What was the graphical peak of Retro consoles

[Luz de Luna Luz de Luna Luz de Luna's icon]

Virtua Racing on Genesis, Castlevania IV on SNES, and Banjo-Kazooie on N64 for me.

 

[yungmysterymane]

View attachment 106354
NES: Recca
Megadrive : Ristar
SNES: Star Ocean
Neo Geo: Garou motw
PS1: Vagrant story
Saturn: Radiant silvergun
N64: Conker
Dreamcast: Shenmue 2
PS2: Shadow of the Colossus
GameCube: Twilight princess
Xbox: Half Life 2/Ninja Gaiden

Anyone with experience on the atari 2600,master system, please weigh in

PS1 is so hard for me because there have been some absolutely gorgeous games on the console. I think the best looking games are often the most stylized too. Vagrant Story, Xenogears, Suikoden 2, and Mega Man Legends (1 and 2) are still really nice to look at today not just because of how intensive they were graphically, but because they actually had a really unique style and used the whole buffalo when it comes to visual design.

 

[Bakuma1997]

 

[DjQuick2008]

the neo geo for sure

 

[Agent Otaku]

I'd say graphics peaked at the PS1/PS2 era, with PS3 being "new", but quality wise varies. I don't really care for games late PS3 and up, graphically-wise.

 

[breremarer]

This might be kind of an out-of-pocket pull for the PS2, but I think "Haunting Ground" has at least gotta be up there. The design work is so gorgeous, and Fiona's character model is amazing. She's got so much detail and range of movement in her face!

I also remember being astonished by "Snake Eater" when I first played it. That game still looks great, imo.

 

[Turbo Kid]

Some more of my choices:

PS2

Ico/Shadow of the Colossus

Sly Cooper series

Okami

Odinsphere

Dreamcast

Rez

Jet Grind Radio

Marvel vs Capcom 2

Space Channel 5 series

I think you could throw in the Sonic Adventures games for both speed and visual spectacle

 

[pingugaming]

the "peak" to me was the period from the early 90s to the mid 2000s. thought it will never ever get any better in terms of graphical fidelity... and now we got soulless photo-realistic games "running" on UE5 that are a stuttering mess...

 

[TinRattler]

Sega master system

Wonderboy 3 dragons trap

 

[CheesyExplosive]

a whole lot more better than "army men sarge's heros" and "fur fighters" BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG and twisted metal

 

[Bomberman]

View attachment 106354
NES: Recca
Megadrive : Ristar
SNES: Star Ocean
Neo Geo: Garou motw
PS1: Vagrant story
Saturn: Radiant silvergun
N64: Conker
Dreamcast: Shenmue 2
PS2: Shadow of the Colossus
GameCube: Twilight princess
Xbox: Half Life 2/Ninja Gaiden

Anyone with experience on the atari 2600,master system, please weigh in

Megadrive- I agree Ristar
SNES- I guess looking at screenshots of it.
PSX- So many beautiful games on this system. Chrono Cross for me.
Saturn- So many stunners. If I had to pick one it would be Vampire Savior of the ones I have seen.
N64- Agreed on Conker
Dreamcast- I personally think Code Veronica
PS2- God of War 2
Gamecube- Resident Evil 4
Xbox- Ninja Gaiden Black I agree

 

[Badseed Badseed]

It's all been downhill since the mighty Vectrex

 

[Lisreal3399]

RE Remake on GameCube is incredible. It's quite possibly the peak of pre-rendered graphics.

 

[Deleted member 560402]

It's all been downhill since the mighty Vectrex

View attachment 107616

There's TRUXTON but that's about it.

 

[hazys]

The Dreamcast/Naomi/Model 3/Hikaru era of SEGA 3D is the perfect point for me. Sharp, bright, matte shapes that had enough expressiveness and depth, but never so much as to become muddy.