this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2023
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[–] lobut@lemmy.ca 80 points 2 years ago (9 children)

I remember playing Doom for the first time and I remember thinking that graphics would never get any better than that. Like the arm even moves when he walks!

How horribly naïve I was.

[–] ExtraMedicated@lemmy.world 35 points 2 years ago (2 children)

5 year old me thought it looked photorealistic.

[–] GrammatonCleric@lemmy.world 22 points 2 years ago (2 children)

That was Mortal Kombat when I was 15

[–] NocturnalMorning@lemmy.world 14 points 2 years ago (5 children)

But mortal Kombat WAS photorealistic (in my head)

[–] MyFairJulia@lemmy.world 11 points 2 years ago

They did have people dress as the fighters and do poses and then took photos of them and turned these photos into sprites.

So the game was photorealistic (that is within the technological boundaries of the platforms the game ran on).

I'd love to see a 2D Mortal Kombat with the original photos taken from what we may consider the OG Mortal Kombat cosplayers.

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago

Primal Rage too for me. "Stop motion animation? In a game? This is the height of technology!"

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[–] axellenium@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

My peak game i think it was F.E.A.R., my pc couldn’t run it at full but I remember thinking it couldn’t possibly get any better than that

[–] WereCat@lemmy.world 7 points 2 years ago (1 children)
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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago

I remember feeling the same way with Myst. "It even has video!"

[–] ignism@lemmy.world 10 points 2 years ago (2 children)

I had those moments multiple times. I remember thinking the same about International Karate on the Amiga. Then my mind was blown with Street Fighter II, Max Payne was one for sure as mentioned elsewhere and let’s not forget Carmageddon, which got a little bit too realistic. Graphics technology developed so fast, you can’t compare it to today’s upgrades. As I’m older now 10 year old games still feel “new” to me.

[–] SpaceCadet@feddit.nl 17 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (2 children)

As I’m older now 10 year old games still feel “new” to me.

It's not just you getting older, it's also diminishing returns.

It takes more and more effort, both in manpower as in graphical processing power, to make graphical leaps, and the visible returns are getting less.

You can compare it to video formats:

  • VHS => DVD: huge quality upgrade
  • DVD => 1080p HD: yeah that definitely looks better
  • 1080p => 4k: I guess it's a little sharper?
  • 4k => 8k: Well it's ... more. Also: why is everything running so hot?
[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Well, 8k is in allmost all home-usecases useless, 4k a better choice. Except maybe for video walls. Eye resolution is limited by angular resolution (visual acuity).

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[–] thingsiplay@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago

@lobut I thought Donkey Kong Country on the SNES was photorealistic and rivaled movies like Terminator 2, which used the same technology behind the scenes. I thought every game would look the same as Donkey Kong Country in future.

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[–] Hazdaz@lemmy.world 59 points 2 years ago (1 children)

No way would that kid be frowning. If this was legitimately in the late 70s or early 80s that kid would be ecstatic with the graphics.

[–] FatTony@discuss.online 23 points 2 years ago (1 children)
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[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 49 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (7 children)

Always so kick ass

Always?

Have you seen the cover art for the first MegaMan game? lmao

Even funnier with the boasting of "state of the art high resolution graphics" at the top. Though to be fair, the actual game looks infinitely better than that cover.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 26 points 2 years ago (1 children)

On the other hand, the European box art is fucking awesome

[–] Kolanaki@yiffit.net 12 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Other than Dr. Wiley lookin' like fuckin' Mark Twain, that is pretty sick. Actually, fighting Mark Twain would be sick, too.

[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 16 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

I don't know which I love better

  1. This isn't even the right color scheme for the character, so it's not like they misinterpreted the sprite
  2. Rock over here looks like he shit himself upon seeing a Mettaur and is trying (and failing) to pretend he didn't.
  3. Mega Man doesn't even use a gun, he uses a Buster. The only time Mega Man has used a gun are instances that parody this boxart or rare occasions like when his internet incarnation uses the Gun Del Sol during crossover events with Boktai
[–] MonkderZweite@feddit.ch 14 points 2 years ago

He does make a face like he doesn't want to be seen in that suit and with his frog legs.

