Rick Dangerous Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 Hey AA people, I was just wondering what games you thought were the best examples of graphics on any given system. Below is my list. I realize this is subjective and I'm curious to see what your favorites are. Atari 2600: Halo 2600 Atari 5200: Rescue on Fractalus, Atari 7800: Commando Atari Jaguar: Alien vs. Predator Atari Lynx: Zaku NES: Super Mario Bros 3 SNES: Starfox N64: Banjo Kazooie Gamecube: Metroid Prime (via component cable) Wii: Xenoblade Chronicles Wii U: Watchdogs Genesis: Road Rash III Sega CD: Snatcher 32X: Metalhead Sega Saturn: Panzer Dragoon II Sega Dreamcast: Shenmue 3DO: Bladeforce TG-16: Air Zonk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey.shake Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 I'd be hard-pressed to come up with a better option than Starfox for the SNES, other than perhaps some of the pre-rendered titles like Donkey Kong Country, though those are divisive. For NES? I love SMB3, but I think there are some games that might best it (it's all opinion anyway, right?). I know it's cheating a bit since they're Japan-only Famicom games, but Crisis Force (gorgeous scrolling/backgrounds) and Recca (detailed sprites by the bucketload, virtually no slowdown) come to mind. Battletoads (with its horizontal/vertical switching, the "robot POV" boss-battle) is pretty good, and Kirby's Adventure and Little Samson are also top-notch in color and detail. And while not up to the par set by those, I have a soft spot for the fun, detailed, and colorful sprites and backgrounds in Jackie Chan's Action Kung Fu. Should be noted that lots of these were from late in the lifespan, so some/many have extra chips in the carts themselves, right? Atari 2600 has stuff like Beamrider and even high-color low-flicker games Keystone Kapers and Pressure Cooker. I dig Halo 2600 a LOT (more than I should), but I think Beamrider bests it due to the percieved 3-D effect. Of course, your mileage may vary, and I'm interested to see what the rest of the AA community thinks about this perennial debate-starter... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mbd30 Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 "Atari 2600 has stuff like Beamrider and even high-color low-flicker games Keystone Kapers and Pressure Cooker. " The 2600 was originally designed to play "Pong" and "Combat". That it was later able to do stuff like "Solaris", "Juno First" and "Keystone Kapers" amazes the heck out of me. No other console has been pushed harder. I second "Battletoads" for NES. It's too bad that the game is so hard that most players won't see beyond the third stage except in Youtube videos. For Sega Genesis I might go with "Vectorman". It's like a glorified tech demo. "Axelay" is an impressive game that isn't "Donkey Kong Country" and doesn't use special chips. "Spyro the Dragon" demonstrated that the Playstation could handle a polished 3D platformer comparable to what was on the N64. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikey.shake Posted September 21, 2015 Share Posted September 21, 2015 "Atari 2600 has stuff like Beamrider and even high-color low-flicker games Keystone Kapers and Pressure Cooker. " The 2600 was originally designed to play "Pong" and "Combat". That it was later able to do stuff like "Solaris", "Juno First" and "Keystone Kapers" amazes the heck out of me. No other console has been pushed harder. I second "Battletoads" for NES. It's too bad that the game is so hard that most players won't see beyond the third stage except in Youtube videos. For Sega Genesis I might go with "Vectorman". It's like a glorified tech demo. "Axelay" is an impressive game that isn't "Donkey Kong Country" and doesn't use special chips. "Spyro the Dragon" demonstrated that the Playstation could handle a polished 3D platformer comparable to what was on the N64. I COMPLETLY forgot about "Solaris". That would almost certainly trump Beamrider in my book, graphically speaking. Good call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seob Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Videopac - the Mage series Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skippy B. Coyote Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 (edited) Very cool thread idea! There are a lot of consoles listed in the original post that I have little to no experience with, so I can't speak in regards to all of them, but of the ones I've owned and played extensively here's my picks: Home Consoles Atari 2600: Solaris NES: Kirby's Adventure Sega Genesis: Virtua Racing PlayStation: Tekken 3 PlayStation 2: Okami GameCube: Star Fox Adventures Wii: Muramasa: The Demon Blade Portable Consoles Game Boy: Faceball 2000 Game Boy Color: Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare Game Boy Advance: Iridion 3D Nintendo DS: Metroid Prime Hunters I know a lot of those home console picks may be pretty subjective (especially once you get into the PS1, PS2, GameCube, and Wii), but I do feel fairly confident about my portable console choices. Edited September 22, 2015 by Jin Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algus Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Oh Kirby's Adventure is amazing. If it had more color depth it would be at home on the Genesis. As is, it looks like a TG-16 game. I like games that are stylized or use something like cel-shading. It holds up better over time and doesn't seem to tax the system. Years later I remain impressed by Mega Man Legends, Robotech: Battlecry (looks like the show!) and other games of that nature. This is not what this topic is asking, I know. I could see something like Suikoden III on a modern system though and that seems pretty good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Dangerous Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 How did I not remember the Playstations? PS1: Metal Gear Solid PS2: God of War PS3: Uncharted 3 And agree with this one for sure: "Nintendo DS: Metroid Prime Hunters" Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ubersaurus Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Atari 2600: Solaris NES: Kirby's Adventure SNES: Yoshi's Island Genesis: Gunstar Heroes Sega CD: Eternal Champions N64: Indiana Jones Gamecube: Star Wars: Rogue Leader Wii: Super Mario Galaxy Xbox: Riddick Saturn: Vampire Savior 32X: Darxide Dreamcast: Soul Calibur Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roland p Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 MSX1: F1-Spirit MSX2: Space