"Retro" games with bad pixels

Console, handheld and computer games, retro and modern.
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cools
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"Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by cools »

I was quite keen to pick up a (Switch) copy of Shantae & The Pirates Curse, until I saw this: Image

Can't be just me that finds this kind of mess an eyesore?
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garrz32
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by garrz32 »

lol What's up with the eye's of the dragon
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pubjoe
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by pubjoe »

I’ve noticed it’s quite common in pixel art style games these days.

I frowned at first, and even Nathan did too. There’s sensible reason for it though. Low res rotation looks nasty and jumpy, I remember how horrifying the Deluxe Paint 3 Move effect was at first (and mode7 too tbh), and it takes a massive amount of work and frame cutting if it’s manually refined.

Visually, low-res gradual rotation is best just avoided, but the motion can add gameplay.

High res effects on low res Art does look a bit jarring but I can accept the cheat I suppose.

I wouldn’t want to turn high-res mode7 on in a SNES emulator though but that’s more a nostalgia thing.
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cools
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by cools »

pubjoe wrote: December 14th, 2018, 12:01 pmLow res rotation looks nasty and jumpy, I remember how horrifying the Deluxe Paint 3 Move effect was at first (and mode7 too tbh), and it takes a massive amount of work and frame cutting if it’s manually refined.
Unrefined low res rotation looks better than this guff imo. It's honest pixel ugliness unlike this awful pseudo pixel nonsense.
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pubjoe
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by pubjoe »

I disagree. Neither looks good. One follows low-res limitations. Both are shortcuts.

Rotation works in some low res cases but it has a horrendous effect on something like a 16x16 detailed face. Everything breaks. Reworking can take hours for each frame and then looks nothing like the base image and doesn’t animate smoothly anymore. Low resolutions are just too limited for movement so slight.

I prefer to see something that manages to successfully work around the above limitations, usually that means just skipping difficult movement altogether.

I really was bothered when I first saw Mode7. I felt the same about it as you probably do seeing the above. It’s impure, just like the mess of rotating pixel art in Deluxe Paint. But it led to great games that wouldn’t be the same without it. I got used to it.
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by cools »

I've just looked up games that used Mode 7 for stuff other than backgrounds. Super CastleVania IV uses it on one boss and it looks dreadful too, but it fits in better because the main game artwork is at the default resolution of the screen. That Shantae screenshot the main artwork is using 5x pixels per "pixel" of the screen but then it scales and rotates the "pixels" below those. I think that's what is irritating me.
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by nem »

I'm more bothered by the heart and gem counters in the corners. Those don't fit the pixel art at all.
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by geotrig »

I don't know what I'm supposed to be looking at. :lolno:
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by pubjoe »

Geo, magic pixels. They overlap each other, rotate and shrink. Look at the dragon’s tail. It breaks the 240p wall.
cools wrote: December 14th, 2018, 1:31 pmpseudo pixel nonsense.
You know, in discussions of new retro releases like NGDEV’s the point always comes up that those are overhyped games that would be irrelevant if they weren’t running on old hardware.

They take an extreme amount of effort, appeal to a very small market that cares, there’s a large financial risk, and they cost a lot. But for one thing: at least running on old hardware ensures that there’s no ‘cheating’ on the output like with this sort of thing. It’s an expensive kink.
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Re: "Retro" games with bad pixels

Post by bloodhokuto »

Sven Ruthner (someone who is working on the Wonderswan Game Firelancer), made a few tweets on Cave sprite work, where they didn't always get it right.

https://twitter.com/the_ptoing/media





Even Pixel Gods NAZCA can male chicken it up:



Check out the rest of his twitter for cool stuff and also check out Fire Lancer - the demo is now available.

http://firelancer.ws/
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