AuthorTopic: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread  (Read 105654 times)

Offline Cyangmou

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Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

on: April 08, 2017, 11:02:42 am
I decided to start this thread that we have a place to show off some awesome pixel art featured in released games throughout the years. Since games are limited by production restrictions and not all assets tend to look equally good, I want to have a place where we can just share some of our favorite bits.

If you post here, please upload the images via an imagehoster and don't crosslink directly out of the web.
I personally use my abload.de account, bc. those images most likely won't vanish for a long time.

Gameart is fairly different than lllustrations, because those artworks are made with a ton of restrictions.
Maybe they are forced in a "playable" perspective, are made out of repeating tiles, or in case of portraits they are limited by lighting or angles - nonetheless there is game-artwork around which are great, or you have a personal attachment to.
Maybe you simply liked the game, or just the feeling of a particular area of the game.
Just share the stuff you really like  ;D

Rules:
-art posted should be pixel art, or close to pixel art (slight 3D in the background of screenshots, soft light gradients etc. don't matter, but if you really want to show off some HD2D art or other references, please but them in SPOILERS

-Images posted should be sharp pixel art preferably gifs and pngs without artifacts. JPGs are kinda ok too post, but if you do so please state that you haven't found a sharp image

-Images posted should have been featured in released games! (single Mockups and Proof-of-Concept artpieces not featured in game shouldn't get posted)

-please state the game, the platform and the release year, so that everybody knows what game the art is from. It also would be cool if you could name the area, or the character name.

-you may share why you think a certain piece of artwork is great, and maybe post reference material or stories. Since art is influenced by taste, try giving others a glimpse of what you appreciate- this could make the thread much more interesting.


In order to kick this off I posted a few images and tried to come up with a template for how I imagine this thread should continue:


Game: Sword of Mana (action RPG)
Release Year: 2003
Platform: Gameboy Advance

Cascade Caves Bossroom:



What I always particularly liked about this place just were the colors.
In this particular room the game changed from it's topdown view into something more reminiscent of old arcade sidescrollers, with much bigger setpieces and a lot more depth to it and I think it's just looking breathtaking.

Game: Castlevania Symphony of the Night (action adventure)
Release Year: 1997
Platform: Playstation

Catacomb Cells



Most likely my favorite area in the whole game, probably because it's painting-wise on a completely different level than 90% of the other areals. I just love the subtle color changes in it, the attention to values and the texturing. The whole setting and setup also heavily reminded me of a of chapter 53 of Berserk.




Game: Fire Emblem: The Sacred Stones (Turn-Based Strategy)
Release Year: 2004
Platform: Gameboy Advance

Cyclops Critical attack



For this one I personally liked the menacing design of this opponent (he is about 2-3 times as big as your normal units), and the whole anatomy and weight to the animation. I never have been a huge fan of his weapon, but I think the character sprite an animation are just perfect.
« Last Edit: April 08, 2017, 11:16:50 am by Cyangmou »
"Because the beauty of the human body is that it hasn't a single muscle which doesn't serve its purpose; that there's not a line wasted; that every detail of it fits one idea, the idea of a man and the life of a man."

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Offline 0xDB

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #1 on: April 08, 2017, 03:54:31 pm
Game: Lionheart (platform hack'n'slash) by Thalion Software
Release Year: 1993
Platform: Amiga (OCS, ECS)

No custom screenshots as I feel no urge to play it again but have a video of the whole thing...

Amiga Longplay by World of Longplays (pretty crisp at 480p):


Was not a huge fan of the gameplay itself(still plays ok) but those pixels are tasty from start to finish. Some of the best the Amiga platform ever had to offer.

Further info & legal disk image download at the Thalion Webshrine.

Offline 0xDB

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #2 on: April 08, 2017, 08:02:43 pm
Game: Flashback (platform action adventure) by Delphine Software
Release Year: 1992
Platform: Amiga (OCS, ECS)

Amiga Longplay by adalsgaard:


This game was tough, never completed it myself(not without cheating) but loved it for the smooth animations and the dystopian sci-fi setting (the sequel on PC "Fade To Black" was great too but was not pixel art anymore).

