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Discussion The best-looking sidescrollers ever made
- Thread starter Stilt Village
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people may be less inclined to give shout outs to a company that sucks shitHow does that have anything to do with the games' looks?
someone asked why no one mentioned ori. I felt qualified to answer since I quite literally did not mention ori because moon studios sucks shit
besides my personal gripes with it, I didnβt intend to give it free real estate in this thread β specifically because the company sucks shit.
so at least one person β me β didnβt mention the game because moon studios sucks shit
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Mocking another memberβs mental health to dismiss concerns about a problematic developer is unacceptable. You have been banned for ten days. -xghost777, Dardan Sandiego, Zellia, IsisStormDragon, Lord Azrael, Tangerine Cookie, VolcanicDynamo, BLG
You're ludicrously off-topic. Seek help.
EDIT Separating the art from the artist is a-ok in my book
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Sus is literally answering a question you asked them and your response to their answer is "you're off topic, seek help?" The fuck?You're ludicrously off-topic. Seek help.
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I answered a question and explained why. is this the hill youβre going out of your way to die on?You're ludicrously off-topic. Seek help.
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yeah? is that a blanket opinion? because I can think of at least one pretty clear example where any money you spend on an βartβ series directly funds violence against me and those like meSeparating the art from the artist is a-ok in my book
to the point we as a site have a policy about it
again β you donβt have to die on this hill
Earthbounder
Boing!
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Guess I'm gonna be the first one to give a shoutout to Donkey Kong Country 2. The whole trilogy looks wonderful, but 2 is the artistic peak.
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DKC2 is my favorite of the series in pretty much every way: art, music, level themes, animal friends, it's just so good.
Gingerbread Man
Paratroopa
There are a few Disney SNES/MD games where the animation was supervised by WDAS (at the time, WDFA), Disney's main studio. Aladdin, The Lion King, Pinocchio, and The Jungle Book (though I'm not sure on this one). The high-quality animation of the characters is above the standard of the era (there's a kind of pleasure in the main characters' walking cycles) and makes those games almost like "pixel cartoons".
MP!
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I came to post this... Didn't have toI think Ori is one of the most beautiful games:
If you ask for a game that looks magical, Ori is one of the best answers.
Ori is beautiful
slide's
Lucky bumper
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rain world!! amazing colors, beautiful particle and shadow effects, weighty physics-based animation, and some truly mindblowing visual effects that I couldnβt or wouldnβt find gifs of, like the titular rain or certain things near the end
itβs such a unique style that feels completely distinct from all the pixel art and 2.5D sidescrollers out there (many of which look great!) Iβm sure itβs not easy to make a game that looks anything like this but I do wish it was more influentialβif only for the fact that it shows there are other, weirder ways to do sidescrolling visuals
itβs such a unique style that feels completely distinct from all the pixel art and 2.5D sidescrollers out there (many of which look great!) Iβm sure itβs not easy to make a game that looks anything like this but I do wish it was more influentialβif only for the fact that it shows there are other, weirder ways to do sidescrolling visuals
Yoshi's Story
Kirby Dream Land 3
Any of the Genesis Sonic games
Ecco the Dolphin
Kirby Dream Land 3
Any of the Genesis Sonic games
Ecco the Dolphin
Aether
Tingle
Man, so many games missing...
First in Defense of Hollow Knight: my thirst thought was the same, kinda simplistic flat and samey, so i waited long to try it.
Now its one of my favorite games. The game has many diverse biomes, but it has a mutes color palete, so i get why for some that does not work.
The character designs are charming and many great animations are there, but without the big lovely voice work it would only hit half as well.
Still, it comes together and feels visually like more then the sum of its part when you play it and take the whole work into account.
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Ori was mentioned
Blasphemous
Gris (boring as hell to me, but beautifull to look at)
Main suggestions:
Vanilaware (Muramasa, Odin Sphere, or do those not count?)
Spiritfarer (also, does this count?)
ICONOCLASTS (if you like the GBA/Metroid Fusion / SNK inspired artstyle)
HALF of all Fighting Games in the last Decade (Or do those not count since they are not scrolling? this one i would understand)
Katana Zero
Cuphead (! How is that not mentioned?)
Castlevania: Order of Eclesia (top tier sprite art)
Kirby's Epic Yarn !
Yoshi's Wolly World !!!
Pretty much any 2D Kirby Game since the GBA. lovely sprite work.