Manbow Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+Cafeman Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Trying to balance overall 'good lookin'-ness' vs 'impressive technical achievement' . Here goes! Atari 2600. Original = Robot Tank. Overall = Lady Bug. Atari 5200. Probably Rescue on Fractalus. Hard to argue against that. I would also vote for Adventure II due to Raccoon Lad's artwork on the mazes and castles. Atari A8 computers. I'm not as well versed with all available, but the new "AtariBlast" is very impressive to me, graphically. Colecovision. Again I'm not very familiar. For me, probably Turbo due to the huge building 'scaling' effects which you just didn't see on a console, back then. ... Sega Genesis. I vote for Adventures of Batman & Robin, by Clockwork Tortoise. Streets of Rage 2 also looks fantastic. Technically, Virtua Racing wins with its 3D chip. Sega CD. Ecco the Dolphin for its beautiful artwork and shading. Silpheed's 3D effect was very impressive back in the day, but doesn't hold up now. Hmm.. Final Fight CD and Eternal Champions CD have big characters , detailed backgrounds, and tons of animation! I guess I have to give it to Final Fight CD. Sega Saturn - Panzer Dragoon Zwei. PD Saga is a more impressive game but not graphically better, overall. Some of the scenes in PDZ are really cool! (Dead or Alive import is pretty impressive also). Dreamcast - Shenmue and Crazy Taxi and Soul Calibur and Dead or Alive 2 for different reasons each. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Algus Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Oh Dead or Alive has always had lovely (*wink*) graphics. DoA 3 on Xbox looks just like an early 360 game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nutsy Doodleheimer Posted September 22, 2015 Share Posted September 22, 2015 Atari 2600: Solaris Atari 5200: Adventure 2 Atari 7800: Commando Colecovision: Zaxxon NES: Kirby's Adventure Turbo Grafx 16: Bonk's Revenge Genesis: Comix Zone SNES: Yoshi's Island PS1: Crash Bandicoot Warped N64: Goldeneye Saturn: Panzer Dragoon Dreamcast: Shenmue PS2: GTA Vice City Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
malducci Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 TG16: Air Zonk??? There are soo many more games that are visually impressive. Sapphire, Dracula X, Lords of Thunder, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LynxVGL Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Fir the Atari 8 Bit line, Alternate Reality, and the LucasArts trilogy of Ballblazer, Fractalus, and Eidolon Rift. VCS: I'm leaning toward Activision/Imagic titles. RoboTank still holds up today. Colecovision: It's a dog to play, but Illusions is really pretty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gamecat80 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I agree with Kirby's Adventure for NES. Would also add M.C. Kids for NES. ColecoVision: Tarzan, Tapper, and Wing War. They look more like NES games. And Smurf Rescue is still one of the better looking games on ColecoVision Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reaperman Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 some of my go-to prettiest games. Nothing too surprising in the list, but I'm not seeing much overlap. It was kind of painful putting two gran turismo games on it. gba: moto racer advance Atari 800: Koronis Rift Atari 2600: Battlezone Atari 7800: Ballblazer Neo Geo: Mark of the Wolves Genesis: Lightening Force 3do: wing commander 3 SNES: Tactics Ogre NES: Recca ps1: gran turismo 2 ps2: Gran Turismo 4 Saturn: marvel vs street fighter dreamcast: test drive le mans Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gregory DG Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I always thought BMX Airmaster for the 2600 almost looked like a NES game. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ed1475 Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 Atari 2600: Solaris & Frogger (Starpath) Intellivision: "Boss Ship" in Demon Attack Colecovision: Tarzan Coleco Adam: Dragon's Lair Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
akator Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 A lot of good suggestions here. 3D Narrow Escape for Vectrex is just as awesome today as it was back then. Another that impressed me back in the day was Turbo for ColecoVision, and I think it still holds up pretty well for it time. 2 more that were graphically impressive on the PlayStation / PSone: R4 Ridge Racer Type 4 and Fear Effect. It's amazing how much they kept squeezing out of that system. I didn't discover those 2 games until well after I had a PS2 and I was still impressed by them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiLic0ne t0aD Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 (edited) Atari 2600: Solaris Intellivision: Demon Attack ColecoVision: Antarctic Adventure Vectrex: Vector Pilot NES: Battletoads N64: Conker's Bad Fur Day Edited September 25, 2015 by SiLic0ne t0aD85 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
robotwo Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 I would like to mention Aladdin on the Master System. It presents a pretty neat perspective using both animated tiles and scanline separated scrolling. First time playing the game I was absolutely blown away by the effect It's used mainly in the first and second levels, but the graphics overall is very high quality. [VIDEO] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cimerians Posted September 25, 2015 Share Posted September 25, 2015 What I like (not really technical I guess and not including homebrews): Atari 2600 - HERO, Pitfall II or anything by later Activision 83'/84'. Pressure Cooker, Keystone etc. Solaris looks great too Intellivision - Demon Attack Colecovision - BC's Quest for Tires, Smurf Rescue. Atari 7800 - Commando NES - Kirbys Adventure, Castlevania III, Little Nemo Dreamaster. I also thought The Immortal looked cool back then on the NES. SNES - DK Country games, Out of this World, Prince of Persia, Megaman X Series, Super Ghouls n' Ghosts, Castlevania games. Genesis - Vectorman, Comixzone PS1 - Metal Gear Solid, Castlevania SOTN, FF 9, Gran Turismo 2, Fear Effect series, Parasite Eve 2, Tekken 3. Dreamcast - Soul Calibur, Shenmue and maybe Code Veronica. PS2 - God of War 1,2, FF 12, Shadow of the Colossus, Odin Sphere Xbox - Ninja Gaiden Black, Halo series etc. I'm missing a lot from lack of memory but these all stand out for me..... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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