Most Technically Impressive Games [Archive]

SpaceHarrier

08-18-2008, 07:21 PM

Summer Carnival '92 Recca - Famicom (for screen speed and objects onscreen as well as background effects)
Dynamite Headdy - Genesis (colors on screen)
Donkey Kong Country - SNES (animation and music)
Starfox - SNES (3-D graphics, speech and music)
Yoshi's Island - SNES (graphical effects)
Gran Turismo 2 - PSX (overall graphics and physics capabilities)
Outrun 2006 - PS2 (graphics)
Doom 3 - Xbox (graphics)

edit: not sure if these are ACTUALLY 'technically impressive' but they sure as heck look that way to me

jedimind7

08-18-2008, 07:31 PM

I would say Gunstar Heroes for the Genesis off the top of my head.

Poofta!

08-18-2008, 07:38 PM

i think Gears of War for the 360 is freaking unbelievable. i cant remember which games blew me away back in the day on their respective consoles. i remember thinking Super Mario World (snes) was the bee's knees. Also Golden Sun for gba was freaking fantastic. i couldnt believe those 3d fight sequences when it first came out (i was shocked i was seeing this on a portable in its day, they looked every bit as awesome as ps1 graphics. remember the gba was advertised initially as a 32bit console =P )

CosmicMonkey

08-18-2008, 07:47 PM

Garou: MotW and the Last Blades are absolutely stunning looking games, especially considering the age of the NeoGeo hardware.

Lady Jaye

08-18-2008, 08:05 PM

On the more recent gens, God of War 2 really uses all from the PS2.

jedimind7

08-18-2008, 08:11 PM

On the more recent gens, God of War 2 really uses all from the PS2.

Yes it does. The graphics for this game are incredible.

c0ldb33r

08-18-2008, 08:26 PM

Final Fantasy XII - PS2

Deadpixels

08-18-2008, 08:31 PM

Garou: MotW and the Last Blades are absolutely stunning looking games, especially considering the age of the NeoGeo hardware.

Pretty much stated exactly what I came to say. The animation, artistic style, and overall action no screen in both of those games is simply awesome.

Also, Blazing Star really makes the Neo hardware shine with its use of 3D rendered enemies and some backgrounds that do some great 3D tricks as well.

ssjlance

08-18-2008, 09:04 PM

Gunstar Heroes is obligatory. But as far as games that have really impressed me for their system, I would have to go with:

Yar's Revenge - Atari 2600
Mike Tyson's Punch Out!!! - NES
Super Mario World - SNES

That's all off the top of my head.

jb143

08-18-2008, 09:12 PM

One of the very first threads I made on here...

NES games that really push the system to it's limits (http://www.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?t=109288)

roushimsx

08-18-2008, 09:30 PM

Tekken 3 (PS1) - Overall Graphics. Holy shit.
Virtua Fighter 2 (Saturn) - Resolution, Framerate, Model Detail. Holy shit.
Chronicles of Riddick (Xbox) - Holy Shit.
Conker's Bad Fur Day (Xbox) - Fur. Holy shit.
Pathways to Glory + sequel (nGage) - Didn't push it graphically, but the multiplayer component highlighted every advantage that the nGage had to other systems of the time.
Summer Carnival '92 Recca (Fami) - Framerate and speed. God damn.
More love for Outrun 2006 on PS2. I mean, I never thought that the Xbox port of Outrun 2 would turn out as well as it did (because of RAM limitations), but if you told me that the PS2 version of 2006 was going to turn out half as good as it did, I would have called you a bold faced liar and obvious raving fanboy. But god DAMN did it come off well.

eskobar

08-18-2008, 09:44 PM

I think that Metal Gear Solid and Vagrant Story are beyond anything on Playstation.

Silent Hill also excells technically and Tomb Raider always impressed me with its HUGE levels.... i can remember the port of QUAKE II, it was an awesome job by HammerHead.

:D

omnedon

08-18-2008, 11:02 PM

Virtua Racing on the Genesis, with the SVP chip.

GnawRadar

08-18-2008, 11:39 PM

I agree with the aforementioned Final Fantasy XII, Garou: MOTW, and Metal Gear Solid, but I would like to add:

Shenmue (DC) - I'm not familiar with alot of the Dreamcast library, but I think that Shenmue is very good looking game.
The World Ends With You (DS) - The best looking 2D game that has come out in a very long time, it is very detailed and both visuals and sound.

