The cartridge art was always so kickass. You just had to use your imagination quite a bit...
The cartridge art was always so kickass. You just had to use your imagination quite a bit...
I remember playing Doom for the first time and I remember thinking that graphics would never get any better than that. Like the arm even moves when he walks!
How horribly naïve I was.
84I remember feeling the same way with Myst. "It even has video!"
14grew up with c64, spectrum+3, master system, genesis, nes, snes. So when I bought a ps1 with my paper round money and started up the intro to Soul Blade, that would become Soul Calibur, the graphics jump shook me to my core and brought tears to my eyes. I was like "THIS is the peak of graphics. Nothing can beat this.
Here's the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jscuco8zEk
13Here is an alternative Piped link(s): https://piped.video/watch?v=5Jscuco8zEk
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source, check me out at GitHub.
3I mean that looks legit. I've got no nostalgia at play here, having never seen that intro before.
3
I had those moments multiple times. I remember thinking the same about International Karate on the Amiga. Then my mind was blown with Street Fighter II, Max Payne was one for sure as mentioned elsewhere and let’s not forget Carmageddon, which got a little bit too realistic. Graphics technology developed so fast, you can’t compare it to today’s upgrades. As I’m older now 10 year old games still feel “new” to me.
10As I’m older now 10 year old games still feel “new” to me.
It's not just you getting older, it's also diminishing returns.
It takes more and more effort, both in manpower as in graphical processing power, to make graphical leaps, and the visible returns are getting less.
You can compare it to video formats:
- VHS => DVD: huge quality upgrade
- DVD => 1080p HD: yeah that definitely looks better
- 1080p => 4k: I guess it's a little sharper?
- 4k => 8k: Well it's ... more. Also: why is everything running so hot?
18Agreed. I used to be blown away by a game from a technical standpoint 2-3 times per console generation and at a similar clip on the PC side. Now we are getting GTA V and Skyrim re-released for the 10th time. Neither of those games were groundbreaking at the time (IMO) as they both were good but predictable progressions from their previous entries.
Playing DKC and seeing the detailed sprites, Mario 64 (and several others) ushering in 3D, the FMVs in FF VII, and the enemy AI in FEAR, these things felt like monumental leaps forward. Nowadays, the closest thing I can think of is something like Elden Ring or TotK which to me is just taking an existing good game (Dark Souls/BotW) and slapping a mechanic onto it (Open world/crafting). They are both excellent games, but neither compare to the leap forward of FF VII or Mario 64.
Maybe I'm just jaded by adulthood and have my rose tinted glasses on.
2
@lobut I thought Donkey Kong Country on the SNES was photorealistic and rivaled movies like Terminator 2, which used the same technology behind the scenes. I thought every game would look the same as Donkey Kong Country in future.
7I remember getting deep into that game, trying to make my own levels with megs of RAM and having things crash. Changing all the sprites on some of the mobs, recording my own sounds and replacing various noises in the game. I learned how to strafe using 100& keyboard (couldn't look up or down in that game), and dominating the evil. Good time to be a teenager. I still think some of the secret rooms in that game were some of the best.
3Same. It was too realistic.
2
No way would that kid be frowning. If this was legitimately in the late 70s or early 80s that kid would be ecstatic with the graphics.
61There, I fixed it!
27perfect
4
Always so kick ass
Always?
Have you seen the cover art for the first MegaMan game? lmao
Even funnier with the boasting of "state of the art high resolution graphics" at the top. Though to be fair, the actual game looks infinitely better than that cover.
54On the other hand, the European box art is fucking awesome
29Other than Dr. Wiley lookin' like fuckin' Mark Twain, that is pretty sick. Actually, fighting Mark Twain would be sick, too.
12
I don't know which I love better
- This isn't even the right color scheme for the character, so it's not like they misinterpreted the sprite
- Rock over here looks like he shit himself upon seeing a Mettaur and is trying (and failing) to pretend he didn't.
- Mega Man doesn't even use a gun, he uses a Buster. The only time Mega Man has used a gun are instances that parody this boxart or rare occasions like when his internet incarnation uses the Gun Del Sol during crossover events with Boktai
19He does make a face like he doesn't want to be seen in that suit and with his frog legs.
14Even funnier with the boasting of "state of the art high resolution graphics" at the top.
At the time, this want really that inaccurate. There weren’t many video games with the same quality.
The only reason it’s laughable now is because it’s been 35 years since the claim was made.
14No, it was inaccurate, even at the time. The Famicom was built to cost and and mainly used cheap off-the-shelf components that were already obsolete when the system first released in 1983. The NES released in North America the same year as the Commodore Amiga, a system that actually was cutting edge, and represented a big leap forward in what home computers could do graphically. By the time Mega Man released, the Amiga was on it's second revision and other home computers were rapidly catching up to it's capabilities.
While Mega Man was one of the best games on the NES, it ran at the same resolution as every other game on the system, and was stuck working within the same limited color palette and low sprite limit that were more than five years behind the curve when it released.6
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13Looking at this cover art again now, it kinda reminds me of AI-generated art lol
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5The american Ico cover is a crime against art
5
52
I present Rigby, named after the finest dumbest fucking raccoon ever.
17
My favorite
44I love this one. Why is his face off center? Why does he have a normal gun?
22The 80s
14So many questions...I want to know who paid real money for this
6At least in Mega Man 2 he looks like a slightly more normal dude in riot gear with a gun.
