The positivity around Shovel Knight has recently gotten me thinking about this. The game is meant to artistically invoke a nostalgia for NES games, and while Shovel Knight does not strictly adhere to the limitations of those games, it does do well to bring out how great some of them looked.
But should I really speak in the past tense? If Shovel Knight can look good now, why can't the originals? Well I say they can! So this is the thread to do that. What classic NES do you still think look good to this day?
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I'll try not to be obvious by talking about Mario or Mega Man, and bring up a game I'm sure would never have been brought up:
Not only is Gargoyle's Quest II the single most criminally underrated NES classic, period, but it is also up there with Mega Man 2 and # or Super Mario Bros. 3 as quite possibly the most impressive looking game on the system. Everything in the background seemed to have geometry, a quality that immediately lets you know that it's a Capcom game. Gargoyle's Quest II takes this a step further though and actually gives it's key protagonist, the demon and gargoyle Firebrand, that very same geometric treatment. What this results in is a beautiful character sprite, in my opinion it's the best looking character sprite in any NES game, that fits in perfectly with his environment. This game is the NES's Donkey Kong Country. It looks that good while still playing not just well, but unique to any other NES platformer of the time and any other platformer at all since.
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What are you picks for great looking NES games? Pics, or it didn't happen. 
