So out of the most well known historial "holy shit" visual next gen moments in history, which is your #1?

[nogoodnamesleft]

IDEALLY I WOULD LOVE TO ADD MORE TO POLL but with limited options, i put the ones that i see most people mention.

So, in your life, which game has been THE one that sticks out, that made you say "wow, next gen is here, i cant believe what im seeing" at that point in your life, more than any other game?

I thinkkkkkk mine would be Mario 64.

Feel free to state your own in a comment and explain why :) Would love to read about more experiences

 

[Fadewise]

Unreal PC on my Voodoo 2. I didn't know polygons could do that.

 

[vanripofficial]

Crysis is now 14 years old and still looks good

 

[Nurovek]

You can add Matrix Awakens to the list I guess

 

[Kevin360]

Growing up on NES/SNES/Genesis/N64/PS1

I would say both Rogue Squadron 2 on the Gamecube and the opening of Bioshock on the 360 were where my big, jaw dropped, "how on earth is this even possible!?". reactions happened.

Edit: Oh, and the opening of The Silent Cartographer (Halo) on Xbox always got my blood pumping too.

 

[Monado]

Sonic Adventure, Soul Calibur and Shenmue.

 

[mikehaggar]

Either Mario 64 or Gears of War for me. Tough call.

 

[JonesiiiFromtheMoon]

Metal Gear, from the graphics to the storytelling to the topic to the ending.

 

[jon bones]

bioshock waiting for the cinematic to continue oh shit i can move the controller

 

[TaySan]

Crysis still looks great to this day

 

[Kapryov]

Daytona USA felt like two generations ahead when it came out in arcades.

I was similarly floored the first time I saw Virtua Fighter 3 and SCUD Race in the arcades though. We hadn't even caught up to Model 2 on home consoles yet.

 

[Worldshaker]

The Dreamcast launch games blew me away. I didn't think 3D games could get better than that.

 

[fixing ranger]

VR. I started Half-Life: Alyx, leaned over the fence in the starting balcony, and was absolutely blown away.

GTA2 to 3 was amazing too, but not as memorable.

 

[Lightning Count]

Shenmue, it took a massive level of detail that only applied to much smaller scope games beforehand and applied it to open world games.

 

[Bran]

Virtua Fighter 3 in arcades was a big one for me.

 

[2Blackcats]

Battle Arena Toshinden .

Was my first time seeing a PS1 running in the wild.

 

[AstralSphere]

Looking back with what I know now, I probably should have been struck most by Mario 64 or Quake. But back then MGS2 definitely made the biggest impression on me.

 

[Tuco Benedicto Pacifico]

It may not look like much today, but when Valve first previewed Half-life 2 to the gaming press at the time, it looked like something out of some science fiction.
That said, the game came out two years later when others were almost catching up.

I think that contextually the time I've been the most impressed when I tried something new first-hand was the first time I played Virtua Racing in a cabinet.

Also, yes, the first Crysis remained for a long stretch something that other companies took years to catch up with.

 

[ghostcrew]

Almost definitely Mario 64 but seeing Unreal on PC for the first time will always stick with me. It looked so advanced, like nothing I'd ever seen before.

 

[TGR Sean]

Of the ones in the poll I'd go with Mario. That leap to 3D was one of the biggest transformations in the industry and Mario is the one that impacted most.

The jump to HD was another big one. I remember being floored by Gears of War and Elder Scrolls 4 Oblivion.

 

[Orioto]

No Ridge Racer on Playstation ? Cause that was the mother of next gen wows.
Being unsure Virtua Fighter would be doable on console some weeks earlier and seeing Ridge racer running on a tv was black magic. Tekken to.

I wasn't that impressed by Mario 64 cause i was fantasizing some sort of HD DKC 2d tech so it didn't look that good to me and i played Tomb Raider before so the whole free cam wasn't that new. Also there was plenty bullshit promises before the N64 reveal, including "the tech from Jurassic park and Terminator 2" lol.

Also 2d wise it was DKC on snes (people thought it was the new Nintendo console when it was revealed) and especially XMEN children of the atom in arcade with a surreal gap in animation.

 

[AniHawk]

there's something about, as a kid, walking into that best buy without any prior knowledge of mario 64 as a thing, and seeing it on those nine crts that was mindblowing.

 

[ShinUltramanJ]

Going from Genesis/SNES to Panzer Dragoon aorta and Daytona USA on Saturn. It was insane for it's time.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

Almost definitely Mario 64 but seeing Unreal on PC for the first time will always stick with me. It looked so advanced, like nothing I'd ever seen before.

Click to shrink...

yeah while mine is m64 i still remember seeing unreal on a friends high end pc at that time and i just could not believe that it was something that could be actually played

 

[NuclearCake]

MGS2 maybe? Early 3D looked ugly and it was a wow moment for being 3D but the visuals never looked amazing.

Crysis running on a high end rig in 2007 blew my mind.

 

[rainking187]

bioshock waiting for the cinematic to continue oh shit i can move the controller

Click to shrink...

Literally had the exact same reaction first time I played the game.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

No Ridge Racer on Playstation ? Cause that was the mother of next gen wows.
Being unsure Virtua Fighter would be doable on console some weeks earlier and seeing Ridge racer running on a tv was black magic. Tekken to.

