Glorious Pre-rendered Master Race

[ZeroAX]

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but The Longest Journey had some AMAZING pre-rendered scenes:

Second post.

Clockwork Knight has the first that really stood out to me:

Though that is from Clockwork Knight 2, you get the drift. They used both pre-rendered and models. So sometimes badguys will be on the pre-rendered background then jump into the foreground.

I can't see it.


OMG that game looks horrible . Maybe it's one of those things that looks much better when it's moving?

[fastbilly1]

OMG that game looks horrible . Maybe it's one of those things that looks much better when it's moving?

Yes:


The background is smooth scrolling and the game, while badly in need of anti-aliasing, looks much better.

[ZeroAX]

OMG that game looks horrible . Maybe it's one of those things that looks much better when it's moving?

Yes:


The background is smooth scrolling and the game, while badly in need of anti-aliasing, looks much better.

Now that looks much better.

It reminded me a lot of Toy Story on the Mega Drive though

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HmB4ZOEMd0

[Gamerforlife]

That ain't even pre-rendered. This is a SNES game with pre-rendered backgrounds

At the time, I was completely amazed by how good that game looked. My young mind couldn't even understand how the Super Nintendo was putting out graphics like that. I played through it on a Christmas vacation and was so happy. Few games elicit that kind of wonder from me anymore

[AppleQueso]

Magic Knight Rayearth (SAT) looked nice in spots:


Sometimes not so nice:

Does that count as pre-rendered? Just looks tile-based to me.

[aaron]

Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari for the Saturn is a great example.

[isiolia]

That doesn't really look pre-rendered to me either, just a 2D game.

Pre-rendered would at least be sprites/backgrounds created via 3D renders, though I'd consider it more when it's mixed 2D and 3D.

[ZeroAX]

Technically, you could say this game also has amazing pre-rendered graphics
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b-4HNmuEAKg

[Hobie-wan]

That doesn't really look pre-rendered to me either, just a 2D game.

Pre-rendered would at least be sprites/backgrounds created via 3D renders, though I'd consider it more when it's mixed 2D and 3D.

Drawings and such created by hand are also 'renderings'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_rendering

[isiolia]

Drawings and such created by hand are also 'renderings'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artistic_rendering

Quite a lot can be "rendered" considering the basic meaning(s) of the word

With regard to game graphics, however, making a distinction doesn't seem very logical outside of mixed 2D and 3D. As I said, that's where it makes more sense to me, as you're pointing out parts that are created in real time, versus the parts that are not.

It does aptly describe the aesthetic for some games though, such as DKC, that utilize sprites based on 3D renders.