/vr/ - Retro Games

>>1966565
:^)

>>1966569
I don't get it

I love what NEC had to offer in terms of pixel art, I just wish I could get some CRT filters to work for Mednafen.

>>1966578
if you like pixel art, I guess you don't like filters?

Not necessarily a great picture, but I find this to be a neat trick that you probably couldn't pull off so easily in a fully 3D game.

What about actual animated pixel porn?

Do you like it?

>>1966565
People like you are the reason why Nintendo keeps cramming in 8-bit sprites into their current Mario and Zelda games, and how "get it? PIXELS!" is the entire basis of some new games. Fuck you. I liked the old games too, but stop fetishizing this shit and acting like it's emblematic of your retro street cred.

>>1966586
Oops, my bad

>>1966601
No sir, fuck YOU. I'll like whatever the hell I want. I'm the reason great games like pic related come to an existence. Now go play your COD.

>>1966601
Eh there's nothing wrong with admiring pixel art if it's done right. It's a like a weird techno stippling that probably makes stippling way less tedious. (I'll never get how anyone can do it without shooting themselves.) The thing is to just admire things that look good and not anything under the sun with pixels. A lot of the time these indie games just look like shit.

>>1966607
No, you're the reason games like pic related came into existence. Shovel Knight is a fantastic game that celebrates EVERYTHING that made classic NES games great; Adventures of Pip sells itself on pixels. It's less an appreciation of the past and more an appropriation of it. Enjoying games with pixel-based graphics is one thing; worshiping pixels in and of themselves is weird.

>you said a bad thing about pixels, you must like FPSs and you definitely don't like old games

It's truly sad to see people who interpret the world in this way. By the way, you are not responsible for the birth of Shovel Knight. Its brilliant team is.

>>1966608
Do you consider slapping in an 8-bit Luigi sprite in the background, just 'cause, to be "done right?"

>>1966607
Please don't post non-retro games while trying to act like you have more credibility than someone else.
In fact, please don't post non-retro games at all.

>>1966585
Bootiful.

>>1966618
When did this thread say anything about actually playing games? Read the original post again, it was supposed to be an eye candy thread, nothing more

But, as you mentioned it, yes, people that still like retro games are the reason there is a market for it. Go figure!

>>1966621
Credibility for what?? I'm not claiming that.

Also fuck this thread, this board and every retarded kid in here that simply can't read. Really, fuck you

>>1966607
>>1966607
Okay seriously, because this really bugs the hell out of me:

Why do indie game characters always have huge heads? That is such an ugly cliche. Cave Story has it, Braid has it, Fez, VVVVVV, Stupid Shit Boy, the Binding of I was too lazy to design actual levels, Shank, the list goes on. Shovel Knight is an awesome game, but the main character is another freakish-looking squat bobblehead. When did that come into vogue? And when is it going to go OUT of vogue? It was ugly even when it was a new trend.

>>1966637
Adventures of Pip isn't a retro game. It's a game whose main selling point is "pixels!! because pixels!!!"

>Read the original post again, it was supposed to be an eye candy thread

I did read the post, Chuckles, and I was responding specifically to the "hurr pixels are like porn, they make graphics gud" aspect of it.

>>1966621
> Shovel Knight
> not a retro game

>>1966618
>Do you consider slapping in an 8-bit Luigi sprite in the background, just 'cause, to be "done right?"
No I don't like I said a lot of it is shit, however pixel art when done right can look great. Like some of the stuff Uno Moralez does, or anything found in a Metal Slug game looks great.

>>1966660
No doubt. I have a great love of many graphics whose medium is pixels. I just don't love the graphics BECAUSE the medium is pixels. That's like saying "any painting made with oil paint is beautiful!"

>>1966639
Because they are emulating retro games?

stop bickering post more cool shit.
btw the rest of this game looks great too man batman looked good on the nes

>>1966667
They really captured the essence of Batman's character there.

>>1966565
Same here, but I suggest you search it on the web, not here, it will be much more easier

>>1966601
oh fuck off you dirty cunt

>>1966673
I always found it funny that he kills him in the game.
although its a pretty good selling point to fans of batman, in this game he finally kills the joker. Everyone would want that shit.