Yoshis Story
Divisive one: Mega Man Zero (1-4)
Yeah, i know, i did not add screenshots, im sorry, ill try to do that when i have more time.
First in Defense of Hollow Knight: my thirst thought was the same, kinda simplistic flat and samey, so i waited long to try it.
Now its one of my favorite games. The game has many diverse biomes, but it has a mutes color palete, so i get why for some that does not work.
The character designs are charming and many great animations are there, but without the big lovely voice work it would only hit half as well.
Still, it comes together and feels visually like more then the sum of its part when you play it and take the whole work into account.
------------------------
Ori was mentioned
Blasphemous
Gris (boring as hell to me, but beautifull to look at)
Main suggestions:
Vanilaware (Muramasa, Odin Sphere, or do those not count?)
Spiritfarer (also, does this count?)
ICONOCLASTS (if you like the GBA/Metroid Fusion / SNK inspired artstyle)
HALF of all Fighting Games in the last Decade (Or do those not count since they are not scrolling? this one i would understand)
Katana Zero
Cuphead (! How is that not mentioned?)
Castlevania: Order of Eclesia (top tier sprite art)
Kirby's Epic Yarn !
Yoshi's Wolly World !!!
Pretty much any 2D Kirby Game since the GBA. lovely sprite work.
Yoshis Story
Divisive one: Mega Man Zero (1-4)
Yeah, i know, i did not add screenshots, im sorry, ill try to do that when i have more time.
Mekanos
YOU γ― SHOCK
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Surprised it took this long for these games to be mentioned. The imaginative imagery and expressive sprites put most of the 16 bit era to shame, IMO.
LoneRanger
Paratroopa
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From modern games Iβve played, Metroid Dread an Cuphead counts?
Aether
Tingle
Its interesting how different people emphasize different aspects.
Some obviously go for nostalgia, others for stylization, some for more details, others for more expressive animations, then you have those that need to see pixels, and those that don't like it if it does not look like a rainbow (fair, sometimes you can't beat a rainbow).
Still flabbergasted how 20 years ago people and companies thought 2D is dead, and 10 Years ago people badmouthed sprite games as just nostalgia bait and all just "8-bit graphics" when there is such an ocean in styles.
Oh, and all the Metal Slug games! Generally, SNK made some masterpieces back then.
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HockeyBird
Villager
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owlboy and its 9 year development time show on practically every screen
I really need to give Owl Boy another shot. I got it on PC way back. It's beautiful but I found it boring so I didn't make it very far. Maybe it gets more interesting later on.
OP
OP
Stilt Village
GBA
When putting together the OP, I noticed that animation was a big deal for me. Not necessarily crazy smooth animation, which doesn't do much for me on its own (I actually think SNES Aladdin looks better than Sega Aladdin), but having a lot of stuff that moves. It really serves to bring a world to life for me when they animate the leaves rustling on a tree or something. And I think specifically choosing to include that kind of detail is infinitely more artistically interesting than making complex systems to automate all of these things like games do nowadays. It's hard to describe exactly what I love so much about this stuff, but the way every detail feels handmade in a way that is more and more lost in an era of everything being a massive project done with countless shortcuts and auto-generated this and thats speaks to me I suppose.
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Aether
Tingle
I get your point there. And while games like ori can seem that way (background and particle systems have a lot of that) there is a ton of handcrafted animation in the characters.
But totally. Iconoclasts, blasphemous and katana zero have all many of those details. I love them to. And cuphead rarely has a screen where stuff is not moving.
Like as much as I love hollow knight, that type of animation for sure was barely present in that game.
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Owlboy is one of those games that looks incredible but I found to be kind of a slog to play, both gameplay-wise but also with the narrative which can be kind of jarringly harsh. It shares some DNA with Iconoclasts there, actually, since that was also brought up in this thread.
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We nominate Ori and the Will of the Wisps.
We say "we" because we're non-binary. FYI
We say "we" because we're non-binary. FYI
souio
Moblin
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Yeah, Demon's Crest was always a game that I loved, but only got a chance to play it through Emulation/NSO in the past. Just recently, I learned my mom had my childhood CRT so I used that to buy a SNES with a bunch of games so I could experience them as they should have been, and Demon's Crest blew me away and looked a generation ahead of a lot of its contemporaries. While fighting a boss, I realized that you could rip some enemy/boss sprites from this game, paste them into SOTN and they would fit right in and people probably wouldn't even notice that they came from an SNES gameSome very good choices here. I know you said that you were limited to 30 choices, but there's still some surprising omissions.