Offline 0xDB

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #3 on: April 08, 2017, 08:31:14 pm
Game: Park Patrol (Arcade) by Tony Ngo
Release Year: 1984
Platform: C64

C64 Longplay by AL82:


Always liked the clean and simple efficiency in those minimalist cartoon pixels and that little water trail effect is just lovely.

Offline Ryumaru

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #4 on: April 11, 2017, 06:48:16 am
Nothing new, but my two main inspirations currently are Sword of Mana and Kakurenbo Battle Monster Tactics.

Game: Sword of Mana (action RPG)
Release Year: 2003
Platform: Gameboy Advance



There's a lot of genius going on in the floor tiles here, and the art in general seems to have a precursory knowledge of pixel clusters, so I look to it often as a way modern "good" pixel art games might could look like.



A small but clever trick, palette changes on the walls in this cave increase visual variety.

Game: Kakurenbo Battle Monster Tactics
Release Year: 2000
Platform: Gameboy Color








Mostly just enjoy this game for the gorgeous portrait work. Let me know if you find better 4 color per tile 32x32 portraits than these because I'd like to see them.

Offline yaomon17

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #5 on: April 11, 2017, 09:50:33 am
Game: Mega Man Xtreme
Platform: GB/GBC  October 20, 2000
 


It is done in 4 colors. It looks nice.
« Last Edit: April 11, 2017, 09:53:20 am by yaomon17 »

Offline wolfenoctis

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #6 on: April 12, 2017, 11:43:30 am
Game: Garou: Mark of the Wolves
Release Year: 1999
Platform: Arcade

Always admired these:




Also appreciating the technical lengths the early developers had to go to in order to produce pixel art graphics (video might be interesting to some):
« Last Edit: April 12, 2017, 11:45:14 am by wolfenoctis »

Offline Cyangmou

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #7 on: April 17, 2017, 02:23:30 pm
Game: Beyond Oasis
Release Year: 1994
Platform: Mega Drive

This  is the oldest game I know of which falls pretty much in line with the modern "cluster approach" of pixel art, and despite some dithering here and there the whole thing is scaringly similar to a lot of techniques displayed in current pixel works.

Interestingly enough this game already used quite a high resolution for their assets and generally feels really clean and colorful and while this prodction is kind of pioneering many things so commonly seen today, and there are already so many great choices evident, that it's just worth to take a look.

I made a collection with various backgrounds:

"Because the beauty of the human body is that it hasn't a single muscle which doesn't serve its purpose; that there's not a line wasted; that every detail of it fits one idea, the idea of a man and the life of a man."

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Offline goatmeal

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #8 on: April 20, 2017, 10:24:21 pm
Game: Alundra
Release Year: 1997
Platform: PlayStation

One of the first games I've ever played. I used to rent this game when I was a kid and I always enjoyed the art, but couldn't appreciate it to the extent I do today.

Just a very visually pleasing game to look at. Very moody, very depressing, but very good.

Offline 0xDB

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #9 on: April 20, 2017, 10:31:17 pm
Game: Battle Bugs (puzzle strategy)
Release Year: 1994
Platform: PC(DOS)

What I loved most about this game were the in-game unit animations but so far I only managed to rip the unit-description-cards which were stored in an ancient 16 color planar mode. Took me all day to figure that out so might as well post them here:


Through the magic of in-browser emulation, it's possible to play this gem of a game over there (https://classicreload.com/battle-bugs.html) to check out the whole user interface which is full of charming little details in all screens.

Offline WhiteFalcon

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #10 on: April 28, 2017, 10:29:59 am
Ok, registerd now just to share the love of game pixel art :-) I have always been fascinated by what people can do with a couple of colors and a little pixel space. Starting my journey in the 8bit era through lots of MS-DOS PC games, I would have tons of examples I love, so I have to limit myself to just a few. Quite difficult really as there are so many old games with amazing pixel graphics..

