I swear it's more than just nostalgia. For the past few months I've been only playing old games that I never played as a kid, and I find myself getting sucked into them way easier than modern games despite not having any nostalgic memories attached to them.
Its because the game industry nowadays is a scam. Broken games, unspiring games, totally greedy but lacking in fun...of course there are still some good contemporary games like Zelda TOTK broke nintendo's sales once again, but the saying is real: lacking resources exploded imagination and ingenuity. Now everyone is trying to be the next triple A game, having 800+h of gameplay that are filled with air... its good that we give these retro games the apreciation they deserve.
Absolutely. Those games were made to excell in fun! You gotta make the best possible game for players back then, and players could feel it. Nowadays you'll make the best possible game for share holders. The main question is how much you can hollow out a game to still make it look like the real thing, while really being a dlc and skin shop with some poorly implemented and loosely connected gameplay or story elements. And players feel it as well. I started gaming when Epic was known for a game called Jill of the Jungle and not Fortnite (although Fortnite is a bad excample, it offers decent gameplay for a modern title).
For me low poly games are easy on the eyes and mind. I can see everything with ease while moving and every object/actor is more distinguichable from the scenery
@@demdelthepoet8885 Yeah i hate how they look, pre PS4 games still had some restraint and style. After that vast majority went to this glossy, and often disgusting looking "noise soup" as i call it. It's either straining or you ignore it to avoid strain instead of enjoying scenery. This is awful standard to force onto vast majority of the industry. From shoddily cobbled together messy games on unreal engine to big budget games. PBR rendering in this application is to blame. its often stupidly and unneccesarily slapped on top of the game even in remasters, ruinnig the look and infectring it with this "noise soup" disease... Ergo GTA Definitve Trilogy or especially Warcraft 3 Reforged which ruined and replaced a beautiful comicbook/disney movie like game art and texturing with some awful joke more in line with Raid Shadowlegends with pbr slimey look on everything... I still like some newer games. I liked PS3 era games, GTA 5 for instance still looks nice, but i cant stand Red Dead Redemption 2's look. It just got uncanny and ugly..
Like someone said, "Graphics is temporary, but art direction is eternal". If the art design in video game is great, it can be the timeless game without look like dated game like Boku no Natsuyasumi (my summer vacation).
Funny. I tried to play one of those recently, and I just couldn't deal with the Peanuts-style cartoon heads on top of otherwise properly proportioned bodies and realistic backgrounds. It totally triggered the uncanny valley for me.
@jasonblalock4429 I understand . Maybe I used to read both domestic and international cartoons with this type of art styles so I have no problem with that.
Its wild looking back at our younger selves when we thought these games "looked like real life" One of my favorite video game memories is when my dad (who doesn't play games at all) came into my room one day while I was hunched over in front of Gran Turismo 2. He was legitimately awestruck and blurted out "holy shit! That looks real!" He actually called for my mom to come and look with a "can you believe that? That's crazy!" That was one of the very few times he actually played a game with me. His brain practically exploded when I showed him the replay feature with the dynamic camera. Im sure the shitty, tiny 13" Durabrand CRT helped hide a lot of the more obvious graphical shortcomings of the PS1 lol
The same happened to me. I was playing a WWE game on the PS2. It must have been Shut your mouth or Here comes the pain, I can't remember exactly. There was a cutscene and my dad was amazed at how real it looked. It actually did look super realistic. I bet if I found the cutscene now it would look horrendous lol.
Playing those old PS1 and 2 games on a CRT actually does wonders. People will view them on LCD screens and it looks terrible but on a CRT it looks magical almost.
I wouldn't even call it low poly aesthetics, the character faces are so smooth. It would still be past era polygon aesthetics but low poly not sure. I am more on the PS1 N64 being low poly.
@bugothecatplays7864 Shemnue has 10,000 poly npcs and 4k poly characters. Sure, it may lack tris in the props or other things (tying it all together with good art and topology), but Shemnue literally is literally bringing the Sega Dreamcast to its knees.
@@bugothecatplays7864yes for me the Saturn and PS1 N64 is low poly. Then Dreamcast PS2 GameCube Xbox go then up to mid poly. And from PS3 forward it’s just (high) poly > more and more detailed
@@litjellyfish I consider the ps3 graphics closer to current gen graphics than to low polly graphics. In my opinion, N64/ps1 have low polly graphics and Ps2/gamecube/original Xbox/Wii have high polly graphics.
I mean even in the late 80s you saw racing simulators that ran at single digit fps but yeah in the mid 90s 3D hit it's stride starting with star fox and ridge racer as full 3D hits.
I would call it the peak of gaming. Back then the games were made to be fun. Nowadays you only see cashgrabs and bad remakes or just the same gameplay as any other game
I don't think it's just nostalgia. To me it's like the difference, in 2D art, between realistic drawings and stylized ones. Low poly graphics are more appealing to people who prefer to see the artistic, even cartoony, touch cause it stimulates the imagination and feels like an escape into a fantasy world that still looks immersive enough. They are overall more playful. Whereas today's hyperrealistic graphics appeal mostly to people who don't like to put any effort into filling the gaps, that want everything to be already visualized by game artists and feel like a literal virtual reality. They are more "serious" gamers, and I think that the fact that today there is less stigma towards adults playing videogames is partly connected to this loss of playfulness in favor of a sober realism, dim colors that kids would hate etc. Also, low poly feels more sculptural and clearly defined, you have a stronger perception of shapes as distinct from one another which, even if the rendering is worse than today's, paradoxically appeals more to the sense of touch, looking very solid. Low poly worlds represent an effective simplification of the real world, stripping it of everything unnecessary to show the essence, and just opened the possibility for us to navigate fantasy worlds in all directions. As soon as 3D graphics became just a struggle for a perfect imitation of life, I lost all interest for gaming, cause I've always been in it more for the fun atmospheres created by the visuals than for the gameplay itself.
you write just my thoughts in such elegant way. i also love low poly graphic, because it looks way more interesting and unique. all that high poly graphics just don't stay in my mind, because all that games look faceless. but, indie games more often have stylized graphic and incredible gameplay and ideas. so i have hope in indie creators
I don't like those realistic and dim graphics either i feel they're pretty generic. And that's why I usually play more cartoony and stylized games. Thankfully indie games, anime games and platformers got me covered.
@@miguelbayonrivera2467 Absolutely. I checked all analysis videos I could find as to why 3D animation practically replaced 2D cartooning when it comes to cinema (while TV series still make some use of 2D drawings). The most typical answer that is given is that Pixar-like 3D animation is more cost effective and the average viewer prefers hyperrealistic rendering. So, if that is true, I don't blame companies for trying to make good profit from the audience's genuine preferences while also reducing production expenses. However, I see more and more complaints by people like me who prefer more minimal and stylized art rather than the current obsession for life-like realism, which is also reflected by the courage of some indie developers who make cartoony games or even use the language of pixel art. And the same goes with some illustrators. This makes me a bit skeptical about the market research made by animation studios and mainstream software houses. But even without invalidating or doubting their assessments, I think they're neglecting way too much the part of the public who dislike hyperrealism. My only hope is that AI, despite sadly taking some jobs, will make 2D animation more affordable and therefore back in fashion.
It's not just nostalgia. They *had* to create art designs that worked with the tech that was available, whereas modern games fall into the "uncanny valley" of almost but not quite looking realistic because they don't have an art style but they also don't *really* look quite real, either.
I'm glad lower-fidelity art styles in games aren't as universally viewed as "bad graphics" as they used to be. Minecraft alone did a lot of heavy lifting for polygon graphics in that department.
Honestly I grew up with the ps2 games and I guess I might like those graphics because of nostalgia. I haven't played any ps1 or n64 games back then and like those as well though.
Im glad the younger generation actually likes the low poly even though they haven't experienced it back then, it's a very good thing because we can see how there are indie Games that take inspiration from low poly and the younger generation is all for it, they seem to like low poly Indie games and im glad to see this, i feel like with the release of unreal engine 5 we're actually at a risk of developers losing their artistic touch and making games that looks and feel very similar to one another, so this growing interest in low poly gives me hope.
Whether you use flat or Gouraud shading has nothing to do with the number of triangles. When using Gouraud, the object will appear to be smoother, but it's a more expensive operation because you need to interpolate the colour between vertices. You can have texture mapping and Gouraud shading simultaneously. Crash Bandicoot on the PS1 made extensive use of Gouraud Shading in order to avoid using textures, which helped with the limited amount of RAM the PS1 had (2MB of main memory and 1MB for graphics)
Gouraud shading often used lighting. There would be no gradient on a flat polygon. This kind of shading is not consistent and hence not aesthetic. But I think that with LevelOfDetail on a grid mesh consistency can be restored. The next level of detail is interpolated. You store just a small correction value (mostly along the surface normal ). Fits into small RAM. PSX and N64 have no drivers. You can easily implement such a vertex shader. Later GPUs went parallel and could not anymore.
