Why do 16 bit games still look great to this day?

[Anonymous No.5677363]

To me, many of them still look graphically amazing, even when compared to modern indie games. I don’t think NES, Atari, C64 PlayStation, PlayStation 2 or Xbox 360 games have graphically aged well but why do 16 bits still look great? Is it because;

>It’s 2D so you don’t get the uncanny valley with 3D?
>There’s no complex rendering like bloom lighting, shadows, HDR, etc?
>16 bit games don’t look “realistic” and look more like cartoons/comic book pages

I really don’t know, the vast majority of 16 bit games I’ve adored the graphics with only a few that I think look bad such as early 16 bit games like Altered Beast and Kato and Ken.

[Anonymous No.5677382]

>>5677363
16 bit is soulless. 32 bit was pure soul.

[Anonymous No.5677387]

>>5677382

[Anonymous No.5677389]

3d breaks immersion with bad animation, constant clipping, low res textures and a host of other issues. 2d is like watching a cartoon, those things aren't there.

[Anonymous No.5677393]

>>5677387

[Anonymous No.5677394]

>>5677363
I mean, I wouldn't say a majority if them look necessarily good. It really comes down to how competent the artist of the game was. In your example Konami was full of talent including its art department. There are good games, ugly games, and decent looking games from all generations.

[Anonymous No.5677396]

>>5677387
I don’t think Daytona USA has aged well. Still looks fine to me anyway

[Anonymous No.5677398]

>>5677363
Games that "age well" in their are most often far less about the technical aspects but more about their art style and creative uses of it given the platform.
Altered Beast like you mentioned being one that looks "bad" I'd mostly chock up due to it having a fairly bland art style. While look over at almost any Castlevania game like you posted, look steller to this day.
Same goes with 3d games. IMO Star Fox 64 still looks good since it has attention to detail where it needs it as creative models and textures where it needs it.
Style is king.

[Anonymous No.5677408]

I think lately, when devs go for that "pixel" style, they don't really capture what made the games visually appealing. Indie devs just look old for old's sake, and bigger companies end up with a gross stylistic clash in crap like mobile ports.

Might be worth noting that the Playstation had some really lovely 2D games.

[Anonymous No.5677426]

>>5677396
Did you not buy the beautiful and well-running Circuit Edition, anon?

[Anonymous No.5677430]

>>5677396
>aged

[Anonymous No.5677434]

>>5677389
Even though 2D games were at 240p, I guess less is more since with less they could make what the had incredibly detailed, like in Thunder Force IV. A 2d plane, sprites and lots of parallax scrolling

[Anonymous No.5677450]

>>5677408
Oh yeah definitely. The transition to 3D is what broke immersion. Even playing early 3d games is high resolutions on emulators some of them still look god awful.

However I still think Ridge Racer 4 looks fantastic, even with all the clipping polygons

[Anonymous No.5678290]

>>5677398
>aged

[Anonymous No.5678326]

>>5677363
They strike a good balance between resolution and color.

[Anonymous No.5678364]

>>5678326
i think it's due to it not be immediately obvious where improvements can be made
given the resolution, the picture is as sharp and detailed as you could make it, and the colour palette isn't so limited that things look flat or patchy
basically, they as good as they can be without violating their style. things which don't have an obvious path for improvement, is what i believe is the definition of "ages well"

[Anonymous No.5678410]

>>5677450
RR4 with PGXP looks like an early PS2 game, save some of the chunkier textures

[Anonymous No.5678416]

>>5677363
Same reason paintings from the 1600s still look good while crappy grainy photographs from the 1920s look like shit.

[Anonymous No.5678428]

>>5677363
Mostly pixel art.

Resonant Arc did a video/podcast on pixel art recently, they had over a couple of artists and it was a great talk really, recommended if you're into the topic

[Anonymous No.5678472]

>>5677426
Almost totally different game due to handling anon.

