 2.0
Omega Boost
R4 Ridge Racer Type 4
Vagrant Story

...And that's just the 3D games in my measly collection.
 
I don't know about the PSX, but I certainly don't think the N64 has aged too badly. I can still play some of those games, like Mario 64 and Banjo-Kazooie (most Rare games aged well). Hell, even Mario Kart 64 is playable.
 
I can play pretty much any game and get over the "bad GFX!1", I thought Goldeneye looked great back then, and I still do, same with all my other N64 / PSX games. Tekken 3 / Gran Turismo etc still all look great to me.

The low polygons and textures help seperate games from reality, I kind of like looking at games many people would consider to look horrible. N64 graphics > GC graphics. :P
 
Hell, after playing Half Life 2 on my x800, I had a pretty tough time going back to Halo 2. Of course then there's games like Street Fighter that still hold up even after 10-15 years. As someone said above, 2D gives long life. And hi-res 2D grants immortality :)
 
I'm sure everyone has a hard time going back to older consoles. If anything, turn on the texture filtering for the PS2 and use an S-Video cable for the N64.
 
MarkRyan said:
Plenty of PSone games are totally playable and still look good.

Metal Gear Solid
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Wipeout 3
Crash Team Racing
Colin McRae Rally 2.0
Omega Boost
R4 Ridge Racer Type 4
Vagrant Story

...And that's just the 3D games in my measly collection.
Click to expand...

This person is correct, although I am apparently the only one who thought Vagrant Story looked dated when it came out. R4 still looks great. NFS Hot Pursuit still looks fine. Colin McRae 2.0 still looks fine. The PS1 Gran Turismo games haven't aged as well... GT3 is so much better than either of them as far as handling and realism, I have a very hard time going back.
 
As has been said many times, a lot of N64 games are still fine. It's the ones with the poor framerates that I can't play anymore.
 
MarkRyan said:
Plenty of PSone games are totally playable and still look good.

Metal Gear Solid
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
Wipeout 3
Crash Team Racing
Colin McRae Rally 2.0
Omega Boost
R4 Ridge Racer Type 4
Vagrant Story

...And that's just the 3D games in my measly collection.
Click to expand...


I'll say this much, it's extremely hard to go back to R4 after RRV. Pointless even. It almost seems like the whole game is in slowdown. :P

I think it's a fair bet that this gen is going to age much better than the last one.
 
I'll second R4 as being an example of something that still looks pretty good. And Wave Race, of course. Not to mention a crapload of 2D games.
 
NES games haven't aged so well, its more so that I can put up with the old school graphics due to the fun game hidden inside.

From 16 bit onward though, 2D games for the most part have aged fine. 3D games prior to dreamcast haven't aged well at all though, aside from a very scant few.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

  • Poll
How fast did it sell? Console Launch Milestones Compared
Poll Analysis Sales-Age  2
64
307
Ziglax replied
RTTP/LTTP(?) - Super Metroid - This game did not age well...
2 3
103
546
nordique replied
Fast Fusion: This Switch 2 Exclusive's Launch Trailer
News Trailer  2
58
953
salva replied
Why did Nintendo change this way what happened?
Opinion  2
80
397
Trilobit replied
STALKER 2 Patch has more than 1,800 bug fixes. How did we get to this point?
2 3
118
7K
samoilaaa replied
Top Bottom