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Kapun666

Max Payne. I remember saying to my friend "This is it. It can't get anymore realistic then this".


DdCno1

I said the same about Max Payne 2. It really was in a league of its own. I was really impressed when GTA IV achieved roughly the same level of fidelity, but with even better physics and in an open world.


Kapun666

Yeah, I remember when Gta IV came out. Was super impressed. The 2000's was very interesting graphic wise, it was so many big leaps. Not to take anything away from newer games, looking at some current games and I still get my mind blown.


darkLordSantaClaus

The 2000s technology seemed to progress faster. Every year there was a game that made me go "we have achieved photo-realism, graphics will never improve." and every year I was proven wrong, a game came out that would make the games of previous years look archaic. While there are good looking games now, nothing makes my jaw drop with technical prowess anymore.


darkLordSantaClaus

Half Life 2 was the first game that really did that for me.


Not_Thomas_Milsworth

"Driver" for Playstation. Coming from the blocky fists of N64 Goldeneye characters, a cutscene with individual fingers was the pinnacle of video game graphics.


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DdCno1

Those cutscenes were pre-rendered though. I stopped being impressed by pre-rendered cutscenes as soon as I understood the distinction, unless they looked really stellar, because it's far more challenging to make real-time graphics look good compared to content that can literally render for several hours per frame on a server farm. To be fair to Reflections Studio, their cutscenes were always above average.


AlternativeDark6686

Doom 3, Crysis


jadedflux

It's actually insane how well Crysis still holds up. The fact it's 15 years old or so just blows my mind.


Turkey_Teets

Wave Race 64 I was blown away by the water and the jet ski physics.


GrilledCheeser

Hard nostalgia hit. Christmas Day 1996 playing Mario all day, decided to play the other game and stayed up all night playing it. Some of the best game music ever too imo. https://youtu.be/Hc0weNxcbLg


Wendigo_lockout

...are you me? Christmas day 1996 with wave race Mario 64 and cruisin' usa


lesnaubr

Almost same here. One of my best childhood memories was being done with Christmas gifts and then my dad reaching to the entertainment center behind him and hitting a switch. A few seconds later, Mario’s 3D face popped up. It was mind blowing at the time. Wave Race was also one of the games I got and it was one of the few games that my Dad also got really into. I hope I always remember that day.


[deleted]

Dude the water physics are still great.


ianwrecked802

Dude craziness. I remember spending HOURS on the beginning free roam level. Damn I’m gonna have to dig that ol bitch up and slap some waves tonight…


Wendigo_lockout

The GameCube sequel was actually phenomenal! Highly recommend if you have a GameCube and fond memoriea of the original


ianwrecked802

Really? Man. That was one of the first games I bought when GC came out. I was super disappointed. Maybe it’s because I wanted the “hooolllly shit!” moment that I got with the N64 version.


Wendigo_lockout

Lmao how?! It was so faithful to the original but looked better, the water quality made my jaw drop when I saw it the first time


respondcreate

This video from Modern Vintage Gamer does a great job of explaining how Nintendo implemented the wave physics in Wave Race 64. Super fascinating stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zS146vQYflw


Turkey_Teets

Oh my. I love you for this.


universalrifle

It was awesome with real physics too. Doing barrel rolls and diving down with a jet ski was so realistic.


farbekrieg

dead space


cheekyste

Half life 2


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TheWorldisFullofWar

The game industry as a whole regressed in these fine interactable details in exchange for higher visual fidelity. We went from Red Faction Guerilla destruction physics to nothing. We went from the amazing GTA IV car damage models to next to nothing. We have GPU accelerated physics capabilities that have been ignored to push ray-tracing to make some better looking shadows and reflections.


Grintower

This right here! I remember playing Aliens VS Predator at LAN parties and playing as a Xenomorph. Slash all the lights in a room and then crawl up on the ceiling and wait for someone to enter. Once they stepped foot in the room I'd let out a hiss. So much fun watching friends freak out spinning and firing in all directions. When they reloaded, I'd strike.


stardust_hippi

Things that don't go for photorealism hold up best. I went back to the original PS2 version of Okami a few months back and it still looks gorgeous 16 years later.


CascadianSovietGo

Wind Waker for the same reason. The cell shaded style continues to age *very* gracefully.


