Pre-release screenshots that blew your god damn mind

Deleted member 8752 · Jun 19, 2019

AfropunkNyc said:
When i saw these in Game Pro magazine as a kid i though "Damn, were in the future", especially coming off of SNES and Sega Genesis games and i think even the PSX and Sega Saturn was out

Yep. I didn't comprehend how you were supposed to even play a game that way.

SantaC · Jun 19, 2019

digit_zero · Jun 19, 2019

Twilight Princess, specifically this image, had me hyped af.

shounenka · Jun 19, 2019

Count of Monte Sawed-Off said:
When the Sierra games first went VGA

This this this. This plus Roland MT-32 audio.

/hums Hero's Quest character selection theme

nib95 · Jun 19, 2019

May said:
Because its not the real game lol

What are you talking about? Those are gameplay shots. The final game ended up looking even better and also a bit more colourful.

Heid · Jun 19, 2019

Crazy to think these graphics still hold up against to some of the biggest games today.

Deleted member 2254 · Jun 19, 2019

Heid said:
Crazy to think these graphics still hold up against to some of the biggest games today.

iunderstoodthatreference.gif

The Albatross · Jun 19, 2019

muteKi said:
NFL 2K. Look at that! The stands aren't just a single smeared texture, you can, like, make out individual people up there! Whoa

That's not an original NFL 2K screenshot. It's probably NFL 2K4, because it has the ESPN branding, and Eli Manning is the Giants QB (Drafted in '04, but was backup to Kurt Warner his rookie year, so 2K4 would have been the 2005 NFL season which would seem right). In 2000, 2001, etc, I think Kerry Collins (#5) would have been QB.

NFL 2K still looked amazing for it's time, but I believe these were some of the original press shots:

Secretofmateria · Jun 19, 2019

digit_zero said:
Twilight Princess, specifically this image, had me hyped af.

Same, i remember seeing this on nintendos official website in 2005 or early 06 and thinking that thing was inspired by the balrog from lotr

KrangBakesaTurtle · Jun 19, 2019

If someone has the mag and remembers (and can show) that would be amazing)

There was this screen shot of an off road racer in EGM or something similar, probably was a few mags with the same pic

There was a dark mountain and may have been show with cars going around and bright lights and beams.

In my mind it looked like what PS3 would have looked at during this time and this was for the N64

racer in a mag for N63
Small screens and wondering if anyone has any idea?

Dralos · Jun 19, 2019

Dennis8K said:
I was going through thread wondering if I was going to have to post Crysis.

You save me the trouble. And you save the honor of PC ERA.

same here, took quite some time until someone posted crysis.

Meows · Jun 19, 2019

I remember being so impressed by this early build screenshot from Final Fantasy XIII. I think they ended up swapping an engine or something because the lighting, hair and skin textures, seemed to change dramatically just a year later.

Precious Tritium · Jun 19, 2019

This shot of RDR blew me away, the distance of the open world looked insane.

Also this shot of the original inFamous put it on my radar, I played that demo so much when it came out, pre-ordered then canceled at multiple places to get all the pre-order bonuses, good times

anf · Jun 19, 2019

It's really fun seeing who on resetera is from what decade based on what screenshots they are posting.

For me it was Bouncer, Gateway, Roque Squadron, MGS2.

Dr. Doom · Jun 19, 2019

samurai1226 said:
GoW2 Bullshots looked insane and honestly still look good today:

This looks better than Gears 4.

FRS1987 · Jun 19, 2019

I remember seeing this picture of Steve Fox in a magazine for Tekken 4 and thinking it looked life-like.

xmassteps · Jun 19, 2019

Speculator said:
Rogue Squadron 2: Rogue Leader (looked like the movies)

This game (along with a number of Gamecube titles) still looks good to this day

Heri · Jun 19, 2019

Rengoku and Ridge Racer on PSP

I know it doesn't seem like much but seeing that on a portable console after spending the last few years playing the GBA was like the most impressive thing ever, I was like "holy shit, a portable ps2!"

