Games that pushed hardware limits

[Mace121]

"DAMNED PROCESSING! STOP BEING SO BLAST!"

So hardware limitations are a bitch to cope up when it comes down to video game making in the early days. From the Atari 2600, NES, Genesis, and more, had to deal with a very small (in today's standards) amount of size that their respected systems are capable of. Games such as the Genesis version of Virtua Racing, Solaris on the 2600, Resident Evil 2 on the N64, Faceball 2000 on the GB, and Kirby's Adventure on the NES are fine examples of pushing the hardware limits.

My favourite example is obviously, Shantae on the GBC. The graphics are damn impressive, the animations are pretty smooth, and the music is a fuckin' masterpiece on Game Boy standards, especially the labyrinth theme (which I sadly couldn't find a midi version of it).

So what are other examples that defies hardware limitations?

[kidray76]

At 4/21/17 02:04 PM, Mace121 wrote:
So what are other examples that defies hardware limitations?

Donkey Kong for Snes. Pure and simple.

[ClockworkCopper]

Super Smash Bros on Nintendo 64 running at 60 FPS always boggled me. I dunno shit about old hardware, though, so maybe it's not actually impressive.

[Ultramartyr]

i remember "But can it run Crysis?" being a pretty popular catchphrase back in the day.

[Chdonga]

Crash Bandicoot. I've seen a google forum archive thing where people are discussing screenshots from CB1 and people thought they were fake.

[Ganon-Dorf]

Donkey Kong 64 and Mario RPG were really cool on the SNES.

Final Fantasy 10 pushed the PS2 really hard on its cinematics though.

[Painbringer]

Not only did Id's shooters push the limits of PC hardware, but Doom and Doom 3 were a bit too much for the consoles of the time.

[Jercurpac]

At 4/21/17 02:56 PM, kidray76 wrote:

At 4/21/17 02:04 PM, Mace121 wrote:
So what are other examples that defies hardware limitations?

Donkey Kong for Snes. Pure and simple.

I always wondered about that. Did Donkey Kong Country push the capabilities of the SNES or was it merely a lot of impressive tech that was utilized outside the SNES that made it possible? The sprites were generated from CGI models made on state of the art workstations, and Rare came up with a proprietary method for compressing those images so they'd fit on a SNES cart without a significant quality loss, but once that was running on the system was it taxing the hardware any more than other games? Regardless I still think it's a great game.

[MinatoArisato]

At 4/21/17 02:04 PM, Mace121 wrote: "DAMNED PROCESSING! STOP BEING SO BLAST!"

My favourite example is obviously, Shantae on the GBC. The graphics are damn impressive, the animations are pretty smooth, and the music is a fuckin' masterpiece on Game Boy standards, especially the labyrinth theme (which I sadly couldn't find a midi version of it).

Just finished the first Shantae in the last few months actually and I agree! Gameboy and GBC were probably my most played systems back in the day, so comparing Shantae's graphics and huge levels between screens was really amazing for the time it was made in. A lot of the music was really catchy, and the secrets in each dungeon were actually pretty hard to find, even if they were just warp dances. (I actually, shamefully had look up 2 of them, since I had literally spent several hours revisiting every dungeon trying to find where I could have possibly missed them.

In contrast, Risky's revenge had amazing spritework. like holy shit its beautiful. But the gameplay compared to the original just wasn't there. I know the had to cut corners due to space limitations on DSiware, but I was a little disappointed even while gawking at the eye candy. I haven't beaten any others yet.

So what are other examples that defies hardware limitations?

Donkey kong country 1 and 2 were way ahead of their time, though I think they used a chip or something in the cartridge to provide the graphics. For me, Final fantasy 10 pushed graphics and story to the limit, even if 12 did graphics even better on the same console. There was just a huge attention to detail and work put into 10's models and environments, so much so that the HD remake is inferior by comparison despite being higher definition.

On Playstation 1 there was a mecha game I found that had what looked like PS2 graphics. Like check this out

Oh and let's not forget just about everything on the Sega Dreamcast. Skies of Arcadia and Phantasy star online both looked amazing for their time. Not to mention PSO and a bunch of other dreamcast games were some of the first consoles to provide online play.

[Tentan]

castlevania bloodlines, probably the best looking game on the genesis.
i think that's probably a universal opinion, but it definitely utilized the genesis hardware
to its zenith.

[Kwing]

Space Invaders
Faceball 2000 for the GameBoy
Shadow of the Colossus for PS2

Also this game has a fucking memory leak in it. No shit, THE BULLETS LEAK.