To say "not aesthetic" makes as much sense as saying a food that is soft and smooth in consistency "has no texture." Rather, the aesthetic is not to your liking or whatever, as a food with a smooth (rather than crunchy) texture does "have texture," it is simply a texture you may find to be lacking in some variety or whatever.
They are better to look at. A thing that I dislike about the "realistic" style that modern games took is that the screen is filled with visual noise. Information overload, like the ending to Man of Steel, is just tiring to look at.
I getcha, low-poly games are a lot easier to read and information is easier to parse, when you enter a room in Quake you immediately know what is an enemy, what is an ammo or health pickup and what is an environmental hazard. I had a lot of fun with RE4 Remake, but the valley area looked so visually busy that I was having trouble spotting enemies at a distance, which is a problem for a large area where you're encouraged to use a sniper rifle. When every rock has a billion jagged edges, that's a ton of visual information you don't need. EDIT: Even with the HD Project Mod, I never had this issue in the original valley area of RE4.
@@marcellosilva9286The video game industry needs to stop worrying abour making every game photo realistic graphics, chances are most people already have seen what photo realistic is, it's not special once you played any of these modren games and realize that games aren't movies being overstimulated actually makes the game overall less fun. Not only do video game companies have to set back their expectations so do the consumers, once the audience realizes that realistic graphics actually hinders the gaming experience gaming companies wouldn't be afraid to not care to make their games 360/PS3 levels of graphics, they might even try making n64/ps2 styled games
I guess that's why I sometimes feel eyestrain when playing newer games. That usually isn't a problem when I play older looking games like the indie ones who mimic retro visuals for example.
@@sonicmaiden2871 The worst game to come out recently that really shows this problem is the Suicide Squad game, it is honestly shocking that a game designer looked at that visual noise and said "it is good enough". Particle effects and the horrible UI that fills the screen are so bad.
@@SammEater true. I guess hyper realistic games are trendy now days so that's why they made it like that but honestly having so much visual noise on the screen can cause eyestrain and lack of clarity as well. Sometimes I feel that less is better.
I got hit by this recently. A low-budget Mexican game called "Aztech Forgotten Gods." It looks and feels so much like an upscaled PS2 game that it's downright charming, and actually triggered a bit of a nostalgia goggles effect. Even though it's only a couple years old. (Plus the low-poly look works pretty well with its techno-Aztec art design.)
It's not only nostalgia, its how 'excessive' visual is. I for one hate modern high poly game's look it's what i call "noise soup". It''s how almost all modern 3D "realistic" games are. Its a often just outright ugly and always overwhelming in a worst way i either loathe looking at it or just ignore it to avoid strain from it. Drawn and stylized art is much more pleasing to the eye and tons of older games were like this, even ones that tried to be somewhat realistic but with simplier techniquers like HalfLife 2/Left 4 Dead and alike from Valve. It all went into a deep end when they started to use PBR everywhere or pretending to have it, but some games are still somewhat pleasant like GTA 5 is still in more stylized and nice looking aesthetic that is still somewhat stylized and not preoccupied with "REALISM". I hate how Red Dead Redemption 2 looks tho for instance, as it leans into this glossy, messy look. I still like the game itself, but the look not so much. It also happens with remakes or ill-conceived remasters like mess that we have as GTA Definitive Trilogy or Warcraft 3 Reforged, both are outright horrible and disgusting with very bad attempt at "hyper realism" supplanting stylized art especially awful in case of Warcraft 3 which had beautiful drawn comicbook/disney movie like texturing and artwork, but fool of an art lead ruined it and even mocked original game on blizzcon :/
Low poly isn't bad. A good art direction will always be better than realism. This is why it has become an art style. Not just nostalgia, but because it can actually look pleasing on it's own even without nostalgia.
I love this canyon theory! Im from the 80s, so I played a lot of games of Sega Genesis. When the Saturn came in, nobody wants 2d games anymore, everyone wants 3D YEAH, "3D IS AWESOME". But now, everybody loves "2D sprite" games again!
Back then they didn't really look like the modern immitations or emulated versions because we were all playing on crts meaning sharp edges were far less sharp & a lot of textures used this to their advantage. It's also why some textures such as cloud's world model in ff7 can look a bit weird because his large, slightly distorted eye textures are designed with the phosphor spacing in mind.
Loved the dansplanation on this. Perfectly expressed what it is about these older generations of gaming that I miss and find myself so enthralled by here in 2024.
BTW did you ever realise on the Playstation joypad... a circle is made from one line. An X from two. A triangle from three lines, and a square from four.
Calling 6th gen games low poly makes me feel so old. I've never considered them low poly since its what i grew up with and have exclusively used the term for 5th gen and earlier.
What was once considered realistic, true to life and state of the art, is now seen as nostalgic and "cartoony" looking. It's kind of wild. Imagine 20 years from now people looking back at witcher 3, cyberpunk or GTA 6 and talking about how "nostalgic" these games make them feel and how "bad" they look in comparison to the modern day
I’m afraid that this ‘wow factor’ we used to get from graphical leaps won’t never be a thing again. We evolved too fast for my liking, now there’s not much room for any noticeable change. My hope is the industry will notice that and stop focusing on graphics, get back to the basics of what made games fun in the first place.
Great video dude, though I can't help but nitpick on some details; No mention of Starfox, which was noteworthy being one of the first 3D games on consoles (ignoring PCs of course) as its graphics could arguably be considered "ultra low-poly" having many ships and enemies be merely just warped pyramids and cubes fused together. Sonic 3D Blast is kinda pushing it as "the first 3D Sonic game", as it was more isometric while using 3D models that were scanned to become sprites, much like what Rare did with Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct... Sega's actual first attempt at a 3D Sonic was Sonic R, which technically was made by Traveler's Tales, as well as the 3D overworld in Sonic Jam which devs admitted to being their actual prototype to what we'd later get with Sonic Adventure. Aside from these tiny tidbits, this video was pretty solid, dude. Nice work.
Like others have said, PS2/Dreacast/GC are relatively high-poly, as they could make realistic graphics (look at Final Fantasy 10 for example). Low-poly is reserved for PS1/Saturn/N64. But agree w/ your sentiment. Sometimes simplicity is beautiful.
Low Poly Graphics are also great at having low cost to make which is great since it doesn't gatekeep people from making Their own 3D games if They like to and that has allow a very big number of Indie Devs to make 3D games without having much cash or be part of a big studio
Yes this is the main reason. Like with reading a book (not that extreme of course). It’s why remakes usually miss the mark. We all have our own interpretations of low poly faces an environments etc in these old games.
Just talking about aesthetic... I passed a Pepsi truck the other day and I immediately thought "Frutiger Aero" so, as an old man, I assume that aesthetic is dead
I'm more of a pixel art fan, but low-poly has its charm... Worth noting, I grew up with SNES and GBA, and went on to discover the PC Engine and Mega Drive in my teens, though I also had a PS1 as a kid but it broke after only two years, so I went back to playing SNES all the time...
Another aspect I realize, in modern games graphics are so drowned in detail and filter effects that it takes my brain time to adjust. I play anything modern and I might miss things (and then devs just patch it in with immersive breaking solutions like yellow paint or other "modern design" ideas). But when I play some low poly games, graphics are also so clear, sometimes there is a room with flat walls and simple textures, a door, a corridor, two barrels, some enemy, that are all so easy to distinguish, so I can enter an area and instantly recognize things to interact with. Besides that there is something about old graphics that makes them so immersive. I don't understand it. I play some modern game with new graphics even games consider really good and I am not immersed. I play the jankiest old thing ever (you say low-poly and show Shenmue as an example? I present you with King's Field series on PS1) and I am so immersed into it's atmosphere and exploring the world. It's the elusive thing of what magic they did in the past, that we call nostalgia maybe, that just works for me. One might say nostalgia is about games you played in the past, but I didn't play King's Field in the past, I didn't even know them,. the first I saw some screenshot I am like "That looks janky awful even to me" but then I was hooked. It happened with other old games I missed in the past. Although I am a bit too old, my first computer I played games was an 8bit Amstrad CPC with games that look and feel worse than the 8bit consoles at the time.
