best looking games from each system?

[Dashopepper]

So a question I get a lot when showing people my collection is where does a system fit in among others graphically. My brother-in-law yesterday asked about the Master System so I put in Phantasy Star which I think shows off its capabilities. So my question is, if just for demonstration purposes, which game for each system would you show off as the best "looking"?

I'll start with 3

Gamecube - F Zero GX, this game I remember showing off. Silky smooth frame rate and crisp visuals and speed that is still impressive. I remember showing someone one of the unlocked AC tracks that was set in space with planets in the background. Gorgeous.

SNES - Yoshi's Island, pretty safe pick here. Late release with a special chip and all that. Yes, a lot of people don't care for it or at least say they don't, but some of the levels in the swamp definitely have a lot going on for them.

Atari - California Games, I really don't know much about California Games except that it has a different looking white label cartridge and that it was really pretty. It had 3 or so games on it and each of them I remember thinking looked better than whole other games for the system.

[wiggyx]

I think that F-Zero is an absolute eyesore. A fun game, no doubt, but a silky smooth frame-rate does not make a pretty game in my opinion

[The Adventurer]

Best looking Gamecube game is Wind Waker, hands down.

[wiggyx]

I'd say Prime 2 for the 'cube, Gran Turismo 2 for the PS, Majora's Mask for the N64, God of War 2 on the PS2, Panzer Saga on the Saturn, Shenmue on the Dreamcast, it's a tough call on the SNES for me, but I won't argue with Yoshi's Island as a contender. The NES is sorta tough. Little Nemo looked great, as did Mario 3, Crystalis, all the Megaman games, and so on. I don't know if I could get it down to a single "best". Legendary Axe 1 & 2 looked pretty amazing on the TG-16.

I'm not sure about the Genesis. Drawing a blank for some reason. I haven't played enough Xbox games to make a choice.

[Immutable]

A good contender for the NES would be "Little Samson". Some of the giant creatures/bosses are incredibly detailed.

[JakeM]

NES- Mario 3, Mr. Gimmick, Kirby
SNES- Chrono Trigger, Yoshis Island, Star Ocean
PS1- Symphony of The Night, Vagrant Story, Spyro

[Doonzmore]

Nes - Batman: Return of the Joker
N64 - Conker's Bad Fur Day or Sin and Punishment

[Captain_N77]

Here are some that came to mind.

NES: I agree on the Mega Man games. They didn't try to do too much, and they did what they did very well. It's a testament to their quality that Mega Man 9 &10 basically copied their look without the need to do much of an upgrade.

SNES: ActRaiser. The sidescrolling levels still look amazing to me.

N64: It's been a while, but Rayman 2 really floored me. Great use of color. I could agree on Majora's Mask as well.

GC: F-Zero GX is indeed a feast for the eyes, as is Wind Waker. I'd throw in the Viewtiful Joe and the Pikmin games too.

DC: Shenmue all the way for me.

[Bloodreign]

Two contenders for the Genesis, Ristar and Dynamite Headdy, Headdy has a ton of little animation touches in the stages that just make the game look awesome. Ristar has some nice detailed backgrounds, great looking sprites, and quite colorful for a Genesis title.

[CastlevaniaDude]

I'm gonna go with Metal Storm for NES.

[FrankSerpico]

Maui Mallard deserves mention for the SNES. The animation in that game is great. Also even though it's a crap game I'd have to give The Lost World the nod for Genesis. Kind of makes sense as it was the last first party game for the console, and would have been the last official release if not for Majesco's Frogger port that came out a few months later. Edit: Also Headhunter looks just as good as Shenmue imo.

[Mr Mort]

I'll throw my 2 cents in and say that Batman: Return of the Joker for the NES was about as close to a 16-bit game as you could get on that console. The sprites are large, detailed, and well-animated, the backgrounds were also very detailed & animated and had lots of parallax.

[buzz_n64]

My list for best visuals-

Atari 2600
Pitfall II

Atari 5200
Pitfall II

NES/Famicom
Crisis Force
Gradius II
Blaster Master
Mighty Final Fight

Genesis
X-Perts
Sonic 3 & Knuckles
Vectorman
Virtua Racing

SNES
Donkey Kong County 2
Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island
Starfox 2
Super Mario RPG
Super Metroid
F-Zero

Sega Saturn
Nights
Tomb Raider
Quake

Playstation
Gran Turismo 2
Spyro 3
Final Fantasy VII

Nintendo 64
Perfect Dark
Turok 2
Conker's Bad Fur Day

Dreamcast
Shenmue
Sonic Adventure 2

[kupomogli]

Best graphics are debatable because you might have your gritty looking high detail game, your clean looking lesser detailed game, or a game that has a few 3D models here and there but 99% of the game is prerendered 3D. Example below.

PSX - Parasite Eve 2. Best looking game on the PSX in my opinion, but the game is almost entirely prerendered except for character and enemy models.

Nightmare Creatures. The character models are fairly good, Tekken 3 or Tomb Raider graphics, but not as good as games like Resident Evil 2 or 3, Parasite Eve 2, etc. The environments are easily the best looking on the system outside of prerendered games.

Threads of Fate. Best looking lesser detailed game. Textures are better because so few are actually used.

*edit*

I was thinking of using Vagrant Story instead of Nightmare Creatures as the grittier high detail type game, but I feel that Nightmare Creatures environments look overall better because the environments look much better, even though I will say that Vagrant Story has a better balance between 3D character models and environments.

[bigbacon]

My list for best visuals-

Atari 2600
Pitfall II

this gets my vote for 2600 also...

music is my ringtone.

[Guyra]

Best graphics are debatable because you might have your gritty looking high detail game, your clean looking lesser detailed game, or a game that has a few 3D models here and there but 99% of the game is prerendered 3D.

This is very true. One of my favourite games for the NGC, and the one I will post as the best looking game on the system, is the Resident Evil remake, which is absolutely stunning:



Of course, that game uses prerendered graphics. But for any game that uses fixed camera angles, using prerendered 3D is a good idea. As you can see.

[PreZZ]

Dreamcast:Ferrari F-355 challenge. No game can rival those visuals on DC, Shenmue did look good but it has a lot of bad textures too.
Saturn: Astal and 2d capcom fighting games. 3D is just plain bad for all games.
ps1: Symphony of the night, still looks great today. 3d is bad also on all games on ps1
n64:yoshi story?
genesis: Sonic 3
snes:yoshis island.

[kupomogli]

Of course, that game uses prerendered graphics. But for any game that uses fixed camera angles, using prerendered 3D is a good idea. As you can see.

I meant that people see it in a different way. I have no issue with prerendered graphics, but there are people who don't think the graphics to those games count.

[Guyra]

I meant that people see it in a different way. I have no issue with prerendered graphics, but there are people who don't think the graphics to those games count.

Ah, sorry, that was just a general comment, and not really directed at you in any way. But yeah, some people actually don't consider it "real graphics" ... which is stupid, because in the end we just want it to look as good as possible, and this is just one smart way of doing that.

[JSoup]

People have been saying for years that Final Fantasy 6 pushed the SNES to it's technical limit and that it's one of the most amazing looking games the system had due to said pushing. Not sure how much of that is actually true and while FF6 is a beautiful game, there are other games that I think look better. Or maybe a better way to phrase that is more captured the feel of the 16-bit era, whichever word salad floats your boat, I guess.