-
Ever wanted an RSS feed of all your favorite gaming news sites? Go check out our new Gaming Headlines feed! Read more about it here.
GIFs of cool visual effects in old games
- Thread starter Phediuk
- Start date
If you kill the bird, light will pass through its whole body in that scene :-P
I enjoyed Light Crusader (Genesis) by Treasure because it had this cool sense of scale with everything. Here are some bosses:
I loved all the crazy effect that Light Crusader shows. It a fun game also.
Driver 3 on the Gameboy Advance
That engine was nuts. They are the same guys that made V-Rally 3 and the Asterix game in GBA aren't they?
M2's Switch version can't come soon enoughI was always really impressed with the 32X version of Virtua Racing. The console isn't great, and it's 3D capabilities are very limited, but it works so well for this game.
I wish I liked to play those types of games more.
My personal favorite from Sin & Punishment on the N64. Treasure were the best at unique and stunning visual effects for any console they developed for IMO. They always pushed the limits of whatever hardware they worked on.
KiIcarus, S&P and Panzer Dragoon are all gorgeous games that play like boring arcade light games.
I believe Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on SNES used a similar trick (looped animation) but coupled with the Mode 7 layer so that you could rotate around the tunnel.
The developer also faked the laser beam lighting on the tunnel by adding a transparent red or green hue over the background.
Last edited:
The alternative way to do a tunnel sequence on SNES would have been by using two Mode 7 layers to simulate the floor and ceiling and to use different size sprites in and out to fake out the forward movement like Factor5 did with Super Turrican 2 (obviously no rotation allowed in this case but there isn't the noticeable transition when the loop restart as with the technique above):
I do love the lack of continuity in the intro. Goes from the red jeep in the first shot, to the accurate green 4X4 in the Rex' mouth, then it's the red jeep again in the level.
I had a fairly bizarre experience with that game as a kid, where me and my brother were unable to beat the last boss as Grant. We heard from someone to attack the skeleton, as you're meant to, but we always attacked the wrong part. I actually had a dream once that I finished the game and saw the ending after breaking the skeleton, but then a long time later I replayed the game and actually finished it, then the ending was remarkably similar to the random dream I'd had, apart from the skeleton breaking differently. Not that it's a very detailed ending.
Yeah some of them don't have the best replayability but they're still fun rides while they last the first few times.
I was gonna say "but the camera position changes!", but yeah, it doesn't. The "gif" is just panned around. Impressive effect still.
I think 1080º Avalanche had some cool visual effects back in the day.
Holy SHIT.
My personal favorite from Sin & Punishment on the N64.
No gif atm but the parallax scrolling in Shadow of the Beast was really great.
EDIT: here's a gif!
Yeah, parallax scrolling was a great effect. Some examples from the C64 -
Nebulus
Flimbo's Quest
Star Paws
Wrath of the Demon
These gifs stress me out. That level was impossible for me as a kidI believe Super Star Wars: Return of the Jedi on SNES used a similar trick (looped animation) but coupled with the Mode 7 layer so that you could rotate around the tunnel.
The developer also faked the laser beam lighting on the tunnel by adding a transparent red or green hue over the background.
Cannon Fodder FMV intro, Game Boy Color
And the 3D menu screen (end of the video):
Toy Story Racer, Game Boy Color
And the 3D menu screen (end of the video):
Toy Story Racer, Game Boy Color
Man these just look so dense and action packed.
In the Hunt, circa 1993 (Arcade, later Saturn and PS1). Sprites and water effects.
I always thought that the way Baten Kaitos mixed pre-rendered backgrounds with 3D models and effects was really lovely.
Absolutely beautiful
Here's a great writeup of how the game was made to look so good, by the guy who actually made it!The Atari Lynx conversion was also every inch as impressive too (thanks to the use of Lynx in hardware sprites scaling to 'fake' 3D and its small screen).
It was the best home conversion of Stun Runner at the time.
(the above captured footage is a bit blurred but at least it is real hardware)
What the shit, do you just straight-up punch birds in that game?!?
Wrath of the Demon
Oh, that's fucking insane.3D tunnel sequences in I of the Mask (ZX Spectrum, 1985)
In the Hunt, circa 1993 (Arcade, later Saturn and PS1). Sprites and water effects.
Oh wow, beautiful.
I was convinced this was a later Metal Slug I had forgotten about actually. Looks just like it.
Cannon Fodder FMV intro, Game Boy Color
And the 3D menu screen (end of the video):
Toy Story Racer, Game Boy Color
What the fuck. Sure, that Toy Story racer runs at like 5fps, but that shit should not be possible on a GBC!
I love seeing 3D graphics on systems that should absolutely not be able to handle it.
OP
OP
Toy Story Racer (GBC, 2001) actually runs at about 20fps. That video is just bad quality.
The original 1080 for N64 had some cool snow/ice/shadow/lighting (lens flare, colored textures to simulate light reflection) effects as well despite the early 3D hardware:
1080 was miles ahead the other snowboard games on consoles at the time (and not just because of graphics but also animations and physics).
Last edited:
Always loved those effects. Never played the games but I heard they had some wild stories.
I think 1080º Avalanche had some cool visual effects back in the day.
...I wonder if Nintendo sees value in making a "xtreme" sports game compilation, incuding this, Wave Race and maybe ExciteBike together in one package. A la Wii Sport.
1080 is SO underrated!
Toy Story Racer (GBC, 2001) actually runs at about 20fps. That video is just bad quality.
Hmm, is this actual 3D though, or is it FMV? The latter seems more likely. Which is still impressive for GBC, but actual polygonal graphics would have been insane. And probably impossible!
Their clothes flapped in the wind!!!! It was incredible.The original 1080 for N64 had some cool snow/ice/shadow/lighting (lens flare, colored textures to simulate light reflection) effects as well despite the early 3D hardware:
1080 was miles ahead the other snowboard games on consoles at the time (and not just because of graphics but also animations and physics).
Wrath of the Demon
This looks a lot like the horse-riding level in Back to the Future Part III for Sega Genesis.
Because it's the same guys, the games actually share a few sprites even
These are FMV of course. There were a certain amount of games using this technique on GBC, like F1 World Championship 2000 and a motocross game from which I forgot the name...
Here's a thought experiment: Imagine what he must have looked like during the cut. knees up in the air raising his feet above the table. i dont think it's possible to do this and actually be bad-ass without a jump cut.
Me and my mates loved Moonstone. Superb 4-player action.Moonstone on Amiga also had really good animations for it's time. Anyone remember that game and have any good gifs at hand?
Edit:
OP
OP