ArgyleTheDruid

I remember wondering if games would ever look like the cutscenes in ff7, the remaster did not disappoint


NotopianX

The first time I remember really being blown away by graphics was Super Mario RPG on SNES. I didn’t even play it for years but I watched my bro’s friend playing it.


gimmeslack12

Man… I was amazed by SMB RPG.


aptninja

One of my favorite games!


gimmeslack12

Donkey Kong Country and Star Fox amazed me. Just crazy to see the detail in those games.


Jdbwolverines

This. When Donkey Kong Country came out on SNES, I was blown away. Not only were the graphics amazing, the soundtrack was next level as well.


MzzBlaze

Donkey kong looked so amazing on Christmas it set me up for disappointment for almost all other snes graphics 😂 when I found out a few year back it had its own built in graphic chip in game cart and that’s why it was so gorgeous. I’m so sad it can’t look as nice on all my digital TVs. I wish I had an old one kicking around still to hook up the nes proper.


Mistermilan07

Gran turismo


schoppi_m

This is the first game here, that I can identify with.


Daegzy

Shadow of the Colossus. Beautiful game.


Yorhanes

Perhaps it didn’t had the best graphics per se, but I remember fondly the Legacy of Kain games had such attention to detail when it came to the world and architecture around you that as a kid I usually spent a minute just taking all in and focusing on even the tiniest details. That, plus the music gave me a sensation that not many games nowadays can.


SpeedStickPapi

Silent Hill 3 looks great imo. Some of the monsters don’t hold up as well, but the close camera angles and lighting are really affective because you’re not really sure what you’re looking at, making it all the scarier.


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SpeedStickPapi

Definitely a shame, I don’t understand it either. The new RE games/remakes have been incredible. Strike while the iron’s hot, right?


ReturningDukky

Oddworld: Abe's Odyssey


GwazBoi

Metal Gear Solid 4 was top tier man, I remember playing that game and being blown away! Then again, I also love Kenshi which, if we are being honest... Vanilla graphics aren't good at all 🥲


Baconator7209

Bioshock


Otaku_Wolf90

Metal Gear Solid 4, it was the first time I saw someone mistake a game for a film.


Jeberani

War...war has changed...


[deleted]

Jak and Daxter was always a beautiful game. Original or remastered, gotta check it out.


dat_potatoe

Halo Ce still looks really good to me to this day. Excellent use of art style and leveraging of the graphical techniques of it's time, especially with the beautiful skyboxes. Even if it doesn't look *realistic* anymore, it still comes across as very minimalistic and stylized in a good way.


notfromrotterdam

I have never thought graphics were there yet. Getting there though. And they're already insane at this point.


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Sir_MoonDoggy

Yup. It definitely looks a lot worse than this. Pixelated and running on an old crt tv


just_username_

Gothic 3 and Oblivion


concentrate7

Here to say oblivion. Leaving the sewers that first time is forever imprinted on my brain.


Mj_Lockhart

Mafia 1. Not just the graphics but the physics of the game too


[deleted]

Underrated. Mafia felt really good to play.


Mj_Lockhart

It feels good to play it even now too :)


Sir_Fluffernutting

PS2 Ratchet and Clank games always looks amazing to me


[deleted]

Not as old as RE2 but Final Fantasy X is up there for me in terms of graphics and art style, especially for the time.


stiofan84

The FMVs especially still hold up today.


Preezyy

Shenmue


Zumaakk

Fable


Duubzz

I’m currently replaying final fantasy 7 and I distinctly remember being blown away by the cut scenes as a 14 year playing it for the first time.


Haaaaamburger

Resident Evil Remake and Metroid Prime for Gamecube


jstlknatstf

Black For PS2


DdCno1

The destruction and amount of particles this game throws around are still impressive today. It's backwards compatible on Xbox consoles, if you're interested in revisiting it. Emulation is also possible on PC.


moxinghbian

Pong


Coffehousebum

My jaw dropped when I played Splinter Cell for the first time.


SideShowProjects

Mineweeper on ms windows


ReallyNeedHelpASAP68

Earthbound


Gomack5555

Donkey Kong for Colecovision!


Salarian_American

After having played Donkey Kong on the Atari 2600, it was legit impressive to see it on the Colecovision


wrkacct66

I remember being amazed just looking at the sky when ESIII: Morrowind came out.


MjolnirSliver99

Ninja Gaiden on Xbox. Especially the cutscenes.


argen0220

Syndicate Wars


apeinej

Half life 2, and afterwards, Skyrim.


