New consoles are excitiℱng, and so is finding out just how much developers can push old hardware to their limits. Some games are stuffed with so much pixel magic that it's hard to believe that they can even run on the hardware they were developed for.
Companies like Sega, Naughty Dog, Rare, and Sony, among many others, are famous for showing gamers that ol🔜d hardware can look like modern tech long after its initial release. Not every game ahead of its time was a blast to play, but some of the most beautiful games ever made were indeed some of the best.
10 Chuck Rock 2: Son Of Chuck: Better Late Than Never ♍
This is an odd entry since most people have never heard of—let alone played—Chuck Rock 2: Son of Chuck. It came out in 1993, seeing releases on the Master System (long after🐎 its relevance), the Genesis, and even the ill-fated Sega CD.
While it is a pretty standard side-scrolling action platformer, the Master System version rivaled the Genesis version graphically. The level of detail in the backgrounds, the character sprites, and the texturing all look somewhere between 8-bit and 16-bit. It might be a cult title at best, but it showed the world (or the few who were still paying attention) just how powerful that old Master System hardware really wܫas.
9 🐟 Virtua Racing: Port Perfect (Almost)
It wasn't rare for arcade games to lay the smackdown on their console counterparts in the 80s and 90s (which might explain why many arcade games get po🌄rted after the fact). This makes it that much harder to believe Virtꦕua Rac💟ing runs and plays well on the Sega Genesis.
While a lot of people will talk about Star Fox being ahead of its time in the 16-bit era, Virtua Racing might be the better-looking game. It had a special SVP chip inside the cartridge that rendered 9,000 pixels per se🍬cond. Virtua Racing was a faithful port to a console that was never equipped for 3D. This version of Virtua Racing looks as good as some 32X and Saturn 3D games despite being on inferior hardware. Embrace the polygons, and this is stil♑l a very playable racer.
8 Kirby's Adventure: One Final 8-Bit Surprise 𓂃
🤪Like many games released after its console's🎉 lifespan, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Kirby's Adventure is one of the prettiest looking games on its respective hardware (the NES in this case). Sure, it's not quite as nice looking as the SNES Kirby game🎐s, but NES gam𓄧es were not supposed to look so good.
Most gamers had already moved on to the SNES before Kirby Adventure was released. They should have kept their NES around though because everyone's favorite pink puff gave players one heck of a fun and color✱ful surprise.
7 Tekken 3: It Moves, It Grooves 🉐
Graphical🤡ly speaking, 3D PS1 games tend n🍃ot to age all that well. They are full of polygons, bland textures, and muddy backgrounds.
Enter168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Tekken 3, one of the prettiest games on the PS1. As far as fighters go, it might have been an acceptable release on the Sega Dreamcast or PS2 in their early days. The amount of detail in each fightܫer and background here is incredible. Furthermore, th🦄is game ran near perfect. It still holds up as one of the best fighters of all time.
6 Battletoads:ꦏ Pulling Out All The Tricks
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Battletoads is arguably the most graphicওally impressive NES game. The renowned company, Rare, pulled out all the stops for this one.
These toads can headbutt, extend their hands for knock-out blows, chuck snowballs, bungee down cliffsides, and so much more. Every move and action is well animated and full of charm. Combine the animation with the vast color palates and env𒆙ꦗironmental details and this game actually looks 16-bit.
Lastly, this game features some pretty technical maneuvres (such as sprite scrolling). Battletoads is a technical feat that is still discussed today... or maybe everyone is just talking a꧒bout the crippling difficulty.
5 🗹 Zelda Wind Waker: A Living, Breathing Cartoon ❀
When Wind Waker came out in the early 2000s, it was met with both great praise and criticism. 168澳洲🌜幸运5开奖网:The cel-shaded look was a♍ thing of beauty, but gamers were clamoring for more of a realistic look (as seen in Twili꧑ght Princess).
168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Zelda: Wind Waker (both versions) is still one of the prettiest games ever made. The animation was truly life-like, and the cel-shading made it feel like a cartoon brought to life. This could have easily been released for the Wii with very little needing to be changed. It's just amazing that it was ꦛreleased in the middle of the GameCube's lifespan.
4 🏅 Black (PS2): Looks Over 🤡Style
Black was released for the Xbox and PS2 late in their lifecycles. It could easily be mistaken for a launch title for the 360🌜 or the PS3.
Black was short, straight-forward, and cinematically driven. The developers aimed to make a more realistic shooter with destructive environments. While they fell short of reinventing the genre, they certainly got the most out of old hardware that was sta💮rting to sho꧅w its age.
3 The Last of Us (PS3):♛ Taking Cen❀ter Stage
Anyone gaming in 2012-2013 will remember how breath-taking Last of Us looked. Naughty Dog was no stranger to making beautiful games that pushed the hardware to its limits. While Uncharted was an incredible series, 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Last of Us bested them gﷺraphically and made for one heꦆck of a PS3 swan song.
The PS3 original was barely out when players found out that it was going to receive an enhanced port on the PS4, which might be one hint and how well developed the original game was. In the case of the Last of Us, the great graphics really assist one of the most powerful stories ever told in video game history (168澳洲幸运5开奖网:it might even get a tv show).
2 Red Dead Redemption 𒆙2: A Vast Beautiful World
Who needs dedicated cutscenes when graphics look this good? 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Red Dead Redemption is one of the best-looking games ever made. Rockstar is known for quali🐼ty, and the wait between Red 💎Dead games was clearly worth the wait.
Everything in 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Red Dead Redemption 2 shines. It has backgrounds tha🧸t look almost real, amazing animation, and the world is absolutely huge, m𓃲aking it that much more impressive. Players should enjoy it as much as they can on next-gen consoles because it will probably be a long wait until any sequel sees the light of the 19th century.
1 💦 Ghost of Tsushima (PS4): Practically More Beautiful Than Reality ꦜ
The original trailers for 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Ghost of Tsushima had♍ players wondering if it was actually a PS5 game. Playing the game still has players asking the same question. Ghost of Tsushima is arguably the most beautiful PS4 game ever made.
The weather effects, vast landscapes, and the amount of detail in the environments (even the backgrounds and sky) are breathtaking. Ghost of Tsushima truly feels next-gen, and Sucker Punch deserves a lot of credit for getting this game to run on old PS4 hardware. The graphics make exploring the large sandbox that is Tsushima an absolute thrill with endlesꩲs surprises.