Graphical art - what is your favorite?

Griffin

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I spent 20 years of my younger life as an art director so it's no surprise that I get wooed by beautiful graphics.

I've always enjoyed the Sega games like Outrun and Space Harrier as they were significant leaps in graphics for their time. But I have to say that personally the Metal Slug games were a masterpiece in sprite art and animation.

What games stand out to you as art and animation masterpieces that added to gameplay without being the crux they fell back on like so many modern console titles?

Dragons lair and other laser disc systems don't count.
 
Not an Arcade, but Prince Of Persia sprite animations stands out.

Asteroids and its pew pews. The electrons hit the phosphor so hard you can see it splatter. The asteroids breaking up into smaller pieces amazing.

Defender. Just the right amount of black to color ratio. I prefer the black background games mpre and more I play them.
 
If you are going to go there, the spinning color shapes in Space Duel are also remarkable.
 
To me Ghouls N' Ghosts really does it for me. While no extreme graphical spectacle by 1988's standards, the attention to detail on all the enemy animations, sprite work, environments, fluent controls and sound package all work together to create an impressive experience. I'm not 100% sure how to explain it, but having such well done graphics in this type of game allows it to flow much better, as your brain can interpret and process what is happening on screen just that fraction of a second faster, which makes all the difference. Being able to tell what type an enemy is, where its projectile is coming from, etc. without having to look at it AND not having graphics blend into the background is the type of stuff I am talking about.
 
Two games that aren't that impressive by today's standards, are Wizard Of Wor and GORF. The stereo sound, speech and very colorful graphics those games have create a strange but charming vibe that I really enjoy. Specifically Wizard of Wor.
 
One more that really impressed me was Major Havoc. For 1983 this one wow'ed me pretty well. Emulator doesn't do it justice, you need to play it on a real machine.
 
For me it's even beyond the graphics of the game. Sometimes it's what's surrounding the screen too. Some of those bezels and lighting add incredible magic to the game.

Warrior
Blue Shark
Frogs
Space Invaders / Space Invaders Deluxe
Boot Hill
Sea Wolf

Absolutely stunning on the eyes.

Jason
 
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