I'm with you, I don't think it's entirely due to nostalgia. It's the difference between buying an 8K photo versus buying a painting. Each has its own appeal.
Coming from megadrive upwards the thing was on 3d always how much more sharp , round , shiny , smooth and detailed could each new machine push it to.. now that vibe has kinda gone .gameplay in low poly could feel janky but when right amazing . Crash bandicoot was incredible to look at in the 90s
I can't explain it, but older PC (not console) games from the 90's up to mid-2000's make me feel good. :O The newer 2015-2020+ games can look ultra realistic and smooth, but they often look too cinematic, filtered, too much fog and bad color choices. It doesn't feel nice. Whenever I play any, it gets boring very fast, but I always return to those old PC games like Wolf3D, Doom 2, Magic Carpet 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Colin McRae Rally 3, Half-Life 2, Test Drive Unlimited, Flight Simulator X. Anything newer is almost always blahhh...
Like someone in the comments said “if I wanted realism I would go outside” - games are meant to be about escapism and fantasy, not realism.. I stay retro most times
saying that n64 ps1 graphics look better then the ps5 and xbox series x graphics is like saying the atari 2600 graphics were better then the nes and snes graphics lot of people today are being nostalgia blinded and sure today graphics may look bad but that only became game developer has less time to work and game companies only care about money
Technical limitations are the reason why these consoles were so iconic, they had to work with the limitations of the console be it memory size or the limited ability to load lots of complex geometry. We end up with PS1 games where they use beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds or place the character over a looping video, thanks to the low poly it is seemless. The transition between your character moving over a pre-rendered background to a cool FMV cutscene was so immersive and felt like the RTX equivalent of SNES style 2.5d games.
great video! love your commentary on nostalgia and low polygon stuff. i thought your explanations of “aesthetic” as well as your more in depth approach to the technical aspects of low polygon game development was super cool! as someone that grew up playing the n64 through my entire childhood i really enjoyed how you explained everything.
I’d bet a lot of it is just nostalgia. But one thing I do think of, is the eras before 3D gen started, the low quality graphics, it involved a lot of imagination and interpretation. Kind of like reading a book and concocting what you read into a whole world and what it would be like visually. The “low poly” era gave a lot details on what the creators had in mind. Like with Ocarina of Time, we got to see the creators vision of how Ganon would look in real life, how the world of Hyrule and different places and how characters would look. But the low poly/ low tech still did not allow for super high detail. So there was still an element of using your imagination to fill in the gaps and imagine the extra details and extension to the world and characters that were given. Like with the Venesaur example. He’s low quality in Pokemon stadium, but we’re still seeing him in 3D mode and we get to see some of the details, and it sparks our imagination of what it would be like really in real life. There’s a quality to that, that can’t be replicated nowadays when things can be showed visually to the highest details possible. I think of games like FF7 with the pre-rendered backgrounds and polygon characters, but you still had to use a lot of imagination to bring this world and characters to real life. And that’s why you often get people who read a book first who are disappointed with the movie. Or who played FF7 first and are disappointed with the remakes. The fully detailed high remake might show a world different to the one the person had specifically concocted in their mind.
Either we're wrong, or just getting old. But to us "low-poly" would be from the 16, 32 and 64-bit era where you'd be looking at 10s or 100s of polygons on screen. When we get to the Dreamcast, GameCube, Xbox and PS2 we're now looking at thousands of polygons per character, Is this really low-poly asthetic?
I used to make characters with a 2,000 polygon budget... I certainly consider making a human out of 2,000 polygons to be low poly. But I can see where they would be categorized as two different versions of low poly. Today I have characters that are 2,000,000 though if it is animated for a game I try to optimize. In the end I think lighting matters more than the number of polygons when it comes to how games look.
Same! Pioneers of "low-poly" were "Descent," released 1995, with polygonal texture-mapped characters, and earlier, "Elite," released 1984, with 3D wire-frame graphics. I tinkered with coding software graphics back in the day and have huge respect for the clever techniques behind these games. I still think of N64 graphics of Golden Eye, Wave Race 64, etc. as fantastically high end... not by "it looks like real life" delusions, just, remembering what we had before and appreciating how far it has come. Awesome time to be alive.
Well, I'm from Gen Z, and I don't think of the Gamecube as "low-poly". It's the first console I remember using, and it's definitely old, but games like Metroid Prime 2 don't feel low poly. Although Halo 2 does in some areas (like the space station, in the scene right before you fight the Covenant).
I also love low graphics. 😂 If a game is too realistic-looking, I can’t get into it because my goal is escapism. Why would I want more of real life? Reality freakin sucks. 🤢 That’s also why I prefer the fantasy genre.
Yup it was called the Duel analog controller :) it also had had concave sticks similar to the Duelshock 4 and duelsense but they were made of hard plastic instead of being topped with rubber
Dawg the Saturn released half a year before the PS1 and the 3DO was released before the PS1 was even announced, SONY WAS NO WHERE NEAR THE FIRST TO RELEASE A 3D HOME CONSOLE
The Hyperactive Gameplay and the Speed of Crazy Taxi Blew my Mind. The Soundtrack also Helped A LOT. And my God that Solid 60 fps not possible on the PS 1. and N 64 Racing Games.
I'd also like to mention that low polly graphics are less taxing for the eyes as well. Sometimes I feel eyestrain while playing current gen games and I have to take a break after a few hours, meanwhile when I play low polly games I can usually play longer without much eyestrain.
Personally think its because the games were smaller and more focused too. Im an adult, I don't want to spend 45 minutes looking at menus and sub menus before even starting a game. Its why emulation is so great now that we can play right up to gamecube/ps2 on the go. 0 interest in modern games
As somebody who grew up with the Wii, but never the DS or 3DS and having purchased both, I am living a childhood I never had. Is like I am transported back to simplier times and it has been amazingly soothing! Highly recommend!
I have always had a theory that low poly games and 8 bit graphics are what engaged creativity in the mind and why these games are so enjoyable. Kids have to imagine what it would like in real life to be in the video game that they play and the actions and stories have to be filled in their mind to enjoy the game which made kids a lot more creative than they are compared to today. Though what is not a theory to me is that older graphics meant more limitations thus the developers are incentivized to make the gameplay fun and engaging as possible. Nowadays developers are fixated in graphics, marketability and technology than the fun aspect of what makes a game great.
Same. It's almost dreamlike in a way, taking in the visuals and interpreting them. Playing feels like participating to some extent in creating the experience. Devs boiled the graphics down to the core essence of that world/character/object etc., and gave it a stylized look.
One thing that many forget is that in some ways games are like puppet shows. If it's an incredible story, it doesn't matter if the puppets are crude. If the story is incredible, it doesn't matter. If the way of telling is captivating, the dolls don't matter. And if you have all the elements I said and don't have a doll, ok you still have all the elements that matter. Old games with bad graphics, but with a good story, still a good story in general
It's like a book. Sure you can go watch frickin godzilla vs kong with a huge graphics budget, sure, but NOTHING will ever make my brain light up as much as successfully rendering a fantasy scene from LOTR in my head. The gaps we fill in are so much more important for engagement than what we're ACTUALLY seeing physically. Just like IRL!
I think mass marketed game engines like Unreal Engine was a mistake. It homogenized video games to very high degree. Every modern game looks the exact same to me.
It's only because of the engine , you can do the same thing with unity as well or any other other engine that supports 3d ! But making these engines free , it makes most indie devs to make a AAA game with not having to invest millions and millions of euros . I believe the main reason is people demanding or expecting better graphics because thats the norm nowadays. They are very few people making low poly games like they were in the 90s or early 2000s . Sure they exist still, but they are mostly some shitty games anyway and not some ground breaking ones
I'm dying to see new focused games that utilize PS1-PS2 era designs, art style, etc. ~Even tho Tech has advanced, I wish the game industry would alter their approach to gaming. Bring back previous gen games, but they are made in our modern day. Game projects like that will cost less $, take less time to build. We drastically need Additional selection to our game library. We need games that harness art design. Designs that have proven to be timeless. Cell shaded, low poly effects, pre rendered backgrounds, 2D, 2.5D, creative 3D that's not trying to be hyper realistic. Inspiration from previous gens shouldn't stop, just because new consoles have come out. Timeless games don't need hyper realistic graphics. Some of the best games have creative art styles such as Sly Cooper. Anytime i say this someone in the comments always says: "well we have indie games" but that's not my point. I wish the gaming industry would recalibrate their focus & start making games for consoles with all sorts of styles & designs. Just look at current Gen consoles Game Library's? It's NOTHING compared to the N64, PS1, Xbox, GameCube, dreamcast, 360, PS2, Sega Saturn, classic PC games, etc. Life would be amazing If game companies will start making games that are inspired by these previous gen designs. We shouldn't leave those unique aspects of gaming in the past. Hopefully the struggles of the modern triple AAA games will organically transition the gaming industry back towards a better direction. It's exhausting how long it's taking for most games to be made. Just for a lot of those games to end up being total let down projects anyways. It's crazy. Idk how these game companies have been able to keep getting away with this BS.
