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[aku:jiki]

JESUS CHRIST.

(Bows)

You said it! I knew Lomax was nice but that HP game is unbelievable. I wonder how long it takes him.

Is the guy still active, then?

 

[Lee N]

Is the guy still active, then?

He claims to be working on nextgen stuff on his homepage, my best guess is that he's doing texturing work, perhaps some modelling too.

 

[Mashing]

I can't believe that HP game is on GBA. That looks insane.

 

[Sh0k]

Astal for the Sega Saturn

 

[SpoonyBard]

Baten Kaitos and Chrono Cross look amazing And I have always liked the backbrounds in Sonic games on Megadrive.

 

[Ranger X]

Why 2D must die... WHY??????????

 

[Afro Thunder]

Marvel Super Heroes Shuma-Gorath's background. Very animated and fluid. Who played MSH knows what I'm saying.

 

[Musashi Wins!]

The Dutch graphician Henk Nieborg have done some beautifully handpixelled graphics, it's a shame his talent got wasted on mediocre (at best) games, like:

Lomax (Playstation, PC):

Harry Potter 2 (GBA):

Another favorite of mine is James D. Sachs known for the graphics in games like Defender of the Crown, also skillfully handpixelled but with a more 'realistic' approach than the norm at the time:

And a pixel re-creation of his own house, for good measure:

.. I could go on for quite a while about graphics like this, but I don't wanna clutter the thread too much. A noteworthy detail about handpixelled Images like the above is that they're always done with a restricted pallette like max 32 or 64 colours (check for yourself in an image program). So the artists had to use various tricks like dithering (by hand, pixel by pixel) the colours.

Those are frankly amazing. It's too bad I have no real interest in those games. Just beautiful work.

 

[VNZ]

I always thought Nieborg's stuff had the typical shortcomings of european pixel artists of the "scene school": Too much attention to detail, practically no attention to the big picture.

 

[Tain]

 

[lochnesssnowman]

The obvious selection for me is Yoshi's Island - still looks stunning to this day. There are some other great choices (some I'd not seen) here as well.

Surprised there's a lack of Flashback love... Not the best pictures at all but it's all I can find.

 

[isamu]

Don't forget...

 

[Oneself]

Heart of Darkness had pretty looking backgrounds too

 

[Bowflex]

Mega man X 1-6

 

[bionic77]

Why 2D must die... WHY??????????

Most people are stupid and would rather play a shitty broken 3D game than a masterpiece of a 2D game.

I generally find 2D to be superior for everything except for racing and sports games.

 

[HCgamer]

Guile's background in Street Fighter 2 Turbo.

 

[Naked Snake]

This thread rocks.

 

[DJ Sl4m]

[insert any stage here] from Rayman 1.

 

[Oneself]

Kept waiting for some Skull Monkeys love....

 

[FeedMeAStrayCat]

I agree. This game still looks fucking great.

I also agree! Yoshi's Story definitely had some impressive graphics..

 

[Vandalier]

No square-bitches, the are more and better artwork in western games

 

[tedtropy]

I also agree! Yoshi's Story definitely had some impressive graphics..

Too bad the actual game sucked turd, especially since it's beautiful to this day.

 

[Mikazuki]

I also agree! Yoshi's Story definitely had some impressive graphics..

I don't get the praise for it's graphics. It looks great in pictures, but the game has almost ZERO background animation. Only the characters, enemies, object and maybe some clouds move. The whole game looks very sterile in motion.

 

[Zer0]

as much i love 2d since mi bbc/dragon days the motto of 2d is superior to 3d is a nonsense.today we got 3d excellent 3d gxf,and 3d brings a lot of innovation and posibilityes to every genere

 

[tedtropy]

as much i love 2d since mi bbc/dragon days the motto of 2d is superior to 3d is a nonsense.today we got 3d excellent 3d gxf,and 3d brings a lot of innovation and posibilityes to every genere

I don't think anyone is saying 2D is superior to 3D, just that 2D is still a very legitimate way to paint a gaming canvas. Just because 3D is advancing doesn't mean we should forget the amazing things possible with 2D...

 

[BuckRobotron]

FFIX is full of 2D bg goodness, just some random picks:

 

[Madrin]

Baten Kaitos

Legend of Mana

Curse of Monkey Island

 

[Ferrio]

Agreed, I wanna how they go to a superior game but get shittier backgrounds. Same crap happed in SF3

 

[op_ivy]

i'll second astal:

 

[bionic77]

No square-bitches, the are more and better artwork in western games

The first two shots there are beautiful. I missed out those games when my pc was too shitty to play it.

I need to go back and replay those games one day.

I don't think anyone is saying 2D is superior to 3D, just that 2D is still a very legitimate way to paint a gaming canvas. Just because 3D is advancing doesn't mean we should forget the amazing things possible with 2D...

Actually I am saying that.

3D is superior for sports and racing games, I won't even try to deny that. 2D on the other hand to me still provides better gameplay for pretty much everything else. I can't explain why, but I find 2D rpgs, platformers, adventure games, etc are all more fun than their 3D counterparts and have much better longevity.

I really thought that all the flaws of 3D gameplay would been cleaned up during this generation, but a lot of the same problems still remain in my eyes. Maybe that is the fault of the developers, but to this point 3D is markedly inferior to 2D in my eyes.

 

[DarkGiygas]

Although I like Alex's 2i BG the best, these are pretty nice:

 

[chaostrophy]

Couldn't find many decent pics, but IMO Valkyrie Profile has pretty much the most gorgeous 2D backgrounds ever.

 

[Fifty]

Syberia (2)

 

[Kon Tiki]

Harry Potter 2 (GBA):

That is GBA? I wonder how it plays, it looks great.