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[kokonutmusic]

candy crush on extreme settings fried my alcatel

[sharpnova]

At 4/22/17 12:14 AM, Ultramartyr wrote: i remember "But can it run Crysis?" being a pretty popular catchphrase back in the day.

And the answer generally being: "irrelevant. crysis was intentionally coded to be inefficient. much better looking and more graphically advanced games are less hardware intensive than crysis"

[Ultramartyr]

At 4/24/17 02:03 PM, sharpnova wrote: And the answer generally being: "irrelevant. crysis was intentionally coded to be inefficient. much better looking and more graphically advanced games are less hardware intensive than crysis"

or, to be more succinct, "no."

[sharpnova]

At 4/25/17 08:09 AM, Ultramartyr wrote:

At 4/24/17 02:03 PM, sharpnova wrote: And the answer generally being: "irrelevant. crysis was intentionally coded to be inefficient. much better looking and more graphically advanced games are less hardware intensive than crysis"

or, to be more succinct, "no."

Nah. That doesn't contain enough information to be clear.

[argile]

Metal gear solid and silent hill for the playstation. Hell even Gex 3 has some pretty impressive underwater details

[AlixBalica]

Pokemon Sun/Moon might push an old 3DS' limits, I know it from experience because the game lags on mine (It's nearly 3-4 years old) and I can't play on the Battle Royale else it'll crash. Even playing against totem pokemon lags the game pretty badly but I guess it's time to upgrade my old 3DS.
Also TBOI on 3DS, I've seen some videos of people that have crashed their games with some game breaking synergies.

[LauriJ]

I read somewhere that Kula World on PS1 maxed out the hardware without even trying on the part of developers. One look at it and it might be clear why.

[Mace121]

At 4/26/17 02:58 AM, LauriJ wrote: I read somewhere that Kula World on PS1 maxed out the hardware without even trying on the part of developers. One look at it and it might be clear why.

Took a good look at it... It's a puzzle game where you play as a beach ball rolling around to get keys to unlock an exit. How much polygons does the ball have?

[Yomuchan]

Touhoumon Another World and World Link for the GBA. It has to be seen to be believed.

[Ultramartyr]

At 4/30/17 08:24 AM, SolidPantsSnake wrote: Also ITT a bunch of plebs think good graphics equal pushing hardware limits.

OH FUCK I'M A PLEB CAUSE I WASN'T BEING FACETIOUUUUSSS

(actually i was, this time i'm being sarcastic though)

[Jackho]

At 4/21/17 02:04 PM, Mace121 wrote: Resident Evil 2 on the N64

Good shout, this port is mind blowing. RE2 originally needed two CD's and the file size for the digital PSN version clocks in at around 800 megabytes, yet they paradoxically fit all that into a 64mb cartridge without any compromises. It's one of the better versions of the game too.

At 4/23/17 01:21 AM, Chdonga wrote: Crash Bandicoot. I've seen a google forum archive thing where people are discussing screenshots from CB1 and people thought they were fake.

This applies to nearly every Naughty Dog game, they're wizards at getting the most out of sony hardware. Last of Us is crazy for a last-gen game.

At 4/21/17 04:14 PM, ClockworkCopper wrote: Super Smash Bros on Nintendo 64 running at 60 FPS always boggled me. I dunno shit about old hardware, though, so maybe it's not actually impressive.

60fps isn't that much of a feat on its own and Smash has very small, simple environments so it's not too surprising. Still, the N64 was a particularly bad time for frame rates so it does stand out nicely, but i'm not sure if it really pushed the console's limits. Off the top of my head F-Zero and one of the bomberman games had 60fps on the N64 too. For comparison most decent SNES games ran at 60fps albeit with drops, and a lot of PS2 games could too.

At 4/23/17 03:56 AM, Ganon-Dorf wrote: Final Fantasy 10 pushed the PS2 really hard on its cinematics though.

Its cinematics, like the pre-rendered cutscenes? Those are impressive for the time to make but wouldn't be any more taxing on the PS2 than playing a DVD of Spirits Within. It is an impressive game in general though. FFIX is one of my favourite games visually and still the jump from that to X is massive, even some other FF games on the PS2 couldn't compare.

[Ultramartyr]

At 4/30/17 08:45 AM, SolidPantsSnake wrote: Reading your post in this thread.

Judging you.

Yep you seem like a pleb.

darn it! how will my Newgrounds VG forum cred ever recover? i'm actually ruined.