By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close

Forums - Gaming Discussion - Games that were graphically well ahead of their time

curl-6 on 05 October 2020

I'm playing through Conker Live and Reloaded on the original Xbox atm, and there are times when it looks like a 360 game.

Lukaz0r said:
Come to think of it quite a lot of Gamecube games were stunning, as mentioned above Rogue Squadron 2 and then 3 are stunners, Star Fox Adventures was beautiful, F Zero GX at 60 fps and Resident Evil 4.

Crazily enough, Rogue Squadron 2 and 3 and Star Fox Adventures were 60fps as well. The Gamecube was just an insane piece of kit for its time in terms of graphics.

Vinther1991 said:

And obviously Daytona USA, Arcade version. Unbelievable that this game was released in 1993, it was fully 3D and was released same year as Doom, and a year before Donkey Kong Country, it looks like a Dreamcast game.

Was coming back to post this; it was so far ahead of its time that the Saturn port years later, on hardware that wasn't even out yet when the arcade version released, ran at a third the framerate with heavily cut back visuals.

This coming out in 1993 was like if say, Doom 3 had come out before 6th gen consoles.



Around the Network
pastro243 on 05 October 2020
Eric2048 said:
Final Fantasy XII looked amazing for a PS2 game.

This one too, the difference with X was huge imo



- Our album on spotify https://open.spotify.com/album/56mEbEgyBYGzcDyZ1eMQ1v?si=hYKgir5YRSCrzywgGmV4oQ

- Our videoclip 

- My manga: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/blanca-the-world/list?title_no=313068

d21lewis on 05 October 2020
mjk45 said:
d21lewis said:
This is tough. It's hard to determine if a game is ahead of its time or ifa game is just the best looking game of its time.

I'm still gonna say Jet Set Radio. That cell shaded look was unlike anything I'd seen before and would eventually be used in tons of games. Ahead of its time? I don't know. Just innovative, I guess.

It was the second cel shaded game fear effect appeared in Feb and JSR in june.

And I loved that game! How did I forget!?



Ultravolt on 05 October 2020
mZuzek said:

Metroid Prime: the thread.

One of the best looking games of its generation, running at a locked 60fps, and came out very early in its console's lifecycle. From a studio that had never made a game before. Ridiculous achievement, really. Still looks good today.

Beat me to it. And just so happens to be the first post haha.



   

LivncA_Dis3 on 05 October 2020

soul calibur 2 looked like a ps3 game

gran turismo 3

super mario 64

final fantasy XIII

dead space 1/2 was graphically amazing until this day R.I,P VISCERAL!



Around the Network
curl-6 on 05 October 2020

Daytona USA 2 looks like a PS2 game but came out in June 1998



Mr_No on 05 October 2020

Metal Gear Solid 2 is the first game that comes to mind when I think of "ahead of its time", as well as Gran Turismo 4.



Leynos on 06 October 2020

I always thought MGS2 was ugly. Even in 2001. PS2 has a lot of blurry textures and a greenish hue to many of its games and the bloom lightning I hated.

Anyway. SNES had some late games that could almost pass for 2D Saturn games.  Before I get into them. Starfox on SNES looked better than the Morph series on Atari Jaguar which was supposedly "64-bit" ..it wasn't but still more powerful than SNES and yet...

Anyway here are just a few that to me could easily pass as a 2D SEGA Saturn game. (make no mistake Saturn was a beast in it's day but few could utilize it's 3D well,it was a 2D powerhouse tho)

Super Mario RPG could easily pass as a 32 bit RPG.

Rendering Ranger

Wonder Project J

Game looks good but the intro seems near CD quality in animations

Far East of Eden on SNES had no business with sprites this large and detailed



Bite my shiny metal cockpit!

d21lewis on 06 October 2020
mZuzek said:
Ultravolt said:

Beat me to it. And just so happens to be the first post haha.

Seems like I beat a lot of people to it based on that post's popularity. I feel like a celebrity now

I remember EGM calling it a miracle and saying "it's like the best looking game from ten years into the future somehow got released today" or something like that. Just an amazing achievement in gaming at the time.

*Edit*

Found the quote:   " it's like the best title from six years in the future fell through a time warp "

Last edited by d21lewis - on 06 October 2020

AsGryffynn on 06 October 2020
Vinther1991 said:

Virtua Fighter 2 was mindblowing for its time. The arcade version was outstanding in itself, but the 1995 Sega Saturn version was nuts. Some of the finest, if not the finest character modelling of the entire generation, on top of that the games was rendered in a whopping 704x480 !!! (704x512 for PAL) and of course a solid 60 fps:

And obviously Daytona USA, Arcade version. Unbelievable that this game was released in 1993, it was fully 3D and was released same year as Doom, and a year before Donkey Kong Country, it looks like a Dreamcast game.

Along with SEGA, Namco was also ahead of the time in the 90's. Soul Calibur on the Dreamcast was of course exceptional for a 1999 Dreamcast game:

Stylistically, I think the following were really ahead of their time. They hence hold up really well, despite the limitations of the hardware:

THe Wind Waker was a humongous open world with no loading screens in between. That in and on itself was really impressive.