Nesmaster

08-18-2008, 11:47 PM

I didn't want to mention anything current-gen because it's not over, but decided to list the ones that currently impress me anyways:

Call of Duty 4 360/PS3/PC
Uncharted: Drake's Fortune PS3
Crysis PC
Gears of War 360/PC
Crackdown 360 (draw distance anyone?)
BioShock 360 (this was top dog... until COD4 came out a few months later)
GTA IV (top-notch physics, impressive draw distance and car damage modelling, superb lighting amongst other things)

Resident Evil 2 N64 (a given, no?)
Super Mario RPG SNES
Stunt Race FX SNES (at least I thought so, when I was a kid)
Uniracers SNES (same as above)
DKC SNES
Starfox SNES
Megaman X3 SNES
Yoshi's Island SNES
Willow NES (for some reason, I think this game looks incredible given it's on the NES)
SMB3 NES (very colorful game)
Monster Truck Rally NES (game looked incredible when I was young anyways)
Startropics II NES (at least I remember it being pretty colorful...)

I'm sure if I sat here for a while longer I could come up with more, but that's a good start. :)

shawnbo42

08-19-2008, 12:01 AM

Interesting thread, I like it. Now I'll have to think of a few games that impressed me. Might be a little off topic, but I really enjoyed Geometry Wars for the DS. Very basic graphics, very simple gameplay, but for a 2-D game in a totally 3-D world, I found it to be a title that holds it's own to basically anything out there.

Journey to Silius - NES. Makes very good use of the sound capabilities of the NES.

Tomb Raider - Has already been commented on, but it really pushed the limits with the sheer size of the game, as far as the area you are able to explore.

Twisted - 3DO. Again, maybe a little off topic, but a really intersting concept that has never really been duplicated, at least to my knowledge.

Burgertime - Intellivision. MUCH better port than the NES, which is interesting, because it's not as advanced of a system. As a matter of fact, I think INTV Burgertime is probably the most authentic arcade translation out there. Except the play control, of course.

Sunset Riders - SNES. Again, a very true-to-original arcade port. Hand over fist better than the Genny version. If you ever can compare side-by-side SNES to arcade, it is virtually identical. Makes good use of the technical capabilities of the SNES.

Dragon's Lair/Mad Dog McCree - Arcade. Using Laserdiscs when people had barely heard of CD's? If that is not technically amazing, I don't know what is. Playing either one of those games even today is still impressive. Admittedly, the acting on Mad Dog is weak, but you are literally playing a game in a movie setting. And Dragon's Lair...well, not much needs to be said there.

That's all I got for now, anyways.

Malon_Forever

08-19-2008, 01:00 AM

Where is the love for Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube? When I first saw that game, I was "wowed".

Haoie

08-19-2008, 02:02 AM

SNES: Tales of Phantasia and Star Ocean.

Those games were impressive, very much so.

Steven

08-19-2008, 04:39 AM

Rendering Ranger: R2 is the most impressive thing I've seen on SNES. On one shooting level 100s of ships fly at you and the game never slows down. It was jaw-dropping

http://www.rvgfanatic.com/mediac/400_0/media/DIR_18301/R220.gif

j_factor

08-19-2008, 05:03 AM

Red Zone for Genesis. Great 3D effects, full screen rotation done in software, full motion video clips, and one pumping soundtrack. The gameplay is actually pretty sophisticated too. Shame it's way too hard.

Gran Turismo 4 deserves mention for getting 1080i out of a system that totally doesn't support it. I still don't know how that works.

Dragon's Lair for the Game Boy Color is pretty amazing.

Anyone remember Hydra for the Lynx? I thought that game compared favorably to games on Genesis and SNES. Actually it's pretty on-par with GBA.

Julio III

08-19-2008, 07:41 AM

Some people have had some good suggestions here:

PS2 - Outrun 2006
Dreamcast - Shenmue II
Dreamcast - Soul Calibur
Gamecube - Resident Evil 4

eugenek

08-19-2008, 09:15 AM

Not a single vote for Vectorman? Some of the bosses in that game are mindblowing...hard to believe that's the same system that produced Alex Kidd in the Enchanted Castle.

Press_Start

08-19-2008, 09:49 AM

For technically most impressive graphics of a machine, Squaresoft's games during the PS1 era fit the bill quite well with titles like Final Fantasy 7, Parasite Eve, and Xenogears. Vagrant Story takes the gold, IMO.

The Saturn version of Shenmue does deserve recognition for showcasing Saturn's capabilities were on par with the Playstation.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUe9ASlu9Us

fishsandwich

08-19-2008, 10:07 AM

Sega CD
Slipheed
Batman
Battlecorps was especially impressive. The pseudo-3D is awesome.

It's a shame the Sega CD hardware was never really pushed. It had a lot of potential with its extra CPU and custom graphics chips with built-in scaling and rotation.

Check out these Sega CD games in action...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k80dODWdj9I

32x
DarXide
Virtua Fighter

N64
Sin & Punishment still amazes me whenever I get to teh scene with the aircraft carriers.

Saturn
Sonic R has the prettiest graphics I ever saw on the Saturn.

