NeverYouMind
Member
What do you consider the pinnacle of N64 graphics? I will find something on PS1 to exceed it.
N64 graphics still look gorgeous almost 30 years later
- Thread starter RetroGamingUK
- Start date
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Please do, something that looks better than Perfect Dark, Jet Force Gemini or Ocarina of Time while still having the same scope and large scenarios.
Because yeah, Vagrant Story looks great but the scenarios are tiny, almost like if they were SRPG levels repurposed for a dungeon crawler.
EDIT: On a technical sense, theres a lot of pretty stuff on the PSX but imo it's either 2D games or 3D games with pre-rendered backgrounds.
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Geometric-Crusher
"Nintendo games are like indies, and worth at most $19" 🤡
You know that the PS1 has more fully 3D games than the N64, why do you insist on talking about 2D backgrounds?
LordOcidax
Member
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nkarafo
Member
Syphon Filter
Member
64 graphics look and aged way better. ps1 has warping issues due to the way games were made for it. perfect dark or donkey kong 64 crap on any ps1 game visually.
Geometric-Crusher
"Nintendo games are like indies, and worth at most $19" 🤡
It's impossible, because the N64 runs games at 8~14fps to be able to push the graphics to the limit, there are even games that not even the N64 can run without the help of a crutch.
roosnam1980
Member
spyro series exceeds anything on n64 on a technical level.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Because if we are talking about graphical power I'd rather focus on pure 3D games. As I said yeah, I know the ps1 has a ton of pretty games but many of them aren't that technically impressive, just have great art direction like SOTN, Legend of Mana, RE2, etc.
nkarafo
Member
\\
In what way? Banjo-Kazooie is more advanced, has more complex level geometry and doesn't need to cull the textures on a distance like Spyro does.
nkarafo
Member
Games like DOOM 64, WDC, Shadowman, 1080 Snowboarding, Stunt Race 64, Banjo-Kazooie don't need to run at shitty frame rate and they look beyond what the PS1 can do.
Geometric-Crusher
"Nintendo games are like indies, and worth at most $19" 🤡
yes ps1 has more of these than the N64.
I'll post the list later
Dalbajobas
Member
"N64 graphics still look gorgeous almost 30 years later" Ok let's see.....
Op then proceeds to post the ugliest images imaginable in ot... take any indie game now, set it to low settings and you still will be looking at spectacularly better looking visuals than in op.
Op then proceeds to post the ugliest images imaginable in ot... take any indie game now, set it to low settings and you still will be looking at spectacularly better looking visuals than in op.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
ps1 has more of everything and everyone knows that. This isn't about quantity, it's about quality.
Yeah I miss when blue was blue and green was green instead of different shades of brown and grey.
Pretty.
NeverYouMind
Member
Tom Clancy's Rainbow Six: Rogue Spear > Perfect Dark
Gungage > Jet Force Jemini
Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver > Ocarina of Time
bobone
Member
It absolutely blew away the Saturn and PS1 from a graphics standpoint.
My cousin got a Saturn at launch, and it didn't impress me. My best friend got a PS1 at launch, that also didn't impress me.
When my neighbor got an N64 Christmas of 96, and THAT impressed me.
I saved every penny until I could buy one myself.
It could have been the games, the PS1 and Saturn had terrible launch titles. And the N64 happened to launch with one of the greatest games of all time.
But I wasn't in a hurry to get a PS1 until FF7 came out.
nkarafo
Member
NeverYouMind
Yeah... I can see you are not serious about those comparisons. Or you just have a completely different idea for what looks "better" means.
CrustyBritches
Gold Member
It was a transitional gen from 2d to 3d, so growing pains are evident. At the time N64 games looked great. Some of favorites were Mario 64, Diddy Kong Racing, Waverace 64, Majora's Mask, Turok, Snowboard Kids 2, Extreme-G 2, Goldeneye, Gauntlet Legends, WCW vs NWO: World Tour, and Rush 2049.
One of the best parts about N64 was that it had 4 controller ports so it was awesome for splitscreen MP gaming.
One of the best parts about N64 was that it had 4 controller ports so it was awesome for splitscreen MP gaming.
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Looks even worse than Goldeneye dude. At least that level you posted isn't anything impressive... very simple topology and flat lighting. Dudes fire their guns but no light comes from them at all.
Check out the time-stamped shootout. Glass breaks down into pieces, the muzzle flash iluminates the surrounding background and all those lights you see can be shot at, affecting the environment, plus all those particles when the bullets hit the walls. It's great.
Honestly don't know how you could post that with a straight face.
I haven't played this one, but without knowing how large's the scope of the levels I still think Jet Force Gemini looks way better than that.
Yeah this one looks pretty nice. Still think OOT is way better when it comes to lighting, effects, level complexity and specially how far you are able to see stuff.
Check out those foggy effects, all while the whole room is 100% visible.
Some large open area fully visible on the right one, with some nice lighting as well.