I started making a 2d game, worried that it would be ugly. 5 years later I'm constantly getting positive feedback about the pixelart. Only getting started.
@@maalikserebryakov did you just compare a billion dollar company with thousands of employees, creating the financially biggest video game of all time with a dude creating a game, most likely as a passion project? 😂
but those aren't "bad grahics", those are just "outdated relative to modern times. Games don't age, standards do. Its not fair to hold a old game to modern standards. And its more of the relation with the time, era, console and its competition. They're low by todays standards of course but all that does is show you how far we've advanced. But "low end graphics" don't make a bad game. After all the modern generation is more likely to pick up a old game than a new game. There are old games that mimic older "low poly" games and THOSE are fair to call "bad graphics" But the point still stands.
"low" graphics made style and vibe. today people and big companies are so obsessed with 3D, realistic, high-poligonal graphic, that games become to look the same in AAA. and some other games try to chase this. it's just tasteless for me. some games with "high" graphic can be very style, but it's hard to chase realism and style. old games look all unique with all imperfections. so that's why I love old-gen graphic more. fortunately, indie sector doesn't have this issue in most cases
im an artist and a big inspiration for me was my late millennial brother showing me his older games. i was always drawn to their designs whilst in the 2010s we were entering the realism phase, which gets less impressive after a few up close shots of the characters' eyelashes
What fascinates me is how we remember those old games vs how they actually look now. When I played the original Halo, I was blown away, and it looks so much more next gen in my memory than if I revisit it now, same with all the Dreamcast titles like soul calibur and crazy taxi. I guess this is because I grew up with the older gen consoles like SNES. Modern titles seem to focus mainly on graphics. For me, it peaked around the 360/PS3 era.
Nice video. Graphics changed so much in that period that I never thought of them as the same aesthetic or grouping in this way. Virtua Fighter 1 came out in 1993 and ran on super expensive arcade hardware and Shenmue came out in 1999 and ran on a $200 console. Shenmue is so much more advanced in every way. And the games looked so different depending on the hardware, you can just tell what system it is on by looking at a picture. So I always thought they had their own look to them which can be appealing individually.
I'm editing a video for a client of mine and your video popped up as a recommendation. Ended up taking a break to watch your video. Great work! Subbed.
It'll never not be weird seeing the tiny little wiki me and a handful of others oversee and help build popping up in video essays, big and small. But to add to your Nostalgia Canyon bit; that's just the 20 year Nostalgia Cycle. That's something that even predates the internet: the 1980s drew heavy on nostalgia from the 1960s, the 1990s drew heavy on nostalgia from the 1970s, the 2000s drew heavy on nostalgia from the 1980s, and the 2010s were soaked in nostalgia from the 1990s... arguably a little bit too much, if I'm gonna be completely honest, and I feel like the 2020s will follow that trend with the 2000s, largely because the internet has become a better vector for aesthetic preservation compared to what he had pre-internet.
I will always love the ps1 and the N64 graphics. Kids today will never want to play these games just a remastered that doesn't have the heart as the og games
I'm just so glad I'm not the only one feeling good about all that kinda stuff. Those old video games (especially the Nintendo 64) are part of who I am today. Loved the video P.S.: I started raising Chaos in Sonic Adventure 2. I love my children 💓
Graphics in old games look very clean and uncluttered, which is why I like them so much. I can appreciate newer graphics too, but there is a charm in these old simple visuals.
Let's see: * No microtransactions * Few day 1 gamebreaking bugs * Not $70 per game * Programmers had actual talent * Didn't take up 200 gb Yeah, can't imagine why people enjoy classic games
5th and 6th gen were the true pinnacle of gaming. That entire era was filled with such creativity and innovation as people worked around the limitations of the hardware that is just missing these days, 7th gen was still good, but there was a distinct feeling that the spark was starting to fade.
![[LIVE] : ONE ลุมพินี 88 | คู่เอก "ป้อมเพชร vs อัสลามจอน"](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/1ZqTVVbMgbo/mqdefault.jpg)
youtube keeps recommending me bangers from small channels. Keep the work up.
Yeah, I've noticed that too. At least the algorithm's doing *something* right.
ayyyy thank you
@@dansplaining You are welcome keep the good work :)
Same here bruh and I'm loving this.
@@jasonblalock4429 I did a house cleaning and mass "do not recommend this channel"d every woke channel, so the algorithm is struggeling.
I swear it's more than just nostalgia. For the past few months I've been only playing old games that I never played as a kid, and I find myself getting sucked into them way easier than modern games despite not having any nostalgic memories attached to them.
Interesting insight. Thanks for sharing it. I was stuck on "it's just nostalgia" mindset until I saw your comment.
Same. Especially Skies of Arcadia! Definitely Skies of Arcadia
Clarity and whimsical feel are not nostalgia, so you're right.
Its because the game industry nowadays is a scam. Broken games, unspiring games, totally greedy but lacking in fun...of course there are still some good contemporary games like Zelda TOTK broke nintendo's sales once again, but the saying is real: lacking resources exploded imagination and ingenuity. Now everyone is trying to be the next triple A game, having 800+h of gameplay that are filled with air... its good that we give these retro games the apreciation they deserve.
Absolutely. Those games were made to excell in fun! You gotta make the best possible game for players back then, and players could feel it.
Nowadays you'll make the best possible game for share holders. The main question is how much you can hollow out a game to still make it look like the real thing, while really being a dlc and skin shop with some poorly implemented and loosely connected gameplay or story elements. And players feel it as well. I started gaming when Epic was known for a game called Jill of the Jungle and not Fortnite (although Fortnite is a bad excample, it offers decent gameplay for a modern title).
For me low poly games are easy on the eyes and mind. I can see everything with ease while moving and every object/actor is more distinguichable from the scenery
Can see everything with ease if you use bullet-time!
@@ringoraqueta9403 I can shoot easily, yes. Exactly
Sometimes for me, these newer games are hard on my eyes as there is so much so focus on.
Easy if you slap Sam Lake`s face on a low poly model
@@demdelthepoet8885 Yeah i hate how they look, pre PS4 games still had some restraint and style. After that vast majority went to this glossy, and often disgusting looking "noise soup" as i call it. It's either straining or you ignore it to avoid strain instead of enjoying scenery. This is awful standard to force onto vast majority of the industry. From shoddily cobbled together messy games on unreal engine to big budget games. PBR rendering in this application is to blame. its often stupidly and unneccesarily slapped on top of the game even in remasters, ruinnig the look and infectring it with this "noise soup" disease...
Ergo GTA Definitve Trilogy or especially Warcraft 3 Reforged which ruined and replaced a beautiful comicbook/disney movie like game art and texturing with some awful joke more in line with Raid Shadowlegends with pbr slimey look on everything...
I still like some newer games. I liked PS3 era games, GTA 5 for instance still looks nice, but i cant stand Red Dead Redemption 2's look. It just got uncanny and ugly..
Your brain likes to work. Your imagination fills in the gaps and it's satisfying to do so
fully agree
@@dansplaining Much like reading a book I suppose
I mean its half this and half the fact that its nice for the eyes to not need to process so much detail...
Precisely. Hyrule in Ocarina of Time feels more like a "real" place to me than any recent game. It has atmosphere.
I get that more from even older games, really. 3D is where that feeling stpps for me for the most part.
Low graphics games are more fun, developers nowadays are so fixated with good graphics that they forget the fun aspect
this is the stupidest thing i have ever read today @@Wanderlauch
@@RESZKKZSEE not my problem. So you're saying playing a horror game is "fun"?
@@Wanderlauch Duh, otherwise how else will it be a horror game to begin with? It's there for suspense, not a generic simulator
Bingo. They were more innovative cause they had to b because of limitations aside from uncharted 3d format at the time
@@Wanderlauchwhat the hell does this mean lmao??? Why would you play a game if you aren’t having any fun
Bout to Jam Out to the PS1 start up noise, don't call, don't text
Like someone said, "Graphics is temporary, but art direction is eternal". If the art design in video game is great, it can be the timeless game without look like dated game like Boku no Natsuyasumi (my summer vacation).