[Anonymous No.5678486]

>>5678428
Will check out

[Anonymous No.5678614]

>>5677394
Dis nigga woke

[Anonymous No.5678789]

>>5677363
you're posting Rondo even though most pc engine games look like shit

[Anonymous No.5678863]

>>5677363
Too bad everything is a fucking scroll 2D shit. 16 and 8 bit is fucking overrated. Sadly zoomers and 6th gen fags can't get into low poly

[Anonymous No.5678993]

>>5677363
>talks about 16 bit game
>says Playstation doesn't look great
>posts a PS1 game as his pic related

[Anonymous No.5679228]

>>5678993
>Rondo of Blood
>PS1

[Anonymous No.5679234]

>>5677363
To be fair the only PS2 games that looked good in the first place were cell shaded.

[Anonymous No.5679635]

But....PCE/Turbogfx is 8 bits anon...

[Anonymous No.5679641]

>>5678863
>mid-'90s 3D
>good
Enjoy your wonky camera and shit level design I guess.

[Anonymous No.5679663]

>>5679641
>I only played six retro games ever but I must post

[Anonymous No.5679673]

>>5679635
why do you think it's called the tg-16

[Anonymous No.5679759]

>>5679673
Because marketing

[Anonymous No.5680210]

>>5679635
yeah and smb2 is actually doki doki panic

[Anonymous No.5680212]

>>5679635
It's actually 4 different 4-bit chips.
4x4=16.

[Anonymous No.5680261]

>>5677363
because the 3 main 16-bit systems (PCE, MD and SNES) were powerful enough to do pixel art justice especially later in their lifes (improved pixel art, bigger ROM space), but there's a lot of awful looking 16-bit games as well. Neo Geo is an entirely different beast altogether, top tier Neo Geo games still look outstanding to this date with fantastic animation and no flicker

3D games age worse because they aim for realism, but even current systems' graphics still look uncanny valley, meanwhile stylized stuff like Wind Waker, Okami, Jet Set Radio and even that PS1 Arale game still look good in higher resolutions

[Anonymous No.5680420]

>>5677363
It's a matter of imperfection and therefore, imagination. Compare it to a book vs film adaptation. 2D, the book, gives you just enough to interpret characters, settings, events in your own vision. 3D, the film, gives you too much. Everything becomes too real, as per another person's ideas. That's why imperfection is better; the alternative is too boring.

[Anonymous No.5680461]

>>5680261
Basically 3D only ages well if it's stylized, but stylization can only go so far until the actual hardware limitations show up.

>>5680420
The Japanese have a term for that concept, "wabi sabi", which says something is more beautiful or interesting by being imperfect. It's probably the closest definition to "soul/soulless" there is.

[Anonymous No.5680481]

>>5678863
>early 3d objectively better than all of 16bit
my first console was a playstation, and i love early 3d games as much as the next guy, but this statement is pretty nonsensical

>>5680461
low poly 3D can age well if rather than trying to aim for something they cannot reach (namely something that looks realistic), they use what they have to make something unique

[Anonymous No.5680954]

>>5680481
>age

[Anonymous No.5680958]

>>5678863
>early 3d objectively better than all of 16bit
my first console was a playstation, and i love early 3d games as much as the next guy, but this statement is pretty nonsensical

>>5680461
low poly 3D can age well if rather than trying to aim for something they cannot reach (namely something that looks realistic), they use what they have to make something unique>>5680954
?

[Anonymous No.5681006]

>>5680958
>>5680954
had a bit of a browser issue, meant to just post "?"

[Anonymous No.5681758]

>>5680420
whos the guy in the pic, dude?

[Anonymous No.5681778]

a shame there is no 2d game as good as quake, system shock, half life, unreal, deus ex, ultima underworld, thief.

[Anonymous No.5681783]

>>5681778
>autistic bunnyhopping FPS for adhd children
>interactive book for nerds
>interactive movie for nerds
>autistic click n' shoot for children
>interactive book for nerds 2
>average RPG
>meme game as overrated as mgs
nah

[Anonymous No.5681786]

>>5681783
stay mad consolebaby. muh kiddie sprite games.

[Anonymous No.5681790]

only larping zoomers and oldfags with shit taste like 2d.