Megadrive/Genesis
Duke Nukem 3D is a very impressive-looking FPS. Too bad it plays like ass and looks nothing like the original.

MachineGex

08-19-2008, 10:33 AM

....
Burgertime - Intellivision. MUCH better port than the NES, which is interesting, because it's not as advanced of a system. As a matter of fact, I think INTV Burgertime is probably the most authentic arcade translation out there. Except the play control, of course.

I still want an Intellivision for this one game(well baseball was fun also). I keep trying the NES version, but it's not as fun as the Intellivision.

alexkidd2000

08-19-2008, 01:15 PM

For there time, the System 16 lineup of Space Harrier, Outrun, Afterburner were technically AMAZING.

Rob2600

08-19-2008, 03:37 PM

which games really pushed the hardware to or past the limit.

Atari 2600:

Battlezone
Beamrider
California Games
Decathalon
Enduro
Jungle Hunt
Pete Rose Pennant Fever
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns
Pole Position
RealSports Boxing
Smurfs: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle
Solaris
Super Football
Winter Games

Atari 5200:

Rescue on Fractalus

NES:

Batman: Return of the Joker
Castlevania III
Crisis Force (Japan only)
Kirby's Adventure
Mega Man series
Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!!
Summer Carnival '92 Recca (Japan only)
Sword Master
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Arcade Game
Track & Field II

SNES:

Chrono Trigger
Donkey Kong Country series
Mortal Kombat 2
Pilotwings
Rendering Ranger: R2 (Japan only)
Secret of Mana 2 (Seiken Densetsu 3) (Japan only)
Star Fox
Street Fighter II Turbo
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Tales of Phantasia (Japan only)

Nintendo 64:

Conker's Bad Fur Day
The Legend of Zelda series
Mortal Kombat 4
NFL Quarterback Club '99
Perfect Dark
Rayman 2
Resident Evil 2
Sin and Punishment
Wave Race 64
Wonder Project J2 (Japan only)
World Driver Championship

GameCube:

Burnout 2: Point of Impact
F-Zero GX
Fight Night Round 2
The Legend of Zelda series
Metroid Prime series
Pikmin series
Resident Evil 4
Star Fox Adventures
Star Wars: Rogue Squadron series
Wave Race: Blue Storm

Where is the love for Resident Evil 4 on the Gamecube? When I first saw that game, I was "wowed".

I agree. It's one of the most impressive-looking GameCube games. In fact, it's one of the most impressive-looking games from that generation.

NayusDante

08-19-2008, 04:39 PM

I'm not sure I'd agree with Mega Man 2 being much of a technical achievement, and I had a feeling that somebody would bring it up. I always considered it to be more of a gameplay perfection, but the latter games were more technically impressive. In 2, there are large enemies in some levels (the fish, the fire-dog), but only parts of those are animated. In 3, there are several much larger enemies that move entirely. In 4, the mini-boss enemies are much more complex. In 5, specifically Gravity Man's level, there are huge enemies that leap across the screen, in a scrolling area. Use of color improved after 2 too.

In short, I always respected 2 because it wasn't a technical marvel, and because it didn't have to be. I would personally say that 5 would be the most technical of the series, some reasons being the final stage in the first fortress, overall color depth, and musical complexity.

I'm surprised to see nobody mention the GB Pokemon games or the Star Fox 2 prototype. Pokemon was a very dynamic game on a very low-power platform, and Star Fox 2 may have been the most impressive Super-FX chip game.

An honorable mention should go to Steel Batallion (Xbox). Considering that the controller ports are USB with a modified port shape, it's odd that aside from dance pads, few other custom controllers were ever made.

Sergeant Sega

08-19-2008, 04:46 PM

I kind of feel that the first Oddworld game deserves to be mentioned, with the Gamespeak function, it really impressed me when I played it for the first time.

Rob2600

08-19-2008, 04:55 PM

I'm not sure I'd agree with Mega Man 2 being much of a technical achievement ... there are large enemies in some levels (the fish, the fire-dog), but only parts of those are animated. In 3, there are several much larger enemies that move entirely. In 4, the mini-boss enemies are much more complex. In 5, specifically Gravity Man's level, there are huge enemies that leap across the screen, in a scrolling area. Use of color improved after 2 too.

Good point. I've changed "Mega Man II" to "Mega Man series" in my previous post.

I also added Wonder Project J2 to the N64 section in my post. The game featured a ton of high-res 2D artwork and animation, which was incredible, especially considering it was released only several months after the console's launch. If I remember correctly, the cartridge was only 8 MB, too.

CosmicMonkey

08-19-2008, 05:08 PM

Virtua Fighter 3 and Shenmue were both apparently running on standard Saturn hardware without any sort of upgrade cards.

