LogFAQs > #979254305

Grand_Kirby posted...

I dropped it because after Gamecube the Nintendo consoles start getting hard to categorize. They start to feel "in-between" generations. Wikipedia lists the Wii U and the Switch as being in the same gen, which... I guess? But it made things awkward so I felt it was easier to focus on the consoles that are more obviously sorted into their era.

Nintendo's a weird one to categorize because on top of underpowered console hardware, handhelds are consistently a generation behind in tech but with all the experience and development made. I just go more or less by time period which is what I think most people do as well, and that's why Wii U/Switch fall together. Switch was basically a 3DS successor in hardware and a replacement to the failed Wii U.

also anyone talking level design and gameplay is really sleeping on 5th to 6th. it's not just graphics, the biggest improvement was to game physics. the graphics helped on that in that it allowed you to actually visualize clearly, interact clearly, and move in ways that couldn't be done before because, simply put, neither hardware nor software was there yet. as in we literally didn't have the tech yet. for some perspective on this, over on PC land Unreal Engine released in 1998, 2nd was out in 2001. Xbox used DirectX, Nintendo used something similar to OpenGL, Sony was... well, Sony.

survival horror got things like Fatal Frame, Silent Hill 2, RE4, none could've been done before. platformers got things like Ratchet and Clank, action/adventure got Metroid Prime, action got to exist in Devil May Cry and the evolution it had by the time it got to 3 was enormous along with games like God of War that tried a bit of platforming. Katamari Damacy is an easy example of scale and object interaction along with crazy physics that you didn't just see but you made. the PS2 Ace Combat trilogy on gameplay and cinematics, MGS2 and 3 on gameplay and cinematics. turnbased RPGs didn't have much to improve on beyond visuals but action RPGs were able to become a genre that could exist (see: KH) and the concept of freely moving around in combat became real between Tales of Symphonia, Abyss, and Star Ocean 3 (which wasn't a good game otherwise but hey).

oh yeah, can't forget the importance of storage either. between DVDs and yes, even the Gamecube's mini discs, the increased storage helped a ton. the generations after are definitely a case of diminishing returns but that's because it was the 6th gen that managed to reach a level where things worked as opposed to trying to figure out.