First game that impressed you graphically

[mαrkαsscoρ]

This is totally dependent on what console generation you started w/ and which one followed. Going from whichever system was your first foray into games, what new game/system that was coming out made you think the graphics were unbelievably good?

I fully got into games w/ the 6th generation, and while I noticed that there were games that were prettier than others, the 7th gen (mainly PS3) is what had me notice how good graphics were getting. And Metal Gear Solid 4 was one of the earliest PS3 games I played that I thought was graphically impressive. The characters look closer to real people than ever before (at the time), and I loved the way it transitioned from cutscene to gameplay sometimes. It was truly a next generation experience for me.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Luigi's Mansion, lol. It was my first GameCube game and the graphics really blew me away. The doorknob turning animation stood out, but just in general everything about it felt like such a big leap from the graphics of N64 games.

 

[Fraxinus]

Laugh at me all you want, but... the first Rune Factory game on the DS. I had been playing Harvest Moon DS for the past few years, and was blown away by the 3d models (which actually are hilarious cursed but shhh), and the semi-painted overworld environment--especially the wetlands around the Kasimir Ruins. After Rune Factory set a standard to me, my two favorite things to look forward to in new Harvest Moon games became 1, what the rain looks like, and 2, what the snow on the ground during the winter season looks like. Tree of Tranquility (the other 10th anniversary Harvest Moon game) on the Wii really followed suit for me for how wholesome Harvest Moon environments can be after living on an exclusive diet of HMDS for so long.

 

[Dio]

Gears of War. When I first saw it I thought it looked so realistic. It was amazing to see. It was the first time I saw an Xbox 360 game after being a Nintendo man since I was 4.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

Star wars battlefront on PC I guess
I can't really remember a time where I've just been blown away by graphical output but 7th gen is probably when games started to look "realistic"

 

[A Link In Time]

Completely agree with MGS4 on PS3. That game blew my mind when I first saw it.

Going from N64 to Gamecube, I was impressed by Super Smash Bros. Melee.

Mario Kart 8 was an unexpected one. I expected it to look solid, but when I first saw it on Wii U, I was shocked by how amazing it looked.

 

[twilitfalchion]

I want to say that the first game to impress me graphically was Mario Kart: Double Dash. It was one of the first games I played on my GC and all the colors and details caught my eye as a kiddo new to "serious" gaming.

 

[Bowsette Plus-Ultra]

Probably Super Smash Brothers Melee. Seeing the trailers and gameplay after spending so much time with the original game felt mindblowing to me as a child.

 

[Bloody Kun]

I started gaming on the SNES with Super Mario World, eventually played other stuff like the Donkey Kong Country games, Street Fighter 2, Killer Instinct, Beavis and Butthead, Uniracers. N64 came along, and it was cool it was all in 3D with my first being DK64(and eventually Kirby, Smash, OoT, Goldeneye, Rogue Squadron, Cruisin Exotica) but I don’t think I really knew how significant the change was to everyone else at the time.

Hell, even when I got WW on the GameCube I didn’t really think anything of the cel shading back then, only to be surprised some time later when I started frequenting some Zelda forums that so many people whined it was too kiddy. In retrospect I feel it is one of few games that has really held up.

I think the first I remember particularly being impressed by was the first game I got for the GameCube, Mario Sunshine, but even then that was mostly just how the water looked. Star Fox Adventures was the first to really wow me as a whole, with the neat fur effects and more dynamic lighting, and its long development cycle probably helped it to be as polished as it was.

Since then, it’s a bit hard to say. Killer7 was quite a unique look, as was Killer is Dead which was almost sort of a spiritual successor. Even Shadows of the Damned I appreciate a little bit more now than I did on my initial playthrough. Kinda wish No More Heroes 3 had a bigger budget because the art style is certainly there, but it’s just real rough around the edges unfortunately.

Jet Set Radio, even though I played it far after initial release, I was pretty charmed by how it all looked. Both Red Dead Redemption games looked very impressive to me when they first came out. Likewise, both The Last Guardian as well as the Shadow of the Colossus remake wowed me. I remember Halo 4 being a huge step up from Reach(though I do maintain Reach had my favorite art direction) especially for a late 360 game. Ōkami will never not look good to me despite obvious technical limitations, same for BotW to a lesser extent.

MGSV I recall looking good when they showed the first Ground Zeroes cutscene, but it’s kinda obvious it received a downgrade before release. Death Stranding fared a bit better, much as I dislike the game itself it has a lot of detail to it.

 

[Chevywolf30]

TPHD.

 

[Uwu_Oocoo2]

This is going to sound lame, but Mario Odyessy. I was flipping out hen I watched my dad play it, I mostly used my 2ds so being able to see every blade of grass blew my mind. I didn't have many wii games, lol.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

This is going to sound lame, but Mario Odyessy. I was flipping out hen I watched my dad play it, I mostly used my 2ds so being able to see every blade of grass blew my mind. I didn't have many wii games, lol.

Tobe fair it's 1080p with a great art style and render distance

 

[Kirino]

Final Fantasy XIII. I was only about 10 when it came out and had mostly been used to playing DS and GameCube games, and seeing the cutscenes especially just blew my mind. At the time, I remember viewing it as almost photorealistic and not being able to imagine how games could get any closer to looking like real life. It's been a while and they've obviously been surpassed, but I think the graphics still hold up fairly well.

 

[Mikey the Moblin]

At the time, I remember viewing it as almost photorealistic and not being able to imagine how games could get any closer to looking like real life

I remember hearing this a lot growing up. As a nintendo household I was always in denial but hearing people call skyrim "realistic" almost made me cry. The fad then was definitely to make everything look brown and gritty and call it realistic

 

[Kirino]

I remember hearing this a lot growing up. As a nintendo household I was always in denial but hearing people call skyrim "realistic" almost made me cry. The fad then was definitely to make everything look brown and gritty and call it realistic

Yeah. Speaking of which, it's funny, because I remember Oblivion looking very realistic to me at the time I played it. Like, it looked better to me at the time than Skyrim looks to me now. But now I look at it and I'm just like... what. Funny how that works.