I think these both fit the description of 'pushing the hardware'.

megasdkirby

08-19-2008, 06:18 PM

For me, there have been quite a few games that have WOWed me.

Batman Return of the Joker (NES): Even today, it still shocks at what the game accomplished. EXCELLENT music and graphics. Looks and sounds awesome in almost every aspect.

Journey to Silius (NES): Like Batman ROTJ, this also has one fantastic OST. One of the best I have ever heard on an NES.

Kirby's Adventure (NES): Great graphics and sound make it an excellent title that still impresses to this day.

eskobar

08-19-2008, 06:26 PM

Virtua Fighter 3 and Shenmue were both apparently running on standard Saturn hardware without any sort of upgrade cards.

I think these both fit the description of 'pushing the hardware'.

I do not know if they ran on a Saturn box or was still emulated code, but if they were running on the hardware we know, quite possibly we have the most advanced programming work ever made.

Zebbe

08-19-2008, 06:33 PM

Rob2600

08-19-2008, 06:51 PM

A lot of these Nintendo cartridge games like Super Mario Bros. 3 and Pilotwings don't "push the hardware to the limits" - their enhancement chips do. Same goes for Virtua Racing on Mega Drive ofcourse.

True. Just in case anyone is wondering, roughly 4 percent of SNES games released in the U.S. and 8 percent of SNES games released worldwide have a special chip inside. That's 27 U.S. games and 74 worldwide games...definitely nowhere near the majority.

icbrkr

08-19-2008, 07:03 PM

No mention of the C64? Well.. I'll have to fix that!

Anything in the last few years of the C64's commercial life was just amazing (1992-1994). With stuff like this being released, I hated to move on from the 8 bit...

http://www.lemon64.com/games/screenshots/full/creatures_2_08.gif

Creatures 2 and Mayhem in Monsterland...

http://www.lemon64.com/games/screenshots/full/mayhem_in_monsterland_08.gif

LiquidPolicenaut

08-19-2008, 07:51 PM

Many of the best technical achievement games have already been listed, but I'll add the ones I feel are "the ones" for the Sega CD:

Lunar: Eternal Blue
Snatcher
Adventures of Batman and Robin
Dracula Unleashed
Urusei Yatsura

Easily four of the best "technical achievement" games for the system. I always felt the Sega CD gets too bad of a rep sometimes...

Cryomancer

08-19-2008, 11:09 PM

No one mentioned Phantasy Star for SMS? I find it pretty impressive.

Gunstar Heroes is pretty kickass, but if you wanna see it really PUSH a system, try the gamegear version! Slowdown lie crazy, but it's an oddly accurate port all things considered.

Iron Draggon

08-20-2008, 05:05 AM

Eternal Champions

If I remember correctly, it was the only Genesis game to ever max out the number of colors that could be displayed onscreen at the same time. (64)

Wraith Storm

08-20-2008, 06:12 AM

Technical achievements for the NES

Solstice �
This game had the most impressive NES music I ever heard on the opening Title Screen. It uses all different effects and sounds to simulate different instruments. I used to put the game in sometimes, just to hear the title music. Also, whenever you get an item in the game it displays a huge detailed picture of the item that you acquired. These pictures that it displays are some of the greatest NES graphics that have ever been done imo. It still blows my mind.

Metal Storm �
Not only was this the first NES game I saw that had Parallax Scrolling, but your mech's animations were so smooth and fluid.

Snake Rattle And Roll -
The isometric graphics almost looked as if they were pre-rendered with the style in which they were drawn (The Genesis version looks even more pre-rendered). Also it was very impressive to see TONS of moving sprites all over the screen... even if they were small helpless Pibbles.

I'm sure that i'm missing a few but these are the ones that really stand out in my mind.

Zebbe

08-20-2008, 06:26 AM

True. Just in case anyone is wondering, roughly 4 percent of SNES games released in the U.S. and 8 percent of SNES games released worldwide have a special chip inside. That's 27 U.S. games and 74 worldwide games...definitely nowhere near the majority.

I didn't mean to say there is anything wrong with having those chips, but when counting the most technically system-pushing games I'd say Chrono Trigger and Rendering Ranger R2 instead of Star Fox and Super Mario Kart for example. For Saturn, Virtua Fighter 2 goes before those that demand a RAM cart.

Those numbers are interesting by the way, I would have thought there were more games with co-processors etc.

NayusDante

08-20-2008, 07:14 AM

Considering that a lot of devs were too cheap to even include battery-back-up ram, I don't think that many of them could afford to develop or license additional hardware.

robotriot

08-20-2008, 12:45 PM

I obviously haven't seen all games for the systems, so it's just the ones that I know of which really impressed me:

GC
Residen Evil 4
Star Wars Rogue Leader

CD32
Alien Breed 3D
Flink

PS2
God of War 2
Gran Turismo 4
Shadow of the Colossus

blissfulnoise

08-20-2008, 12:59 PM

I've said it before, I'll say it again. The Adventures of Batman and Robin on the Genesis pushes hardware limits like no other game on any other system.

