Very Impressive Retro Games? (Punching Weight)

[diet_orange]

Inspired by the series by Derrick of Stop Skeletons From Fighting, what are some games that you feel totally "punch above your weight class" and are very impressive?

One for me has always been the SNES Mechwarrior. Played this for hours and it authentically replicates the feeling of the home computer games

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Impressive in what? Graphics? Gameplay? All of these?

 

[diet_orange]

Impressive in what? Graphics? Gameplay? All of these?

All of the above? I guess a good example would probably be the Driver games on the GBA. Just something that should not be possible on such a small handheld

 

[Majora Fi]

All of the above? I guess a good example would probably be the Driver games on the GBA. Just something that should not be possible on such a small handheld

You stole my example!

 

[Anoobis]

Phantom Dust for the Xbox and Resident Evil for the GameCube are both visually impressive. They can almost pass for being from the next hardware generation, especially RE.

 

[Metroid_Hybrid]

People like to dump on it, but the port of Doom for the SNES runs better than it has any right to..

 

[guireis]

Policenauts for PC-98. The crispy and clean pixel art is far superior to the compressed digital artwork of the late console releases. It's a shame that we probably will never play this version in English.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

Both "Shantae" and "Wendy: Every Witch's Way" were masterclasses on how to squeeze every bit of power out of the Gameboy Color.

 

[ZombieFish]

Visually, the OG Xbox port of Doom 3 was a minor miracle. Gameplay wise, I think Little Samson for the NES feels better than most 16-bit platformers. Narratively, MGS2 was a decade ahead of most of its audience.

 

[diet_orange]

Visually, the OG Xbox port of Doom 3 was a minor miracle. Gameplay wise, I think Little Samson for the NES feels better than most 16-bit platformers. Narratively, MGS2 was a decade ahead of most of its audience.

I think people largely forget how much of a visual powerhouse the original XBOX was. Conker: Live & Reloaded still looks absolutely stunning all things considered

 

[Mechablade-X]

Zero Tolerance for the Genesis, very impressive for an FPS on a 16 bit console that came out in 1988.

 

[dkpopman]

Pretty basic answer, but Star Fox is definitely a great example of this.

Post automatically merged: Jul 3, 2026

Visually, the OG Xbox port of Doom 3 was a minor miracle.

Speaking of minor miracles on OG XBOX, the port of Half Life 2 on there is actually shockingly good.

 

[zacharinolongpants]

All of the above? I guess a good example would probably be the Driver games on the GBA. Just something that should not be possible on such a small handheld

Hell, you could say the same of Driver 2 on PS1 damn near.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

All of the above? I guess a good example would probably be the Driver games on the GBA. Just something that should not be possible on such a small handheld

Also GBA Asterix & Obelix XXL (made by the same team)

 

[cubixtwister09]

I really like Ridge Racer Type 4, which has a nice gourard shading technique and, for a 1998 PS1 game, looks amazing.

 

[Rez09]

People seem to hate on the title a bit, but Final Fantasy 3 is very impressive for an NES RPG. It isn’t a graphical or sound powerhouse, but in terms of everything they crammed into there it is a real wonder — submarine, multiple overworlds, multiple airships, bosses with fully realized gimmicks, a class system puzzles were built around, summons were introduced. I just played the original release of FF4 again, and honestly that game didn’t really -add- anything FF3 didn’t already have in place, if anything it stepped back on several things.

 

[thetwaz]

All of the above? I guess a good example would probably be the Driver games on the GBA. Just something that should not be possible on such a small handheld

OK, it's on my to play list!

I recently learned about Rescue on Fractalus for the Atari 5200 and C64 - a Pseudo 3D space sim that Lucasfilm Games (before they became LucasArts) released in 1986:

 

[retrohelix]

Panorama Cotton. Released just a year after the original Star Fox, this boasts similar on-rails gameplay on the Genesis. And while I like the original Star Fox graphics, this is all still done with beautiful pixel art. Not only that, but each level is a set piece unto itself. Rather than be content with the simple effect of moving forward into scenery on an empty plain like Space Harrier, you'll see your perspective change as Cotton dives into a cliffside through a waterfall, bursts through walls, and more.

As with any 2D game mimicking 3D, depth perception can be tricky at times.

 

[HoyeBoye]

Wing Commander for PC. It could run on a 286 PC and was only 5MB, yet felt so immersive. The cutscenes were beautiful. I would eject from my ship just to watch the cutscene. Also watched the funeral scene fairly often.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Mega Man World 5 looks amazing

 

[Bomberman]

Resident Evil 4 GC.
Killzone Mercenary Vita,
MGS PS1,
Conker's Bad Fur Day N64
Ninja Gaiden/Black Xbox
Shadow of the Colossus is very impressive visually too for ps2 also God of War 2