Most Beautiful Games On Dreamcast

[Neohound]

^sounds like he is comparing it to the previous generation (PS2, GC, Xbox) rather than the current generation (PS3, Xbox360)

Correct. A lthough I was hinting that the Dreamcast was also able to compete with the Wii.

dreamcast fans seem nuts 99.9% of the time

Yes, but the other 0.1% of the time they are reasonable, sensible, intelligent, logical and sane

I find them to be artistically stunning because imagine if they still had the high polygon count but looked like a mess.Its how all the lighting, textures ,models, and animations come together that make it look impressive.

Yes, I think I agree with you. in games like Virtua tennis and Sega Extreme Sports especially. Even in photorealistic games there is a certain artistic merit and games like that can still be beautiful. Well, real life can be beautiful can't it

I'm not a big sports person but I would say Virtua Tennis is beautiful from an artistic perspective

You took the words right out of my mouth ! I think Sega added a certain 'Je ne sais quoi' to their in-house sports games which was lacking in others.



I think we should mention Space Channel 5 parts 1&2. Sassy, funky, psychedelic and, yes, beautiful. Also I was playing Super Magnetic Neo this morning and I noticed the way the water and also metals were rendered in places (mainly the game 'hub') and I found it very beautiful. It's quite a cutesy title but I don't think that detracts from what is a delightful looking game.

We've mentioned Evil Twin, Code Veronica and Alone In The Dark as being beautiful in their own, dark and sombre way. There are others I would point out. D2 may be drenched in red blood but also it is covered in snow. And I love snow, especially when it is falling and blanketing the Canadian mountains, the location for the game. Shadowman shows that you can also find a certain beauty in even the most evil and sinister places. Soul Reaver has a beautiful, gothic look that appeals to me.

[cloofoofoo]

^sounds like he is comparing it to the previous generation (PS2, GC, Xbox) rather than the current generation (PS3, Xbox360)

Correct. A lthough I was hinting that the Dreamcast was also able to compete with the Wii.

dreamcast fans seem nuts 99.9% of the time

Yes, but the other 0.1% of the time they are reasonable, sensible, intelligent, logical and sane

Oh to other machines of that generation,then I apologize.Comparing it to the ps2 is one thing though, comparing it to the xbox and gamecube is really pushing it.They were leaps and bounds ahead.I think future dreamcast games probably would have gone the sakura taisen 4 way: superb animations(better shenmue in my opinion),great lighting while pulling off isolated blurred explosions/attacks(like ps2) and full screen blur (ala ps2) while sacrificing some polygon count.So in a way ,kinda of like wii(lower polygon count of course) nowadays.So I guess I see your point.

[cabou]

cabou, your choices include three french games

Nice list, I particularly agree with Rayman 2, PSO and Ecco:DOTF - three of the most beautiful games ever made.

To me Vanishing Point looks like a homage to past Sega racing games and even surpasses some of them in looks.

I can't really remember much about AFO, I'll have to check it out over the weekend.

didn't make on purpose !
was Evil Twin made by Frenchies? I don't remember...

otherwise, wacky races was very good looking game
and looney toons space race was very pleasant to gaze at also !

EDIT: two other gorgeous games I just got in mind
Heavy metal Geomatrix
Kidou Senhi Gundam vs Zeon Dx

[Neohound]

was Evil Twin made by Frenchies?

Yes cabou. In Utero made it.

The other french games mentioned were Rayman2 and Alone In The Dark. Though, confusingly, Le Mans 24hr though wasn't !

One other French game (I think ?) that hasn't been mentioned yet is Stupid Invaders, and that was a goddamn beautiful game !!.

otherwise, wacky races was very good looking game
and looney toons space race was very pleasant to gaze at also !

I totally agree. Have you ever seen those games in VGA on a big screen ? Lip-smackingly tasty visuals.



I think we are finding that it's not just the japanese who could produce beautiful games on the Dreamcast.

[Neohound]

Heavy metal Geomatrix

Can the unholy alliance of Powerstone and Outtrigger, which spawned the mutant, bastard lovechild that is known as Heavy Metal Geomatrix, be described as beautiful ? It sure can !!

[dark]

Oh to other machines of that generation,then I apologize.Comparing it to the ps2 is one thing though, comparing it to the xbox and gamecube is really pushing it.They were leaps and bounds ahead.

An interesting subject! Here is a fun page with a technical breakdown about why, in what ways, and by how much the GC and Xbox surpass the DC.

http://www.segatech.com/technical/conso ... index.html

The xbox was a monster in terms of its technical capabilities, but both GC and xbox had hundreds of average games which did not use anything close to the system's full potential. I think the DC games (Ikaruga, DOA2, LeMans, F355) which maxed out the DC could compete with the graphically average games on such consoles. A good version of the GC version of Super Monkey Ball could certainly have been done on DC with lower resolution textures and reduced polygon count for the backgrounds. Certainly Outrun 2 is leaps and bounds ahead and wouldn't have been possible in its Xbox form on the DC without huge graphical reductions, (actually probably still impossible without really advanced graphics streaming since its such a large and graphically intense environment to load into memory) but the graphics do still remind me of a less blocky F355 and not just because of the ferraris

[Neohound]

dark, thanks for posting that article. It's an interesting comparison between all three consoles.

The Xbox was released three years after the Dreamcast, almost to the day. That is a full two cycles of Moore's Law, which states that computing power is expected to double every eighteen months. So yeah, the Xbox and GC were more powerful, but that was to be expected considering their launch dates in comparison to the DC. But, relatively speaking, and for it's release date of Nov 1998, the Dreamcast was still a very powerful machine. Also remember that the Xbox was twice the size of the DC and GC and cost at least $100 more. I think it's fair to say that each of the consoles, in their own way, were outstanding technical achievements.

But does how powerful a console is equate to how beautiful it's games are ?

The more powerful the technology, the more possibilities are open to the artists working on them. The scope for creativity is certainly broadened and, if used properly, these powerful machines are capable of producing truly beautiful games.

[Neohound]

the graphics (in Outrun 2) do still remind me of a less blocky F355 and not just because of the ferraris

Well maybe that's because both games had Yu Suzuki as their source of inspiration ?

[cabou]

Can the unholy alliance of Powerstone and Outtrigger, which spawned the mutant, bastard lovechild that is known as Heavy Metal Geomatrix, be described as beautiful ? It sure can !!

add a little pinch of spawn, and you'll be right in !

concerning Stupid Invaders (from Xilam), it was a damn funny game ! I loved that game !
gags were terrible ! in french version I intend,
didn't try the english one, but I guess it was as much humorous

[Neohound]

add a little pinch of spawn, and you'll be right in !

Damn it ! I missed that but..........you're right ya know lol

I did find Stupid Invaders funny, although the gags did lean towards (what is known in franglais as) " L'humour de toilette "