[Anonymous No.5681798]

>>5681783
>fps/sims
>interactive books
lol? have you even played system shock or deus ex games

[Anonymous No.5681801]

>>5681798
of course not he's a 2d kiddie

[Anonymous No.5681808]

>>5681790
great unintelligent post

[Anonymous No.5681856]

>>5681778
>>5681786
>>5681790
>>5681801
phew lad
i'll take Metal Slug over Quake anyday desu

[Anonymous No.5681885]

>>5677382
Your favourite games are the ones from your childhood, we get it.

>>5677363
Money would be my guess. Lots of artists being paid to make sprites that weren't clashing against one another. Pixel art being common in the industry, the artists were brushing up on their skills and constantly getting better whereas indie game art is often the product of an amateur.

[Anonymous No.5681889]

>>5678993
Your ass got handed to you. You can take your wojaks and get the fuck out now.

[Anonymous No.5681893]

>>5681758
Hitchcock.

[Anonymous No.5683207]

Limitations. Limitations tend to breed creative solutions. Why does Mario look like he does? There wasn't room to draw a mouth on the sprite that looked good, but a moustache was easy to draw.

Working with limited hardware, memory, etc, devs had to get creative to get as much as they could out of it. That went for art, too; careful color usage, sprite sizes, styles that were cartoony and easy for the eye to follow.

That's a big part of why a bunch of indie devs are fucking terrible with "retro" stuff: They have no meaningful limitations, so their "solutions" are less creative. They feel no need to push against their boundaries, because they effectively have none. Need to draw shadowing on a sprite or something? Why bother, when you can just put a shader over it.

Meanwhile, I also think that most people don't see 16-bit games as "retro". Oh, they understand the concept if you press them on it, but when they think "retro", they think the NES. It's like shorthand; it just presses that button.

[Anonymous No.5683301]

3D just can't compare to sprites.
>intricately crafted sprites made by game designer pros
>vs some shitty 3D models rendered up in blender in an hour by a diversity hire pajeet or a feminist hambeast

[Anonymous No.5683412]

I think a great deal of it is nostalgia glasses, personally. I've been rubbing shoulders with some zoomers lately thanks to the fraternity I joined, and I have to say that these kids just... aren't impressed with games made in the 1990's, even though I find them visually amazing.

They're similarly unimpressed with "updates" to them like Brutal Doom, which modernize them quite a bit while keeping the old school style graphics.

Is MUH SPRITEZ just an oldfag cope? Is it possible that we're simply... out of touch?

[Anonymous No.5683415]

>>5683412
You're shitty bait isn't even worth a reply but here's a (you.) Nobody gives a fuck about underage opinions.

[Anonymous No.5683417]

>>5683415
>You're shitty bait

Your*

Also, I'm a 31yo boomer, I just allow myself to be exposed to people younger than me, like in their early twenties.

[Anonymous No.5683419]

>>5683415
>merely questioning the premise of the OP is bait

Imagine being this fragile.

[Anonymous No.5683420]

>>5683412
>I think a great deal of it is nostalgia glasses, personally
That's one point for sure, we still have the emotional attachment to those games ,which younger people might find hard to build up, because these games look outdated for them now. We remember them as state of the art, and got involved, so we have lots of good memories.

Another thing is that 2D stuff was at it's peak back then, when 3D games became more frequent. In this 3D development phase, lots of games seemed to have more focus on just being 3D than to actually create an enticing experience. The graphics seemed primitive and with very few details, and the worlds still feld sterile and empty. That was our first contact with those games, and I for one didn't like it very much. Of course, this would change soon, but the memories from that day in my head are still 2D>3D.

[Anonymous No.5683425]

>>5683417
Boomers are in their 80s now. It's the word that refers to people born after the so-called "baby boom", which happenes when men came from the war. Boomers were born soon after 1945. 30-year-olds are often called "millenials" (because they were teens around the turn of the century).

[Anonymous No.5683426]

>>5683419
>Is MUH SPRITEZ just an oldfag cope? Is it possible that we're simply... out of touch?

Please kill yourself or go to /v/

[Anonymous No.5683509]

>>5683420
I think 3D went from this sterile, low-detail realm to this uncanny valley territory. It looks very detailed now, but you can still tell that it's not _real_.