Deleted member 26293 · Jun 19, 2019

Killing Day by Ubisoft, early PS3 days are a goldmine for this kind of stuff.

Dizastah · Jun 19, 2019

tapedeck said:

OMG. This. I remember loosing it when I saw this.

mudai said:
Sure, it was rendered but my god did it blow my mind back then. In general all of the FF7 pre-release material.

Then I lost it even more when this was announced. This ad is hilarious btw.....lol

HebrewHammer · Jun 19, 2019

Those Killzone 2 screenshots from in-game rocked my world.

Virtua Sanus · Jun 19, 2019

Early Sonic Adventure screenshots were on another level. Too many come to mind, but here is one of my favorites that has not been posted yet.

3D tunnels! The details of those cracks! His head turns!

Dracon · Jun 19, 2019

Clayfighter 63 1/3 bullshots made me go crazy:

aBIGeye · Jun 19, 2019

SantaC said:

Yep, surprised it took 7 pages to get Battlefield 3. People were losing their minds back then.

Druffmaul · Jun 19, 2019

tapedeck said:

So rad. I remember Next Generation magazine doing a very short preview of FFVII in 1996, saying something about: "The lead character is Claude, who was previously a minor character in FFVI." Pretty much every NA gaming magazine was referring to him as "Claude" but I always wondered where the hell they came up with the rest of that shit.

The Albatross said:
What's the backstory of Final Fantasy VII not dropping on N64 and instead going to PSX? I remember FFVII being huge when it released but I wasn't into RPGs, I rented it and didn't really get it, but I thought the environments looked awesome.

The last version of the story I heard: In 1993 Nintendo partnered with SGI to design the follow up to the SNES. Square was virtually a 1st party Nintendo developer back then. So was Rare. Square and Rare both invested in their own SGI workstations, assuming they would need them to develop for the next console. This is how Donkey Kong Country came about on SNES, Rare used their SGI machines to do all of the prerendered 3D graphics. Likewise with Square and Super Mario RPG. Then they started experimenting and designing FFVII on their SGI machines, and getting into very robust pre-rendered backgrounds and FMV. This stuff required the large storage capacity of CD ROM, there was no way around it. Nintendo was originally going to partner with Sony to go CD, but they ended up stabbing Sony in the back and partnering with Phillips instead. Then that fell through as well. This is literally why the Playstation came to exist... it was originally going to be a CD ROM add-on for the SNES, just like the Sega CD for Megadrive/Genesis. After Nintendo betrayed Sony, Sony said "Fuck it, we'll just finish this project as our own stand-alone CD ROM console." Nintendo ultimately decided CD ROMs were no go and that the next console would use cartridges. Square tried to convince them to go CD because the games they were now developing simply weren't going to be workable in cartridge format, but Nintendo wouldn't budge. Sony made it very easy for Square to jump ship and go with them instead of Nintendo.

Deleted member 48897 · Jun 19, 2019

The Albatross said:
NFL 2K still looked amazing for it's time, but I believe these were some of the original press shots:

Ah, thanks! I just grabbed the first image I could find with a decent shot of the stands because that's about what I remember it looking like. Compared to the actual shots of the field it would seem I wasn't off by much.

ThreepQuest64 · Jun 19, 2019

Phediuk said:
Oblivion screens from 2004

Khanimus said:
Oblivion is the first thing that came to mind.

Edgar said:
Oblivion

.

Oblivion was the first that came to my mind when reading the title. Now in retrospective I would also say GTA 3, Prince of Persia (2008), Assassin's Creed Unity, The Witcher 3, Project Cars.

Deleted member 17210 · Jun 19, 2019

It's crazy how familiar so many of these screenshots still are. You guys are making me feel old, though. I think I was the only one to post something from the '80s.

Sems4arsenal · Jun 19, 2019

RedSwirl · Jun 19, 2019

Dennis8K said:
Resident Evil 5 is an unappreciated masterpiece by the way.

It's the top-selling RE game when you combine all the SKUs together.

halcali said:
Virtua Fighter 3

https://i.imgur.com/4yLkStp.jpg

This shit came out in 1996 man. The same year as Mario 64, Tomb Raider 1, and Quake 1.