PS.: I am no artist by any means, more into music production and partly programming, so I have no idea what I am talking about here ;-) Some are my captures, but most of them found on the web.

Simon the Sorcerer (PC)


Can't but love pixel gfx of nature - meadows, trees, stones, the sky.. all is enchanting here.

Legend of Kyrandia: Book One (PC)



Nostalgia plays a large role here, true, one of the most influential games in my childhood. But still, the scenery, the light&shadow, I just purred with delight :-)

Eye of the Beholder 2 (PC)



Again by Westwood, they seemed to handle 320x200 with <256 colors so well!

Okay, enough now, dont want to be accused of spamming.

Offline Storyteller

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #11 on: May 04, 2017, 11:18:40 pm
Breath of Fire 4.
While BoF3 was absolutely professional, and a playable cartoon; BoF4 was a work of art. The colors used in the desert areas at the beginning, the sprites, the amount of motion and life each character had, the mix between hand painted and seeming tilemap work on the pseudo 3d maps (desert cliffs), the pixel art textures used in the full 3d areas. Excellence in pixel art that used very simple 3d effects almost seamlessly with the 2d.

Offline Crow

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #12 on: May 10, 2017, 02:23:24 pm
Breath of Fire 4.
While BoF3 was absolutely professional, and a playable cartoon; BoF4 was a work of art. The colors used in the desert areas at the beginning, the sprites, the amount of motion and life each character had, the mix between hand painted and seeming tilemap work on the pseudo 3d maps (desert cliffs), the pixel art textures used in the full 3d areas. Excellence in pixel art that used very simple 3d effects almost seamlessly with the 2d.

Please add some images :-\
Discord: Ennea#9999

Offline Parkerbaby

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #13 on: May 22, 2017, 05:03:30 pm
----Quest for Glory I and II, before the addition of hundreds of colors caused the art to look blurry and indistinct. ----

Quest for Glory I: So You Want to be a Hero


Quest for Glory II: Trial by Fire


---Artwork by Eric Chahi----

Future Wars


Out of this World


Offline MAVW

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #14 on: May 22, 2017, 06:46:28 pm
Game: Final Fantasy Tactics
Release Year: 1997
Platform: Playstation

I have a strange relationship with FFT, I've tried playing it many times but never got used to the camera, it always felt awkward (even though I've played a lot of Disgaea and jeanne d'arc).

FFT is a great game but I think what really draws my interest the most is akihiko yoshida's art, that's one of those times that I realize the gargantuous gap of skill.
The characters have a very narrow palette of skin/ground tones and even the colorful details have a touch of sepia to it as well, combine that with a huge forehead and not having a nose (lots of free space). Normally you'd think that those parameters would lead to a very boring piece but not in this case.
I think this is a prime example of knowing exactly what emotions you want and how to convey them on your piece.


Offline 7Soul

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #15 on: May 31, 2017, 07:36:06 pm
Posting these because someone had to

Metal Slug 1



Metal Slug 3



Metal Slug X

Offline Runensucher

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #16 on: June 19, 2017, 12:30:37 pm
For some reason the first game that came to my mind as I red this was "Super Mario Land 3: Wario Land". And my memory hasn't tricked me.
There are some areas that look a little emtpy, but others really look good.



« Last Edit: June 19, 2017, 12:42:15 pm by Runensucher »

Offline PypeBros

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #17 on: June 27, 2017, 08:56:18 pm
Shantae on DSi


Frogatto & Friends


Ziggy


Fury of the Furries
- -

And I loved the art of the original Rayman but it's actually not really using pixel art.

