PSOne games that hold up well graphically.

[sethsez]

Recently I had the urge to give Metal Gear Solid another playthrough. I haven't played it since it originally came out, so I was interested in seeing how it holds up.

Not well. Some parts look okay, but once the cinematics start it all goes to crap. It certianly didn't match how I remembered it.

This got me interested in what, if any, PS games have managed to age gracefully. Here are a few I found that actually still look presentable.

Crash Bandicoot 2: This game actually still looks impressive. The art style isn't compromised at all by the engine, textures are relatively detailed and don't warp, there's no pop-up, and it all holds together without looking like the entire world is falling apart at the seams (like the original Wipeout... now there's a game that doesn't hold up. Speaking of which...).

Wipeout 3: I don't like this game. The gameplay is pleasant enough but less interesting than either the original or XL, the track designs are completely average, and the visual design is probably the blandest I've ever seen in a futuristic racer. With all of that said, the engine is very respectable and is definitely solid considering the speed everything moves at. Widescreen mode also helps this a lot for me.

I'm not saying these games in any way compare to anything on current systems, I'm just saying they've aged gracefully (unlike most PS games that have crazy grey hair, fake teeth and a walker). So what other PS games do you think have aged well? Or games you though looked great but look like shit now.

[Omni]

I haven't played any PS games in awhile so this would all be based on memory, but I remember Spyro having some decent graphics. Final Fantasy 9 and Chrono Cross too, I guess. Ummm, I don't know. They all look pretty bad, actually.

[Tragic]

Vagrant Story

[1CCOSA]

Gamera 2000 and Omega Boost are two of the best on rails 3D shooters I have ever seen. Metal Gear Solid still holds up very well.

[Jetman]

Vagrant Story

Good answer.

I played through Caslevania: Symphony of the Night again last fall and was still impressed by it.

[Jeremy]

One (thanks to lighting effects)
Final Fantasy Tactics (thanks to the use of sprites)
Final Fantasy VIII (due to the realistic look used throughout)
Chrono Cross (same thing, and the cinemas look better)
All of the Wipeouts hold up well visually since they were solid to begin with, and the use of lighting effects helps out as well. PS2 texture filtering helps some of these games out even mroe, especially the Wipeouts.
Twisted Metal 1 (outside of the cardboard pedestrians, this one still looks okay)

[Korly]

Tomba, SOTN, and Omega Boost.

[Zerohero]

FF8 cut scenes are still good
Ape Escape is decent
Most of the sprite games look ok ( Alpha 3, BOF3 etc)

[sethsez]

One (thanks to lighting effects)

I forgot about this one. It does hold up relatively well.

All of the Wipeouts hold up well visually since they were solid to begin with, and the use of lighting effects helps out as well. PS2 texture filtering helps some of these games out even mroe, especially the Wipeouts.

Play the first Wipeout again. The second it starts moving polygon tearing happens EVERYWHERE, and the tracks pop into view about 20 feet in front of you. I definitely remember this looking better than it does (although artistically I think it's far better than 3).

XL suffers from this too, but it's still a lot more solid than the first and the art design makes up for a lot.

[gamevet]

Gran Tourismo 2: At least using Bleemcast!

Sega Rally 95 (Saturn): The textures aren't up to snuff, but the game runs very smooth.

Colony Wars: Somewhat impressive for it's time and still an enjoyable game.

Last Gladiators (Saturn): One of the better video pinball games on the market. Sure it's sequel was better, but this version is pretty cool as well.

[Victrix]

Legend of Mana :P

edit:

For 3d games, Vagrant Story (particularly with texture smoothing) looks pretty good.

Early 3d PSX games are an eye gouging hilarious mess.

[Diff-chan]

Twisted Metal 1 (outside of the cardboard pedestrians, this one still looks okay)

Are you insane? That game looked awful and disgusting the day it came out. I loved it like a child, but I knew how goddamned terrible it looked. Twisted Metal 2's engine was a million times more solid and robust.