Yarbskoo · Jun 19, 2019

Ghos said:
Red steeel

That's the one I was gonna bring up.

What a disappointment.

halcali · Jun 19, 2019

RedSwirl said:
It's the top-selling RE game when you combine all the SKUs together.

This shit came out in 1996 man. The same year as Mario 64, Tomb Raider 1, and Quake 1.

Indeed. I still look at it with awe.
Btw, is that Pepsi Man's girl?? <3

Foot · Jun 19, 2019

Dracon said:
Clayfighter 63 1/3 bullshots made me go crazy:

A game like that released today could look amazing. Someone make a 4K stop-motion clay game!

Firebrand · Jun 19, 2019

I wish I could find screens, but the first screenshots of Zelda 3 / A Link to the Past looked unreal to me. The return of that top-down view from Zelda 1, but with very colorful and detailed graphics. The screenshots I'm thinking of are of the first dungeon, including the boss.

Also PC Gamer had a preview of Quake 3 with one of the characters (probably Sarge) emerging from a red mist, at the time the face texture looked "photo-realistic."

Speculator · Jun 19, 2019

Some additional hype shots:

Halo 1999

Medal of Honor Allied Assault:

Mechwarrior 2009 (The trailer was everything I ever wanted from a MW game...if only it became reality)

Kurekure Takora · Jun 19, 2019

The early Mario 64 and OOT screens are tops. Besides that...

Yoshi's Island 64 (Yoshi's Story) - The first shots of Yoshi's Story had me excited, coming off the excellent Yoshi's Island from a couple years ago, now in the style of Donkey Kong Country on steroids. This Piranha Plant Forest picture in particular had me going nuts.

345 · Jun 19, 2019

Mr. Tibbs said:

yesss came here to post this specific screen.

since you didn't say what it is, it's an early duke nukem forever screenshot from after they switched engines but just before it was totally clear that it'd never come out. this was reprinted in every PC magazine for months because no-one had any other material.

Jon Carter · Jun 19, 2019

First screenshots of Driver Renegade (3DS) :

Reality:

The game looks nice in places, but it's clear that the game was developed with the assumption that the system was going to be more powerful. The same thing happened to the developers of Shinobi 3DS, though I don't think they ever released early screenshots.

TigerGD · Jun 19, 2019

KrangBakesaTurtle said:
If someone has the mag and remembers (and can show) that would be amazing)

There was this screen shot of an off road racer in EGM or something similar, probably was a few mags with the same pic

There was a dark mountain and may have been show with cars going around and bright lights and beams.

In my mind it looked like what PS3 would have looked at during this time and this was for the N64

racer in a mag for N63
Small screens and wondering if anyone has any idea?

Top Gear Rally (N64 target renders)

*sigh* I believed the hype, too.

EatChildren · Jun 19, 2019

aBIGeye said:
Yep, surprised it took 7 pages to get Battlefield 3. People were losing their minds back then.

Battlefield 3 still looks outstanding, especially at high resolutions with a lot of downsampling to clean up the IQ. The texture quality is excellent and the lighting/shading has a really balanced, realistic look. 4 onwards, particularly 1 and V, lather on Frostbite post processing to a far more excessive degree. They're technically superior but the clean, sharper look of Battlefield 3 lost. Changes made to the way Frostbite handles lighting give 1 and V this weird, not quite realistic look that I find hard to articular. Like materials don't look like materials they're supposed to be; a bit too soft or something.

TheMango55 · Jun 19, 2019

After years of playing this for hundreds of hours:

I started seeing screenshots of THIS:

I was blown away.

RedSwirl · Jun 19, 2019

EatChildren said:
Battlefield 3 still looks outstanding, especially at high resolutions with a lot of downsampling to clean up the IQ. The texture quality is excellent and the lighting/shading has a really balanced, realistic look. 4 onwards, particularly 1 and V, lather on Frostbite post processing to a far more excessive degree. They're technically superior but the clean, sharper look of Battlefield 3 lost. Changes made to the way Frostbite handles lighting give 1 and V this weird, not quite realistic look that I find hard to articular. Like materials don't look like materials they're supposed to be; a bit too soft or something.