Lord_Magus

08-20-2008, 01:23 PM

For SNES I'd have to say Super Turrican II. There were plenty of other games out there that were "better" looking (i.e. Donkey Kong Country) but this game really amazed me with its special effects and just how solid and polished everything was.

For the GameCube, StarFox Adventures was pretty impressive (Resident Evil 4 has already been mentioned).

The original GameBoy gets little mention nowadays, but Dragon Lair's presentation was superb artistically.

The Amiga also had some very impressive games, mostly the ones developed by Team17, Psygnosis and Factor 5...

PC-wise it's hard to say - Disciples II comes to mind as having some of the most beautiful 2D artwork I've ever seen, but I wouldn't really consider it technically impressive.

Ad from the current generation, the only game that has truly wowed me is Resident Evil 5 - and it's not even out yet! Gears of War was ok, but after a while everything felt a bit too "static" for me.

Gentlegamer

08-20-2008, 04:00 PM

From the NES thread, I'll again nominate:

Sword Master - large sprites and multi-level parallax

Metal Storm - parallax, detailed sprites, looks like a 16-bit game with a lower color palette

Rob2600

08-20-2008, 04:04 PM

From the NES thread, I'll again nominate:

Sword Master - large sprites and multi-level parallax

Metal Storm - parallax, detailed sprites, looks like a 16-bit game with a lower color palette

I definitely agree with Sword Master. It's one of the games I listed in my post near the top of this page.

I've never played Metal Storm, but your description ("looks like a 16-bit game") is exactly how I feel about Track & Field II, which is also on my list.

Kid Ice

08-20-2008, 04:09 PM

Millipede for 2600. Yeah you had those angular "mushrooms", but all the gameplay from the arcade game is there...the inchworm is there, the two spiders are there, the dragonflies, the scrolling....this on a machine made to play Combat...unbelievable.

Kevincal

08-20-2008, 04:34 PM

Here are games I thought were really technically impressive...FOR THEIR TIME... ;)

Mario 3
Donkey Kong Country
Sonic 1
Doom Playstation
AvP Jag
Gran Turismo 3
Virtua Fighter 2 Saturn
Toshinden Playstation
Mario 64
Waverace 64
Sonic Adventure
Soul Calibur DC
Virtua Racing 32X
Final Fantasy VII
Final Fantasy X
Tempest 2000 Jag
Doom SNES
Daytona DC
Resident Evil PS
Goldeneye 007 N64

And a whole bunch more...

c0ldb33r

08-20-2008, 04:41 PM

Was Doom SNES impressive even back when it was new?

It was really after the Jaguar/32X versions so I remember everyone thinking it was crap because of the graphics.

Rob2600

08-20-2008, 05:09 PM

I just added to my post near the top of page 2:

Atari 2600:

Battlezone
Beamrider
California Games
Decathalon
Enduro
Jungle Hunt
Pete Rose Pennant Fever
Pitfall II: Lost Caverns
Pole Position
RealSports Boxing
Smurfs: Rescue in Gargamel's Castle
Solaris
Super Football
Winter Games

Atari 5200:

Rescue on Fractalus

Any thoughts?

k8track

08-20-2008, 05:24 PM

2600�Pitfall II, Solaris, Moonsweeper
5200�Ballblazer, Rescue on Fractalus
Intellivision�Diner, Hover Force, Space Patrol
NES�Metroid, Ghosts �N Goblins
SNES�Super Metroid, Donkey Kong Country
Atari 800�Yoomp!

roushimsx

08-20-2008, 05:46 PM

Was Doom SNES impressive even back when it was new?

No, the only thing notable about it was its accuracy in translating the PC's levels to the console. The framerate still sucked and it looked like the DOS version running in low resolution mode, but I guess from the standpoint of the hardware in the SNES and the chip used, it was a somewhat impressive achievement. Still not a terribly good port. The 32x version was never very impressive either because of the alterations made to it in the name of saving space.

edit - what's so technically impressive about Donkey Kong Country? I can see where people dig the art style, but it's not like it's using any crazy technical magic to make it look special. Just normal ol' sprites and such. Is it the light in the mine tunnel that sells it?

Gentlegamer

08-20-2008, 07:32 PM

I've never played Metal Storm, but your description ("looks like a 16-bit game") is exactly how I feel about Track & Field II, which is also on my list.Here's a great video review of Metal Storm. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m2IkkkfAc9k)

Kevincal

08-20-2008, 08:07 PM

Was Doom SNES impressive even back when it was new?

It was really after the Jaguar/32X versions so I remember everyone thinking it was crap because of the graphics.