I think a lot of you are insane, actually. Have you guys played any of these recently? What dooms them is the fact that theyre hideously low-res. Its so obvious nowadays, after spending 5 years of playing high-res games. I tried playing a few of them last summer and was blown away by how bad they looked (since I remember most of them being pretty from when they were in heavy rotation in 1998/1999). And also were most of them low-res, but a lot of them have these crazy clipping and warping problems. They just look awful.

The games that hold up the best now are the ones that tried to resolve those clipping/warping problems (Crash Bandicoot 2 has software z-buffering and filtering coded into the engine) and those that went for high-res-but-simple graphic design (like WipeOut 3). You also have games like Final Fantasy 9 which looks amazing now because of the insane art design. But most polygonal games? Nah.

As for Saturn, the games look even worse because of the hardware. Developers really treated it like a shittier PSX, and most games look the part. The best looking game on it is Radiant Silvergun, because Treasure used those GPU chips to do all the crazy scrolling and 2D warping the system was designed to do. But nobody else really took advantage of it.

[MarkRyan]

Wipeout 3: I don't like this game. The gameplay is pleasant enough but less interesting than either the original or XL, the track designs are completely average, and the visual design is probably the blandest I've ever seen in a futuristic racer.

I prefer the look of Wipeout 3 to any other Wipeout. Game is gorgeous. I also prefer the game itself to any other Wipeout, but that's just me.

Legend of Mana still looks good, as do, probably, all 2D games on PSone (Silhouette Mirage). R4 actually looks pretty good still (I prefer its look to Ridge Racer V). And Colin McRae 2.0 still looks pretty solid.

A lot of PSone racers probably do, actually. Crash Team Racing doesn't look bad at all, and it still moves at a respectable framerate in four player. I'll also second Crash 2/3, Omega Boost and Vagrant Story.

EDIT: Of these, I've played recently.... Wipeout 3, Colin McRae 2.0, R4, Legend of Mana, Omega Boost.

[sethsez]

The games that hold up the best now are the ones that tried to resolve those clipping/warping problems (Crash Bandicoot 2 has software z-buffering and filtering coded into the engine) and those that went for high-res-but-simple graphic design (like WipeOut 3). You also have games like Final Fantasy 9 which looks amazing now because of the insane art design. But most polygonal games? Nah.

As for Saturn, the games look even worse because of the hardware. Developers really treated it like a shittier PSX, and most games look the part. The best looking game on it is Radiant Silvergun, because Treasure used those GPU chips to do all the crazy scrolling and 2D warping the system was designed to do. But nobody else really took advantage of it.

Yeah, that's pretty much why I started this thread. I know most of the games look terrible now, which is why I'm interested in the few that manage to not look like ass.

I prefer the look of Wipeout 3 to any other Wipeout. Game is gorgeous. I also prefer the game itself to any other Wipeout, but that's just me.

The gameplay is great aside from the rather dull tracks (the physics and controls are the best in the series without a doubt), but to me the art design (especially the colors used) look like a futuristic New Jersey turnpike.

[toxic]

I'm still laffing at Twisted Metal 1.


lololololol

[donuts]

I recently played Square's Einhander again and I still find it amazing, even 8 years after its release (dam, time flyies !)
I still heavily play games like Gradius Gaiden and G-Darius on my japanese PS...

[Diff-chan]

Yeah, that's pretty much why I started this thread. I know most of the games look terrible now, which is why I'm interested in the few that manage to not look like ass.

I seriously think people are just listing games they remember being pretty. Guys, try out stuff like One, Sega Rally, and Metal Gear Solid without using bleemcast or PS2's texture filtering or whatever. I think youll be not-so-pleasantly surprised. Playing them today is like running Doom 3 at 320x240 on a Voodoo2. Its bad.

I recently played Square's Einhander again

Yea, Einhander was one game I was impressed by during my last run-through of my PSX games. It falls into the simpler-but-rock-solid category that I defined before.