Offline surt

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #18 on: June 29, 2017, 10:01:02 am
Ziggy
Know it from PJ way back, never realized that this was an actual game. Search led to your blog which led to TIGS thread, but link to game is dead.  :(
« Last Edit: June 29, 2017, 10:20:18 am by surt »

Offline PypeBros

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #19 on: June 29, 2017, 08:50:10 pm
Know it from PJ way back, never realized that this was an actual game. Search led to your blog which led to TIGS thread, but link to game is dead.  :(
I think it was a 2-worlds demo. Nicely put together, but lacking something that makes you feel the urge to come back to the game, if you ask me. Have you tried to use archive.org on the location where the file should be ?

Offline Cloderick

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #20 on: July 08, 2017, 11:36:44 pm
Shantae on DSi

Never thought i could find something i dont like about Henk's work but i think i find in this one.
I think there's more AA than it needs in the rocks on the ground tiles.It looks blurry in my opinion.

What you guys think?
(sorry if i shouldn't make criticism in this topic)

Offline surt

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #21 on: July 09, 2017, 12:21:15 am
I'm sure that image has been downscaled with filtering.
You can see colour blending between elements of different layers.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2017, 12:57:56 am by surt »

Offline eishiya

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #22 on: July 09, 2017, 12:28:18 am
That image is downscaled, so it looks softer than it is. Full-size from his website.
In any case, I'm not sure that image belongs here - as far as I can tell, that area exists only as a mock-up and isn't in any of the games.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2017, 12:36:22 am by eishiya »

Offline fskn

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #23 on: July 21, 2017, 07:25:12 pm
Game: Batman: Return of the Joker (action platformer)
Release Year: 1991
Platform: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Developer: Sunsoft












Beautiful backgrounds throughout the whole game, using every trick in the book from animated backgrounds to pseudo parallax with skillfully crafted tiles in a tightly restricted console.

Although it looks more like a Contra-like or Shatterhand high-tech action setting with a Batman theme slapped onto it.

« Last Edit: October 30, 2017, 12:11:46 pm by fskn »

Offline 7Soul

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #24 on: August 26, 2017, 07:59:06 pm

Offline API-Beast

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #25 on: October 11, 2017, 11:38:05 am
Shouldn't forget The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap.


Offline prowler

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #26 on: December 21, 2017, 08:25:06 pm
A tileset I did for a shoot'em-up back in 2001 called "Rombobombo" (java based in-browser game). I don't got any fancy screenshots to provide I am afraid since I don't have the final version of the game : - )
This stage inspired by the Amiga game "Hybris" :

« Last Edit: December 21, 2017, 08:35:09 pm by prowler »

Offline Decroded

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #27 on: July 22, 2018, 11:36:16 am
Game: Beyond Oasis
Release Year: 1994
Platform: Mega Drive
...
Hey man I loved that game I played it right through and loved the gameplay.
I rly wanna get a saturn so i can play the sequel it looks so juicy
« Last Edit: July 22, 2018, 11:39:35 am by Decroded »

Offline YellowRaven

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #28 on: November 27, 2018, 12:25:59 am
Game: Moonlighter
Release date: May 2018
Developer: Digital Sun
Publisher: 11 bit studios
Mode: Single-player video game
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, Macintosh operating systems, Linux





I do wanna post a few retro titles in the future but my first choice would be Moonlighter. The game itself is amazing and the style is, imo, fantastic <3
“We all have forests on our minds. Forests unexplored, unending. Each one of us gets lost in the forest, every night, alone.” ― Ursula K. Le Guin

Offline Ai

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #29 on: December 06, 2018, 02:03:20 am
Game: Moonlighter
Art looks decent, but it's hard to tell through the upscaling (looks like about 125% upscale, with Lanczos probably since there are sharpening artefacts). Are there any unscaled screenshots available?
If you insist on being pessimistic about your own abilities, consider also being pessimistic about the accuracy of that pessimistic judgement.

Offline jordanseaward

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Re: Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

Reply #30 on: January 30, 2019, 01:41:25 pm
These have to be the most beautiful schmups around

DoDonPachi




Batsugan





Dogyuun

« Last Edit: January 30, 2019, 01:47:02 pm by jordanseaward »