Funny. I tried to play one of those recently, and I just couldn't deal with the Peanuts-style cartoon heads on top of otherwise properly proportioned bodies and realistic backgrounds. It totally triggered the uncanny valley for me.
@jasonblalock4429 I understand . Maybe I used to read both domestic and international cartoons with this type of art styles so I have no problem with that.
Who said that?
@@VinTheDirector youtube channel Bricky in video name "Graphics are Temporary, Art Direction is Forever "
@@piyaphumL. understandable, thank you have a nice day ✌️
Less realistic means more removed from reality and this is what we want: To escape reality for even just a moment - that's why it makes you feel good.
YES YEAH YESSES
Great comments bruh. You nailing it. I swore god you're nailing it!
@@dannaali217 Thanks man :)
to quote papa gabe newell: "i have never thought to myself that realism is fun."
Its wild looking back at our younger selves when we thought these games "looked like real life"
One of my favorite video game memories is when my dad (who doesn't play games at all) came into my room one day while I was hunched over in front of Gran Turismo 2. He was legitimately awestruck and blurted out "holy shit! That looks real!"
He actually called for my mom to come and look with a "can you believe that? That's crazy!"
That was one of the very few times he actually played a game with me.
His brain practically exploded when I showed him the replay feature with the dynamic camera. Im sure the shitty, tiny 13" Durabrand CRT helped hide a lot of the more obvious graphical shortcomings of the PS1 lol
my dad did that with resident evil 2 for ps1
The same happened to me. I was playing a WWE game on the PS2. It must have been Shut your mouth or Here comes the pain, I can't remember exactly. There was a cutscene and my dad was amazed at how real it looked. It actually did look super realistic. I bet if I found the cutscene now it would look horrendous lol.
Playing those old PS1 and 2 games on a CRT actually does wonders. People will view them on LCD screens and it looks terrible but on a CRT it looks magical almost.
Bro, show him GT7 on ps5 or Ride5's replay camera
Shemnue is incredibly high poly for a 90's game
I wouldn't even call it low poly aesthetics, the character faces are so smooth.
It would still be past era polygon aesthetics but low poly not sure.
I am more on the PS1 N64 being low poly.
@bugothecatplays7864 Shemnue has 10,000 poly npcs and 4k poly characters. Sure, it may lack tris in the props or other things (tying it all together with good art and topology), but Shemnue literally is literally bringing the Sega Dreamcast to its knees.
Indeed, Shenmue's models are way more expressive and detailed compared to... well everything else from that era.
@@bugothecatplays7864yes for me the Saturn and PS1 N64 is low poly. Then Dreamcast PS2 GameCube Xbox go then up to mid poly. And from PS3 forward it’s just (high) poly > more and more detailed
@@litjellyfish I consider the ps3 graphics closer to current gen graphics than to low polly graphics. In my opinion, N64/ps1 have low polly graphics and Ps2/gamecube/original Xbox/Wii have high polly graphics.
:) I wouldn't call 1997 an "early stage of gaming". I think a more apt description would be an "early stage of 3D gaming"
I agree, thank u
I mean even in the late 80s you saw racing simulators that ran at single digit fps but yeah in the mid 90s 3D hit it's stride starting with star fox and ridge racer as full 3D hits.
As an Atari 2600 OG, I appreciate this comment.
I would call it the peak of gaming. Back then the games were made to be fun. Nowadays you only see cashgrabs and bad remakes or just the same gameplay as any other game
@@tomnicbl367 "only"... What? There are plenty of good games that have come out recently...
low poly on the graphics, high quality on the Dan
I don't think it's just nostalgia. To me it's like the difference, in 2D art, between realistic drawings and stylized ones. Low poly graphics are more appealing to people who prefer to see the artistic, even cartoony, touch cause it stimulates the imagination and feels like an escape into a fantasy world that still looks immersive enough. They are overall more playful.
Whereas today's hyperrealistic graphics appeal mostly to people who don't like to put any effort into filling the gaps, that want everything to be already visualized by game artists and feel like a literal virtual reality. They are more "serious" gamers, and I think that the fact that today there is less stigma towards adults playing videogames is partly connected to this loss of playfulness in favor of a sober realism, dim colors that kids would hate etc.
Also, low poly feels more sculptural and clearly defined, you have a stronger perception of shapes as distinct from one another which, even if the rendering is worse than today's, paradoxically appeals more to the sense of touch, looking very solid. Low poly worlds represent an effective simplification of the real world, stripping it of everything unnecessary to show the essence, and just opened the possibility for us to navigate fantasy worlds in all directions.
As soon as 3D graphics became just a struggle for a perfect imitation of life, I lost all interest for gaming, cause I've always been in it more for the fun atmospheres created by the visuals than for the gameplay itself.
You sound like me lol
you write just my thoughts in such elegant way. i also love low poly graphic, because it looks way more interesting and unique. all that high poly graphics just don't stay in my mind, because all that games look faceless. but, indie games more often have stylized graphic and incredible gameplay and ideas. so i have hope in indie creators
I don't like those realistic and dim graphics either i feel they're pretty generic. And that's why I usually play more cartoony and stylized games. Thankfully indie games, anime games and platformers got me covered.
For some reason, this explanation also makes sense in other media, like cartoon shows or comics.
@@miguelbayonrivera2467 Absolutely. I checked all analysis videos I could find as to why 3D animation practically replaced 2D cartooning when it comes to cinema (while TV series still make some use of 2D drawings). The most typical answer that is given is that Pixar-like 3D animation is more cost effective and the average viewer prefers hyperrealistic rendering. So, if that is true, I don't blame companies for trying to make good profit from the audience's genuine preferences while also reducing production expenses. However, I see more and more complaints by people like me who prefer more minimal and stylized art rather than the current obsession for life-like realism, which is also reflected by the courage of some indie developers who make cartoony games or even use the language of pixel art. And the same goes with some illustrators. This makes me a bit skeptical about the market research made by animation studios and mainstream software houses. But even without invalidating or doubting their assessments, I think they're neglecting way too much the part of the public who dislike hyperrealism. My only hope is that AI, despite sadly taking some jobs, will make 2D animation more affordable and therefore back in fashion.
It's not just nostalgia. They *had* to create art designs that worked with the tech that was available, whereas modern games fall into the "uncanny valley" of almost but not quite looking realistic because they don't have an art style but they also don't *really* look quite real, either.
I'm glad lower-fidelity art styles in games aren't as universally viewed as "bad graphics" as they used to be. Minecraft alone did a lot of heavy lifting for polygon graphics in that department.
There's still plenty of those dorks out there don't you worry. But I'm glad it's not universal either.
Honestly I grew up with the ps2 games and I guess I might like those graphics because of nostalgia. I haven't played any ps1 or n64 games back then and like those as well though.
Im glad the younger generation actually likes the low poly even though they haven't experienced it back then, it's a very good thing because we can see how there are indie Games that take inspiration from low poly and the younger generation is all for it, they seem to like low poly Indie games and im glad to see this, i feel like with the release of unreal engine 5 we're actually at a risk of developers losing their artistic touch and making games that looks and feel very similar to one another, so this growing interest in low poly gives me hope.
The graphics aren’t even bad, they just are low resolution/low poly. Photorealism doesn’t equal “good graphics”
Most PS2 titles back the feel like a high poly game to me vs PS1. I can literally fell the massive jump of both graphics and level scale.
It was a huge leap at the time that generation still looks pretty damn good to this day
@@HollowRick Agree
The jump from Mgs1 to mgs2 is crazy to look back on
Whether you use flat or Gouraud shading has nothing to do with the number of triangles. When using Gouraud, the object will appear to be smoother, but it's a more expensive operation because you need to interpolate the colour between vertices. You can have texture mapping and Gouraud shading simultaneously. Crash Bandicoot on the PS1 made extensive use of Gouraud Shading in order to avoid using textures, which helped with the limited amount of RAM the PS1 had (2MB of main memory and 1MB for graphics)
A lot of detail in ff7 characters is also plain vertex colors to conserve storage space
Gouraud shading often used lighting. There would be no gradient on a flat polygon. This kind of shading is not consistent and hence not aesthetic. But I think that with LevelOfDetail on a grid mesh consistency can be restored. The next level of detail is interpolated. You store just a small correction value (mostly along the surface normal ). Fits into small RAM. PSX and N64 have no drivers. You can easily implement such a vertex shader. Later GPUs went parallel and could not anymore.