Well to me, Doom on the SNES is impressive because the majority of people who've played it and the 32X version like the SNES version better... The 32X does have better and more detailed graphics, but the SNES version is better in every other category. That's really impressive for a 16-bit system vs. a 32-bit system imo.

The Jag and 32X versions were actually impressive in 1994 as well... Both are solid versions of the game. They were the first versions of Doom I ever played. I never played the PC Doom as I didn't have a PC until about 1996 or 1997.

Kevincal

08-20-2008, 08:11 PM

No, the only thing notable about it was its accuracy in translating the PC's levels to the console. The framerate still sucked and it looked like the DOS version running in low resolution mode, but I guess from the standpoint of the hardware in the SNES and the chip used, it was a somewhat impressive achievement. Still not a terribly good port. The 32x version was never very impressive either because of the alterations made to it in the name of saving space.

edit - what's so technically impressive about Donkey Kong Country? I can see where people dig the art style, but it's not like it's using any crazy technical magic to make it look special. Just normal ol' sprites and such. Is it the light in the mine tunnel that sells it?

All I know is, everyone I knew back in 1994 was blown away by DKC's graphics. That's why I reitterated in my original post, "AT THE TIME". There really is something to be said for how one feels about a game at the time of its release. Of course games don't hold up over time, but some just really stand out from other games at their time of release. I mean, DKC could have been on the PS or Saturn and people would have said "oh, this is an impressive 32-bit game. DKC could easily have passed for a 32-bit game back in the mid 90's... So the fact that it was on the old SNES 16 bit makes it technically impressive in my book. :)

roushimsx

08-20-2008, 09:00 PM

All I know is, everyone I knew back in 1994 was blown away by DKC's graphics.

You know that those sprites were still normal sprites, right? The only thing I recall about them being technically notable was the custom compression routines that Rare had written for the game to fit it onto the cart, but even then I recall DKC3 had more advanced compression utilized.

Other than that, the game is still an ugly mess of prerendered sprites.

Steven

08-20-2008, 09:56 PM

Was Doom SNES impressive even back when it was new?

It was really after the Jaguar/32X versions so I remember everyone thinking it was crap because of the graphics.

I rented it when it first came out. I thought it was choppy as hell, but then again, I was playing the crap out of the PC version. Nice try, but when something is so choppy, why bother.

This is unpopular, but I liked the SNES port of SF Alpha 2, how they were able to keep all the special moves and characters intact was quite a feat. It doesn't play too badly either.

Kevincal

08-20-2008, 10:48 PM

You know that those sprites were still normal sprites, right? The only thing I recall about them being technically notable was the custom compression routines that Rare had written for the game to fit it onto the cart, but even then I recall DKC3 had more advanced compression utilized.

Other than that, the game is still an ugly mess of prerendered sprites.

Of course I know they are sprites.... Do you really take me as a person of such ignorance? ;) I've been an avid gamer since the 80's... Around the time DKC came out, I was subscribing to atleast 3 different gaming mags. And I read them cover to cover... ;) So yes, I am well educated in the intricacies of all things classic gaming related. :D

That said, DKC was the very first game ever in existence on a home console that had those smooth rendered sprites. I don't know why you'd say they are an ugly mess. I'm sure the vast majority of people in the classic vid game world would beg to differ. Again, sure... compared to TODAY's 2d games it doesn't look so hot. But back in 1994, it was a technological marvel to most.

And to answer my suspicions, I visited your website and sure enough, you are a SEGA FANATIC. ;) No wonder you hate DKC...Haha... I love Sega too though...

Rob2600

08-21-2008, 12:42 AM

what's so technically impressive about Donkey Kong Country? I can see where people dig the art style, but it's not like it's using any crazy technical magic to make it look special. Just normal ol' sprites and such. Is it the light in the mine tunnel that sells it?

The rendered graphics impressed everyone, but you're right, they're just normal sprites. However, there are still some impressive things going on in the DKC games:

1. Very fast scrolling and movement, especially in the mine cart levels and when blasting from barrel to barrel.

2. Impressive weather effects. In some levels, the snow starts out light and gets progressively heavier toward the end. In some levels, the sun sets and the color of the background changes smoothly. Some levels also feature heavy rain, lightning, etc.

3. As you mentioned, lighting effects.

4. Lots of animation going on in the background (DKC 2 and 3).

5. Parallax backgrounds and foregrounds with transparency and line scrolling.

6. Large characters and even larger bosses...and no slowdown.

7. Tons of character animation, far more frames than most other 2D games.

If you want to see a really impressive 2D game, play Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest. Every level is packed with detail and special effects, including some pseudo-3D stuff.

