Pixel-Gameart Appreciation Thread

[yaomon17]

Game: Mega Man Xtreme
Platform: GB/GBC  October 20, 2000
 


It is done in 4 colors. It looks nice.

[wolfenoctis]

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):

[Cyangmou]

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:

[goatmeal]

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.

[0xDB]

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.

[WhiteFalcon]

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.

[Storyteller]

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.

[Crow]

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

[Parkerbaby]

----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

[MAVW]

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.