Current Events > Do you feel 2D gaming had more to give?

(+) Yeah! (+)

Imagine that 3D/Sony hadnt taken over with the ps1.

donkey Kong country, killer instinct, cruisin USA were supposed to be the future, but 3d games were beginning to come out, but they were the ugly clunky early 3d we all remember.

wouldnt an additional 2d generation have helped 3d mature so we could have had awesome 2d games (imagine DKC style graphics in a machine with ps1 or n64 power) and and better 3d games, skipping the ugly beginnings?

Yes, most people abandoned it like a dead rat.
It's one of the reasons I find it funny that younger folks nostalgia over the NES.
Those games would have ripped them apart by today's standards.

Ya, most people jumped ship for a shitty PS1 3D engine.

3D was gospel when it got going. It didn't matter if it was jank, people just didn't care about 2D. 3rd Strike was just considered okay, and took years for it to have the reputation it has.

Same with movies. They promoted the hell out of The Iron Giant, Treasure Planet, and Titan AE, but nobody gave a shit about theatrical 2D animation during this time, so they bombed.

The_shibe posted...

wouldnt an additional 2d generation have helped 3d mature so we could have had awesome 2d games (imagine DKC style graphics in a machine with ps1 or n64 power)

2D games came out on both of these consoles though.

We absolutely had not seen 2D gaming at its fullest potential once 3D gaming started taking off. It didn't matter how gorgeous or fluid the 2D game was; if it wasn't 3D, then it was "outdated". It wasn't just the general audience; even some big companies felt so at the time, too (such as Sony of America and SEGA of America).

Solar_Crimson posted...

We absolutely had not seen 2D gaming at its fullest potential once 3D gaming started taking off. It didn't matter how gorgeous or fluid the 2D game was; if it wasn't 3D, then it was "outdated". It wasn't just the general audience; even some big companies felt so at the time, too (such as Sony of America and SEGA of America).

To this day I still blame bernie stolar (who had a part in setting up SCEA before he left to shit up the sega saturn's localized releases over at sega) for laying the groundwork for sony of america's goofy policies when it comes to what games they will accept for localization that carried on as far as the PSP. (Breath of fire 3 and tales of eternia psp being passed up for NA release when sony's EU branch had no problem with the games released there).

No one ever outright said it but I swear stuff like tales of rebirth, tales of destiny PS2 and tales of destiny 2 (actual destiny 2) got skipped over because of the games using sprites with a 3D background and it took disgaea 1's break out PS2 success to finally get sony's american branch to knock it off with the 2D sprite hate.

We barely got mega man X4 on the PS1 localized back in the day (bernie stolar only really wanted 3D games to show off the power of the playstation) and they only really relented in the end because sega pre-stolar had no problem with X4 and sony did not want the PS1's game library looking too lacking in comparison.

Here is a old neogaf topic talking about some of the games that got skipped over for localization in north america because of their weird 2D thing. Only certain games like mortal kombat trilogy was made an exception, and konami probably had to bargain for something like symphony of the night being localized using metal gear solid.
https://www.neogaf.com/threads/did-scea-hinder-the-release-of-2d-games-during-the-ps1-era.931915/

Yeap, just look at the footage of Rare's original Project Dream and tell me the SNES couldn't have lasted a few more years than it did.

Cephalopods posted...

2D games came out on both of these consoles though.

they did, indeed, but the focus was overwhelmingly 3D. 2D was seen as obsolete and as something to be ignored by most gamers back then.

i still remember how the first virtua fighter had these blocky, creepy looking characters and floaty moon jumps (which is probably not related to the graphics, but still) and everybody was amazed, I honestly couldnt understand it. Meanwhile killer instinct was released and the guys from the Game Players magazine gave the game a mediocre review, even graphics-wise because even if theyre beautiful and pre-rendered, sprites are just that, sprites. I couldnt believe it. BTW they were raving about virtua fighter in the same issue.

Ulfar posted...

Yeap, just look at the footage of Rare's original Project Dream and tell me the SNES couldn't have lasted a few more years than it did.

I had that game in mind too when writing OP here. It actually looked more impressive than the first 3D project dream prototype for N64 they were coming up with. This game actually made donkey Kong country look unimpressive.

now imagine how good that project dream 2d game could have looked in the ps1 and n64!