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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Most graphically impressive game on every Nintendo console?

From the systems I've owned:

NES: Batman Return of the Joker; could almost pass for a low end 16-bit title with its detailed backgrounds and parallax scrolling (Honorable mention: Super Mario Bros 3)

SNES: Donkey Kong Country 3; could easily pass for a 32-bit game thanks to its lush pre-rendered sprites and water effects (Gonourable mentions: Donkey Kong Country 1 & 2, Yoshi's Island, Starfox, Super Mario RPG)

N64: Banjo Kazooie; huge, colourful and detailed worlds at a surprisingly decent framerate for its time (Honourable mentions: Conker's Bad Fur Day, Donkey Kong 64, Starfox 64)

Gamecube: Resident Evil 4; top notch character models, lighting, animation and effects work (Honourable mentions: Rogue Squadron 2 & 3, Metroid Prime 2, Starfox Adventures)

Wii: Muramasa The Demon Blade; absolutely gorgeous hand-painted artwork bursting with character and atmosphere (Honourable mentions: Kirby's Epic Yarn, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Sonic Colours, Jett Rocket, Metroid Prime 3)

3DS: Resident Evil Revelations; could almost get away with passing for a Vita game thanks to its impressive shaders and lighting

Wii U: Trine 2; a richly detailed and beautifully lit fairytale aesthetic with significant technical improvements over the PS3/360 versions (Honourable mentions: Fast Racing Neo, Mario Kart 8, Yoshi's Wooly World)

Switch: Trine 4; the same beautiful artistic vision brought to even more vivid life thanks to better hardware (Honourable mentions: Ori and the Will of the Wisps, Super Mario Odyssey, Luigi's Mansion 3)



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NES. U-foria the Saga, Kirby's Adventure.

SNES. Yoshi's Island, Tales of Phantasia.

GB. Super Mario Land 2.

N64. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.

GBA. The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap.

GC. Metroid Prime.

DS. Hotel Dusk/Last Window.

Wii. Super Mario Galaxy.

3DS. Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon.

Wii U. Xenoblade Chronicles X, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.

Switch. Luigi's Mansion 3, Paper Mario: The Origami King.



NES: Battletoads, Batman, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2

Gameboy: Kirby’s Dreamland 2

SNES: Donkey Kong Country trilogy, hands down - this is the most obvious “holy shit” moment in video game graphics history. Gotta shout out to Chrono Trigger, too, which impressed me in a different way.

N64: Waverace and Lylat Wars, these two games really impressed me, while Mario 64 was the initial bang, these two had longevity

DS: Not my style of game but Nintendogs was really impressive, graphically. I loved the art on Phoenix Wright and Professor Layton - now those two are my type of game. Some other games like EBA and TWINE really impressed me, too.

Wii: Xenoblade Chronicles - not the character art, but this is the first game on a Nintendo console I would travel around the world (Bionis) just to see the beauty of it. Muramasa the Demon Blade was like a moving painting. Something about Rune Factory Frontier’s graphics really drew me in, too; it wasn’t technically impressive, but all the little effects (including the Runeys) made it fun to just go in and look around.

3DS: Kid Icarus impressed me a lot, also there was this submarine game in the early launch that kind of blew my mind with glasses free 3D.

Wii U: Trine 2 for 2D, Xenoblade Chronicles X 3D - this game was phenomenal to me as I spent hours just going sight-seeing all over Planet Mira and wasted many hours doing so. I think XCX is still one of my favourite looking games.

Switch: This is hard as there’s a lot I haven’t seen and art styles factor in huge: I looked up some top games on YouTube, and people posted some shooting/action games that I thought were fairly ugly but obviously. I’d have to say Breath of the Wild as it’s the only game I’ve played on the Switch just to go sight-seeing on the Switch.

Last edited by Jumpin - on 12 October 2020

I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.

