What is the best looking 16 bit game? excluding Neo geo

[bultje112]

I was just wondering as I popped in a bunch of megadrive games and sega cd games including snatcher that pleasantly surprised me, what is the best looking 16 bit game and on which system? amiga, megadrive, sega cd, snes, pc-engine (cd)

[Mykaizer]

I started playing Seiken Densetsu 3 (Secret of Mana 3) on the Snes and I was impressed how good it looks. Possibly one of the best looking 16 bit games.

EDIT: I was also going to mention Thunder Force IV. The first time I played it was on an emulator and was so amazed I had to buy it. Stage 1 with the parallax scrolling with those clouds and especially the transition from day to night... Goddamn.

Could make an honorable mention to Ecco 1 for the genny. It may not be the best looking but the use of color and the amount of detail was something back in the day. The way the background gets darker as you go deeper into the sea is great.

[cleeg]

Thunderforce IV for all round art style, colour usage and detail looks A1 to me. There are some nice effects going on too. I'm also very partial to Sonic 1.

Mariokart looks smooth in motion for the most part, impressive for its day and really bright and colourful, despite the low res I find a great looking game.

[MasakariPrime]

Sonic and Knuckles always blows me away, I think it looks excellent.

Donkey Kong Country technically looks amazing, although I can't say I enjoy the art direction very much.

[Black_Tiger]

If Snatcher counts, then probably some of the PC Engine CD game digital adventure games or art heavy RPGs and war sims.

A lot of self proclaimed "retro" fans value pixelization and technical achievements more than art and visuals though.














Someone posted in the Paprium thread about how Project N was impressive for having backgrounds that look like artwork instead of being tiled based. If that's your kind of thing, Beyond Shadowgate has a tonne of it with many scenes well over 100 colors plus highly animated sprites.

[Alianger]

MD: Alien Soldier, Ecco 2, Ranger X, SoR 2, S3&K, TF4, Beyond Oasis, Soleil, Quackshot, World of Illusion, RKA, Monster World 4, Super Fantasy Zone, Hyperstone Heist, Shining Force 2, Battle Mania 2, Gunstar Heroes, Shinobi 3, Aladdin, Panorama Cotton, Mega Turrican, Ristar, Comix Zone, Lunar 2 (CD), Bari Arm (CD), Dynamite Headdy, Snatcher (CD), SoulStar (CD), EWJ Special Edition (CD)

SNES: Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana 1-2, Yoshi's Island, Secret of Evermore, Goemon 2-3, Super Ghouls 'n Ghosts, Pocky & Rocky, Magical Quest 3, MMX3, R-Type 3, Wild Guns, Hagane, Front Mission: Gun Hazard, Gundam Wing: Endless Duel, Lost Vikings II, SFA 2, Super Turrican 2, EWJ2, A Link to the Past

PCE: Soldier Blade, Air Zonk, Son Son 2, Bomberman '94, Bonk 2, Ys IV (CD), Xanadu 1-2 (CD), Lords of Thunder (CD), Rondo of Blood (CD), Ai Cho Aniki (CD), Sapphire (CD), Splatterhouse, Parasol Stars

[QuickSciFi]

I agree about Sonic & Knuckles. There are parts that look as though only the Neo Geo AES/MVS could pull off.

Also, A Link to the Past looks flawless.

So hard to choose here, though. Because even something as simple as Tinhead looks amazing.

[foxnoodles]

Personally I don't like comparing games based on Hardware attribute(boundaries), it's like asking which is the best looking painting.
Lotta games look great but the actual graphic styles, premise, setting, mood or even genre based stereotypes differ, so it's impossible to judge objectively.

To put it simple, the actual motive matters and it's wrong to compare a side scrolling vampire game to JRRG for example. They both look great, but they're not comparable to each other, unless u go into technical details and that's another wrong way to go, as u might end up finding a game that pushes the hardware limits in many ways, yet still looks terrible(Outlander for genesis is a good example for that).

The modern example of this would be Journey VS Last of Us, both look amazing, and? We either go technical or that's it, they both look great. Difference in purpose and gameplay resulting in different visual implementation.

[Kollision]

Ecco the Dolphin, Greendog, Quackshot, Mickey Mania on the MD
Donkey Kong and F-Zero on the SNES

[bultje112]

mickey mania on sega cd is better. those retro comic book levels have aged so marvelously.

[Bottino]

An image overload is a great way to eat up your internet bandwidth while also making browsing through forum threads a hassle.

Of the top of my head:
Mega Drive - EX-Ranza/Ranger X
Mega CD - humm...perhaps Dennin/Robo Aleste or Flink ( but it's on the MD as well, so...)
PC Engine - Winds/Lords of Thunder
Super NES - Super Metroid

Sorry, but I'll have to pass on the Amiga.

[Nightwolf]

Some images from Terranigma are really impressive (when you release some continents) Also Tales of Phantasia is beautiful.

Alien Soldier or Dynamite Headdy.... is hard to have better images in 16bits (in movement) than that...

[Kamahl]

Overall? SoulStar. Insane game.

[Soulis]

Im going to go with Yoshi's Island as No 1.

Sonic 3D Blast as No 2

And Comix Zone as No 3.

Then stuff by David Perry, Sonic 3 & Knuckles, Vectorman, Donkey Kong Country, Toy Story, Mickey Mania.

[Team Andromeda]

Out of all the games and systems, I would say Batman Returns on the Mega CD that game looked like a TATIO or SEGA Arcade game in your own home with sprite scaling and rotation all over the place moved a great pace and also sounded great too but on a system level I would say



Adv Of Batman Of Robin - Must make use of every MD trick in the book

SNES - F-Zero or Yoshi Island if one can include the use of extra chips

Amiga - Robocop III


Atari ST - F-29 Retaliator