To say "not aesthetic" makes as much sense as saying a food that is soft and smooth in consistency "has no texture." Rather, the aesthetic is not to your liking or whatever, as a food with a smooth (rather than crunchy) texture does "have texture," it is simply a texture you may find to be lacking in some variety or whatever.
They are better to look at. A thing that I dislike about the "realistic" style that modern games took is that the screen is filled with visual noise.
Information overload, like the ending to Man of Steel, is just tiring to look at.
I getcha, low-poly games are a lot easier to read and information is easier to parse, when you enter a room in Quake you immediately know what is an enemy, what is an ammo or health pickup and what is an environmental hazard.
I had a lot of fun with RE4 Remake, but the valley area looked so visually busy that I was having trouble spotting enemies at a distance, which is a problem for a large area where you're encouraged to use a sniper rifle. When every rock has a billion jagged edges, that's a ton of visual information you don't need.
EDIT: Even with the HD Project Mod, I never had this issue in the original valley area of RE4.
@@marcellosilva9286The video game industry needs to stop worrying abour making every game photo realistic graphics, chances are most people already have seen what photo realistic is, it's not special once you played any of these modren games and realize that games aren't movies being overstimulated actually makes the game overall less fun. Not only do video game companies have to set back their expectations so do the consumers, once the audience realizes that realistic graphics actually hinders the gaming experience gaming companies wouldn't be afraid to not care to make their games 360/PS3 levels of graphics, they might even try making n64/ps2 styled games
I guess that's why I sometimes feel eyestrain when playing newer games. That usually isn't a problem when I play older looking games like the indie ones who mimic retro visuals for example.
@@sonicmaiden2871 The worst game to come out recently that really shows this problem is the Suicide Squad game, it is honestly shocking that a game designer looked at that visual noise and said "it is good enough".
Particle effects and the horrible UI that fills the screen are so bad.
@@SammEater true. I guess hyper realistic games are trendy now days so that's why they made it like that but honestly having so much visual noise on the screen can cause eyestrain and lack of clarity as well. Sometimes I feel that less is better.
I got hit by this recently. A low-budget Mexican game called "Aztech Forgotten Gods." It looks and feels so much like an upscaled PS2 game that it's downright charming, and actually triggered a bit of a nostalgia goggles effect. Even though it's only a couple years old.
(Plus the low-poly look works pretty well with its techno-Aztec art design.)
It's not only nostalgia, its how 'excessive' visual is. I for one hate modern high poly game's look it's what i call "noise soup". It''s how almost all modern 3D "realistic" games are. Its a often just outright ugly and always overwhelming in a worst way i either loathe looking at it or just ignore it to avoid strain from it.
Drawn and stylized art is much more pleasing to the eye and tons of older games were like this, even ones that tried to be somewhat realistic but with simplier techniquers like HalfLife 2/Left 4 Dead and alike from Valve. It all went into a deep end when they started to use PBR everywhere or pretending to have it, but some games are still somewhat pleasant like GTA 5 is still in more stylized and nice looking aesthetic that is still somewhat stylized and not preoccupied with "REALISM". I hate how Red Dead Redemption 2 looks tho for instance, as it leans into this glossy, messy look. I still like the game itself, but the look not so much.
It also happens with remakes or ill-conceived remasters like mess that we have as GTA Definitive Trilogy or Warcraft 3 Reforged, both are outright horrible and disgusting with very bad attempt at "hyper realism" supplanting stylized art especially awful in case of Warcraft 3 which had beautiful drawn comicbook/disney movie like texturing and artwork, but fool of an art lead ruined it and even mocked original game on blizzcon :/
Low poly isn't bad. A good art direction will always be better than realism. This is why it has become an art style. Not just nostalgia, but because it can actually look pleasing on it's own even without nostalgia.
I can't believe you completely overlooked Gwimbly and Gwimbly 64. Those 2 games were huge for the low poly era
I love this canyon theory! Im from the 80s, so I played a lot of games of Sega Genesis. When the Saturn came in, nobody wants 2d games anymore, everyone wants 3D YEAH, "3D IS AWESOME". But now, everybody loves "2D sprite" games again!
Honestly I like both! Also both are fun to make as well! (I made a few 3D models and 2D sprites in the past so I definitely enjoyed making them).
Back then they didn't really look like the modern immitations or emulated versions because we were all playing on crts meaning sharp edges were far less sharp & a lot of textures used this to their advantage.
It's also why some textures such as cloud's world model in ff7 can look a bit weird because his large, slightly distorted eye textures are designed with the phosphor spacing in mind.
Loved the dansplanation on this. Perfectly expressed what it is about these older generations of gaming that I miss and find myself so enthralled by here in 2024.
BTW did you ever realise on the Playstation joypad... a circle is made from one line. An X from two. A triangle from three lines, and a square from four.
Calling 6th gen games low poly makes me feel so old. I've never considered them low poly since its what i grew up with and have exclusively used the term for 5th gen and earlier.
Same 🤣
I grew up with both so imagine how old I feel
What was once considered realistic, true to life and state of the art, is now seen as nostalgic and "cartoony" looking. It's kind of wild. Imagine 20 years from now people looking back at witcher 3, cyberpunk or GTA 6 and talking about how "nostalgic" these games make them feel and how "bad" they look in comparison to the modern day
Nah man, there will be no such effect anymore, because 10 years have passed since the release of TLoU, and still graphics look very pleasant
@@bang5284 to be fair tlou cant have a break and its being milked over and over again with the releases so it is not really in the nostalgia age yet
@@nylana4552 idk fo me most of the gen 7 games aged pretty well
I’m afraid that this ‘wow factor’ we used to get from graphical leaps won’t never be a thing again. We evolved too fast for my liking, now there’s not much room for any noticeable change. My hope is the industry will notice that and stop focusing on graphics, get back to the basics of what made games fun in the first place.
@@OffendEveryoneImmediately so... Games should be like... More cartoon'ish or what?
Great video dude, though I can't help but nitpick on some details;
No mention of Starfox, which was noteworthy being one of the first 3D games on consoles (ignoring PCs of course) as its graphics could arguably be considered "ultra low-poly" having many ships and enemies be merely just warped pyramids and cubes fused together.
Sonic 3D Blast is kinda pushing it as "the first 3D Sonic game", as it was more isometric while using 3D models that were scanned to become sprites, much like what Rare did with Donkey Kong Country and Killer Instinct... Sega's actual first attempt at a 3D Sonic was Sonic R, which technically was made by Traveler's Tales, as well as the 3D overworld in Sonic Jam which devs admitted to being their actual prototype to what we'd later get with Sonic Adventure.
Aside from these tiny tidbits, this video was pretty solid, dude. Nice work.
When you said "Let's all teleport somewhere chill", and you took us to Chao Garden; I made a big grin :D
I've never lost interest in the Dreamcast. Been into it since December 98 to right now.
"Low poly graphics"
*Those grew up in the 80s and 90s sweating profusely*
Also, your doggo is cute!
Good job dude! This was rec'd to me and I was nicely surprised at what nice quality it was
Like others have said, PS2/Dreacast/GC are relatively high-poly, as they could make realistic graphics (look at Final Fantasy 10 for example). Low-poly is reserved for PS1/Saturn/N64. But agree w/ your sentiment. Sometimes simplicity is beautiful.
Virtua Fighter 4 Evolution was also great graphically on the Ps2
Now i understood why i love snes & n64 games more than today's games . I was super confused why I have nostalgia for these games when i m born in 2000
"low poly" make a game appear to be a game. I'm old and prefer the game to appear less realistic. Which is the best.
Low Poly Graphics are also great at having low cost to make which is great since it doesn't gatekeep people from making Their own 3D games if They like to and that has allow a very big number of Indie Devs to make 3D games without having much cash or be part of a big studio
Just look at MDickie's games. They are quite low-poly but have so much charm to them.
@@TayoEXE True
I think when the mind has more to fill in in terms of visuals can be more fun
Yes this is the main reason. Like with reading a book (not that extreme of course). It’s why remakes usually miss the mark. We all have our own interpretations of low poly faces an environments etc in these old games.
I love the models of the dreamcast version of sonic adventure 1 because they look like plushie toys with a goofy animation
Just talking about aesthetic... I passed a Pepsi truck the other day and I immediately thought "Frutiger Aero" so, as an old man, I assume that aesthetic is dead
I wish Frutiger Aero made a comeback
I'm more of a pixel art fan, but low-poly has its charm... Worth noting, I grew up with SNES and GBA, and went on to discover the PC Engine and Mega Drive in my teens, though I also had a PS1 as a kid but it broke after only two years, so I went back to playing SNES all the time...