>>1966639

It's not a fashion statement you complete retard. These characters have big heads because it's one of the easiest ways for us to recognise which way a character is facing. We are also programmed to take the head as one of the most noticeable feature so it helps with characterization also.

AND with limited resolution (basically space on the screen in 2D), especially platformers the character can't take up much of the screen and if you scaled down a sprite to anatomical proportions you would get a less impactful blob.

Learn to vidya before shitting up this board, please. You want to blame indie devs for a technique that is actually quite useful.

Albion and Ambermoon has some wonderful pixel work,

>>1966687
>These characters have big heads because it's one of the easiest ways for us to recognise which way a character is facing

Odd, I never had any trouble telling which direction Simon Belmont, Ryu Hayabusa, or Bill Rizer are facing. Or Batman, Orin from 8-Eyes, or the guy from Kabuki Quantum Fighter.

>AND with limited resolution (basically space on the screen in 2D), especially platformers the character can't take up much of the screen

Limited resolution is a flimsy excuse, because most of those indie games are released on modern systems, at a much higher resolution than any retro console. Braid and Super Meat Boy sure don't suffer from a low screen resolution, for example. Cave Story got a remake on the 3DS, and guess what? He still has that goofy looking head.

>blame indie devs for a technique that is actually quite useful
I don't care how "useful" it is, it looks fucking ugly. Your arguments are terrible and don't even apply to most indie platformers.

>>1966585

Those aren't pixel graphics, they're rendered drawings with dat dithering

>>1966723
>Different games use different styles. I like one, so I'm going to bitch about the other!

Gotcha. I also noticed you completely ignored what is perhaps his valid point:

> We are also programmed to take the head as one of the most noticeable feature so it helps with characterization also.

I'll take your omission as a concession that that's a fair point.

>>1966723
>Odd, I never had any trouble telling which direction Simon Belmont, Ryu Hayabusa, or Bill Rizer are facing. Or Batman, Orin from 8-Eyes, or the guy from Kabuki Quantum Fighter.

That's because he said it was ONE of the EASIEST ways, not the ONLY way.

>Limited resolution is a flimsy excuse, because most of those indie games are released on modern systems, at a much higher resolution than any retro console.

Then you might as well complain about its low color palette and chiptune miusic, because you don't seem to understand what those games are going for.

>I don't care how "useful" it is, it looks fucking ugly.
That's a far worse "argument" than anything he put forth. At least he's trying to explain his point of view. You're just throwing a tantrum because someone doesn't agree with you.

>>1966723

Batman is fucking Batman, Ryu gets it's characterization from the cutscenes and Belmont is just a dude to the point they fucked his character the hardest in Captain N

Haven't played the other 2

>>1966686
He killed the joker in the original movie, too.

Addendum: Oniken is an indie game that rips off Ninja Gaiden instead of Megaman if it does anything to calm your hateboner and if you really prefer watching cutscenes instead of playing a game

>>1966790
The one with Adam West?

>people putting up a fight over pixels

>>1966820

Welcome to /vr/ now fuck off

>>1966774
I see, I guess that's why the stuff it had looked so different. Also I'm still pissed Sorcerian doesn't have any translation patches.

>>1966790
Well
It was much more subtle than in the game at least.

the last blade is a visual orgasm

>>1966565
>I love pixels
>posts JPG
Yeah, nah, you're a cunt.

>>1966908
yup
pic unrelated but I think it's the same team of artists

title screen

>>1966976
It's old game, from the days of Ikari Warriors and Gauntlet... I also like those. :-)

>>1966723
Not just the heads, and not just indie games either. It's jarring how slavishly even big studios like Square will still slavishly adhere to solutions to visual problems developed for tile-palette hardware on modern cards blitting textured, alpha-blended tris. It usually looks awful.

OP, you will probably love https://imgur.com/a/GPlx4 (sorry about the Imgur link)

>>1967026
>You're going to love these IMAGES! I apologize for linking to an IMAGE-HOSTING WEBSITE, because... wait, why do we hate them again?

>>1967032
>why do we hate them again?

Same reason we don't like reddit. The same user-base and they censor unpopular opinions/posts.

