Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker. Those graphics were slammed at the time for being cartoony, but they hold up even now. Meanwhile, games that were going for realism at the time look like ass in comparison to modern realistic graphics. And today’s will suck compared to next year’s and so on.
I agree, what made WW really work to me was the animation. Also the expressiveness of characters, because in comparison N64 Link basically knew a total of two expressions, and they were dull grumpiness and angry grumpiness.
I don’t like what they’ve done to the Wii U remake though. I don’t understand why every colour needed to be balanced toward radioactive hell.
Also unrelated to visuals but the loss of the Tingle Tuner was a shame, that thing was genius. Had so much fun with my siblings with it. I’m sure they could have emulated it with 3DS if they cared, after all 3DS/Wii U connection was a thing for smash for example.
I still think Shadow of the Colossus on PS2 is one of the best looking games out there, even though it was going for a more realistic art style which has aged horribly in most other games.
For a contemporary example, Hi-Fi Rush. Here in 20 years, when modern graphics look like ass by comparison, heavy stylization will always look good.
Even if you’re talking visuals only (which obviously don’t always matter), good art direction always beats high res and photorealistic.
My prime example for this is always Okami. It’s a PS2 game. It’s basically intemporal.
Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker. Those graphics were slammed at the time for being cartoony, but they hold up even now. Meanwhile, games that were going for realism at the time look like ass in comparison to modern realistic graphics. And today’s will suck compared to next year’s and so on.
I agree, what made WW really work to me was the animation. Also the expressiveness of characters, because in comparison N64 Link basically knew a total of two expressions, and they were dull grumpiness and angry grumpiness.
I don’t like what they’ve done to the Wii U remake though. I don’t understand why every colour needed to be balanced toward radioactive hell.
Also unrelated to visuals but the loss of the Tingle Tuner was a shame, that thing was genius. Had so much fun with my siblings with it. I’m sure they could have emulated it with 3DS if they cared, after all 3DS/Wii U connection was a thing for smash for example.
I still think Shadow of the Colossus on PS2 is one of the best looking games out there, even though it was going for a more realistic art style which has aged horribly in most other games.
For a contemporary example, Hi-Fi Rush. Here in 20 years, when modern graphics look like ass by comparison, heavy stylization will always look good.