Great episode Jim. Did you ever play Banjo Kazooie: Nuts and Bolts? That game was pretty as hell.

No Jim, Asura's Wrath is best.
BEST I TELL YOU.
IT'S SO FUCKING AMAZING.
GIVE ME 1080P NOW.

I love you Jim, yes homo. I'm surprised you didn't mention any of the Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm titles in this video.

Ninja: Shadow of Darkness. I just nostalgia'd my britches up.

Now compare Ninja to something like Ape Escape, Spyro, or Castlevania: SotN. Come to think of it, this episode needs more sprites in general, SotN is still one of my favorite looking games. Fuck, I even miss the prerendered backgrounds of the PSX Final Fantasy games.

Same reason Pixar movies make such great HD reference material. Bright and colorful is the best way to show off an HDTV.

Good observation Jim.

Also, XIII was teh shitz.
Does help that I'm a huge Bourne (novel) fan as well.

Fuckin' Viva Pinata <3

Where did the belief that brown and bloom is realistic come from? Unless you live in like Syberia or something, you probably see a lots of various colors in your everyday life.
I think this type of lighting and color scheme is used because it's easier to make realistic-looking, because it basically hides the flaws with grey obscurity or a constant "blinded by light" effect.

Yeah, In generaly - even for something like Metroid Prime 3 - Nintendo's stuff stays bright and colorful enough to remain remarkable. Skyward Sword and even OOT3D is probably going to outshine Twilight Princess for this reason.

Never played Viva Pinata, but since its the only stroke of brilliance from Rare since Perfect Dark and and Conker's Bad Fur Day on N64 I guess its better than nothing.

I've been playing SMT Nocturne on PS2 of late and then tried to play FFXII and had a harder time with FFXII because the visuals just didn't hold up. Nocturne, on the other hand, has a very subdued cel-shaded style and still looks mostly fine. It obviously being a post-apocalyptic game its not known for its popping colors, but the stylistic approach does allow for a very surreal experience, one that tends to favor different colors per dungeon.

It has that hazy, dream-like quality that Ico and SOTC have. Digital Devil Saga also has this kind of look to it and it actually dabbles in color quite a bit more.

FFXII was just hard to look at for its "realism" when it was more colorful.

I think Skyrim contrasts incredibly well, though. At least with the 360 and PC versions. For whatever reason the PS3 version feels like it has grease smeared on the lens and shaders just aren't used that well. But at night and day travelling the overworld of Skyrim is always beautiful.

That aside I do think more games could stand to get away from realism as that's why games like Wind Waker, Kirby and even Metroid age so well

Valkyria Chronicles.

laters

Skyward Sword

Killzone wont be remembered. Just Jim fanboy stirling inflating it's importance.

I cannot foresee a future in which uncharted wont look good.

Also @Aurain A thousand times yes!

Ahaha, I predicted Windwaker before you said Viva Pinata, but I'm glad you mentioned it as well for the cel shading. I actually never got to play Viva Pinata because I never owned an Xbox or 360.

no Boy and His Blob? Muramasa? Super Mario Galaxy? de Blob? Kirby Epic Yarn?

people can shit on the Wii all they want, but in terms of graphics Wii has the most beautiful games released this generation.

as for HD consoles i would say:
Viva Pinata,
Naruto: Ultimate Ninja Storm 2(due to gorgeous visuals in singleplayer campaign),
Kameo,
de Blob 2,
Enslaved,
El Shaddai,
Rayman Origins,

Aurian wins.

THREAD OVER

Thought "Jim will choose something less obvious to make a point".

Was right.

I love the style of Viga Piniata, it is so awesome.

And I hate to say it, but Sofik has a point about Mario Galaxy. Run that through an upscaler/emulator and it is so pretty it hurts.

I'd say Asura's Wrath or Mario Galaxy. Those games are brilliant looking.

Halo 3 is the best looking FPS this generation IMO

nice gloves

One exception to the realistic style of graphics is Valkyrie Profile 2. It still looks fucking amazing.

But yeah, you're right. The lack of colors is sad.

Valkyria Chronicles & Skyward Sword. That is al. G'day.

Even without an upscaler Mario Galaxy is gorgeous. I've played it on an old Sony Vega (best CRT TVs ever made), and it was fucking stunning.