>>1967038
And yet all I see in this link is an endless stream of images, no outside opinions of any kind.

Pic related needs to be a 4chan banner.

>>1967042
>/fit/

>>1966686

son of a bitch I love demons crest

>>1966686

Demon's Crest is pure pixel porn.

Damn what a game.

Also DAT music. http://youtu.be/zJBV5976OwY

>>1966603
>super contra 3.jpg

I always loved the comic book aesthetics of Double Dragon II.

>>1967116

>>1967121
>>1967121
Why did every game on SNK platforms have amazing sprite work?

>>1967121

>>1967125
they had artists draw them and they scanned the work in with sophisticated software designed to reencode as sprites. The rest is minor touch-ups.

>>1967131
I need this software.

>>1967126

>>1967136

>>1967139

>>1967125
I can't speak for all SNK games, but in Metal Slug case the secret ingredient was Nazca Corporation, a group of former Irem employees who were tired of the company's inactivity. Now, if you look at the non Neo Geo arcade games Irem was developing before that (such as In the Hunt, GunForce 2 and Undercover Cops) you can clearly see where the talent was coming from.
I also recall reading somewhere that the Neo Geo could display more sprites on screen than the average system and did not use tilemap background layers, opting rather to layer sprites upon sprites to create backgrounds and the foreground action.

>>1967116
holy shit every-time. fucking unbelievable quality. Wish SNK made more games

>>1966972
Whenever I see that stage I can already hear those classic japanese drums.

>>1966774
They aren't vector graphics.
They're just adding the layers over time for the intro animation.

>>1967134
Don't quote on me, but I think it just might be Photoshop. At least, when they interviewed them for the KoF anniversary that application showed up constantly when it was the artists' turn.

>>1967134
>software
>pixel art
c'mon..

If you love pixels, check modern games, because they have a lot more.

>>1967032

Because you're already on an image hosting site you mongoloid

I never got to check out Ghoul Patrol but I really liked the color pallete in this game. Just solid color scheming and mood.

>>1968328
An "image hosting site" that wipes all content on a regular basis. There's a pretty clear reason to NOT hate the alternatives.

>>1967038
Yet 4chan does the same thing to posts that are unpopular enough. Will someone please free us from this censorship?

>>1968070
>he thinks sprites are hand-crafted one pixel at a time

>>1968328
So all other "image hosting sites" (nice stretch) are "the enemy?"

Still need to play Metal & Lace 2

>>1966783
>Braid
>Super Meat Boy
>Binding of Isaac
>Cave Story remake
>low color palettes and chiptune music

Yabba dabba DERP, can't say I'm surprised to discover you have no clue what you're talking about.

classic stuff!

>>1966693
>Use Metal Gear
Why even give you other options?

>>1968493
>specifically discussing one game
>refer to a bunch of other games
>"hurr, you're wrong now!"

Daily reminder that "pixel art" is an anachronism invented by underage people who never experienced the games on original hardware with glorious CRTs.

>>1967136
Dat crotch piston

>>1968907
>The term pixel art was first published by Adele Goldberg and Robert Flegal of Xerox Palo Alto Research Center in 1982.[1] The concept, however, goes back about 10 years before that, for example in Richard Shoup's SuperPaint system in 1972, also at Xerox PARC.

No need to act like you're on /v/ around these parts m8.

probably a silly question, is it possible to create hd versions of old pixel art games without redrawing them?

>>1969229
what's this game called again? made by data east right? or no

>>1969240
GunForce II, made by the Metal Slug guys when they were still with Irem.

>>1969248
ah ok thankyou

>>1969248
ah shit now this is bothering me. I mistook the game for this other similar looking run n' gun game where you have a rope swinging mechanic similar to bionic commando.... i forget what it's called

>>1966565
>I come here mostly to stare at them lovely pixels.
Then you should happy to know that you screen is absolutely filled with them and that you can see them in every program on your computer. Enjoy masturbating to pixels.

>>1969240
>data east
>>1969270
>swinging mechanic

Are you thinking of the Turrican series?

>>1969516

Only Mega Turrican has swinging

>>1969643
I'm pretty sure that Super Turrican 2 had a grappling tool.

