The appearance of video games has long been a strong reason for buying new consoles and upgrading gaming PCs. Yet some creators have always placed a high value on gameplay, challenge, multiplayer appeal, and originality. Ahead of Grand Theft Auto 6, Polygon has put together a list championing the older titles.
The list, titled “15 Classic Games That Prove Great Graphics Aren’t Everything,” runs through decades of titles that won audiences without chasing visual spectacle. This article covers nine of the list’s entries, in the source’s order.
- N+ (2008)
- Final Fantasy 9 (2000)
- The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002)
- DuckTales (1989)
- Mega Man 2 (1988)
- Terraria (2011)
- Worms (1995)
- Bomberman (1983)
- Lemmings (1991)
N+ and the Flash Game Era
Metanet Software first built N as an Adobe Flash game before teaming up with other developers to bring it to Xbox Live Arcade. Players use easy controls to run and spring across hundreds of barren, perilous stages. The look did not knock anyone’s socks off, but the loop of play drew people back again and again for dozens of hours.
Final Fantasy 9 Took a Step Back
The Final Fantasy series has generally pushed visual boundaries forward, yet not all entries have followed that trend. Final Fantasy 8 presented realistic character models, while Final Fantasy 9 moved in the opposite direction with chibi characters, which some players saw as a step back. That regression was corrected one year later by Final Fantasy 10. Even with Final Fantasy 16 already available on the market, the older title still holds up as a pleasure to play.
The Wind Waker’s Cartoon Turn
Before its release, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker stirred debate among fans. Nintendo first showed footage at a Spaceworld event, where Link and Ganondorf appeared much as they had in Ocarina of Time, though rendered with more polygons. The company then changed course. A second reveal presented Link shrunken down to child size, his appearance drawn from a cartoon style seen in game instruction manuals.
Numerous singers were convinced the show had crossed the line. Plenty of them changed their minds after it aired, and then repeated the process for an HD version on the Wii U. A Switch 2 remake of The Wind Waker still sits high on many players’ most-wanted lists.
DuckTales and the Remaster Problem
The cartoon environments in DuckTales placed Scrooge McDuck in colorful settings across the globe. From the very start, the game looked polished, with detailed scenery that rendered the show’s look faithfully. But the true pleasure came from wandering freely through these places.
Decades after the game’s release, WayForward produced a remastered edition for newer systems, upgrading the visuals and adding voice work from the original cartoon cast. The result failed to move players the same way. The pictures looked better, yet the recipe had more going into it than mere good looks.
Mega Man 2’s Passion Project
Capcom’s hopes for the original Mega Man were not met with sales success. Its developers then created a sequel as a labor of love, a passion project that drew little attention from their employer. That sequel became Mega Man 2, and it ranks among the finest games of the 8-bit era. Its graphics were pleasing to look at, but what captivated players most were the stronger level design, the rocking soundtrack, and the expanded robot bosses.
Throughout the NES era, the Mega Man games kept going, showing only small gains in how they looked, while it was the formula itself that kept drawing players in.
Terraria, Worms, and Bomberman
The indie game Terraria does not rely on visual spectacle to draw players in. Instead, it offers wandering, crafting, building, fighting, and mining, and its retro pixel art style fits those activities perfectly. Developer Re-Logic has produced a game that is far from unattractive, yet it does not need to dazzle the eye to succeed.
Team17 gained notice from Worms, which combined a simple turn-based strategy formula with a cute visual style. The weapons of destruction are the real star of the game. The franchise has barely changed since its early days on the Amiga.
Bomberman has entertained players for years, but they rarely remark on its visual design. One ambitious attempt to add spectacle failed in a major way. 2006’s Bomberman Act: Zero for Xbox 360 attempted a darker, more mature approach and satisfied almost no one.
Lemmings and the Grand Theft Auto Connection
The firm behind Grand Theft Auto and what would become Rockstar North first found fame with a game built around rodents rushing toward the sea for their last swim. Players assign strategic roles to the lemmings, and the goal is to see as many of them make it through alive.
What the list shows is that pictures can bring people together, but they cannot hold them there. Games that endure are the ones players wish to come back to, regardless of how many shapes and surfaces they contain.
Source: polygon.com
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