And check out those caustic reflections:
Sorry for just posting a few screenshots and gifs but fuck man, it's real hard to find some footage that isn't emulated or from the decompilation.
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kruis
Exposing the sinister cartel of retailers who allow companies to pay for advertising space.
When
I thought N64 graphics looked like a blurry mess compared to my Playstation back then and my opinion hasn't changed in the 30 years that have passed. Even if you didn't like the PS1's 3D visiuals, you'd still have great looking 2D games and the benefits of CD quality sound and lots of storage. The N64 had squat. The N64 is the main contender for worst Nintendo console ever.
I thought N64 graphics looked like a blurry mess compared to my Playstation back then and my opinion hasn't changed in the 30 years that have passed. Even if you didn't like the PS1's 3D visiuals, you'd still have great looking 2D games and the benefits of CD quality sound and lots of storage. The N64 had squat. The N64 is the main contender for worst Nintendo console ever.
RetroGamingUK
Member
Looks even worse than Goldeneye dude. At least that level you posted isn't anything impressive... very simple topology and flat lighting. Dudes fire their guns but no light comes from them at all.
Check out the time-stamped shootout. Glass breaks down into pieces, the muzzle flash iluminates the surrounding background and all those lights you see can be shot at, affecting the environment, plus all those particles when the bullets hit the walls. It's great.
Honestly don't know how you could post that with a straight face.
I haven't played this one, but without knowing how large's the scope of the levels I still think Jet Force Gemini looks way better than that.
Yeah this one looks pretty nice. Still think OOT is way better when it comes to lighting, effects, level complexity and specially how far you are able to see stuff.
Check out those foggy effects, all while the whole room is 100% visible.
Some large open area fully visible on the right one, with some nice lighting as well.
And check out those caustic reflections:
Sorry for just posting a few screenshots and gifs but fuck man, it's real hard to find some footage that isn't emulated or from the decompilation.
Spot on
Nintendo and Rare's art style decisions are key to it for me.
Third party games outside of Konami's stuff, meh
TintoConCasera
I bought a sex doll, but I keep it inflated 100% of the time and use it like a regular wife
Yeah. Console might not have a lot of games, but those few from Nintendo and Rare elevate it from "meh" to great, at least for me.
Instant_Classic
Member
N64 graphics were terrible even when the console was new.
Stuart360
Member
I dont agree with native N64 games, but run them through emulators at a much higher resolution and N64 games can look surprisingly good. Much better than PS1 games which running at higher resolutions just highlights the problems like polygon seams, texture warping, and wobbly polygons. Funnily enough the low resolution of native PS1 games actually hides a lot of the flaws those games had.
thicc_girls_are_teh_best
Member
Eh, I'm much more partial to PS1 & Saturn's visuals from that era. While I appreciate N64's more stable polygon rendering (in part because it supported Z-buffering, tho IIRC most games didn't leverage it or didn't leverage floating-point because it was too resource-intensive for the hardware), the limited texture cache and lack of custom microcode until near the end of it's lifespan, combined with the terrible RAM latency, really damages a lot of the games visually.
There's always a distinct lack of finer detail in most N64 games compared to PS1 & Saturn titles. It's somewhat better when looking at 2D games, but N64 didn't have many of them. And even then, you'd have to deal with missing frames due to low cartridge space, and the RAM latency would be a complicating factor there, too.
I'd almost go as far to say that N64 games have aged the worst visually out of that gen, in spite of some theoretical hardware advantages. They lack the wobbly textures of PS1 and the chunky 3D/detailed 2D mash-up of Saturn (with its VDP1/VDP2 setup). I'd rather have either of those than the Vaseline-level smear and excessive fog of many 3D N64 games, especially when you still didn't get a framerate advantage over PS1 in most cases.
It's the polar opposite with GameCube, where Nintendo learned most of the right lessons and had something that could even outperform OG Xbox in some areas. Only they screwed up again going with mini-DVD discs instead of DVD discs proper, so in a way they repeated one of their biggest mistakes with N64 for a 2nd gen in a row
There's always a distinct lack of finer detail in most N64 games compared to PS1 & Saturn titles. It's somewhat better when looking at 2D games, but N64 didn't have many of them. And even then, you'd have to deal with missing frames due to low cartridge space, and the RAM latency would be a complicating factor there, too.
I'd almost go as far to say that N64 games have aged the worst visually out of that gen, in spite of some theoretical hardware advantages. They lack the wobbly textures of PS1 and the chunky 3D/detailed 2D mash-up of Saturn (with its VDP1/VDP2 setup). I'd rather have either of those than the Vaseline-level smear and excessive fog of many 3D N64 games, especially when you still didn't get a framerate advantage over PS1 in most cases.
