GOOD looking CG sprites and backdrops

[Obiwanshinobi]

What games (other than Pulstar) had pre-rendered 2D graphics you liked? I don't like the looks of Donkey Kong Country at all, but what struck me recently was how charming Baku Baku Animal looks in motion (Saturn, CRT, RGB, that is; not sure about the PC port). Space Bomber is another one that makes me wonder what could have been had 2D graphics evolved in this direction.
Oh, surely I have a soft spot for Sanitarium, Fallout 1&2, Planescape: Torment and the likes, but what I'm after are your choices off the beaten path. I know some people think Viewpoint or later Cave game first, but I always thought the former looked just nice and the latter looked a bit meh.
Oh yes, Silpheed for the Sega/Mega CD had an epic presentation.

[shmuppyLove]

Blazing Star has some rad CG sprites, definitely my favourite.

[GaijinPunch]

All Cave shooters post Ketsui save DSII.

I think Sapphire was the first to wow people, for the record. At home anyway, definitely.

[Moniker]

Hardly off the beaten path, but I always liked the sprites from the Diablos. Also that diablo clone Nox - only successful diablo clone, IMO. The other Infinity Engine games (eg Baldur's Gate) are of course awesome.

Other than those, I suppose the Oddworld games did it very well - a couple other PSX 2D platformers as well, although I can't remember names offhand. For pre-rendered backdrops, all the PSX Square games are pretty drool-worthy.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

FF7 was the first one to wow me, that and the claymation of Neverhood, theres probably lots of other point and clickers that have really great pre-renders

Edit Fuck how could we forget Myst

[shmuppyLove]

Edit Fuck how could we forget Myst

Easily ... please ... forget it

[Ed Oscuro]

Riven, then.

[Mortificator]

The sprites of Killer Instinct and the backgrounds of The Temple of Elemental Evil.

[CIT]

Best:
Soukyugurentai
early Resident Evil games (backgrounds)
Cave shooters

Worst:
Angel Eyes

I think Sapphire was the first to wow people, for the record. At home anyway, definitely.

Donkey Kong Country came out at least a year prior to that, and I remember I thought it looked pretty cool (...back then).

[Obiwanshinobi]

Another World/Out of this World (and its 15th Anniversary Edition).

[mesh control]

King of Fighters XIII?

Not sure if that's prerendered, but it looks awesome.

SH-3 Cave games have kinda ugly backgrounds. DFK stage 3 i'm looking at youuuuuu

[null1024]

King of Fighters XIII?
Not sure if that's prerendered, but it looks awesome.

IIRC, that's hand rotoscoped over 3D models. So, CG sure, but massively cleaned up by hand.

[Ed Oscuro]

early Resident Evil games (backgrounds)

As opposed to Zero and REmake?

[Obiwanshinobi]

Somebody somewhere else on the internet also claimed to like the original RE's backgrounds better than the remake's...

[Drum]

Clockwork Knight had pretty rad graphics.
I think Yoshi's Story made heavy use of pre-rendered cg and looks decent, though not as good as Yoshi's Island, ofc.
Were the 16 bit Sonics using cg at all? Some of the assets look pre-rendered sometimes, but also very cleanly pixelled.
Heart of Darkness, Planescape Torment, Guwange I think all pass the line where I would say they look good as opposed to 'good for pre-rendered cg'. Vectorman looks good. Unirally too.
Mischief Makers is kind of messy but it has its charms.
Abe's Oddysee/Exodus are probably at the tippy-top along with REmake/RE Zero.

[BareKnuckleRoo]

I'm gonna throw Ecstatica out here just for its unique art style. It's got pretty prerendered backgrounds but the really interesting thing is that all of the actually moving objects are made up of spheres/ovoids stuck together to make up the characters, enemies, etc. Very unique and unusual style.

It's not a great game (melee combat only, a few cheap instadeath areas if you wander into them) so it's no Silent Hill, but it was still fun for a playthrough. Apparently the sequel's got more polished gameplay.

[Drum]

Oh yeah: Ironclad and Fear Effect - both pretty good.

EDIT: Mr Bones is ok too.

[JBC]

Somebody somewhere else on the internet also claimed to like the original RE's backgrounds better than the remake's...

Probably funnier than it should be right now.

[CIT]

early Resident Evil games (backgrounds)

As opposed to Zero and REmake?

No, including those. What I meant was pre-RE4.

[shmuppyLove]

Another World/Out of this World (and its 15th Anniversary Edition).

Actually, the sprites in Another World are polygons, believe it or not. And the backgrounds are bitmaps.

[moonblood]

Blade Runner PC

[Obiwanshinobi]

Actually, the sprites in Another World are polygons, believe it or not. And the backgrounds are bitmaps.

In the Amiga original, I think the sprites are prerended bitmaps too. Pre-rendered with vectors, but not displayed as such in real time.

[Specineff]

I always thought that Valkyrie Profile's CGI backgrounds looked nice for their time.

[CIT]

I always thought that Valkyrie Profile's CGI backgrounds looked nice for their time.

Oh yeah! That's a good one.

[Ed Oscuro]

early Resident Evil games (backgrounds)

As opposed to Zero and REmake?

No, including those. What I meant was pre-RE4.

gotcha

Funny thing, I didn't recall the obvious genre connection, but I did just think of Parasite Eve.

I like that little hidden shop in Chinatown, with all the antiques on the shelves. The sewers not so much.

[Vyxx]

Yoshi's story and the DKC series.

[Austin]

The original Killer Instinct arcade game. Still looks awesome today.

[Hagane]

Dragon Blaze and Valkyrie Profile look great IMO.

[cj iwakura]

Kind of expected more screens in this, like the KOF backgrounds one... ah well.


Parasite Eve's were pretty nice. Fear Effect has some neat ones, too.





Blends into FMVs and all that. Great game as well.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Kind of expected more screens in this, like the KOF backgrounds one... ah well.

Well, my main reason to start this - Baku Baku Animal - looks good in a way hard to depict as stills, or even YouTube vids. There's some pretty good animation there, hella better than Abe's Odyssey or Heart of Darkness (good looking games overall).