So I guess I'm going to have to be that guy who tries to solve the problem without just bitching.

>pixel art

Can we please come up with a better term for appreciation of low-res sprite&tile graphics? "Pixel" is obviously a ridiculously vague buzzword that doesn't mean anything and makes everyone who uses it sound like a millennial retard, even if they aren't. We need a 2D equivalent of "low-poly" (which still relies on specification of texture size if the polys are textured) but "low-res 2D" is too vague.

/vr/ can fix this

>>1969692
>"Pixel" is obviously a ridiculously vague buzzword

What the fuck. No it isn't.

>>1969692
>Lowres computer drawings.
>Sprite art
>Pixelized raster drawings.

>>1969692
see
>>1969229
The term is 32 years old and works fine.

>>1968907
I think "pixel art" refers more to the technique of placing individual pixels and colors than how the result is presented. Many of the larger and later pieces here are almost certainly done with index painting or other quantization techniques though, with pixel pushing done as a final polishing pass.

>>1969693
It means nothing. It could be referring to the smallest discrete part of a CRT or LCD display, it could be referring to an aliased edge in a 2014 polygon game, it could be referring to a single point of an asset in a 2014 2D game.

OP said "I love pixels." What does that mean? Eventually he makes it clear that he likes looking at screenshots of /vr/ games, except that isn't a clear or defined subject at all. It's as vague and meaningless as saying "I like 8-bit graphics."

Everything he's saying relies on prior memetic knowledge, therefore it's poor terminology.

>>1969709
These are nice and specific, but clunky and they don't cover all cases. Obviously a term that does doesn't exist, which begs the question of why we don't just say what we mean in the first place.

>Lowres computer drawings.
What is low-res? Are computer drawings necessarily /vr/-related?
>Sprite art
What about backgrounds?
>Pixelized raster drawings.
Not all drawings require a raster display.

>>1969734
>Pixel art is a form of digital art, created through the use of raster graphics software, where images are edited on the pixel level.

It is what it is.

>>1969710
It is not necessarily a good term because it is 32 years old. I also can't take anyone seriously who cites Wikipedia. Isn't it convenient that the article in question is an editorial mess and the source cites an unavailable document!

>>1969719
As you mentioned, that is a specific technique that doesn't necessarily represent even a minority of /vr/ games.

This is the kind of vaguery that flourishes when people apathetically toss around buzzwords. We should have better terms than "pixellated graphics" and a more precise method of describing pretty screenshots of /vr/ games.

>>1969734
>Not all drawings require a raster display.
Forgot to mention that raster graphics are not necessarily /vr/-related as well. And of course that usage implies a disinterest in vector graphics, which are traditionally considered 2D.

>>1969752
This is all that really needs to be said. That term is not grounds for sperging out.

>>1969752
Again, you're citing a wikipedia article with no authoritative sourcing. Moreover, you post images from a game that are literally digitized paintings which contradicts your definition! You're deluded if you think Agony's loadscreens are created and edited on the pixel level! May we consider all digital images "pixel art?" And what of that specific modern breed of images literally created pixel-by-pixel like lego?

If people just want to post screenshots of /vr/ games, they may say so. Co-opting a meaningless buzzword as an intermediary is hive-minded silliness.

>>1969752
>It is what it is.

reviewoftheweek pls stay

>>1966603
>contra 3
>werewolf
u wot

>>1969772
Sure, the wikipedia article is a mess (that's hopefully a work in progress), but it basically cites what I was told during digital painting classes in the late 90s.

And yes, Agony's loadscreens where created and edited on a pixel level, here's a comprehensive step by step article on the entire creative process by the artist himself:

http://francksauer.com/index.php/games/test/15-games/published-games/10-agony

Lastly, what is to gain to come up with a "better term" other than being obtuse for the sake of it?
The term Pixel Art works fine, and most of us seem to get what we're after when it's mentioned in threads like these.

>>1966976
>>1966982
I used to play this game right after playing Leatherneck and pretend they were the same game... even though it was two different wars.

>>1969772
>Again, you're citing a wikipedia article with no authoritative sourcing.