DKC was the very first game ever in existence on a home console that had those smooth rendered sprites. I don't know why you'd say they are an ugly mess. I'm sure the vast majority of people in the classic vid game world would beg to differ. Again, sure... compared to TODAY's 2d games it doesn't look so hot. But back in 1994, it was a technological marvel to most.

Obviously, I think the SNES Donkey Kong Country games still look great, even today. :)

j_factor

08-21-2008, 04:21 AM

5. Parallax backgrounds and foregrounds with transparency and line scrolling.

What part of any Donkey Kong Country game has parallax backgrounds and foregrounds and transparency and line scrolling?

roushimsx

08-21-2008, 07:46 AM

That said, DKC was the very first game ever in existence on a home console that had those smooth rendered sprites.
(snip)
And to answer my suspicions, I visited your website and sure enough, you are a SEGA FANATIC. ;) No wonder you hate DKC...Haha... I love Sega too though...

I never thought anyone was that ignorant until a thread last year or so where someone (here, no less!) cited the prerendered sprites of DKC as something ahead of its time that pushed the system to its limits (or something similar). I'm sure someone with better forum search skills than myself could find the thread, but needless to say, it really surprised me and now it really makes me question whenever someone mentions the game as a major technical marvel. Especially when the base of your argument is that, "no one had ever seen prerendered sprites before", which still doesn't make it a technical marvel, it just makes it artistically different.

Took me a minute to figure out why you'd think that I was a Sega fanatic, but then I remembered that I had that Panzer Dragoon Saga page. Check my wiki (http://wiki.roushimsx.com/index.php?title=RoushiMSX%27s_Completed_Game_List) for the games I've beaten (particularly under unknown completion date since those are ones I generally beat back when they came out) and try telling me that I didn't have a PC and Nintendo bias ;)

However, there are still some impressive things going on in the DKC games:

I was thinking about the weather effects a little earlier when I was trying to think about what the game really did differently (in addition to the lighting, which it didn't do so much differently as it just looked really good) and yea, that was a hella nice effect.

DKC3 I'd totally buy off on as being technically impressive because of everything else it added (especially because of the compression, which is almost as impressive as Resident Evil 2 N64's considering the size they got it down to). It really showed how much further the little system could be pushed.

Rob2600

08-21-2008, 11:32 AM

What part of any Donkey Kong Country game has parallax backgrounds and foregrounds and transparency and line scrolling?

I didn't mean there are levels that have all of those effects simultaneously, but some come close. I remember there are levels in DKC 2 where the water keeps rising and falling. One of them is called Lava Lagoon. The whole thing is pseudo-3D (parallax, line scrolling, and who knows what other techniques) and has transparency. Take a look:

YouTube - Donkey Kong Country 2, Lava Lagoon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XD_Da1m_mk&feature=related)

The video is low res (it's YouTube, after all), but as you can see, the surface of the water and the wood beams in the background move in 3D (line scrolling?), and there's parallax scrolling, and there's transparency (the water), and there's the classic SNES ripple effect below the surface of the water (difficult to see because of the low res video, but I promise it's there). Not to mention the characters have far more frames of animation than most 2D games did at the time and the music is good, too. I found it all really impressive, especially when I played it in 1996.

Also, several bee/honey levels in DKC 2 feature parallax backgrounds and foregrounds and transparency (animated translucent honey dripping down the screen in the foreground, scrolling independently of the two backgrounds). Video:

YouTube - Donkey Kong Country 2, King Zing Sting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wGIBwioRSw)

thetoxicone

08-21-2008, 11:36 AM

The original GameBoy gets little mention nowadays, but Dragon Lair's presentation was superb artistically.

I've never played the original gameboy's version but the gbc version of Dragon's Lair amazes me. Also, though never released, the footage of resident evil for gbc was also quite immpressive.

jb143

08-21-2008, 01:52 PM

I've never played the original gameboy's version but the gbc version of Dragon's Lair amazes me. Also, though never released, the footage of resident evil for gbc was also quite immpressive.

The gbc version must be what he's talking about. The original game boy one is garbage.

BydoEmpire

08-21-2008, 09:20 PM

Intellivision: Treasure of Tarmin. Definitely one of the most "ahead of its time" games ever.

gdement

08-21-2008, 09:21 PM

Tons of 2600 games could be listed. That system, more than any other, had its limits redefined dramatically over it's life. It started out as not much more than a reprogrammable alternative to PONG. Bushnell even wanted to replace it in 1979 but he was overruled.

The primitive design made it very open to tweaking, so clever programmers were able to make it do things that wouldn't have appeared possible. All game systems can be exploited to some extent but I don't think any were so open as the 2600.

Pitfall and Solaris are pretty amazing for a system whose original design lent itself to Combat and Video Olympics.
Pitfall 2 is probably the most impressive I've seen, but it does employ a coprocessor in the cart.

