I have made some research about hardware and graphics capabilities of the 8-bit generation consoles, and several interesting things came out.
This thread will be focused on hardware/graphics capabilities of those older console.

But first, if you missed the other parts, you can check generation comparisons here:
- Part 2: 16-bit Generation
- Part 3: 32/64-bit Generation

I have searched the web for data, mostly wikipedia, specialized sites, dev forums, old articles and lost in time interviews, but some data may be inaccurate or not. I have some skills in programming and OpenGL (mostly the fixed graphics pipeline) but I'm not an engineer or AAA developer so, if you, tech specialist guys of the forum, have better knowledge and better quality data feel free to post corrections and report errors!

Many of you probably already know about it, but let's take a look again just for fun :)

Group-1: Gameboy vs NES vs Master System vs PC Engine

[GAMEBOY]: Although it had a slower CPU/GPU than the NES, thanks to its bigger video RAM and fewer colors on screen it seems quite often on par with it, especially on sprite and background details. Look at Link's Awakening, it resemble more of A Link to the Past on SNES than The Legend of Zelda on the NES! Despite on the NES, parallax scrolling was tricky and demanding to implement, so it wasn't much used.

[NES]: One of the oldest 8-bit console on this list, and despite of this, thanks to the many chips on cartridge it managed to stay relevant (graphically speaking), introducing simulated parallax scrolling, better tile animations but also sound enhancements.

[MASTER SYSTEM]: One of the fastest console on this list, known for its smooth and colorful graphics, hosted several arcade ports such as Outrun, Hang On and Space Harrier. It couldn't flip sprites but at least it could create a 2x sized copy of sprites thanks to an hardware feature.

[PC ENGINE]: Often considered the first 16-bit console on the market, thanks to its fast cpu it could execute (software side) many advanced effects, such as sprite scaling and famous SNES mosaic effect, however, being not supported by the hardware they were quite demanding and used sporadically.

Some examples of graphics output comparison:

Gameboy	NES	Master System	PC Engine

Which graphics / pixel art are the best of the generation?

Gameboy	NES	Master System	PC Engine

To be honest, we have some unfair comparison here: the Gameboy is an handheld console, it came out 6 years after the NES but is still an 8-bit machine. Also the PC Engine is an hybrid 8/16-bit system, but in some ways also the Master System is too (they both had a 16-bit graphic processing unit). We will fix this in a later topic, for the 16-bit generation wars.

Group-2: Atari 2600 vs 7800 vs Lynx vs Gameboy Color

[2600]: The oldest console on the list, it used its TIA chip to also handle sound and controllers, while drawing on the display line by line on the fly. Interestingly, it wasn't hardware limited in drawing sprites vertically, so theoretically a 8x192 sprite was possible.

[7800]: Was the NES announced rival, planned for 1984 but released in 1986, quite on par with it with more capacity in some areas. The 2600's TIA chip handles sound processing (7800 mode) or handles video, sound and controllers (2600 compatibility mode). As its predecessor, it wasn't hardware limited in drawing sprites horizontally, so theoretically a 160x16 sprite was possible.

[LYNX]: Despite being an handheld console it was very advanced in 1989, featuring sprite scaling in hardware thanks to the Suzy Math-Engine that worked in parallel with the cpu, capable of vector, matrix and perspective calculations. Pseudo 3D graphics were also possible on this machine (see Hard' Driving), executed by distorting sprites. The Suzy chip was designed to not have fixed sprites limits in count and size on screen, so on paper they could be unlimited, but in practice they were limited by the amount of RAM available (quantity x size x color-depth) since they were defined and stored there (in a dedicated virtual space for graphics) prior to being displayed.

[GAMEBOY COLOR]: A faster Gameboy that could run in double speed mode for GB Color games and single speed mode for compatibility with original Gameboy games. It featured an Hi-Color mode for up to 2'000 colors on screen for displaying static images.

Some examples of graphics output comparison:

2600	7800	Lynx	Gameboy Color

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So, in your opinion which was the best hardware of the 8-bit generation?

Which console had the most impressive pixel art and/or the most complex games for the time?

Let the 8-bit war begin (again)!

PC engine is really in the 16 bit generation and yes I am aware 8bit CPU. I digress. PC Engine for having a lot of hidden gem RPGs like Cosmic Fantasy. East of Eden. The vest version of Ancient Ys Vanished and it's INSANE Shmup library.

Thanks for the work you put into this post. That contains some neat info.

I am impressed with some of the PC Engines feats, the big size of the sprites and the bigger number of colors combined with more VRAM could've made for some visually striking games - if the console would've taken off and game devs actually had put time into making optimized games. As it is I suspect most games were just ports without further effort.

I am also kinda amused by how much hardware support this era had in sprites and parallax scrolling: animated tiles, sprite flip and scaling and all this stuff allows for some neat effects. Nowadays these effects will be rendered live in software without the device breaking a sweat.

Don't forget there were other 8-bit machines like the Gameboy Colour, Atari 2600-5200-7800, Lynx. etc'.

The NES also had "enhancement chips" in it's carts... I.E. The MMC5/MMC6 had an extra 1kb of Ram.
Or the Namco 163 which contained extra processing to process 4-bit wav samples for audio.

PC Engine was definitely the platform that technically reigned supreme... Larger and more sprites, largest colour pallet, highest resolution. It was a comparative beast.
But also the least successful out of this bunch.

Extra 1 kb of ram. Hold the presses

PC Engine was arguably more of a 4th generation console than a 3rd. If anything, I'd like to see the Atari 7800 in the comparison, given that it was intended for a 1984 release window and still came out in 1986.

Even with the 6 year gap, I find it interesting how close to the NES the Game Boy was, especially since it came out before the SNES. I'm sort of reminded of the PSP and Vita, which were largely comparable to their contemporary PlayStation consoles upon release.

It's worth noting that the Game Boy's CPU, the LR35902, was based on the Z80, which the Master System used. I'm no expert, but even I know that the Z80 was a very widely used microprocessor in the 80's, and was also used in all sorts of arcade cabinets, home computers, and the Sega Genesis (along with a more powerful 16 bit microprocessor) and Game Gear. Assuming the LR35902 was not too different from the Z80, perhaps that made it cheaper and easier to develop and/or port various games to what would be largely familiar hardware.

This is interesting since the NES's Ricoh CPU was derived from the MOS Technology 6502, the other huge 8-bit CPU of the era (the 6502 was used in the Atari 2600, Apple II, Commodore 64, etc). This means, in at least this one respect, the Game Boy was more similar to the Master System than the NES. Especially when you consider that the GB is closer to the Master System's resolution, VRAM, method of Parallax scrolling, etc.

The Game Boy has some surprisingly good pixel art. Since they didn't have color, they went for detail. Some Game Boy sprites look better than all but the best NES games.

@Leynos @Salnax yeah that's right, to make justice I will add again the PC Engine (+Super CD-ROM?) to the 16-bit comparison topic I'm working on.
@Pemalite @sethnintendo thanks for the info, adding this info to the table ;)

From what I see the GB Color had a more powerful hardware than the original GB, and being an 8-bit console should be here for comparison. I could add at least an 8-bit Atari console (the 7800?)... updating in a few days ;)

I voted NES, because I consider the PC Engine to be a 16-bit machine. Sure, it's early 16-bit with some holdovers in the 8-bit category, but I'd still put it as 16-bit. (And NEC also wanted you to think of it as 16-bit, hence the name "TG-16".)

My favorite is the NES. Just the Castlevanias are enough for me to crown it.