Early gen games that announced next gen is here. first 1-2 years in

[Leynos]

As the title says. These are games that came within the first 2 years of a generation/console that announced in their technical abilities and visuals why they justify a new hardware generation. Console or handheld.

1990 MUSHA on SEGA Genesis/Mega Drive. Esp in the US. Most people were used to NES. This game blew people away with it's speed. The detailed sprites. Parallax scrolling. Music. Some stages giving off a 3D look as you look down below clouds or a massive cliff. Hard to see now being 34 years later. But this game turned many heads back then. This is back when COMPILE was one of the ace developers along with Toaplan, Tecnosoft, and more and not making loli crap.

Shenmue in 1999.  Shenmue had focused on big areas but not the open world. Still insanely detailed with great character models with lip sync. Individual fingers are carefully modeled and textured. Random weather. Taking individual objects out of drawers. Off shelves, Off walls. Lights had a pull cord that would have perceived physics on the cord after being pulled.  This was the first time I ever saw a console game exceed PC visuals despite the power difference. It was also the console that for the first time I saw exceeded arcade hardware in Soul Calibur. I thought about including that game but Shenmue blows it out.