lol at the above comments.

and @Soriku... I still dont' see or understand your concerns. What joelcool7 said that could be done on next-gen as improvements, like pokemon fur or kirby whatever... can be done on the Wii already!

Super Mario Galaxy is not far from Kameo or others game from a technical point of view (except resolution of course), and that treatment can be applied to Kirbys and Pokemons.

More polygons, more special effects, bump/parallax/normal mapping, better scenarios, more enemies, a cool looking fire effect for Moltres... you don't really need to turn Pikachu into a real rat to make him look good in HD.

 I think Kirby will be adorable no matter how many pixels he has.  Though a cuter Kirby is always good.

~Cerise

We've already had resolution jumps.

NES output at just 256 x 224.
SNES was 256 x 224 standard and 512 x 448 at max.
N64 was 320 x 240 standard and 640 x 480 (interlaced) at max.
GC was 640 x 480 (interlaced) standard and 640 x 480 (progressive) at max.

Wii is the same as GC though it is technically capable of higher resolutions, it lacks an output method to render it.


Though after reading I think you simply meant changing the art direction of which will never happen like you're worried about. HD graphics don't have anything to do with the art direction applied at all.

Since all the characters you're talking about started their lives as 2D sprites, I think they'll survive having detail added to their 3D models.

The transition from 2D to 3D is way bigger than the transition to HD.

Look at Ratchet and Clank Tools of Destruction. It's in HD, but Insomniac clearly didn't feel they had to make it look like Gears (now some people on this board are a different matter). 

Actually, the GC could to Widescreen resolution as well, although I don't think with Progressive scan at the same time.