Those Graphics and What Really Made You Go Oooh

[HandsomeDead]

You see the course I'm doing now really got me thinking about art a lot. I'm really thinking about what the shit you see means to you so since I'm a fucking nerd-arsed gamer I segue into what those game visuals mean to me.

And in thinking about visuals and gaming I think I may have come to a new conclusion.

Before, I always thought it was the PlayStation era that got me into games with things like Tomb Raider, Final fantasy VII and Resident Evil. I thought they were the games that made it click; but maybe they were just the final nail in the coffin.

It may have been Sonic the Hedgehog that actually set the ball rolling, and it's mostly because of how it looks.

I think back to the 90s when I was young and the shit I took in and it was the usual Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Thundercats and that sort of thing, as well as an interest in the more home grown things like Trapdoor and Nightmare. That was what my childhood looked like.

Then Sonic the Hedgehog came along with its detailed, pixelated visuals, and checkered cliffs with robotic plant life... with a blue hedgehog running around real damn quick. I remember looking at this game on Christmas morning and having my mind blown. I'd never seen anything like it.

Yeah, I had a Spectrum and a Mastersystem before but it was just something about those 16bit pixelated graphics that made me go "yes... videogames... they are awesome... I like looking at those... they show me the what I have never seen before."

So I think this thread is a tribute to those games you just like looking at, or bits of them you like looking at. Thins was the first time I played a game and just liked hanging out in:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v153/MinionStarwind/ToejamEarlinPaniconFunkotronE001.jpg

That's a bad pic of the area but they don't really exist on the ineternet... I guess that's what the problem is. Not enough pictures of the flowery place from Toejam & Earl 2.

EDIT: I can't even find a decent image to post on the forum... my God... this is why the internet is awful.

[wholehole]

I'll always hold the 16-bit era dear to my heart. There's just something about the pixel art from that generation that has something special the 8-bit consoles didn't quite manage. There are exceptions of course, SMB3 is the obvious one, but overall, whether it was the colour palettes or whatever, developers really found their edge during the 16-bit era.

In modern games I'm a complete sucker for some nice light shafts and some subtle depth of field effects. Tomb Raider nailed both of these things. Sometimes whilst playing I would just stand around and manipulate the camera to make these things happen on the screen

[Sly Reflex]

I think rotoscoped graphics from the ye olde ages and celshaded from the more modern games.

Stuff like Capcoms 16 bit games look fantastic, they really knew how to make the most out of the palate.

[radiofloyd]

Well my two first loves were Final Fantasy and Spyro and the visuals played a big part of that.

The same could be said for the Super Mario Land games and Pokemon on the Gameboy which had a really attractive visual style.

In terms of most recent games Catherine and Red Dead Redemption spring to mind.

[Jimboxy]

Super Mario Land 2 on the game boy was always the one that impressed me.

I had a master system for the longest time and the graphics on that had never really impressed me but I loved the games. It wasn't until I got a SNES with Mario All Stars that I went "oohhhhh", that and tiny toon adventures that was just like playing the cartoon.

Some of the early Playstation stuff was pretty mind blowing, but had aged much worse than the 16bit stuff. I remember Ridge Racer and Wipeout being completely amazing, my lasting memory of Wipeout is having proper music in the game.

[HandsomeDead]

Some of the early Playstation stuff was pretty mind blowing, but had aged much worse than the 16bit stuff. I remember Ridge Racer and Wipeout being completely amazing, my lasting memory of Wipeout is having proper music in the game.

I don't think much of the PlayStation stuff was that good looking even at the time. I think it was just the novelty of moving around in 3D and the new types of games that turned up because of it, but they always were pretty ugly.

I think maybe Gran Turismo would be an exception as it was probably the first time cars or anything had been rendered so well. Before GT racing games had cars where the proportions were always a bit off.