What Playstation 1 titles have the best graphics?

[J T]

A lot of PS1 games look pretty ugly by today's standards. But some have enough style to age well. I'm curious what games for the original Playstation you think have the best graphics... and particularly which 3D games still have graphical appeal (since the easy answer is that anything 2D or sprite based still looks good, while most of the 3D looks like a box full ugly).

I'll start...

Fear Effect 1 and 2 used a cell shaded 3D for the characters and layered them over rendered backgrounds, which gave the game a beautiful visual style that holds up over time, despite the dated hardware:





Xenogears was a mix of visual styles. The characters are rendered, the backgrounds are 3D, and the close ups and cut scenes are anime. The whole thing comes together nicely. The 3D makes the background feel like a place with dimension, the rendered characters look better than blocky 3D ones, and the up close anime style gives you a more detailed concept for who your characters are, which allows the game to overcome the obstacle of not being able to zoom in on characters with 3D.

[MrPopo]

Final Fantasy IX was pretty much the height of graphics on the PS1.

[brunoafh]

Chrono Cross and Einhander deserve mention too. They look incredible given the hardware. Guilty Gear also has some very impressive sprite-work.

[noiseredux]

Chrono Cross and Einhander deserve mention too. They look incredible given the hardware. Guilty Gear also has some very impressive sprite-work.

Einhander!

Myst?

[CRTGAMER]

Porsche Challenge For an old racer, not bad.



Medievil 1 and 2 A classic!

[Flake]

Ironically, 2D sprite games on the PSX have aged far better than most of the 3D titles the system was designed for.

Legend of Mana, Mega Man x4-6, Mega Man 8, Final Fantasy Tactics, and the like all look great even a decade later.

On the 3D front, Metal Gear Solid is still palatable. So is Chrono Cross, Mega Man Legends, Dead or Alive and other games that obviously had a good sized budget and development time.

[emwearz]

Awww, lets try not to post emulated screenshots.

Metal Gear Solid


Final Fantasy VIII

I picked this over IX as it has a realistic look, compared to IX's deformed look.

Ape Escape


Tekken 3

While it looks good, there is no point playing it when the newer ones offer more and look better.

Anything that had pre-rendered backgrounds really. Resident Evil 3, Abes Odyssey, Heart of Darkness. etc

[Gamerforlife]

Final Fantasy VIII

I picked this over IX as it has a realistic look, compared to IX's deformed look.

My thoughts exactly

Bust a Groove still looks great, especially in action with all the character animation

[brunoafh]

Bust a Groove still looks great, especially in action with all the character animation

I was just playing the second one today. Love those games.

[AznKhmerBoi]

Grand Tourismo



Driver


Medal of Honor


Bloody Roar 2