GIFs of cool visual effects in old games

[Phediuk]

How about a new installment of this old classic thread. I'll start us off.



Dynamic lighting in Ranger X (Genesis, 1993)

T. rex chase sequence in The Lost World Jurassic Park (Genesis, 1997)

Vector cutscenes in Flashback (Amiga, 1992)

Pretty much everything in The Adventures of Batman and Robin (Genesis, 1995)

Shadow of the Beast parallax scrolling (Amiga, 1989)

Thunder Force 4 lake level (Genesis, 1992)

Comix Zone water (Genesis, 1995)

Faux-3D interiors in Red Zone (Genesis, 1994)

Dictator intro in Red Zone (Genesis, 1994)

Flickering lights in Clock Tower (SNES, 1995)

Round overworld in Treasure Hunter G (SNES, 1996)

3D chase sequence from Mickey Mania (Genesis, 1994)

Sandworm in Super Turrican 2 (SNES, 1995)

3D tunnel sequences in Super Stardust (Amiga, 1994)

Squash and stretch in Alien Soldier (Genesis, 1995)

Undulating water in Agony (Amiga, 1992)

Smooth scaling and texture mapping in Toy Story (Genesis, 1995)

Squishy flesh boss in Shinobi 3 (Genesis, 1993)

Rotating backgrounds in Brian the Lion (Amiga, 1994)

post more.

 

[impingu1984]

You had to use the reflection to clear some platforming challenges in this level as well

 

[Deleted member 49319]

Probably all VFX in Golden Sun

The 12yo me thought this game was 3D.

 

[TheMoon]

As usual, Terranigma gets forgotten.

—The graphics for the scenes after you clear a tower and revive the continent look incredibly impressive. I understand those scenes used up 8MB of memory on their own.

Miyazaki: Right, but we felt it was justified because those are the scenes which are most deeply connected to the concept and themes. We used some incredible technology to bring them to life, technology that is actually used in creating TV weather broadcasts.

Hashimoto: We used the same development software that was used by the English company Rare, when they were making Donkey Kong Country. It's actually quite hard to make realistic animation with the Super Famicom hardware, and memory is another tough spot, but we really wanted to have a chance, even just once, to try out this development software, as well as fractals and other new technologies.

—Fractals…?

Futami: It's a similar technology to what we use for polygon graphics. It makes it easier to display shapes that look natural. We've really worked hard on the graphics quality for Terranigma. How many times did we re-do the graphics to get them just right…? I've lost count.

Hashimoto: I don't remember. (laughs)

Futami: And the final result would often turn out completely different from what we started with. (laughs)
http://shmuplations.com/terranigma/

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My usual contribution.

 

[stinkyguy666]

I always loved the evolution animation from Digimon World 1

 

[dirtyjane]

obvious Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy

 

[Unicorn]

Omg thunder force 4 would've been gorgeous on 3DS.

 

[maneauleau]

Wow the Genesis was a beast. Came to see Shadow of the Beast I was not disappointed.

 

[Burli]

You had to use the reflection to clear some platforming challenges in this level as well

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My God I loved this game.

 

[jett]

Some parallax effects on the ol' NES

Batman Return of the Joker

VICE: Project Doom


And always liked seeing this kind of "tower spinning" effect whenever it showed up in 8bit/16bit games.

Kirby's Adventure

 

[Deleted member 11637]

The day-to-night transition on Jungle Hijinx in Donkey Kong Country:

 

[KhandoleezzaRice]

I couldn't find a gif but I was always so impressed with how Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories managed to fit in 3D cutscenes

 

[Catsygreen]

Shadow Dancer:

Quackshot:

Shinobi 3:

 

[JayBee]

Those genesis games in the OP are impressive af. Makes me wanna play them all

 

[jett]

The DKC games had all sorts of cool-looking effects.

 

[wafflebrain]

Those Batman and Robin ones look great, like they hired a bunch of demoscene peeps to make the effects lol.

 

[Deleted member 21709]

Didn't expect to read about Brian The lion today. Great thread idea.

 

[GymWolf86]

some animation in donald duck in maui mallard (in cold shadow, god i love this game)

 

[Francesco]

Not as old as yours.

 

[Melkezadek]

Geometry warping in real time was nuts.

 

[Phediuk]

3D polygons in I Robot (arcade, 1984)

 

[laxu]

No GIFs unfortunately but very long draw distances thanks to voxels in Delta Force.