[sethsez]

I actually played One about a month ago. I have to agree that it holds up remarkably well, mostly because the camera never gets too close to anything. It doesn't look great, and certainly doesn't hang with Wipeout 3 or Crash 2, but I think it's held up better than a lot of PSOne games.

[gamevet]

I think a lot of you are insane, actually. Have you guys played any of these recently? What dooms them is the fact that theyre hideously low-res. Its so obvious nowadays, after spending 5 years of playing high-res games. I tried playing a few of them last summer and was blown away by how bad they looked (since I remember most of them being pretty from when they were in heavy rotation in 1998/1999). And also were most of them low-res, but a lot of them have these crazy clipping and warping problems. They just look awful.

The games that hold up the best now are the ones that tried to resolve those clipping/warping problems (Crash Bandicoot 2 has software z-buffering and filtering coded into the engine) and those that went for high-res-but-simple graphic design (like WipeOut 3). You also have games like Final Fantasy 9 which looks amazing now because of the insane art design. But most polygonal games? Nah.

As for Saturn, the games look even worse because of the hardware. Developers really treated it like a shittier PSX, and most games look the part. The best looking game on it is Radiant Silvergun, because Treasure used those GPU chips to do all the crazy scrolling and 2D warping the system was designed to do. But nobody else really took advantage of it.

I play my Saturn at least a couple times a year. Sure, about 90% of it does not hold up well. You could say the same for any of the consoles from that era.

Last Gladiators is sprite based and does a fine job of representing the good old silverball.

Sega Rally 95 holds steady at 30 fps, with a little texture warping near the bottom of the screen. Clipping was kept to a minimum, because of the level designs.

I'd like to add Destruction Derby to that list as well. Psygnosis did a fantastic job, with the PSX hardware.

[NeoZeedeater]

Almost everything I was thinking of has been mentioned already.

Elemental Gearbolt holds up nicely although using sprites helps. I imagine Parappa and Umjammer Lammy have aged fine but I haven't played them in a few years. For Saturn Virtua Fighter 2 and Last Bronx still look good.

[EvilMog]

Cool topic. I don't think much hold up well anymore. Though Castlevania still looks great. Some PSone stuff actually hold up better than N64. Holy shit does that look like ass these days.

[MechDeus]

Play the later Squaresoft games through an emulator, the PS makes them look ten times worse then they actually are. FFIX and Chrono Cross are actually pretty damn hot.

[johnk_]

speaking of ONE, it plays shockingly well on the bleemcast beta.. as well as Silent Bomber.

oh, and the 3D PSX games that still look decent today will look like shit by the next gen.. the 2D games are the only ones that don't seem to age.

[MarkRyan]

Did some searching, and here are some games that don't look too bad:

Ape Escape


Parappa the Rapper


Driver


Omega Boost


Vagrant Story


Resident Evil 2


Dino Crisis 2


Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver


Crash Bandicoot Warped


Spyro the Dragon


Bust-A-Groove


Devil Dice


Einhander


Rollcage

[Frogacuda]

I think Tales of Eternia and Valkyrie Profile still look great. Persona 2 looks nice too.

[sethsez]

oh, and the 3D PSX games that still look decent today will look like shit by the next gen.. the 2D games are the only ones that don't seem to age.

Technically, yeah. But I think some games will still look solid and manage to hold up, like a select few NES games do. The Mega Man games, for example, hold up a hell of a lot better than most games of that era, despite being overshadowed by the 16-bit systems and humiliated by everything that came after. Then on the other side of the coin you've got the TMNT games that look like absolute ass now.

Crash 2, in my opinion, will always look decent because the engine is rock-solid and the art style isn't held back by the technology. It worked with the PS instead of trying to stretch too far.

And I can't believe I forgot about Einhander.

[galvatron]

Tobal 2

[MarkRyan]

Tobal 2


Yeah, I'd agree.

[Opaque]

Chrono Cross.

For reals.

[adol]

Word on Tobal 2. The polygons are seamless. That game looks incredible. R-Type Delta also holds up quite well, and Skullmonkeys photorealistic graphics look very nice.