[–] KairuByte@lemmy.dbzer0.com 13 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Even funnier with the boasting of "state of the art high resolution graphics" at the top.

At the time, this want really that inaccurate. There weren’t many video games with the same quality.

The only reason it’s laughable now is because it’s been 35 years since the claim was made.

[–] AtomicPurple@kbin.social 6 points 2 years ago

No, it was inaccurate, even at the time. The Famicom was built to cost and and mainly used cheap off-the-shelf components that were already obsolete when the system first released in 1983. The NES released in North America the same year as the Commodore Amiga, a system that actually was cutting edge, and represented a big leap forward in what home computers could do graphically. By the time Mega Man released, the Amiga was on it's second revision and other home computers were rapidly catching up to it's capabilities.
While Mega Man was one of the best games on the NES, it ran at the same resolution as every other game on the system, and was stuck working within the same limited color palette and low sprite limit that were more than five years behind the curve when it released.

[–] Mythril@lemm.ee 12 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Looking at this cover art again now, it kinda reminds me of AI-generated art lol

[–] notst@lemmy.world 15 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I love bashing AI art but in AI art it's usually the details that you spot at second glance that makes it fall apart. The Mega Man cover is just fundamentally messed up to a degree where even AI art is miles ahead.

[–] Mythril@lemm.ee 8 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

Yeah true, AI art is more "looks OK at first glance, but smaller details are messed up", while this one is the opposite of that so "smaller details are actually fine, but as a whole it looks quite messed up" haha

[–] FullOfBallooons@leminal.space 43 points 2 years ago (2 children)
[–] GreenMario@lemm.ee 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

Always loved that they play a Master System.

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[–] nutbiggums@lemmy.ml 40 points 2 years ago (3 children)
[–] The_Picard_Maneuver@startrek.website 21 points 2 years ago (3 children)

I love this one. Why is his face off center? Why does he have a normal gun?

[–] GladiusB@lemmy.world 13 points 2 years ago
[–] nutbiggums@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 years ago

So many questions...I want to know who paid real money for this

[–] dodslaser@feddit.nu 5 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago)

At least in Mega Man 2 he looks like a slightly more normal dude in riot gear with a gun.

[–] TwilightVulpine@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

I love that they brought back Bad Box Art Mega Man in Street Fighter x Tekken

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[–] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 31 points 2 years ago (3 children)

VHS covers were the same way.

None of this is in the movie.

Also, it's a terrible movie that was on Mystery Science Theater 3000.

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[–] davetansley@lemmy.world 27 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Except in the case of the Sega Master System, where the simplistic 8-bit graphics felt like a massive leap up from the terrible box art!

Ugh

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[–] HawlSera@lemm.ee 24 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Remember the coverart for Phalanax and how it had NOTHING to do with the game at all? And when asked the company said they simply put a cover they thought would be eyecatching.

Why a random old coot with a banjo on a rocking chair would accomplish that is beyond me

[–] ledge@sopuli.xyz 8 points 2 years ago

When everything is spaceships and big men with guns. You might ask whats this thing with old man and a banjo?

[–] lemann@lemmy.one 10 points 2 years ago

For me the worst was handed down PS1 games with awesome CD art... that just wouldn't load ☹️

[–] Crul@lemm.ee 10 points 2 years ago (1 children)
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[–] guyrocket@kbin.social 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

And later we were further deceived with cut-scenes that were so much better than the gameplay.

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[–] bulwark@lemmy.world 8 points 2 years ago

Idk dude, Ultra Action Guys looks pretty fuckin rad.

[–] norreskog@lemmy.world 5 points 2 years ago (4 children)

I remember there being some sci-fi shootet game for the SNES that had some old fart playing a banjo on the cover. What was that game?

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