The games that Pushed too far...

Towards the end of a console generation, the developers have reached a point where they can make a system do things that weren't dreamed of when the system was released.

What games do you think pushed the envelope?

For me, I'd say

Doom on SNES, as well as StarFox
Virtua Racing, Aladdin, Flashback, Gunstar Heroes and ZeroTolerance on Genesis
Metal Gear Solid, Chrono Cross, FF8, Vagrant Story(visually speaking) on PS1
Crimsom Skies, Chronicles of Riddick, Fable on Xbox
MGS: Sons and Snake Eater, FF12, and without a doubt GOW 1 and 2, and Shadow of Colossus on PS2
Zelda Twilight Princess and Wind Waker on GC

Gears of War and Mass Effect as well as Bioshock on 360,
And I think Heavenly Sword, and maybe Lair if not for the Framerate on PS3

Credit where Credit is due. And Metroid looks amazing on the Wii despite it not being as strong as the former

Gonna tackle your list here...

StarFox - on board chips don't really "push" per se, it's on crutches at that point.

Virtua Racing - See Starfox.

Aladdin, Flashback- Not entirely sure I'd agree with those two examples.

Gunstar Heroes and ZeroTolerance - yes, absoloutely, doing some crazy shit there.

Metal Gear Solid, FF8, - Not sure I'd agree with anything other than MGS, Final Fantasy did a lot of swapping, smoke and mirrors.

Crimsom Skies - Was way before anyone started pushing the ole Xbox.

Chronicles of Riddick - Absolfuckingloutely.

MGS: Sons and Snake Eater, FF12, and without a doubt GOW 1 and 2, and Shadow of Colossus on PS2 - Yes!

Zelda Twilight Princess and Wind Waker - Wind Waker not so much. There was a poly comparison between the two and Wind Waker was made up of lego in comparison with TP :3


I'm honestly not sure we even saw the XBOX's true potential, it just wasn't around long enough for developers (other than Starbreeze) to really get their teeth in to it and produce those kinda things before the system got killed.

And there are like a ton of Genesis games that did some amazing things never thought possible in its time. I want to make a list... but I can't get my head in to gear.

So was Flashback using polygonal graphics then or was it just redrawing? That's the only reason I thought it was amazing. Back then I didn't know any better and thought the game was running on simple polygonal graphics. I agree about the FX chip, but as a whole, especially with Star Fox, since it cost the same as most game (unlike theoverpriced Virtua Racing), I still saw it as someone forcing the system to do something that it normally couldn't

Also fortgot about Earth Worm Jim. Not from a technical standpoint, so much for doing wonders with the limited color pallet of the Genesis.

Oh and I almost forgot Dues Ex on Xbox. Damn some of that normal mapping looked amazing.

Flashback was just painted backrounds and rotoscoped sprites, Prince of Persia did the latter 3 years earlier on the Apple II.

Oh ok, thanks for clearing a 10 year mystery. I remember Prince and Out of this World doing the same. I guess they gave it the no-shading look to give the impression that it was a techincal achievement. Still though Flash back was a great game.

Is that a bad thing? I love legos.

Yes it was. It was so different than everything else at the time.

Also, Street Fighter II on the Genesis should not have been possible.
How is it that the sprites were bigger than the SNES version?

Speaking of Street Fighter, Street Fighter Alpha 2 on the SNES was impressive.
It was definitely missing some frames, but its existence itself is a miracle.

What manner of Olympus magic makes God of War transform my Playstation 2 into a Playstation 2.5?

Xbox Live :Adam Smasher

Not at all. Wind Waker > Every Other Zelda :3

I have to admit that I am a little confused as to why you are including current gen systems, 360, PS3, and Wii, in that list. The games you are listing are all meant to be handled by these systems.

Originally Posted by seeker311 insecurity leads to resentfulness, resentfulness leads to self pity, self pity leads to dumbass.

I have to agree with this. God of War blew every other PS2 Game I own out of the water graphics wise.