Retro Gaming - The Bear and Badger

Moot_Geeza

While we're in the swing of things, what's the most you've ever been impressed by a game's visuals? Haven't got an immediate answer myself.

davyK

Would need to think about that too....

Darius in the arcade was a visual spectacle due to it being a hori-shooter running in a huge multi-display cabinet but the graphics themselves were just OK.

Moot_Geeza

Shenmue probably get the nod for 3D visuals, it was a huge leap for consoles imo. That in-engine intro still passes muster.

nick_md

I remember showing my grandma a picture of SFII where Dhalsim had set someone on fire and pointing eagerly at the magazine picture, "look grandma! It actually looks like real fire!!!"

I was mad impressed.

Moot_Geeza

I told my dad Status Quo wrote some of the music to Sonic 3 to get him interested once, which was obviously bollocks but no weirder than what's now considered the truth.

davyK

After a bit of thought - for sheer impact I think Virtua Tennis takes the prize for me.

It was impressive enough on first sight - then when you saw it moving and it was all in real time - wasn't any trickery involved. Stunning.

The highly abstract attracts me too - won't ever forget first experiencing Tempest in the arcade. Timeless too.

Blue Swirl

nick_md wrote:

I remember showing my grandma a picture of SFII where Dhalsim had set someone on fire and pointing eagerly at the magazine picture, "look grandma! It actually looks like real fire!!!" I was mad impressed.

Reminds me of walking past a magazine with Pierce Brosnan on the cover, ignoring it because I thought it was a film magazine. A quick double take later and I realised it was an N64 magazine with a story about GoldenEye. Laughable graphics these days, but it blew my tiny little mind Back In t' Day.

Escape

DOOM; Donkey Kong Country; Tekken; Gran Turismo's replays; Vice City; and Uncharted 2's “Where Am I?”. Not definitive, but they're all up there in my thoughts.

retroking1981

Super Mario Bros. 2 - looked amazing compared to the original
Super Wrestlemania - looked real to my 10 year old obsessed WWF eyes
Sonic 1 - pissed on SMW in the looks department
Star Fox - first 3D based polygon game I ever played
DOOM
Mortal Kombat - loved all these digitised graphics
DKC
Ridge Racer

A fair few from the PS/Sat/N64 gen but fast forward a bit...

Halo
Luigis Mansion
MGS2
Gears of War

Might sound mad but games on the PSP, Vita and Switch blow my mind that they're portable. Outrun 2, Uncharted and Zelda spring to mind for each.

edit: Special mention to Waverace from the gen I skipped, that water, omg!!

Eric

Gran Turismos Replays are a good one. I was like, 'woww, look at all those shinies man'

Street Fighter II on the SNES was the first time I got jealous over graphics but...

Sonic Adventure, MSR, Virtua Striker (still looks decent today), LeMans 24 and Ferrari 355 on the DC were all pretty jaw dropping for me. The DC was a pretty big leap in general over what had appeared earlier.

Escape

In technical, wow-the-future's-here terms, it's Operation Flashpoint. DOOM and Vice City are up there, but they're just a bit behind. Battlegrounds is doing well sixteen years later...

davyK

Donkey Kong Country is a good shout. Brings Yoshi's Island to mind too.

I also remember finding the graphical overhaul given in Super Mario All Stars very pleasing. Still do. Very clean and lovely use of colour.

26876-super-mario-all-stars-snes-screenshot-a-bottle-hmmm-let-s-smash.jpg

retroking1981

All-Stars was great, the only thing I didn't like was that the sprite of Mario in 3 was inferior to the other games. Maybe it was to do with the fact it needed less work?

hunk

Yoshi's Island wowed me as do donkey kong country and the md sonic games.
Seeing sf2 ww for the first time on display on an import snes. Those giant well animated sprites blew my mind.
Dreamcast was another big leap. Soul Calibur, DoA, Jet Set Radio, Rez, MSR, Shenmue all still impress on some level. Halo made me buy an xbox. JSRF, outrun2, doa3 are standout titles.
On pc crysis was a milestone as were the metro series.

davyK

retroking1981 wrote:

All-Stars was great, the only thing I didn't like was that the sprite of Mario in 3 was inferior to the other games. Maybe it was to do with the fact it needed less work?

I think the smb3 sprite was lifted straight from the NES game. It stuck out a bit and it was a shame they hadn't used the same sprites from the SMB USA / 2.

mistercrayon

It'll be good if they released the multiplayer battle mode from smb3 all stars again. Would be really cool as a switch game (perhaps with online?)

retroking1981

I think New Super Mario Bros All-Stars would be cool, all HDed up with added multiplayer and online enabled where required.

davyK

retroking1981 wrote:

I think New Super Mario Bros All-Stars would be cool, all HDed up with added multiplayer and online enabled where required.

Adding SMW to that collection would be good. There's a version of the original cartridge that has that - though I've never actually laid eyes on one.

Moot_Geeza

Metal Gear Solid is a series that's managed to astound me twice - Solid and Solid 2. The motion blur 'what's a Russian gunship doing here?' bit in the first one, wow, and the sequel was the first 'oh right, they weren't lying about the PS2' game.

Another is Virtua Fighter. I'd stick that in multiple times - the (model)1, (model)2 and (model)3 cabs were ahead of the pack visually, as was the excellent Saturn port of 2.

mk64

for gwaffix

Dragons Lair (arcade)
Donkey Kong Country
Super Mario World
Mortal Kombat at the time
Shadow of the Colossus
Advance Wars DS
Layton games always have pretty gwaffix
Outrun Cost to Coast, that casino stage is so beautiful

mk64

this is the casino stage

regmcfly

There's three that have always stuck in the old noggin
Tekken 3 - specifically the cinematics (and specifically the Mokujin ending )
Waverace 64 - colours, and the whizz of the opening sequence
And as has been mentioned, Metal Gear Solid 2 - especially the going into first person bit when you're pointing a gun

Moot_Geeza

Tekken 3 was quite a leap from 2 in general, lovely looking port.

regmcfly

For me it and Dark are the purest Tekmans

mk64

Top three retro soundtracks?

1) Double Dragon
2) Outrun
3) SF2

hunk

Retro Soundtracks:
1. FF6- actually anything by Square. Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana to name a few
2. SF2
3. Yuzo Koshiro, SoR series in particular made the md sing in ways not thought possible
4. Outrun is classic 8bit tunes

Moot_Geeza

Chiptunes:

Red Zone
Sonic 2
Sonic 3

Stick 'em in a cd player:

Panzer Dragoon
Tomb Raider
Guardian Heroes

Stuck between both categories:

NiGHTS

Underrated shout-out:

Blam! Machinehead.

davyK

F-Zero GX is still pretty amazing looking.

I also remember Outrun Coast to Coast on PS2 hitting me in the face.

Daytona USA 2001 on Dreamcast has a rock solid Sega sparkly look that is better than the original and squares up to the mighty XBL port.

JonB

hunk wrote:

Yuzo Koshiro

That's the whole top 3. Revenge of Shinobi especially.

JonB

As for visuals, I remember going to an arcade when Final Fight was a new thing. Couldn't believe my eyes.

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