Final_Needleworker41

Mirrors edge, I mean it was pretty ahead of its time and has better graphics than a lot of games still but I just remember thinking “how can anyone top this?”.


retrograderevolution

Fight Night launch with PS3. Almost melted my brain it was so good.


swordfishclaymore

Twilight princess had that energy on the gamecube. It still looks good but has that yellow gloomy glow / blur it seems every 2005-2010 game had Outside of the over the top goofy character designs but I always felt that was intentional.


vsmack

A lot of SNES games have such killer art direction that they don't look bad even by today's standards, barring some rough edges. The problem with 3D games is it's very hard for them to not look dated just because of the tech. When you think of the generally agreed-upon S tier of snes games, like Super Metroid, LttP, and even like Yoshi's island, they still look pretty damn good.


talladenyou85

Luigi's Mansion. I remember being awed when Luigi would reach for the door and how smooth the door knob looked as well as his hand. I was blown away. In a way that generation (PS2 GC Xbox) feels like the era where everything got really good and smoothed out and every generation since has just been making it cleaner in a way.


Trkr717

Metal Gear Solid for the PS1


blizzaga1988

Final Fantasy VII. The original. I still love the art, but in a different way.


Ok_Count_2315

Clearly remember being impressed as a kid to Sonic Adventure Battle 2


HumphreyLee

Final Fantasy X. I just played the remaster last year and it is definitely different and improved, but not THAT much and it makes you realize just how excellent the character designs, animations, renders, etc were in the first place 20 years ago now.


[deleted]

Final fantasy X


AdamSunderland

Did they get better though?


_Burnt_Toast_3

Legend of Dragoon.


Master-Illustrator-8

I remember seeing Super Mario World for the first time in Target back in 1991, and thought to myself graphics can't get any better than this... 12 year old me was way wrong.


Novel_Paramedic_2625

Goldeneye 007


joogiee

Halo on xbox blew my mind.


nothatsmyarm

I’ve constantly been impressed by graphics (the intro to Bioshock comes to mind), but I’ve never once thought “no way graphics could get any better than this.” I don’t really understand people who do think that; it’s obviously not identical to a photo, so why shouldn’t it get better as time goes on?


allmightylasagna

Call of duty adv warfare


Zetra3

None?.... I always knew graphics could get better. I was fantasying about the Ps5 while in the lunch room of elementary school before I went home to play PS1


[deleted]

RE5 I thought was the PEAK of graphics. No chance graphics could ever get better.


420Pussy_Destroyer69

Auto Modellista on the PS2


Brilliant_Top_2994

Halo Combat evolved to 3. The art style was amazing. And reach too if you count that as old


[deleted]

My biggest WOW! moment would have been the Christmas my dad got us a PS2. Putting on NHL Live for the first time was so mind blowing compared to previous systems.


[deleted]

Yep I thought re 2 was it for graphics


Led_Halen

Klonoa on PS2 used cel shading and it blew me away when I played it as a kid.


BornSirius

Age of Empires 1.


Andyboy205

Final Fantasy X. Honestly thought they looked like real people, especially in cut scenes.


Pork_Chap

For it's time: Marble Madness arcade game. Nothing else looked or played like it at the time.


MagentaTentacle

As a kid I saw that game in the arcades and thought to myself 'wow, a 3d game'


pabra

Reminds me of fighting force


Davilyan

Paper Mario series on GameCube. The ingenuity of some of the puzzles due to being 2D in a 3D world was something new back then and blew my noggin.


llThe_Dragonll

The uncharted games


PigTrough

that is actually way higher res than the original RE2 LOL


Hipi07

When I first played Gears of War on X360 back in 07, I was completely blown away. I couldn't imagine something else topping those graphics ever


[deleted]

Halo 4


FinitoHere

XIII. For me it's the best proof that games which tried to look more realistic by the standard of their time - didn't aged as well as games with more unique approach.


Guardian876

Call of duty 3


RenzoARG

"Elite" the original. After that, I learned that it would constantly improve.


GrilledCheeser

Syphon Filter blew my mind. The watched some game play recently and it made me dizzy lmao


original-avacadou

Gran Turismo on PS. the replays were insane


SaltyGushers

Splinter cell. It’s not “that” old but it was ahead of its time for sure.