And what's your authoritative source, if you're considering that to be what matters here.

>>1966601
this thread isn't nearly as bad as people like the creator(s) of Fez, who appropriate the retro look but don't really respect it (IE using modern music in their games) so they can sell it to hipster casuals.

>>1966601
I know I'm late, but which modern Mario/Zelda games are--using your own terminology here--"crammed" with 8-bit sprites?

Keep in mind that I expect your examples to be, as you put, "crammed" with 8-but sprites.

>>1969796
What is my source for what? I've made no claims of legitimacy, I'm challenging a term because I think it's vague. Other posters have tried to respond with wikipedia articles as if that is something a reasonable adult would do. Even if I was presented with an games industry omnibus I'd still challenge it.

>>1969787
I've read Sauer's work before , which is why I felt confident in claiming the loadscreens were digitized paintings. However, in re-reading that demo I see you've got me when he says:

>we often made use of dithering (made by hand pixel by pixel)

That I wasn't aware of and it certainly qualifies as editing. However it was refreshing to read a piece by a games artist that not once uses the term "pixel art" which is of course the point of my posts ITT.

This in short is what I'm aiming for: he describes all aspects of the game's graphics properly. I get that people are okay with the term, so I'll leave it be. Maybe I am alone in hating it.

>>1966601
Nintendo games do it because those sprites are iconic, not to pander to pixel fetishists.

>>1969516
it was an arcade game for sure. not turrican

>>1970227
I really need to watch dream hunter rem.

>>1968907
Back to your containment thread

>>1967058
>Mega Man in New York

Shit, I'd play that.

I silently recall a thread where someone would post background images of waterfalls and landscapes that were all pixelated

Might have been on here or /v/ I don't remember

>>1970272
There are of course plenty of great waterfalls and landscapes made as fighting game backgrounds (especially in games related to SNK), and there's also link related.
http://pixelartus.com/post/85412276286/pixel-art-masterpieces-waterfall-by-fool

>>1970306

>>1970307
http://imgur.com/a/GPlx4

>>1969807
>who appropriate the retro look but don't really respect it (IE using modern music in their games)
Even though your specific example (Fez) deserves ridicule, this is a stupid point. Games with low-res graphics must necessarily have low-res music to match? I don't think so.

>>1970306
Mark of the Wolves - Gato's stage

>>1970307
SNK vs. Capcom: Chaos - Forest

>>1970314
King of Fighters '95 - Psycho Soldier

These stages, the first and last in particularly, are iconic to me given how much time I spent playing these games. And they still look great. SNK backgrounds tend to look really good out of context for some reason. I guess I'm too busy dodging fireballs to really notice when playing.

>>1969826
>I'm purposefully going to be pedantic regarding your terminology to "prove you wrong," because asserting that you meant something you didn't is the only way I can do that.

Two can play at that game. I can tell you're going to try to refute me by saying that any game I cite isn't primarily 8-bit sprites, and thus not "crammed." But "cramming in" isn't necessarily the same thing--it can simply mean to force in, not necessarily in great quantity.

Pretty much any game with "Mario" in the title has that fucking Mario sprite in it somewhere, whether tucked into the background or an actual part of the land mass. Hyrule Warriors has its 8-bit Adventure mode and 8-bit weaponry. And let's not even start with NES Remix, which is an absolutely shameless rape of the source material for the sole purpose of appeal to people who think associating themselves with 8-bit iconography asserts to the world that they "know their roots."

>>1970865
It's not being pedantic. I can't think of a single recent Mario/Zelda game that was "crammed" with 8 bit sprites, and the most recent Zelda game I played (LBW) didn't have a single sprite in it.

Also, you gave no specific examples to the Mario sprites. I'll give you Hyrule Warriors, even though it's a spinoff title. And NES Remix...well shit, I don't know what to say to you if you find it surprising that something called "NES Remix" is actually using NES sprites.

So basically you're telling me that, and this is going by the examples you just gave, Nintendo isn't "cramming" their 8-bit sprites into anything.

>>1970889
>I'm going to purposefully misinterpret you again

Obviously I'm not surprised by sprites in NES Remix. I was saying that NES Remix in its entirety is pandering to retro fetishists with zero substance--it is an elevation of the pixel fetishism I was describing.