Okay I misread the question; I listed mine based on visual appeal rather than "graphically impressive" so I'm gonna have to redo a few of my votes:

Wii: Jett Rocket; basically a tech demo for the Wii's ability to spam flashy multitexture shaders across every surface, and at 60fps to boot (Honourable mentions: Conduit 1 and 2, Metroid Other M and Prime 3, Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Resident Evil Darkside Chronicles)

Wii U: Fast Racing Neo; a host of effects usually reserved for PS4/Xbox One games running at 60fps on a system far less capable (Honourable mentions: BOTW, Xenoblade Chronicles X)

Switch: Hard to say; games like Hellblade, Witcher 3, and Doom 2016 are the most impressive in terms of their rendering methods, but pay for it with low resolutions. Crysis Remastered strikes a pretty good balance and even had ray traced global illumination, though performance can be uneven. Mario Odyssey and FAST RMX do some great lighting and shading at 60fps.



It was impressive that it could do polygons on the SNES but, Starfox is not graphically impressive. 



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Only games/consoles that Ive owned at some point.

NES: Super Mario Bros 3
Gameboy: Super Mario Land
SNES: Donkey Kong Country
GameBoy Color: Metal Gear
N64: Banjo Tooie
Gameboy Advance: Mario Kart Super Circuit
Gamecube: Resident Evil 4
Wii: Super Mario Galaxy 2 (This one is easy)
Switch: Luigi's Mansion 3



tag:"reviews only matter for the real hardcore gamer"

Yea... I'm just going to do best looking, including most aesthetically pleasing

NES: Megaman 6

Runner-up: who cares 

Gameboy: Super Mario Land 2 ... I guess? 

Runner-up: who cares 

SNES: Chrono Trigger

Runner-up: Wonder Project J, Seiken Densetsu 3, Tales of Phantasia, Megaman X 

N64: Banjo-Kazooie 

Runner-up: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Diddy Kong Racing, Donkey Kong 64. 

Gameboy Advance: Wario Land 4

Runner-up: Metroid Fusion, Golden Sun 1-2, Megaman Zero 1-4, Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga

Gamecube: Metroid Prime 

Runner-up: Metroid Prime 2, REmake, Resident Evil Zero, Super Mario Sunshine, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (this is the console with by far the best selection of "tied or near-tied for best looking games. 

DS: Dragon Quest VI

Runner-up: Dragon Quest V, Dragon Quest IV, Professor Layton, The World Ends With You, Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story 

Wii: Wario Land: Shake It 

Runner-up: Muramasa: The Demon Blade, Disney's Epic Mickey, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Zack & Wiki

3DS: Resident Evil: Revelations 

Runner-up: The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D, Monster Hunter Stories, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia 

Wii U: Xenoblade X 

Runner-up: Rayman Legends, Mario Kart 8, Pikmin 3, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Yoshi's Woolly World 

Switch: Luigi's Mansion 3, Paper Mario: The Origami King 

Runner-up: Ace Attorney Trilogy HD, Rayman Legends, Tales of Vesperia: Definitive Edition, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening, Cuphead, Animal Crossing: New Horizons, Super Smash Brothers: Ultimate, Valkyria Chronicles 4, Hades 



Judging by what I actually played...

Journey to Silius - NES
Chrono Trigger - SNES
Jet Force Gemini - N64
Resident Evil Zero - GC
Skyward Sword - Wii
Breath of the Wild - WiiU
Switch - Witcher 3 for being such an impressive port (so far)



Nintendo Switch Friend Code: SW-5643-2927-1984

Animal Crossing NH Dream Address: DA-1078-9916-3261

Counting down, based on games I've actually played:
Switch: Wolfenstein: The New Colossus
XBO: Gears 5
PS4: God of War
Wii U: Super Mario 3D World
PS Vita: Killzone: Mercenary
3DS: Resident Evil: Revelations
PSP: Resistance: Retribution
PS3: Beyond: Two Souls
Wii: The Last Story
DS: Metroid Prime Hunters
GameCube: Resident Evil 4
Playstation 2: Metal Gear Solid 3
Dreamcast: Dead or Alive 2
Playstation: Vagrant Story
Nintendo 64: Conker's Bad Fur Day
Super NES: Super Mario Land 2: Yoshi's Island
Gameboy: Gargoyle's Quest
NES: Ninja Gaiden 3

I'm forgetting a few. Might edit later

Xbox 360: Gears of War 3

GBA: Street Fighter Alpha 3



curl-6 said:

3DS: Resident Evil Revelations; could almost get away with passing for a Vita game thanks to its impressive shaders and lighting

Bold: majority vita games are anime and look way worse than Resident Evil Revelations. Only some AAA games look better.