The PC version of BF3 was basically an early current-gen game. The console version already felt like a downport of a next-gen game. In 2011 I remember BF3, Witcher 2, and Crysis 2 notably feeling like this.

And as far as Frostbite is concerned don't forget the PC version of Medal of Honor Warfighter from the very next year. People overlook that game, probably rightfully so, but tech-wise the PC version maxed out was basically a preview of BF4.

newmoneytrash · Jun 19, 2019

Jon Carter said:
First screenshots of Driver Renegade (3DS) :

Reality:

The game looks nice in places, but it's clear that the game was developed with the assumption that the system was going to be more powerful. The same thing happened to the developers of Shinobi 3DS, though I don't think they ever released early screenshots.

Is this game good? I *always* forget that it exists

Firefox · Jun 19, 2019

Barrel Cannon said:
Firefox I remember this one being pretty hype. The trailer as well seemed like some crazy next gen tech, which in some ways it ended up being.

Oh man this, Killzone 2, and Fight Night Round 3 will always be memorable for that time.

My favourite will always be the Halo 3 reveal.

Jon Carter · Jun 20, 2019

newmoneytrash said:
Is this game good? I *always* forget that it exists

Not really. I got some enjoyment out of it but even the developers said the game wasn't good--if I recall correctly, it was because they were rushed by Ubisoft, but I can't find where I read that.

el_galvon · Jun 20, 2019

The feeling of astonishment with pre-release images was more common to me in the jump to the 128-bit consoles. Shenmue, Dead or Alive 2, FFX, MGS 2... it was all pretty unreal.

But the screenshots that I became almost obsessed with were the pre-release images of Liberty City on GTA IV:

The last one was my wallpaper for a very long time. Unfortunately I did not like the game as much as the previous ones, even though it has it's moments.

SimpleCRIPPLE · Jun 20, 2019

Heid said:
Crazy to think these graphics still hold up against to some of the biggest games today.

That character model is a master class in low polygon usage. They got so much out of so few triangles. Every poly has a purpose, nothing wasted.

KrangBakesaTurtle · Jun 20, 2019

Yes, that is what I saw and i

TigerGD said:
Top Gear Rally (N64 target renders)

*sigh* I believed the hype, too.

Thast was it, and even at a young age I always saw that and was thinking that is the best looking game I ever saw and I was always hyped for that lol That is much closer to a souped up ps2 game IMO and I think I was seeing that somewhere 97/98 if it was 99 not sure I would have been as impressed but I'm not sure when that was running.

Ben Ward · Jun 20, 2019

nekkid said:
This PGR3 screenshot:

It was actually referred to as a "3D screenshot" that you could download and rotate.

Oh cool, I made that screenshot. Glad to see you still remember it! It was a strange time - we'd release a screenshot and people would say it's fake ("too many polys", apparently). So then I'd line up the same screenshot but capture it in wireframe mode and release that too. The 360's capabilities were mind-blowing to some at the time!

The 3D screenshot thing was an idea I had to, in part, help show that this was a real game and not bullshots. I captured it frame by frame using an automated orbit camera and then stitched it all together in Flash. It was a time before high-def streaming video, so this was a creative solution to an issue that just doesn't exist now.

Not long after this I was able to travel to Tokyo, stand in the same spot at the Government No 1 building and take my own real-life panoramic screenshot (unfortunately without the F1 LM!).

Ben

Terbinator · Jun 20, 2019

I thought nothing at the time of watching PGR TV and lost countless hours. Now the thought of watching randomers play I just can't get my head around.

aBIGeye said:
Yep, surprised it took 7 pages to get Battlefield 3. People were losing their minds back then.

For me, BF3 Alpha/Beta was the first next-gen game.

Ofc the SP has a whole more post-proc going on than MP, but even so. The Going Hunting (I think its called) mission on the aircraft carrier was a real melter.

Pre-release screenshots that blew your god damn mind

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