I am starting this thread to talk about the best looking games around, 2D Games went out of fashion During the 5th Gen of consoles, as polygons were all the rage and Nintendo even banned 2D games from the N64. But recently some great looking sprite games have been released that look truly beautiful.

Games like 

Muramasa: The Demon Blade

Blazeblue: Calamity trigger

Braid

to name a few and if you look back at the classic games of yore I think you will find that 2D games hold up much better than 3D games just compare...

to

which do you prefer, I mean lets face it 2D just ages better so what do you guys think should all games be 2D or should it die in a corner? I mean it's not like they both have a place in gaming now is it? 2D is enough for any man who needs a third? greedy people thats who I mean what's next 4D? the human eye can't even see that many. Oh and I know what you are thinking "Zarx you are forgetting time, even side scrollers have 3 dimensions because Einstein said so" well you are wrong we are talking about visual dimensions obviously.

For any resolution, there's no restraint on shapes etc you can draw aside from size of the sprite. For 3D, obviously there's the polygon limit; a low polygon count 3D game will seem less detailed than a 2D game of the same resolution.

An example might be FF7, the backgrounds were 2D, very detailed, and sometimes the 3D block characters stood out like a sore thumb.

the most beautiful games are 2D or 2.5D lol Okami comes to mind and would get my vote as most beautiful game graphics ever. 4D? wtf we got time travel already? lol

3D games haven't held up as well because they haven't been around that long. You really have to compare PSX/N64 games to Atari 2600 games or even earlier games. The previous gen (PS2, Xbox, GC) is like the 3D equivalent of the 16-bit era, or something like that.

I believe that PS3/360 games will age a little better than earlier 3D games have. At some point graphics start to resemble the things they are actually supposed to be, whether it be 2D or 3D. Early 2D games were just a bunch of nasty pixels with no detail, the same way early 3D games were just a bunch of blocks and smeared textures (if they even had textures).

Heh, heh. You said "whores". Then you said "come".

You can't beat hand-drawn 2D!

This is definitely a better thread than I expected to see!

Braid is one of the best looking games this generation, in my book. It is easier to make a really beautiful game in 2D, but that doesn't mean there aren't some really awesome games in 3D as well.

Awesomely beautuful 3D games this generation:
1. Love
2. Flower
3. Mirror's Edge
4. Darwinia

2/4 of those are Swedish, I guess it really helps if the creators are from the same country, thus having some of the same values when it comes to beauty.

Something I really dislike in modern 3D games is bumpmapping. I find it to be ugly most of the time, and it can really bring down the impression I get from a game. Cases in point would be God of War III and Gears of War (or any game from the Unreal Engine, with one exception). The fact that 2D doesn't do bump mapping really makes it a lot easier for me to enjoy 2D games.

I know that but I still like me some good sprites and 3D (saying that is so weird now, curse you new 3D craze) games can be great looking and for realism they are definitely the way to go but games like Muramasa and Braid prove that great hand-drawn sprites still have a place in gaming. And maybe it's just me but great pixel art (even 8bit and earlier) still can look good and on modern tech it can still have it's place just look at Metal Slug those games still look good to me, maybe it's just nostalgia tho.

@ d21lewis he he he yes I did... Hey wait what a sick mind you have, that's disgusting I am taking the moral high ground on this one take your mind out of the gutter.

PS this topic is a bit of a joke so no one has to take it to seriously but feel free to talk about how great 2D art in games is and how polygons need to die.

Hand Drawn 2-d, but what catagory does Disgaea fall under?

2D games when done right are a visual marvel. I think its because they are being compared to past 3D games, and most of those are from 2 or more generations ago. Whereas most 3D games are compared to last gen, so the difference isnt as huge. But I like both honestly when they are done right.

Muramasa looks beautiful by the way. Never saw it before.