The N64 had the best 3D graphics of the three, but it was the weakest on 2D. A lot of companies didn't handle its filtering capabilities very well leading to blurry graphics.
PS1 generally got the best results with hybrids of 3D models on 2D backgrounds, as was done with Final Fantasy and Resident Evil. But Rare actually did the same thing in reverse with Killer Instinct Gold, carefully moving the backgrounds around to provide a pseudo 3D appearance to a 2D fighter. That's most noticeable in the stages for TJ Combo, Kim Wu, and Tusk.
A lot of how good games looked came down to the artistry and comfort level developers had with 3D graphics. Nobody could really touch Nintendo's circle of developers, which includes Rare, when it came to N64 games looking good. Konami got rather inconsistent results due to having some difficulty mastering 3D graphics. Castlevania didn't look nearly as good as Ocarina of Time. Mystical Ninja Starring Goemon utilized a simpler art style and actually didn't look bad.
Meanwhile, Tekken 3 utilized what were probably the best human models I saw of the generation as far as animation and detail, but since that game was 3D models on 2D backgrounds on PS1, Namco could concentrate on modeling and animating the fighters. Final Fantasy's battle animations were amazing, but there's also a difference between playing canned animated sequences and the things you could do in realtime in Ocarina of Time.
Saturn's games were much more primitive in 3D, but they still managed to come up with some good-looking games like Virtua Fighter (which had real 3D backgrounds, unlike Tekken), NiGHTS, and Panzer Dragoon Saga. I can't really attest to the 2D graphics, since I didn't own a Saturn and certainly didn't own a memory expansion for it to play the Capcom fighters. I wasn't really interested in those anyway.
And damn, I wish Nintendo had been able to finish Earthbound 64/Mother 3. Besides satisfying a desperate need for RPGs, what they had done looked really good. And it seems like they were pretty close to being able to finish, but it was too little, too late. It's too bad they couldn't at least move development to the Gamecube.
Last edited by SanAndreasX - on 02 September 2022