Another aspect I realize, in modern games graphics are so drowned in detail and filter effects that it takes my brain time to adjust. I play anything modern and I might miss things (and then devs just patch it in with immersive breaking solutions like yellow paint or other "modern design" ideas). But when I play some low poly games, graphics are also so clear, sometimes there is a room with flat walls and simple textures, a door, a corridor, two barrels, some enemy, that are all so easy to distinguish, so I can enter an area and instantly recognize things to interact with.
Besides that there is something about old graphics that makes them so immersive. I don't understand it. I play some modern game with new graphics even games consider really good and I am not immersed. I play the jankiest old thing ever (you say low-poly and show Shenmue as an example? I present you with King's Field series on PS1) and I am so immersed into it's atmosphere and exploring the world. It's the elusive thing of what magic they did in the past, that we call nostalgia maybe, that just works for me. One might say nostalgia is about games you played in the past, but I didn't play King's Field in the past, I didn't even know them,. the first I saw some screenshot I am like "That looks janky awful even to me" but then I was hooked. It happened with other old games I missed in the past. Although I am a bit too old, my first computer I played games was an 8bit Amstrad CPC with games that look and feel worse than the 8bit consoles at the time.
It isn't just you. I feel more I needed with more stylized and basic graphics.
I'm with you, I don't think it's entirely due to nostalgia. It's the difference between buying an 8K photo versus buying a painting. Each has its own appeal.
Coming from megadrive upwards the thing was on 3d always how much more sharp , round , shiny , smooth and detailed could each new machine push it to.. now that vibe has kinda gone .gameplay in low poly could feel janky but when right amazing . Crash bandicoot was incredible to look at in the 90s
1:07 I remember gaming back then and I don’t remember feeling like things started to look realistic until the Dreamcast and PS2 era
Same tbh
I can't explain it, but older PC (not console) games from the 90's up to mid-2000's make me feel good. :O The newer 2015-2020+ games can look ultra realistic and smooth, but they often look too cinematic, filtered, too much fog and bad color choices. It doesn't feel nice. Whenever I play any, it gets boring very fast, but I always return to those old PC games like Wolf3D, Doom 2, Magic Carpet 2, Duke Nukem 3D, Colin McRae Rally 3, Half-Life 2, Test Drive Unlimited, Flight Simulator X. Anything newer is almost always blahhh...
Like someone in the comments said “if I wanted realism I would go outside” - games are meant to be about escapism and fantasy, not realism.. I stay retro most times
Calling it bad graphics is an anachronism
saying that n64 ps1 graphics look better then the ps5 and xbox series x graphics is like saying the atari 2600 graphics were better then the nes and snes graphics lot of people today are being nostalgia blinded and sure today graphics may look bad but that only became game developer has less time to work and game companies only care about money
@@daddad9978heres the thing… nobody said it did.
@@bam_bino__ so im the only one who thinks that Bad Graphics are overrated?
@@daddad9978How can something that's "bad" be overrated? 😆
@@daddad9978Definitely not. I wish you were the only one with such a wrong opinion. But, you're not.
Technical limitations are the reason why these consoles were so iconic, they had to work with the limitations of the console be it memory size or the limited ability to load lots of complex geometry. We end up with PS1 games where they use beautiful pre-rendered backgrounds or place the character over a looping video, thanks to the low poly it is seemless. The transition between your character moving over a pre-rendered background to a cool FMV cutscene was so immersive and felt like the RTX equivalent of SNES style 2.5d games.
The 90s were definitely not your childhood. You're not old enough to even say that. You're not even 30 yet
I wouldn't even call this "low poly" in some cases. These models can be passed as modern in the right context, especially Nintendo Switch games.
lookin at you Pokemon
@Dansplaining there is also an argument to be made that if you are clever with how you texture it you can get some very good visuals.
great video! love your commentary on nostalgia and low polygon stuff. i thought your explanations of “aesthetic” as well as your more in depth approach to the technical aspects of low polygon game development was super cool! as someone that grew up playing the n64 through my entire childhood i really enjoyed how you explained everything.
I’d bet a lot of it is just nostalgia.
But one thing I do think of, is the eras before 3D gen started, the low quality graphics, it involved a lot of imagination and interpretation.
Kind of like reading a book and concocting what you read into a whole world and what it would be like visually.
The “low poly” era gave a lot details on what the creators had in mind. Like with Ocarina of Time, we got to see the creators vision of how Ganon would look in real life, how the world of Hyrule and different places and how characters would look.
But the low poly/ low tech still did not allow for super high detail. So there was still an element of using your imagination to fill in the gaps and imagine the extra details and extension to the world and characters that were given.
Like with the Venesaur example. He’s low quality in Pokemon stadium, but we’re still seeing him in 3D mode and we get to see some of the details, and it sparks our imagination of what it would be like really in real life.
There’s a quality to that, that can’t be replicated nowadays when things can be showed visually to the highest details possible.
I think of games like FF7 with the pre-rendered backgrounds and polygon characters, but you still had to use a lot of imagination to bring this world and characters to real life.
And that’s why you often get people who read a book first who are disappointed with the movie. Or who played FF7 first and are disappointed with the remakes.
The fully detailed high remake might show a world different to the one the person had specifically concocted in their mind.
I just played Ff8 and it's story and gameplay were great!
Awesome video! Nostalgia plays the main role in convincing me to want to complete those low-poly games that I couldn't beat when I was a young kid.
Either we're wrong, or just getting old. But to us "low-poly" would be from the 16, 32 and 64-bit era where you'd be looking at 10s or 100s of polygons on screen. When we get to the Dreamcast, GameCube, Xbox and PS2 we're now looking at thousands of polygons per character, Is this really low-poly asthetic?
I used to make characters with a 2,000 polygon budget... I certainly consider making a human out of 2,000 polygons to be low poly.
But I can see where they would be categorized as two different versions of low poly.
Today I have characters that are 2,000,000 though if it is animated for a game I try to optimize. In the end I think lighting matters more than the number of polygons when it comes to how games look.
Same! Pioneers of "low-poly" were "Descent," released 1995, with polygonal texture-mapped characters, and earlier, "Elite," released 1984, with 3D wire-frame graphics. I tinkered with coding software graphics back in the day and have huge respect for the clever techniques behind these games. I still think of N64 graphics of Golden Eye, Wave Race 64, etc. as fantastically high end... not by "it looks like real life" delusions, just, remembering what we had before and appreciating how far it has come. Awesome time to be alive.
Well, I'm from Gen Z, and I don't think of the Gamecube as "low-poly". It's the first console I remember using, and it's definitely old, but games like Metroid Prime 2 don't feel low poly. Although Halo 2 does in some areas (like the space station, in the scene right before you fight the Covenant).
1:45 DUDE. I want that "What does LOW POLY mean?" on a T-shirt. Looks so sick!
I also love low graphics. 😂 If a game is too realistic-looking, I can’t get into it because my goal is escapism. Why would I want more of real life? Reality freakin sucks. 🤢 That’s also why I prefer the fantasy genre.
There was a first party PS1 controller prior to the DualShock that did have two sticks but did not vibrate.
Yup it was called the Duel analog controller :) it also had had concave sticks similar to the Duelshock 4 and duelsense but they were made of hard plastic instead of being topped with rubber
@@HollowRick
Good call, I remember it being a great controller and I've always preferred the concave.
Btw, My name is Rick too
🏝️🎮☺️📺🏝️
Dawg the Saturn released half a year before the PS1 and the 3DO was released before the PS1 was even announced, SONY WAS NO WHERE NEAR THE FIRST TO RELEASE A 3D HOME CONSOLE
So much misinformation in this video
I haven't seen the video yet, but I genuinely love the low-poly aesthetic because it's just so soulful in my opinion.
The Hyperactive Gameplay and the Speed of Crazy Taxi Blew my Mind. The Soundtrack also Helped A LOT. And my God that Solid 60 fps not possible on the PS 1. and N 64 Racing Games.
You got me, I was looking for something to put on while cooking
I'd also like to mention that low polly graphics are less taxing for the eyes as well. Sometimes I feel eyestrain while playing current gen games and I have to take a break after a few hours, meanwhile when I play low polly games I can usually play longer without much eyestrain.
This video alone demands more likes and demands this channel gets more attention.
Personally think its because the games were smaller and more focused too. Im an adult, I don't want to spend 45 minutes looking at menus and sub menus before even starting a game. Its why emulation is so great now that we can play right up to gamecube/ps2 on the go.