>I'm going to continue to harp on the word "cramming," that'll teach you!

Nintendo has been ~arbitrarily inserting~ NES sprites into modern games for the sole purpose of pandering. Does that feel better for you?

>>1967032
Are you seriously autistic?

>>1970892
>Nintendo has been ~arbitrarily inserting~ NES sprites into modern games for the sole purpose of pandering.

People who make video games want to appeal to their audience. This is an issue for some reason.

Holy crackers, what a scoop! I bet you didn't say shit when Konami threw Simon Belmont in Harmony of Dishonest or when 8-bit Mario sprites were thrown into TTYD.

Also, for the future, keep in mind that words have meaning. If you didn't want people to think "crammed," then why the fuck would you use it in a sentence?

>>1970916
Harmony of Dissonance*

Laughing at my typo.

>>1970916
Keep in mind that words have more than one meaning. Look up "cram" in the dictionary and tell me that every single definition adheres to the one you insist upon. Or don't, since I already explained this to you and you can't wrap your head around it.

>>1970916
You can appeal to an audience (and pay tribute to the past) in more ways than one--certainly more than just cutting and pasting. Slapping a sprite on the screen and saying "Look! Remember? :)" is ultimately an insult to the intelligence of the audience.

>>1970934
>is ultimately an insult to the intelligence of the audience.
Explain.

Fuck you guys. This thread gave me autism, now I have to go file for disability.

>>1970951
It diminishes the franchise/character's decades-long legacy into a glob of blocks. Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World are oft-argued the best games in all of Mario--in all of gaming--how often do you see their respective sprites wedged in? Mario's gone on to have all sorts of wonderful games, such as the aforementioned TYYD, Galaxy, Mario RPG... and yet every time the audience is "appealed" to, it's simply lobbed an icon from the first game. Mario is more than a character from the first game. Mario fans are more than that.

Mario in Smash Bros. is a good example of a tribute done well. His moveset references many games and reproduces them in a way that gels with the rest of the game he's currently in. Pac-Man is an example of a tribute done poorly. Half his moveset involves sprites, because Pac-Man was an 80's arcade, get it?

>>1970959
So you're upset that a throwaway gag that was meant to be chuckled at didn't reference exactly what you wanted it to reference.

>>1970965
No, I'm upset that it's the same throwaway gag referencing the same thing over and over and over again. Repetition tends to diminish value over time.

>>1970971
>Complaining about repetition in Mario, the Coca Cola ad McDonalds of video game franchises.

Maybe you should just stop playing Mario...

>>1970975
I'm not going to continue bickering with you if you're just going to misconstrue what I say and respond to that rather than what I'm actually saying.

>>1970978
I'm not the person you were bickering with. I'm just dumbfounded that this bothers you so much.

>>1970978
That was someone else, dude.

And that gag isn't even repeated as often as you seem to think it is.

>>1968517
gne gne gne gne!!!!!

I hate the super blocky "pixel" look. It took this board and its hyper-autist CRT enthusiasts for me to put my finger on what I like about oldschool 2d graphics. The way these displays render graphics smooths out the picture and looks so damn good. Nothing makes me harder than seeing DKC 2 on a tube.

>>1972325
Unfortunately as much as I like how games look on CRTs I don't even want to mention it on this board because the autism surrounding it is absolutely outstanding.

>>1972327
Fair enough. I only brought it up to define exactly what I like about 2d graphics (a smooth look).

>>1966691
Where's this from?

>>1972376
Wait, ignore that. I'm an idiot. Forgot I could google image search.

>>1972357
How do Americans know PCE dating sims? I don't think any of them were translated for Turbo CD.

>>1972346
That is absolutely dazzling and I must play that game now.

>>1972384
Sometimes weeaboos are very, very much dedicated to being weeaboos and may actually learn Japanese to a useful degree instead of just saying they will learn it or pretending they know it.

>>1972395
It's a great game friend, I hope you enjoy the gorgeous graphics and relaxing tunes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNJMCZvzM2E

>>1966686
DKC a shit, Demon crest is where it's at