5
I love that they brought back Bad Box Art Mega Man in Street Fighter x Tekken
8He put all his points into thighs and had none left over for neck.
4How have I never seen this before?
4
VHS covers were the same way.
Also, it's a terrible movie that was on Mystery Science Theater 3000.
37It depends on the movie, og terminator VHS slip art is fucking great. Also honorable mention to monty python and the holy grail.
9It was apparently worth the time and money to make four of these movies.
5And the star of two of them, Miles O'Keefe, hates the ones he was in. He praised MST3K for being so merciless.
6
The VHS covers of the 80s-90s Godzilla movies were so good. I still have those tapes for the art.
5
Except in the case of the Sega Master System, where the simplistic 8-bit graphics felt like a massive leap up from the terrible box art!
28probably the nostalgia talking, but it was satisfying having all your games look the same on the shelf
7The common style is iconic, but that plain grid on a white background is a pretty boring style.
That said it did evoke a little imagination, especially with the manuals.
1
Ugh, yeah those identical cartridges. The cases they came in had some ok art sometimes, but it was always in the middle of that ugly grid.
4How dare you, sir!
1
Remember the coverart for Phalanax and how it had NOTHING to do with the game at all? And when asked the company said they simply put a cover they thought would be eyecatching.
Why a random old coot with a banjo on a rocking chair would accomplish that is beyond me
24When everything is spaceships and big men with guns. You might ask whats this thing with old man and a banjo?
9
This is how I feel about mobile games. Even the good mobile games will have some epically animated scene that shows all out war between a bunch of magical badasses with explosions and all kinds of epic shit.
Then the gameplay is some low effort turn based game where the characters barely move and the attack effects are pathetic light shows.
21To be fair actually sick effects and attacks would probably take like 30 seconds per turn. Looking at you final fantasy VII
5Can't forget the microtransactions.
Mobile games could have been so much better than they turned out to be.
1
I’m making an indie game. The last thing I’m focused on is the graphics. Nobody gives two shits if the game looks dated or not. The most important factor is how the player FEELS.
I want my players to feel like they are a master strategist as they make their way through my levels. I try to back this feeling up with some good music I’m having made for the game. The artist I’m working with has played a few levels just to get and idea of the vibe I’m going for.
I know there is more to it than that but I’m just one dude and if I’m going to spend the time, I’d rather make it fun than pretty.
18Totally agree. A flashy light show will only keep people's focus for a hot minute, but good core gameplay will keep players engaged for so much longer. Just look at dwarf fortress, lol.
4I would say It Depends. I play almost exclusively indy games and yes AAA graphics aren't what I'm expecting.
But some indy games just look like the dev threw the sprites together in less than half a day and it can be offputting. Dated can be ok, but rushed and butt ugly... Hell I almost skipped Rimworld way back when because the visuals looked so lazy.
The gameplay has to be really freaking fantastic to cover that up. In Rimworld's case it was.
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Battlebit is a good example of this for me - graphics are super basic but it's fun af and they get the important parts right.
1
Last panel inaccurate, games were vibrant and awesome
Just like the ones today that will feel amateurish compared to future immersive games. Give it time
18Perhaps like this?
17I like this version better!
9
It's a little less impressive when I got my 8-bit console after 16-bit ones were already out, but that didn't stop me from playing.
2Yeah, I played them a little out of order too, but I never cared as a kid.
2
Games today (also games in the mid 90s) tend to focus on graphics and not as much gameplay, problem with this is that they tend to age poorly, which is why Atari, Famicom, and C64 games are well remembered and still being played to this day but Amiga games aren't as much, they were primarily designed for graphics and thus look dated today.
It's also why many Indie games embrace the retro style and game mechanics instead of going for graphical wows. These games are just relevant and enjoyed for longer.
2
A couple of examples from the comments of another post:
Source of the image: Retro 19 – Abu Simbel, Profanation | Commodore Spain
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Source of the image: El confidencial
12Spanish developers using Alfonso Azpiri's art for their games is actually genius. If I was a kid in the late 80's I would have bought game over or R.A.M the moment I saw the cover.
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12I dunno if that's the same. VVVVVV at no point indicates it's supposed to represent anything more complex than what it looks like, it just embraces minimalism as it is.
8Permanently Deleted
5
For me the worst was handed down PS1 games with awesome CD art... that just wouldn't load ☹️
10And later we were further deceived with cut-scenes that were so much better than the gameplay.
9….which itself gave birth to everyone’s favourite small print .
*not actual gameplay
3I never liked those FMVs. They age so badly too, those FMVs looked like a blurry mess when I was playing PS1 games on my PC using an emulator
3Ff8's seamless cinematic to cut-scene swaps were amazing. Ages very poorly, tho.
3
Idk dude, Ultra Action Guys looks pretty fuckin rad.
8I remember there being some sci-fi shootet game for the SNES that had some old fart playing a banjo on the cover. What was that game?
5almost amazing that video games even took off lol
4How I feel now everytime I load up a new 8bit indie game. I want those kinds of game mechanics. I want those style of games from the perspective of playstyle. I do not enjoy 8bit graphics.
2My experience has been that 8-bit on the consoles in the 1980s is very different from 8-bit in most indie games right now.
The art direction in old games felt more polished and easier to look at.
3Yeah. I have a similar experience. Those developers were working pretty hard within the constraints of the mediums they were working with and they made some truly amazing stuff as a result. I feel like 8bit is an attempt at nostalgia in new games and it doesn't land for me. I know I'm probably in the minority. That's okay though.
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