Demon's Crest
As much as I like the visuals of Mega Man X, I think the clean Sentai inspired visuals have always held it back a bit from being as consistently interesting as the likes of Castlevania or Metal Slug. Well, Demon's Crest is Mega Man X quality visuals with Castlevania art direction, only this time it's even more gothic and depressing than a Castlevania game! This game is seriously underrated, I recommend people to check it out, and while it might not have the same consistentcy as a Rondo or a Metal Slug, it is genuinely one of the best looking 16 bit games period. It's Symphony of the Night but good! Mega Man X but better!
Just look at this beautiful poorly stretched intro screen!
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You know what? I got your back on this oneMuramasa, how on Earth did I forget Muramasa. A Wii game that looks better than most PS5 games through sheer artistry
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That's a very good question! Short answer: yes.
Long answer: Yes!! As much as I dislike black and white thinking, I can't think of an exception to the "rule". IMHO
PixelKnight
Observing the process
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So you dislike black and white thinking but will make an exception for the entirety of βseperate art from the artistβ, even regarding art that is a commercial product that funnels cash towards hate? I mean, of all the topics to choose to go with black and white thinking on, thatβs a wild exception to make.That's a very good question! Short answer: yes.
Long answer: Yes!! As much as I dislike black and white thinking, I can't think of an exception to the "rule". IMHO
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Enpsty
Bob-omb
F.I.S.T. is always on my wishlist, but I haven't bought it yet. Is it worth it?
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Sure
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You were previously banned for dismissing concerns about problematic developers. You have returned from that ban to double down on your position. For this behavior, you have been permanently banned. - meatbag, Bass Forever, Zellia, BLG, Lord Azrael
The alternative is Black and White thinking on who we choose to support... Have we looked at every other companies' closets? Do we want to ban every one with skeletons we disagree with?
... Do we even have a thread at this point? See where we're going with this?
... Do we even have a thread at this point? See where we're going with this?
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I genuinely can't tell if you're being facetious or if you are just not getting the things people are trying to communicate to you.Sure
Just fyi this is really coming across like bad-faith trolling.
Adulfzen
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From what I've played (didn't finish it) it's a pretty decent metroidvania (got it for free via the Epic Game Store) but I don't think it controls as well as Metroid Dread (or Prince of Persia for a more recent game) but it has a pretty good combat system. I wouldn't recommend the Switch version tho because the port seemed pretty mediocre from what I have seen (30 fps with drops with the visuals drastically reduced).
Some unnecessarily frustrating boss fights tho, where it feels like you need to be pixel perfect to avoid some attacks which isn't the case with the other two games I mentionned.
Felony
pragmatic is this slap erratic catfish is
The overworked stuff if nothing special, but the simplicity and sharpness of Zelda II sprites against the backdrops always looked good to me. Like really clean compared to other side scrolling games of the time -- actually after playing some recently, I still think this is true.
I think it's their choice of colors juxtaposed with a lack of typical black outlines around objects and characters. Everything pops more than it should, with a few exceptions like blue zols and any blue tiling.
Game would probably look really cool if they "HD-ified" it and added dynamic lighting.
I think it's their choice of colors juxtaposed with a lack of typical black outlines around objects and characters. Everything pops more than it should, with a few exceptions like blue zols and any blue tiling.
Game would probably look really cool if they "HD-ified" it and added dynamic lighting.
PixelKnight
Observing the process
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Yes, because your black and white thinking is a claim of false equivalence. βSupport everything or nothing, regardless of the artistβ is ludicrous. Thereβs a huge difference in the harm caused by this-The alternative is Black and White thinking on who we choose to support... Have we looked at every other companies' closets? Do we want to ban every one with skeletons we disagree with?
... Do we even have a thread at this point? See where we're going with this?
Important information regarding discussion about Hogwarts Legacy
Hello everyone. In light of the release of the up-and-coming Harry Potter game, that releases this week on current-gen consoles and on Switch later this year, we would like to take the opportunity to make a formal reminder to everyone that we as a community has decided to ban discussion on the...
famiboards.com
And pointing out smaller issues that are shitty takes in a game but that donβt have a wider impact. And your shitty blase emoticons and feigned indifference donβt help with your claim to be helping the thread get back on track when youβre only back here after a ban for your own shitty take on mental health.