Not to mention, style is considerably more homogenous between triple-A 3D productions than between the big wig games of the 2D era like Doom, SMB, Street Fighter, etc.

[Anonymous No.5683584]

>>5681885
Never owned a Saturn (or even a ps1) in my childhood.

[Anonymous No.5683690]

>>5683301
Such a strange comparison, /pol/.

[Anonymous No.5683701]

>>5683690
>pointing out that diversity hires are a thing makes you /pol/

No.

[Anonymous No.5683712]

>>5683701
The way you think of others as inferior is the thing that makes you /pol/.

[Anonymous No.5683715]

>>5683712
What if objectively feminists and indians ARE inferior, though?

[Anonymous No.5683737]

>>5683715
Not him, but on which scale do you rank people?
You chose an arbitrary scale therefore it cannot be objective

[Anonymous No.5683743]

>>5683737
>real life facts are arbitrary
Not how things work, sweetie.

[Anonymous No.5683791]

>>5683712
>pointing out that they hire people based on race/sex means I think they're inferior.

Nice try, Tumblr. But also they are inferior if they need this special treatment. Just saying.

[Anonymous No.5683805]

>>5683791
But that's not what this is about. His entire point was that 3d artists were all bad at their jobs because they're all either feminists or an ethnic minority while sprite artists were all white dudes passionate about their jobs. It's a dangerously distorted vision of the world.

>>5683715
That's what I'm talking about.

[Anonymous No.5683819]

>>5683805
>But that's not what this is about. His entire point was that 3d artists were all bad at their jobs because they're all either feminists or an ethnic minority while sprite artists were all white dudes passionate about their jobs. It's a dangerously distorted vision of the world.

I'm pretty sure it was just a sly remark, which triggered you because it's past due for you to go dilate.

[Anonymous No.5683826]

>>5683819
oh fuck off, I'm a white dude in his mid thirties living in France, not that strange boogeyman you're thinking of.
>a sly remark
A sly remark would be clever, that was just some 5th grader hate spam.

[Anonymous No.5683832]

>>5683826
Whatever you say, breh. Enjoy your triple-A titles by definitely-not-Pajeet and definitely-not-Clarissa. After you get done adjusting your dilation toy, go onto /r/videogames and say hello for us.

[Anonymous No.5683838]

>>5677363
90s pixel art in general has aged like wine. I think you can make a strong argument that Metal Slug 1-3 are the best looking games ever made.

[Anonymous No.5683856]

>>5683832
You seem to have trouble with reading comprehension. Get well soon anon.

[Anonymous No.5683868]

>>5683838
>90s pixel art in general has aged like wine
Only, like, one game out of a hundred has aged like wine. You just lack knowledge of games from the era beyond the time-tested masterpieces and, therefore, any perspective.

[Anonymous No.5683873]

>>5683868

[Anonymous No.5683875]

>>5683805
>while sprite artists were all white dudes

No one implied anything of the sort. 99% of the games being discussed in this thread were made in Japan.

[Anonymous No.5683892]

>>5683743
You still didn't answer my question, anon

[Anonymous No.5684556]

2d games are for children.

[Anonymous No.5684732]

>>5684556
>Fortnite is for boomers and Contra for zoomers
What did he mean by that?

[Anonymous No.5684754]

>>5684732
Boomers are too old for Pac-Man, let alone fucking Fortnite.

[Anonymous No.5684804]

>>5683805
Jesus Christ, stop the estrogen injections

[Anonymous No.5684810]

>>5684754
30 yr old boomers you fucking retard

[Anonymous No.5684816]

Wah wah muh sprites

[Anonymous No.5684982]

>>5684804
Generalizing is for simpletons is all I'm saying.

[Anonymous No.5685000]

>>5684810
Boomers were ALREADY in their 30s when Pac-Man came out.

[Anonymous No.5685020]

>>5685000
Boomers were playing tennis on an oscilloscope.

[Anonymous No.5685037]

>>5685020
The cleverest of them as teens, yes.