Steve W

08-21-2008, 10:33 PM

When I think of impressive Atari 2600 games, I always think of Escape From The Mindmaster. Sure, it's got a little bit of a memory boost from the Supercharger, but still, the 3D perspective maze with force fields slipping through the walls and mini-games on each level made it pretty damn impressive when I first played it.

For the Intellivision, the most technically impressive game has to be Thunder Castle, hands down. Animated intro screens, multiple maze designs with animated elements and a full musical score throughout? I can't think of any other game that used the Intellivision hardware so well, especially considering that the main processor was running at less than one megahertz.

Atari 7800, I'll have to go with Midnight Mutants. Full screen bosses throwing multicolor sprites at you like crazy (like Dracula/Dr. Evil spewing bugs out of his ears for the last boss battle) always impressed.

j_factor

08-22-2008, 01:54 AM

I didn't mean there are levels that have all of those effects simultaneously, but some come close. I remember there are levels in DKC 2 where the water keeps rising and falling. One of them is called Lava Lagoon. The whole thing is pseudo-3D (parallax, line scrolling, and who knows what other techniques) and has transparency. Take a look:

YouTube - Donkey Kong Country 2, Lava Lagoon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2XD_Da1m_mk&feature=related)

The video is low res (it's YouTube, after all), but as you can see, the surface of the water and the wood beams in the background move in 3D (line scrolling?), and there's parallax scrolling, and there's transparency (the water), and there's the classic SNES ripple effect below the surface of the water (difficult to see because of the low res video, but I promise it's there). Not to mention the characters have far more frames of animation than most 2D games did at the time and the music is good, too. I found it all really impressive, especially when I played it in 1996.

I have played DKC2 to death and I know that level very well. It's nice looking, but it never struck me as anything major. That effect on the surface of the water (and with the wood beams) is just a normal parallax effect; I enjoy parallax more than most people, and it looks fine, but it's not any better than the parallax in dozens of other games. The ripple effect wasn't used in many games, but it's not a big deal.

The water isn't a true transparency effect in a strict sense, it's something built in to the SNES VDP. I believe SNES transparency works by allowing one background layer to be defined as a special transparent layer. It can only be done full screen or from a certain point down.

Also, several bee/honey levels in DKC 2 feature parallax backgrounds and foregrounds and transparency (animated translucent honey dripping down the screen in the foreground, scrolling independently of the two backgrounds). Video:

YouTube - Donkey Kong Country 2, King Zing Sting (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wGIBwioRSw)

Anytime you have multiple background layers, they can scroll independently. That "honey dripping down the screen" is just a moving transparent background layer. Notice how all the "honey" moves at once at the same pace, and how it's overlayed over the entire screen. I didn't notice any parallax in that video.

I'm not saying Donkey Kong Country 2 doesn't have nice visuals or anything. I just don't see it as really pushing the hardware in a technical sense.

minefield

08-22-2008, 05:10 AM

Panorama Cotton for the Mega Drive shows off with some dazzling scaling effects with an impressive colour palette. Decent audio too.

Rob2600

08-22-2008, 01:06 PM

I have played DKC2 to death and I know that level very well. It's nice looking, but it never struck me as anything major. That effect on the surface of the water (and with the wood beams) is just a normal parallax effect; I enjoy parallax more than most people, and it looks fine, but it's not any better than the parallax in dozens of other games. The ripple effect wasn't used in many games, but it's not a big deal.

Look again. The wood beams in the background move in 3D. Not the vertical wood beams, but the beams that are on the Z-axis.

There's a lot going on in DKC 2, especially compared to a game like Super Mario World. I'd put DKC 2 in the same league as Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island.

The water isn't a true transparency effect in a strict sense, it's something built in to the SNES VDP. I believe SNES transparency works by allowing one background layer to be defined as a special transparent layer. It can only be done full screen or from a certain point down.

As far as I know, the SNES can handle transparency. There are translucent clouds in the Ghost House intros in Super Mario World. There are also translucent green blobs in the castles. None of those objects are full screen.

Anytime you have multiple background layers, they can scroll independently. That "honey dripping down the screen" is just a moving transparent background layer. Notice how all the "honey" moves at once at the same pace, and how it's overlayed over the entire screen. I didn't notice any parallax in that video.

I've always understood parallax to mean background layers that scroll independently. By that definition, the bee/honey levels in DKC definitely feature parallax scrolling. There's the main background, the distant background, and the translucent animated foreground, all scrolling at different speeds. I know the YouTube video is low res, so it may be difficult to see that.

I'm not saying Donkey Kong Country 2 doesn't have nice visuals or anything. I just don't see it as really pushing the hardware in a technical sense.

Again, DKC 2's graphics are deceptively simple (for lack of a better term). There's actually a lot more going on than just pretty computer rendered graphics. Rare went all out.