Yoshi's Island is like thee pinnacle 16-bit game imo

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iNCEPTIONAL

Yoshi's Island is like thee pinnacle 16-bit game imo

Post by iNCEPTIONAL »

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https://youtu.be/U8btNneN8ew

I don't know if this is somehow off topic for this board but I just have to say that I honestly believe there is no single 16-bit home console game that has overall more visually gorgeous and technically impressive moments than this game has throughout its playtime, from the inspired use of the crayon art style and even some Van Gogh style art in one of the levels, great use of transparency, sprite scaling, rotation and distortion on some enemies, to polygonal slamming walls in some levels and boss fights that have you battling on a small moon as the entire scene rotates around you, and sooo many more examples I haven't mentioned. This is one of thee all round most visually stunning and technically amazing games of the entire 16-bit console generation imo. And, on top of all that, it's just one of the best playing and most fun games ever made too as far as I'm concerned. I think it's near perfection as such things go--yup, even with baby Mario crying when he gets knocked off Yoshi's back.

I just felt like mentioning that. Lol
Last edited by iNCEPTIONAL on Sat May 21, 2022 1:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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dougeff
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Re: Yoshi's Island is like thee pinnacle 16-bit game imo

Post by dougeff »

Personally, I think that Bahamut Lagoon is the most technically impressive game, and you can see most of the visual effects in the title screen's demo cutscenes.

Some other games worth mentioning. Super Castlevania IV and Terranigma have some impressive mode 7 tricks.
nesdoug.com -- blog/tutorial on programming for the NES
iNCEPTIONAL

Re: Yoshi's Island is like thee pinnacle 16-bit game imo

Post by iNCEPTIONAL »

dougeff wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 12:02 pm Personally, I think that Bahamut Lagoon is the most technically impressive game, and you can see most of the visual effects in the title screen's demo cutscenes.

Some other games worth mentioning. Super Castlevania IV and Terranigma have some impressive mode 7 tricks.
I've not fully checked out Bahamut Lagoon and Terranigma. Will need to have another look.

I personally don't think Castlevania IV quite matches all the stuff going on throughout Yoshi's Island as far as I've seen: Yoshi's Island has loads of proper sprite scaling and rotation, proper 3D polygon objects in multiple places, sooo many technically and visually impressive bosses (pretty much every one of them actually), cool use of Mode 2's column scrolling, great use of Mode 0's four overlapping background layers (both in the intro cutscenes and one of the later levels in the game), that really cool title screen with a fully rotating Mode 7 island and lots of sprites used to create a the faux 3D effect, those huge lava and water enemies, lots of cool use of colour math (such as when Magikoopa does his spell on the bosses before they scale up to giant size, or the Sluggy the Unshaven boss), That Touch Fuzzy Get Dizzy level, that epic final boss battle, and even just sooo much variety in the background art and enemy designs and so on, also great music and sound fx throughout, and world-class gameplay design on top of all that too, plus lots of levels, mini games, and even a hidden two-player battle mode, etc.

Clearly, I'm a big fan of Yoshi's Island. LOL

I'm gonna go check out those other two games. :D
Last edited by iNCEPTIONAL on Sat May 21, 2022 1:09 pm, edited 2 times in total.
iNCEPTIONAL

Re: Yoshi's Island is like thee pinnacle 16-bit game imo

Post by iNCEPTIONAL »

dougeff wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 12:02 pm Personally, I think that Bahamut Lagoon is the most technically impressive game, and you can see most of the visual effects in the title screen's demo cutscenes.
By the way, am I right in thinking it's Bahamut Lagoon that actually uses high-res mode or possibly the high colour mode for something?
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Re: Yoshi's Island is like thee pinnacle 16-bit game imo

Post by Pokun »

iNCEPTIONAL wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 11:44 am I don't know if this is somehow off topic for this board but I just have to say that I honestly believe there is no single 16-bit home console game that has overall more visually gorgeous and technically impressive moments than this game has throughout its playtime, from the inspired use of the crayon art style and even some Van Gogh style art in one of the levels, great use of transparency, sprite scaling, rotation and distortion on some enemies, to polygonal slamming walls in some levels and boss fights that have you battling on a small moon as the entire scene rotates around you, and sooo many more examples I haven't mentioned. This is one of thee all round most visually stunning and technically amazing games of the entire 16-bit console generation imo. And, on top of all that, it's just one of the best playing and most fun games ever made too as far as I'm concerned. I think it's near perfection as such things go--yup, even with baby Mario whining when he gets knocked off Yoshi's back.
I couldn't agree more. Yoshi Island came out sometime after everyone had been blinded by what you could do with pre-rendered 3D-models in Donkey Kong Country and started to think that games don't get better than this, and then the Mario team came out from nowhere showing everyone how you make an awesome game.
There are many technically impressive games, but Yoshi Island is one such game that also manages to produce very tasteful aesthetics using it, and also one that never feels gimicky, there are pretty much no effect in the game that feels like it was put there just to show off the hardware or because their boss had told them to use this or that feature, it feels like they were put there because it fits and makes the game more fun and varied. And finally, they managed to use the tired old Mario concept, that most felt had already been perfected with both SMB3 and SMW, turn it on its head and do things with it no one would expect, successfully making it feel as fresh as ever again.
Yes this game is pure art!
iNCEPTIONAL

Re: Yoshi's Island is like thee pinnacle 16-bit game imo

Post by iNCEPTIONAL »

Pokun wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 1:58 pm
iNCEPTIONAL wrote: Fri May 20, 2022 11:44 am I don't know if this is somehow off topic for this board but I just have to say that I honestly believe there is no single 16-bit home console game that has overall more visually gorgeous and technically impressive moments than this game has throughout its playtime, from the inspired use of the crayon art style and even some Van Gogh style art in one of the levels, great use of transparency, sprite scaling, rotation and distortion on some enemies, to polygonal slamming walls in some levels and boss fights that have you battling on a small moon as the entire scene rotates around you, and sooo many more examples I haven't mentioned. This is one of thee all round most visually stunning and technically amazing games of the entire 16-bit console generation imo. And, on top of all that, it's just one of the best playing and most fun games ever made too as far as I'm concerned. I think it's near perfection as such things go--yup, even with baby Mario whining when he gets knocked off Yoshi's back.
I couldn't agree more. Yoshi Island came out sometime after everyone had been blinded by what you could do with pre-rendered 3D-models in Donkey Kong Country and started to think that games don't get better than this, and then the Mario team came out from nowhere showing everyone how you make an awesome game.
There are many technically impressive games, but Yoshi Island is one such game that also manages to produce very tasteful aesthetics using it, and also one that never feels gimicky, there are pretty much no effect in the game that feels like it was put there just to show off the hardware or because their boss had told them to use this or that feature. And finally, they managed to use the tired old Mario concept, that most felt had already been perfected with both SMB3 and SMW, turn it on its head and do things with it no one would expect, successfully making it feel as fresh as ever again.
Yes this game is pure art!
Definitely on the same page here. :D
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