More voxel goodness way ahead of its time in Outcast:

 

[TeHi & BuSp]

Contra 3 the thread

 

[Okabe]

Astrix for GBA was some magic

 

[Phediuk]

Dragon boss in Gaiares (Genesis, 1990)

 

[Deleted member 7130]

obvious Touch Fuzzy, Get Dizzy

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Yoshi high af

 

[Doom_Bringer]

great thread

 

[capitalCORN]

Or how about DooM people?! 1993 baybee!

 

[Orioto]

Damn Genesis was a beast

 

[Goodbye]

Those Megadrive games are pretty impressive. Maybe I should play some this year. After 25 years I think I can set aside the 16 bit consolewars.

 

[Vexii]

Paging Dark1x because you probably have a lot of these, or at least some fantastic suggestions

 

[Phediuk]

Flower field parallax in Toejam & Earl: Panic on Funkotron (Genesis, 1993)

 

[Slam Tilt]

Wow the Genesis was a beast.

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That was only with the Sega CD attachment, however. I'm pretty sure the OG Genesis/MegaDrive wasn't capable of those effects.

 

[kafiend]

And always liked seeing this kind of "tower spinning" effect whenever it showed up in 8bit/16bit games.

Kirby's Adventure

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Nebulus. Gif from C64 version but multi-platorm. The spinning tower and enemy location movement really messed with my mind when I first played it.

 

[Phediuk]

That was only with the Sega CD attachment, however. I'm pretty sure the OG Genesis/MegaDrive wasn't capable of those effects.

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There are no Sega CD games posted yet in this thread. All Genesis game GIFs are for the basic Genesis hardware.

 

[Slam Tilt]

There are no Sega CD games posted yet in this thread. All Genesis game GIFs are for the basic Genesis hardware.

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I stand corrected, then.

 

[Tokyo_Funk]

That was only with the Sega CD attachment, however. I'm pretty sure the OG Genesis/MegaDrive wasn't capable of those effects.

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None of the games shown so far were on Mega CD. Those are all original Mega-Drive/Genesis games.

Edit- Already answered sorry.

 

[Deleted member 24118]

Metal Slug has a lot of cool stuff, but my favorite has to be the alien energy ball in 3. It's a really cool effect for a pixelated game.

 

[signal]

Don't think this is impressive tech but kool looking anyway

 

[Rygar 8Bit]

Always thought the way they did the giant octopus boss in Kick Master on the NES looked cool.

 

[StraySheep]

I know I am uncultured for it, but I have to make the confession that I don't often make here. Almost none of the gifs in OP impresses me because the era is just too old for me. I find early advancements in later generations much more interesting. Including some of the other posts in this thread.

 

[Deleted member 17210]

Phantasy Star's dungeons (Master System, 1987)

 

[LazyLain]

"RTX Off"

Spoiler: Silent Hill 3

Also Silent Hill 3, some of the trippy wall effects are still really neat (sorry, couldn't find a GIF):

 

[Dragon1893]

Toy Story had so many unbelievable moments, I couldn't believe what I was seeing.
Also, this thread needs lots of Vectorman love (I'm on my phone).

 

[Deleted member 17210]

I know I am uncultured for it, but I have to make the confession that I don't often make here. Almost none of the gifs in OP impresses me because the era is just too old for me. I find early advancements in later generations much more interesting. Including some of the other posts in this thread.

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This makes me sad although I suppose most of these animations look smoother on real hardware than in gif form.

 

[Deleted member 7130]

Ah, never mind. Corrected self

 

[Huey]

Wonderful thread, OP.

Vector cutscenes in Flashback (Amiga, 1992)

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Curious about this (to you OP or anyone who knows) - I had always heard of Flashback and Out of this World's tech referred to as rotoscoping... what's the difference between that and vector-based? Is rotoscoping the way the animation is captured and vector is the way the graphics are built?

 

[jett]

I know I am uncultured for it, but I have to make the confession that I don't often make here. Almost none of the gifs in OP impresses me because the era is just too old for me. I find early advancements in later generations much more interesting. Including some of the other posts in this thread.

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I don't get how can someone not be impressed by what the Genesis is pulling off in those gifs.

 

[capitalCORN]

Wonderful thread, OP.



Curious about this (to you OP or anyone who knows) - I had always heard of Flashback and Out of this World's tech referred to as rotoscoping... what's the difference between that and vector-based? Is rotoscoping the way the animation is captured and vector is the way the graphics are built?

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Rotoscoping simply means tracing over existent footage. Vector graphics refers more pertinently to flat shaded graphic design (there's more nuance than this, I swear).

 

[IronicSonic]

In the phone right now but I miss good old Treasure games here. And Contra Hard Corps. Those are the go-to for impressive effects on Genesis.

That Motorola doing wonders in the 90s!!