Jim Sterling, this was just spetacular, and I need to check out Viva Piñata

And Wind Waker is my number one game of all time. Thangp god for you.

100% agreed. Visuals are not just about how many pollys you can push, it's how you use those pollys. Banjo Kazooie (From Rare as well) is visually striking as well.

Think of it this way, painters have been using the same colors for eons. They don't magically get new colors every ten years. Yet, even though they have had the same tools to work with for thousands of years, there are still great pieces of art being made every day.

Yup.

Also, Valkyria Chronicles, El Shaddai and Catherine, as Jonathan Holmes the serial killer put it: “THEY WILL BE BEAUTIFUL FOOOOOOOOOOREVVVVVVER!”

























“I let you catch me.”

Every once in a while, Jim, you make a point that I can agree with without any reservations.

No "he has a point, but I disagree" or even "I agree, but for somewhat different reasons", but just "you are absolutely right, Jim".

So without further ado:
You are absolutely right, Jim.

My choice is Final Fantasy XIII, by a country mile. Load up your save file from Eden if you don't believe me, or Orphan's Cradle at the end of the game. Or look at the Waterga spell.

If you've got a thing for cell shading Jim, then Valkyria Chronicles wipes the floor with Viva Pinata. Wipes the floor is putting it mildly.

Prince of Persia (2008) also is a fantastic cell shaded game that is much more impressive than Viva Pinata. Fucking Viva Pinata ...

Best films I've seen in HD are old timey Technicolor films, like the 1930s and 1940s Walt Disney films. They're even a tiny bit better looking than Pixar. They somehow look much better than recent movies, all in monochrome or in unspectacular teal & orange colors (that's like 80% of what's on the market). Recent films looks more faded than older films!! Even Black & White looks amazingly good in some cases because of the strong black vs white contrast.


This even explain why I much prefer to play games like GTA IV or Red Dead Redemption during daytime. They simply look better.
And yeah, Mario Galaxy > everything made in HD so far, sadly.

Truth bullet.

@sofik: Yeah, mother fucking El Shaddai.

I might as well be wearing a fucking bird on my head, because Viva Pinata is now invalid.

But... Littlebigplanet, Bioshock, Mario Galaxy (and their sequels), Enslaved, Journey, Rayman Origins, and the Ratchet and Clank games all look better than Viva Pinata...

I don't know, I can understand going against the grey and or brown color palette but I think going in the exact opposite way with something like Viva Pinata is kind of dumb and reactionary.

Viva Pinata is too garish, and tacky, and good for the Lisa Frank effect.

Hell, I'd say Sonic Generations looks better as well.

@Joe Ess
Exactly! Also, as people have pointed out, the de Blob games, Catherine, and a few others look better also.

I agree. I wish someone made a really colorful fps.

Viva Pinata is amazing. Playing that game makes the happy happen.

Having just played Trine 2 and was blown away by the incredible detail - I'd say Trine 2.

Rayman Origins
/drops mic
//walks off stage

MOTHERFUCKINKILLER7!

If you're gonna talk about bright colours and contrast then you should at least mention Mirror's Edge

absolutely right.
we need more bright colourful games with unique art style.
that's why I'm loving journey right now.

darksiders is pretty sweet too.

I agree with what you said about cell shading. It's why I love Windwaker, Killer 7 and Valkyria Chronicles. I miss shooters that don't take themselves seriously too, like Time Splitters. I miss the days when the big studios were unafraid of taking crazy, ballsy risks instead of just churning out shooter after shooter. Great video, Jim.

Viva Pinata is unnaturally gorgeous, hot damn

I don't think I've ever agreed with you more on a topic Jim.

Of all the scenes from Killer7 Jim, OF ALL OF THEM, you had to go with that right after I just stuffed myself full of patriotic Memorial Day BBQ grease. Why not the neat catching a sniper bullet in the hand bit or [LATIN AMERICAN] Stand-off?

AMEN!! Bring on the color baby!

I'm sure Jim agrees that the Super Mario Galaxy games look beautiful, but they were presented in SD. The focus was that, to bring out the best in HD technology, you need colourful media.

Too much market research in my graphics. Shin Megami Tensei 3 and El Shaddai are the best looking games I ever played. Renegade art directors are my Oprahs and Jesuses.

I've seen very little of Beyond Good & Evil 2 and I already can't stand it.