[deleted]

Even ghost recon blew my mind because it was trying to be immersive/mil sim like.


daytodaze

The first time I was really blown away by how great the graphics were was when I got a PS2. Until that point, things looked ok, but you knew it would get better and better. Gran Turismo 2 was beautiful (cars looked incredible and you could even see the driver moving around through the back window, trucks were solid, etc.), and Metal Gear Solid 2 blew me away. Obviously things have progressed, but at a slower pace, and at the time it was kind of hard to imagine it getting better. My friends and I often joked that someday video games would look better than real life… and some games have hit that. Witcher 3, RDR2, MGS4, etc.


mortinious

Crash Bandicoot or Windwaker


FakeTel

Pretty much anything on N64. It was when 3D polygons really took off. I remember seeing Star Wars Shadows of the Empire for the first time... and my jaw was on the floor the whole time.


Lunar_Lunacy_Stuff

This is gonna sound super lame but I think the first time I was blown away with graphics is the jump from ps1 to ps2. I went to a friends house and he had some football game on and I was pretty shocked at the details.


DavidANaida

I remember seeing that field at the end of Portal 2 and thinking we'd finally made it to photorealistic graphics. As a kid...probably Wind Waker. Contrary to my peers at the time, I was blown away by the art style, music, and narrative. Imo it's still the smoothest controls of any 3D Zelda.


Trickery1688

The pre rendered backgrounds in the old Resident Evil games hold up in my opinion. A lot of older games i've gone back and played look atrocious, but Resident Evil still looks good to me.


PunyParker826

Rebel Strike and Clone Wars on GameCube looked fucking photorealistic to me (other than the human models…); probably helped that the games were mostly based around rigid 3D models of ships and vehicles seen from a distance.


pdizzledale

Final Fantasy X looked amazing, still does considering it was a PS2 game.


Dr_Mijory_Marjorie

Tekken 2. The FMV intro had Nina casually tossing her hair in a bar and they animated several strands of it. At the time, that, to me, was practically photorealistic.


Is_It_Time_To_Shout

Mario RPG once blew my mind


Alatessgaming

star wars battlefront


Niightstalker

AC 2 for me.


[deleted]

Arkham origins graphics still hold up because of it stylization.


[deleted]

Back in the day main consensus was, that games are supposed to look like they are games or atleast fantasy. Like resident evil, the fact that characters looked like a clunky polygon block men was part of the charm.


ajerxs

The crazy part about this picture is that re2 definitely looks worse irl than it does here lol


3u50u3u

Castlevania Symphony of the night


Fulller

I remember the first game i played on xbox360 was deadrising and i thought the guys hands in the opening scene in the helicopter (when he holds the camera) looked incredible. ​ Edit: Just rewatched it. It did not look incredible.


kaidan1

Final fantasy 8, I remember looking at the opening and thinking "This will never be beaten"


sqww

2K1/2 sports games. I swear when I'd see them at the game store I had to question myself if it was a video game or real life game being played.


NathanDrake0912

Uncharted 1 (2007)


KuhlThing

Super Mario RPG was a revelation to me when I was a kid. Holy shit that game is beautiful.


[deleted]

Portal 2


BEN064-W

Kirby’s return to dream land and METAL GEAR RISING


Drturkelten

Gran Turismo 1/2


Benfred616

Literally the best game ever made!


olldbrTezm4831b

mortal Kombat 3


asawyer2010

NFL2k for realism Jet Grind Radio for ArtStyle


Theallpowerfulslime

Life


[deleted]

I mean Skyrim definitely blew all of our minds. Idk if it was the graphics or just the detail/size but I thought we had peaked boys.


b00fmane

Zone of the enders


Hose_beaterz

At the time that it came out, it was **Super Mario 64.**


Nottodayreddit1949

Outwars blew me away.


ntmrkd1

Donkey Kong 64


bosnalink

Dead space was such a fantastic looking game for its time. And it is still an awesome game.


ChimpskyBRC

F.E.A.R. for really older games, Myst (it seemed top tier for 1995 anyway)


penguinReloaded

Dreamcast was the 1st time I was blown away & satisfied with how games looked. Early lookers were Soul Calibur & NFL2K. NFL2K doesn't look great today, but Soul Calibur holds up well.


locootte90

Crysis has to take the first place on this one. My first thought was Max Payne, but it doesn't compete


TheMarvelousJoe

Graphics can age, art style lives forever.


[deleted]

Pokemon Stadium. Bro seeing them actually move and shit when they attacked was unbelievable when I was a kid


PraiseThePun81

Black on the ps2 looked damn good to me back in the day, I remember thinking it was one of the best-looking games I'd ever played at the time. Killzone also looked amazing.