0 interest in modern games
As somebody who grew up with the Wii, but never the DS or 3DS and having purchased both, I am living a childhood I never had. Is like I am transported back to simplier times and it has been amazingly soothing! Highly recommend!
Crazy taxi is an amazing callout!
I have always had a theory that low poly games and 8 bit graphics are what engaged creativity in the mind and why these games are so enjoyable. Kids have to imagine what it would like in real life to be in the video game that they play and the actions and stories have to be filled in their mind to enjoy the game which made kids a lot more creative than they are compared to today.
Though what is not a theory to me is that older graphics meant more limitations thus the developers are incentivized to make the gameplay fun and engaging as possible. Nowadays developers are fixated in graphics, marketability and technology than the fun aspect of what makes a game great.
Same. It's almost dreamlike in a way, taking in the visuals and interpreting them. Playing feels like participating to some extent in creating the experience. Devs boiled the graphics down to the core essence of that world/character/object etc., and gave it a stylized look.
@@Abeo93 I like what you said about "participating in the experience" because that is absolutely true.
The choice of the Chao Garden convinced me to subscribe, like, and comment. Great work.
already see skies of arcadia within 5 seconds of watching. this vid is going to be pure kino
One thing that many forget is that in some ways games are like puppet shows. If it's an incredible story, it doesn't matter if the puppets are crude. If the story is incredible, it doesn't matter. If the way of telling is captivating, the dolls don't matter. And if you have all the elements I said and don't have a doll, ok you still have all the elements that matter. Old games with bad graphics, but with a good story, still a good story in general
It's like a book. Sure you can go watch frickin godzilla vs kong with a huge graphics budget, sure, but NOTHING will ever make my brain light up as much as successfully rendering a fantasy scene from LOTR in my head. The gaps we fill in are so much more important for engagement than what we're ACTUALLY seeing physically. Just like IRL!
Awesome video. Seriously, deserves 1 million views.
I wish!
I think mass marketed game engines like Unreal Engine was a mistake. It homogenized video games to very high degree. Every modern game looks the exact same to me.
It's only because of the engine , you can do the same thing with unity as well or any other other engine that supports 3d ! But making these engines free , it makes most indie devs to make a AAA game with not having to invest millions and millions of euros .
I believe the main reason is people demanding or expecting better graphics because thats the norm nowadays. They are very few people making low poly games like they were in the 90s or early 2000s . Sure they exist still, but they are mostly some shitty games anyway and not some ground breaking ones
I am currently making a game with bad graphics (a GameBoy RPG) so this is the perfect video to play in the background
Model 2 and Model 3 games still are the most amazing looking games aesthetic to me, timeless and wonderful.
0:56 Hell nah Bulbasur bought weed from the gas station💀💀
I'm dying to see new focused games that utilize PS1-PS2 era designs, art style, etc. ~Even tho Tech has advanced, I wish the game industry would alter their approach to gaming. Bring back previous gen games, but they are made in our modern day. Game projects like that will cost less $, take less time to build. We drastically need Additional selection to our game library. We need games that harness art design. Designs that have proven to be timeless. Cell shaded, low poly effects, pre rendered backgrounds, 2D, 2.5D, creative 3D that's not trying to be hyper realistic. Inspiration from previous gens shouldn't stop, just because new consoles have come out. Timeless games don't need hyper realistic graphics. Some of the best games have creative art styles such as Sly Cooper. Anytime i say this someone in the comments always says: "well we have indie games" but that's not my point. I wish the gaming industry would recalibrate their focus & start making games for consoles with all sorts of styles & designs. Just look at current Gen consoles Game Library's? It's NOTHING compared to the N64, PS1, Xbox, GameCube, dreamcast, 360, PS2, Sega Saturn, classic PC games, etc. Life would be amazing If game companies will start making games that are inspired by these previous gen designs. We shouldn't leave those unique aspects of gaming in the past. Hopefully the struggles of the modern triple AAA games will organically transition the gaming industry back towards a better direction. It's exhausting how long it's taking for most games to be made. Just for a lot of those games to end up being total let down projects anyways. It's crazy. Idk how these game companies have been able to keep getting away with this BS.
I started making a 2d game, worried that it would be ugly. 5 years later I'm constantly getting positive feedback about the pixelart. Only getting started.
Well it shouldn’t take 5 years to make a simple 2D game. Even gta 5 was done by that Point
Welcome to the real world where things take time to make@@maalikserebryakov
@@maalikserebryakov did you just compare a billion dollar company with thousands of employees, creating the financially biggest video game of all time with a dude creating a game, most likely as a passion project? 😂
but those aren't "bad grahics", those are just "outdated relative to modern times. Games don't age, standards do. Its not fair to hold a old game to modern standards. And its more of the relation with the time, era, console and its competition.
They're low by todays standards of course but all that does is show you how far we've advanced. But "low end graphics" don't make a bad game. After all the modern generation is more likely to pick up a old game than a new game.
There are old games that mimic older "low poly" games and THOSE are fair to call "bad graphics" But the point still stands.
"low" graphics made style and vibe. today people and big companies are so obsessed with 3D, realistic, high-poligonal graphic, that games become to look the same in AAA. and some other games try to chase this. it's just tasteless for me. some games with "high" graphic can be very style, but it's hard to chase realism and style. old games look all unique with all imperfections. so that's why I love old-gen graphic more. fortunately, indie sector doesn't have this issue in most cases
Have you heard of Hypnagogia by Sodaraptor? It's one such indie game (two if you include the sequel)
Super good video, informative, well researched, beautifully put together, kudos to you!
im an artist and a big inspiration for me was my late millennial brother showing me his older games. i was always drawn to their designs whilst in the 2010s we were entering the realism phase, which gets less impressive after a few up close shots of the characters' eyelashes
I never grew up with N64 looking stuff. I was more used to propor pixel art and PS2 looking stuff.
Thanks to my PS2.
What fascinates me is how we remember those old games vs how they actually look now. When I played the original Halo, I was blown away, and it looks so much more next gen in my memory than if I revisit it now, same with all the Dreamcast titles like soul calibur and crazy taxi. I guess this is because I grew up with the older gen consoles like SNES. Modern titles seem to focus mainly on graphics. For me, it peaked around the 360/PS3 era.
This is awesome man! Super excited to see what videos you'll make next!
Nice video. Graphics changed so much in that period that I never thought of them as the same aesthetic or grouping in this way. Virtua Fighter 1 came out in 1993 and ran on super expensive arcade hardware and Shenmue came out in 1999 and ran on a $200 console. Shenmue is so much more advanced in every way. And the games looked so different depending on the hardware, you can just tell what system it is on by looking at a picture. So I always thought they had their own look to them which can be appealing individually.
I'm editing a video for a client of mine and your video popped up as a recommendation. Ended up taking a break to watch your video. Great work! Subbed.
It'll never not be weird seeing the tiny little wiki me and a handful of others oversee and help build popping up in video essays, big and small.
But to add to your Nostalgia Canyon bit; that's just the 20 year Nostalgia Cycle. That's something that even predates the internet: the 1980s drew heavy on nostalgia from the 1960s, the 1990s drew heavy on nostalgia from the 1970s, the 2000s drew heavy on nostalgia from the 1980s, and the 2010s were soaked in nostalgia from the 1990s... arguably a little bit too much, if I'm gonna be completely honest, and I feel like the 2020s will follow that trend with the 2000s, largely because the internet has become a better vector for aesthetic preservation compared to what he had pre-internet.
Duckin great video man! Really enjoyed it 😊
I will always love the ps1 and the N64 graphics. Kids today will never want to play these games just a remastered that doesn't have the heart as the og games
Props for using a held mic! Very cool :D
I'm just so glad I'm not the only one feeling good about all that kinda stuff. Those old video games (especially the Nintendo 64) are part of who I am today. Loved the video
P.S.: I started raising Chaos in Sonic Adventure 2. I love my children
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Graphics in old games look very clean and uncluttered, which is why I like them so much. I can appreciate newer graphics too, but there is a charm in these old simple visuals.
Let's see:
* No microtransactions
* Few day 1 gamebreaking bugs
* Not $70 per game
* Programmers had actual talent
* Didn't take up 200 gb
Yeah, can't imagine why people enjoy classic games
Love is the most important ingredient
5th and 6th gen were the true pinnacle of gaming. That entire era was filled with such creativity and innovation as people worked around the limitations of the hardware that is just missing these days, 7th gen was still good, but there was a distinct feeling that the spark was starting to fade.
I prefer this over the huge almost infinite like free roam BS that every game feels the need to implement. I really hate free roam worlds
Great video man, you’re super underrated