curl-6 said:
TheLastStarFighter said:
I've had similar thoughts to this at times, but I'm not sure that it's true.
NES: Nintendo really pushed the boundaries of 8-bit development here. SMB3 did some some pretty awesome stuff. Games like Zelda and Metroid also pushed what a game could be. Other games like FF3 and late comers like TMNT2 and Battletoads may have been the absolute max of the system, but many Nintendo games really broke new ground.
SNES: On launch it was definitely non-Nintendo titles that looked the most impressive. Castlevania 4 and FFIV stood out as next-gen much more than SMW - although F-Zero was also very breath-taking, as was Pilotwings. In the end Rare's DKC series was the presentation benchmark. So if you want to count Rare as Nintendo, then I think they really pushed the system's abilities.
N64: For me the groundbreaking games on the system are M64, OoT and MM. So I would say that Nintendo really pushed the N64 and were at the cutting edge of game tech during these years. You could also include Goldeneye for being groundbreaking.
GC: I would call Zelda:WW the benchmark.
Wii: SMG and Xenoblade were the games that pushed the system the best.
Wii U: To date, the best presentation is SM3DW.
In summary, I think that Nintendo actually does push the limits of its hardware. I think lately they are really missing the skill of good third party support that can make games with different themes and presentation that can push the system, but overall Nintendo has frequently made some pretty ground-breaking titles. Even if sometimes they were exceeded at some point by a 3rd party game, it's not necessarily for the better. A game like Doom on SNES may push the system beyond its limits, but I don't really think that's a good thing. Programming within the limits can give you a better result, and sometimes takes more true skill.
Nintendo has often pushed their own systems tech - I'd like to see that a little more with Wii U. Mario and Zelda games should really be ground breaking. I'm hoping for something good with Zelda U. |
I never said Nintendo doesn't push their console's tech; they obviously do, every one of their consoles except Wii U has multiple first party games that push it. It's just that other devs push them harder.
The Conduit games and Jett Rocket are doing more high-end effects than SMG or Xenoblade, (normal mapping, dynamic global lighting, depth of field, interactive water physics, etc) and as gorgeous as 3D World looks, its not pushing textures, lighting, effects, AA, etc to the same level as Trine 2 Director's Cut.
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Yeah, I guess what I would say is that while some 3rd party games may push Nintendo systems to the absolute limit, quite often it's Nintendo games making the biggest "jump" on the system. I.E., TLoZ introduced open world, save states, complicated item collection, etc to NES. Other games would build on that and push the system further, but the jumps would be smaller than what Zelda would do. Similar to M64 and OoT - Nintendo used the system to break ground with those titles. Some later titles would push it further but in many ways just building a little more on what Nintendo already did.
I honestly never played Conduit and Jett Rocket and I'm sure they have more high-end effects than Xenoblade, but do they have an overall impressive presentation like the Monolith title? I'm thinking of great graphic detail, music, character models and ridiculous draw distances?
I would call Trine 2 and SM3DW close in terms of technical impressiveness. Trine's amazing, but 3DW has some pretty next-gen effects in terms of lighting, water, etc. The character models are also extremely detailed - Mario looks like a real clay puppet from an old Nintendo Power cover. Combined with the moving camera in a true 3D environment and I'd put Mario ahead a little compared to Trine 2.