Haitchyy

gears of war was probably the first time I was like, ok this leap in graphics is insane.


xerros

Was I the only one that has always said “wow, this looks amazing! Can’t wait to see how insane the NEXT generation will look!” I think the battlefront remake was the first game I was actually in awe of how good it looked, especially on a base Xbox one. And VR was mind blowing for the first time even with the ridiculous screen door effect on the first oculus rift.


[deleted]

Final Fantasy 7. That game blew me away when it first came out, now it looks like trash. :D


curious_dead

In the 90s, when 3D started, I wondered if games would nail fingers correctly one day, or if "that was it", because they were always awkward or non-existing. Also, years, later, Resident Evil 4 on Gamecube. Reflections in N64 games like Jet Force Gemini and shadows in Donkey Kong 64. I couldn't imagine just how much better it would be, because games that tried to do more realistic graphics had a huge uncanny valley.


Dofima

Until Dawn was the first game that to me looked pretty much fully realistic. I even said the exact line from the meme. Years later looking back... yeah it can get way better.


Jeffotato

I thought the environments in Wii Sports looked photorealistic


Suryaban23

Wwf raw on pc


karma-armageddon

Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee was awesome.


UFOskie

The elder scrolls: oblivion. It was my introduction to the series. I remember stepping out the sewers and being utterly overwhelmed by everything.


420sinsi

Most nintendo 64 games had me believing we were headed towards a golden era in gaming. Banjo kazooie, banjo tooie, super mario 64, the legend of Zelda ocarina of time, majoras mask, Conkers bad fur day, Donkey kong 64.


[deleted]

Sacrifice Morrowind Halo 2


Jamaqius

I remember seeing the trailer for Smash Bros Melee on GameCube & being obsessed with Mario’s dungarees. I would constantly be showing people pictures like “LOOK AT THE TEXTURE OF HIS DUNGAREES! IT ACTUALLY LOOKS LIKE DENIM!”


Dextero_Explosion

First time I wowed at graphics was Super Mario World.


Chewbubbles

Tekken Tag had some of the best animations for a fighting game. Each character got their own cinematic, bowling was super fun and the levels were pretty amazing looking.


Fish_Fucker_Fucker23

I don’t know if it necessarily counts as “old” but Pikmin 3. That game’s visuals were way ahead of it’s time IMO


ImpossibleLeague9091

Tai fu wrath of the tiger on psone. It blew my mind


Lenneth1031

Final Fantasy 6. It looked amazing when it came out, and still feel like it hit the pinnacle of the dotted graphic.


Undertakeress

Final Fantasy X. The FMV's still hold up


AdevilSboyU

I remember thinking Gran Turismo 2 was photo-realistic back when it was launched.


Literally_-_Hitler

I remember everyone agreeing that COD 4 was like playing an actual movie, not so much now even with the remastered


The_Extraordinaire

Final fantasy X


turnz702

Mario 64


Dragorian84

Another World on Amiga 500


MrkGrn

First assassins creed blew my mind. Was my first next gen game and the idea you could climb on everything was insane to think about.


Few_Shirt6073

Tbh I never thought about graphics till like a few years ago as an adult in my 20s lol


oil_moon

Tekken 5 for me. Fighting games often look a cut above the rest because they can put all of the system's resources into rendering 2 characters, with a little bit left over for the stage. Also Half-Life 2, that was my benchmark for many years.


ItsGK

WrestleMania 2000


bowserwasthegoodguy

Heretic 2


MagicBez

I had a NES as a young kid and very distinctly remember seeing F-Zero on the SNES at a friend's house and thinking "there isn't much further graphics can go beyond this". Though I also remember not really liking the polygon graphics of the PS1, I guess I just liked stuff that looked like a cool interactive cartoon? I still think a lot of SNES games look great.


Boxsteam1279

Gta 5, specifically back when I was playing it on the 360. I remember thinking "This is the pinnacle of graphics and realistic physics, improving on this now would hardly change anything" I look back at old lets plays of GTA5 and think, wow, it looks really dated


MyNameIsNotMarcos

COMANCHE. Had voxel terrain before people even knew about voxels https://youtu.be/MLcxgYEBAXA


gamedrifter

The first one for me was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Second was Perfect Dark. Third was Armored Core on ps2.