It's the polar opposite with GameCube, where Nintendo learned most of the right lessons and had something that could even outperform OG Xbox in some areas. Only they screwed up again going with mini-DVD discs instead of DVD discs proper, so in a way they repeated one of their biggest mistakes with N64 for a 2nd gen in a row
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Stuart360
Member
Nah Mario 64 honestly looked way beyond every other system and game at launch. Even N64's terrible image quality seemed quite muted with that game.
Of course most N64 games had terrible image quality (anti aliasing just doesnt work well at that low a resolution), but there were a few standout titles than genually looked a level or two above PS1 and Saturn games.
nkarafo
Member
The VI filters were to blame for this one. It was a series of filters, not just anti-aliasing. The was also de-dithering, which was 80% of what made those games blurry.
The sad part is that even though these filters are built in the system, they are not mandatory to use, yet most developers did use them anyway. DOOM 64 looks better than most N64 games because it doesn't use them. There's also a toggle in Quake 64.
Funnily enough, you can find gameshark cheat codes that disable the VI in many games. This way they look dithered but also sharper and you even gain 1 or 2 FPS.
UltimaKilo
Gold Member
Not to mention the games would have looked so much better. What was holding the N64 back graphically, were the damn cartridges. The 64DD was delayed so long that it never made an impact.
OP is smoking crack. N64 looked like dog shit back then, and those graphics went sour faster than a carton of milk in a heatwave.
coachmcguirk91
Member
Mario Kart 64 still holds up incredibly well. Graphics as well as gameplay
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Insane Metal
Gold Member
I absolutely hated the 64 gfx at the time and still do.
LordOcidax
Member
Neither of those games look better than Turok 2… Not even close.
Instant_Classic
Member
True but to be honest, it wasn't until the Dreamcast that 3D graphics on consoles became good.
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StreetsofBeige
Member
Crazy tech for back in the day with AA. When did PC graphics cards get that feature? N64 launched in 1996.
Those were the times when a new console could wow gamers with cool stuff.
Those were the times when a new console could wow gamers with cool stuff.
lughnasadh123
Member
Hated the N64 style then and it's only looked worse since. All the early 3D machines had issues, but something about those blown up blurry textures and color choices always just felt off compared to the PS1 for me.
nkarafo
Member
Another great looking N64 game was Mace the Dark Age. The fighters had a ton of detail on them and the arenas were fully 3D.
That castle and all props are 3D here, except for the 2D tree, which is still a billboard in a 3D space. You can even fall into the lake and in some other arenas climb the stairs, etc.
It wasn't as good of a game as the best Japanese made fighters and a couple of arenas had frame rate issues. But it does look more detailed. And compared to any other Western made fighter it was at the top, by far.
That castle and all props are 3D here, except for the 2D tree, which is still a billboard in a 3D space. You can even fall into the lake and in some other arenas climb the stairs, etc.
It wasn't as good of a game as the best Japanese made fighters and a couple of arenas had frame rate issues. But it does look more detailed. And compared to any other Western made fighter it was at the top, by far.
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Instant_Classic
Member
Dreamcast blows it away.Another great looking N64 game was Mace the Dark Age. The fighters had a ton of detail on them and the arenas were fully 3D.
That castle and all props are 3D here, except for the 2D tree, which is still a 2D prop in a 3D space. You can even fall into the lake and in some other arenas climb the stairs, etc.
It wasn't as good of a game as the best Japanese made fighters and a couple of arenas had frame rate issues. But it does look more detailed. And compared to any other Western made fighter it was at the top, by far.
I repeat, 3D graphics did not start looking good until the Dreamcast.
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nkarafo
Member
DC was e next (6th gen) console so... yeah, no shit.
Not sure what you proved.
Instant_Classic
Member
My point is the N64 looked bad visually, upon its release.
We let it slide, because 3D was new to gaming during the period.
I had two N64s, and played most of the major games as a kid at the time.
Those early 3D consoles were an important step, but in no way did most of the 3D games look good overall even at the time.
This is not me in anyway saying gen 5 consoles were bad, as they weren't.
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Instant_Classic
Member
Ask a million people which one looks better...
They'll choose the right image.
N64 graphics looked bad, doesn't matter if it was the first 3D Nintendo consoles.
Keep in mind, these two images were 1 gen apart.
They'll choose the right image.
N64 graphics looked bad, doesn't matter if it was the first 3D Nintendo consoles.
Keep in mind, these two images were 1 gen apart.
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nkarafo
Member
Anyway, here's a comparison of an accurate N64 representation between the default VI filtering ON VS OFF
This can be done in all games. But it requires a gameshark cheat for the real console or a toggle in Parallel RDP.
Regardless, it's a very easy toggle on/off. I think they messed up for not having it like an option in every game.
This can be done in all games. But it requires a gameshark cheat for the real console or a toggle in Parallel RDP.
Regardless, it's a very easy toggle on/off. I think they messed up for not having it like an option in every game.
Badlucktroll
Member
I bet yamauchi didn't want to deal with a company like panasonic or matsushitas bullshit to make the cd drive and infrastructure when they could just do the hardware and cartridges themselves
