Which generation of console gaming was the biggest leap forward?

[nuckles87]

My main issue with choosing 4-5 is because the transition between these generations was a lot messier than 5-6. On top of that, there WHERE some 3D games on fourth generation machines, and some early 5th gen machines featured poor 3D graphics (notably Atari Jaguar) that really didn't look that much better than stuff like Star Fox and Virtua Racing on SNES and Genesis.

From stuff like the FX chip and 32X to early 5th gen hardware like Jaguar and 3DO, to Neo Geo, which was a really strong 2D machine from the fourth generation that was capable of going toe to toe with the 2D capabilities of 5th gen machines, I'd say that this transition was slower, messier, and more gradual than a lot of other generational leaps. 5th gen WAS pretty darn revolutionary in terms of game design though, certainly more revolutionary than any generation sense.

But in terms of a graphical leap, I'd say 6th gen. This was the gen that brought us huge 3D worlds, detailed 3D graphics, and advanced 3D game design.

I mean, let's not forget, the 3D graphics of the 5th gen were pretty much undetailed boxes stuck together to make characters and worlds.

6th gen brought us fully realized characters, with eyes that could move individually, faces that could form various expressions, FINGERS, among other things. Shenmue, Metal Gear Solid, Halo 2, Star Fox Adventures, Panzer Dragoon Orta, these games contained detail and effects never seen in games before.

Let's also not forget the birth of the wide open sandbox game. Shenmue and Omikron were early pioneers, but Elder Scrolls 3 and Grand Theft Auto where the first games that really did it. Before this generation, the closest approximation we really had were early WRPGs like the first two Elder Scrolls games, which were procedurally generated in sprite based pseudo-3D worlds, rather than painstakingly rendered and designed in full polygonal 3D like Elder Scrolls 3 was.

On top of that, even 2D games were finally able to move away from pixel art and utilize hand drawn sprites, that didn't need to be downgraded to pixels to work. Only a few games really utilized this (like Alien Hominid), since 2D games were more or less dead on consoles at the time, and the few that were made utilized either polygons or sprites.