Click to shrink...

i had it as one of my OG poll options because its definitely iconic but i have limited options in choices to add and it lost to the ones there :( but absolutely agree, for me, RR is definitely up there

 

[solidr]

Street Fighter 2, seeing that in arcades was insane for me

 

[Sho_Nuff82]

Rogue Leader and Splinter Cell gave me very unrealistic expectations about what to expect from your average GCN and Xbox games.

 

[Doctor_Thomas]

Metal Gear Solid 2 had ridiculous levels of enemy and world interaction, ridiculous effects and absolutely fantastic gameplay, all at 60fps on PS2.

 

[mclem]

Walking into an arcade and seeing Daytona for the first time... it's hard to articulate how *modern* it looked.

 

[nogoodnamesleft]

there's something about, as a kid, walking into that best buy without any prior knowledge of mario 64 as a thing, and seeing it on those nine crts that was mindblowing.

Click to shrink...

that was basically my exact experience except at a different store. but all the crts lined up, nintendo set up the kiosks there i had no idea what was going on but i lined and and then proceeded to try to pick my jaw off the floor for the next...months? until i was able to play it again and then it redropped to the floor

 

[chandoog]

OP should have added Gears of War in the poll as well. Shit was incredible back in 2005/6.

 

[Deleted member 1849]

Crysis back in 2007.

It has shown its age now, but still looks pretty decent. At the time though, nothing could even come close to it.

 

[Unclebenny]

Sonic Adventure. I saw it running in a shop on a family holiday to the US when I was young and I remember being astonished at how good it looked.

It also felt like a sneak peak into the future because everything came out much later in the UK at that point.

 

[digitalrelic]

Shenmue was incredible when those first shots came out. I couldn't fathom how it was possible.

 

[Lobster Roll]

Still waiting for something to come close to that Mario 64 moment, but I don't think we'll ever get it. It was such a strong leap forward experienced by such an enormous amount of people. For something to match it, it needs to be as profound and as ubiquitous of an example.

 

[Carn]

Personnaly, I would go for the OG Doom. Wolfenstein3D was already quite something but Doom blew me away, even if it ran like poop on our 386.

But from the poll I will go for MGS2, such a big jump and it still looks great. Unreal would be my 2nd pick.

 

[NoctisLC]

Seeing Sonic 1 as a NES/Atari kid. Shit blew my mind.

 

[Sonix]

Almost definitely Mario 64 but seeing Unreal on PC for the first time will always stick with me. It looked so advanced, like nothing I'd ever seen before.

Click to shrink...

This. I voted for Unreal even though I know my child brain could barely process seeing a fluid 3D MArio running around. But that was more that the whole game concept was amazing, I had seen 3D games before that and Unreal was that time where I was legit blown away.

 

[Finale Fireworker]

So I mentioned in the other thread that Soulcalibur still blows me away today. Soulcalibur came out at a time where it was just not possible for home video games to look like that and the fact that it did defies my expectations even still. I always think when I go back to it that it will not look as good as I remember it, but it does. It still looks as good as I remember it. As a result it occupies this sort of "permanent next gen" spot in my head where it represents both its own achievement relative to its time of release and also the ability for video games in general to exceed expectations of what is possible. It is both a historical example and a permanent abstract example for me.

There have been many games since then where I think "wow, games will never look better than this." But Soulcalibur is the most definitive.

Also, here's a funny little thing: I never remember how Soulcalibur is spelled. Soulcalibur? SoulCalibur? Soulcaliber? SoulCaliber? Soul Calibur? Soul Caliber? I can never remember where the space is or whether its a U or an E or if there's a space or not. I usually just copy whoever I responded to assuming they had it right. This results in me often getting it wrong. I just looked it up though, it's Soulcalibur!

 

[mrbogus]

When Mario 64 was first shown off I wanted to see it in motion so much I bought an E3 showcase VHS tape off my very poor internet access at the time.

 

[Bardeh]

Bioshock on 360 is probably the most memorable, along with HL2 water and physics.

 

[Bungie]

Gears of War should be there. Also, and this is one I imagine is a lot more specific to me, seeing NBA Street on PS2 on a really nice tv at the time was pretty wow

 

[The Spoony Hou]

No Donkey Kong Country?

 

[pswii60]

Seeing Sonic 1 as a NES/Atari kid. Shit blew my mind.

Click to shrink...

This but as a C64 kid. Blew my mind too!

From the poll I'd go for Daytona USA arcade. Seeing that running at a locked 60fps in 1994 was insane.

 

[haveheart]

Crazy Taxi on DC for me. They swapped out the N64 for the Dreamcast at my local store and we were absolute blown away once we laid our eyes on Crazy Taxi.

 

[OrakioRob]

For me, it was Daytona USA... on the Saturn. I know it's a crappy port, but jumping from a SNES to a Sega Saturn, Daytona was a revelation for me.

 

[Patitoloco]

The MGS2 demo (and final game) are still, in 2021, incredibly impressive. Low polygon count, sure, but the rest is just wow.

 

[ghostcrew]

Also, here's a funny little thing: I never remember how Soulcalibur is spelled. Soulcalibur? SoulCalibur? Soulcaliber? SoulCaliber? Soul Calibur? Soul Caliber? I can never remember where the space is or whether its a U or an E or if there's a space or not. I usually just copy whoever I responded to assuming they had it right. This results in me often getting it wrong. I just looked it up though, it's Soulcalibur!

Click to shrink...

like Excalibur!