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From pixels to polygons: 2D game characters get a 3D facelift

Mindjack
Thursday, July 28, 2011

While people wrinkle and sag with old age, video-game characters keep looking better and better. I absolutely love retro pixel sprites, but I have to admit modern gaming technology makes everything a whole lot nicer to look at. See for yourselves in these side-by-side comparisons.


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Zelda 2: The Adventure of Link (1987) The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword (2011)

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Ghosts n’ Goblins (1985) Ultimate Marvel vs. Capcom 3 (2011)
 

Captain America and the Avengers (1991) Captain America: Super Soldier (2011)

Super Back to the Future 2 (1993) Back to the Future: The Game (2010)

Prince of Persia (1989) Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands (2010)

Final Fantasy 2 (1988) Final Fantasy 13 (2010)

Mike Tyson’s Punch-Out!! (1987) Punch-Out!! (2009)

Final Fight (1989) Super Street Fighter 4: Arcade Edition (2011)

Mortal Kombat (1992) Mortal Kombat (2011)

Metal Gear (1987) Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots (2008)

See how other game characters have evolved by clicking here.

 
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Comments (14)
Default_picture
July 28, 2011

LOL, the 8-bit Prince looks like he's fighting in his pj's :P

Mindjack
July 28, 2011

And his sword looks like...well, it just looks odd.

Ff6gast
July 28, 2011

Boy...  Solid Snake is really showing his age after they switched to HD.

Also, the Chocobo's beak seems to be shrinking exponentially with each new FF.  I'm all for the new talons, but I miss the bigger heads.

Mindjack
July 28, 2011

Snake really did grow. For his old-school look, I used a screenshot of the MSX version of Metal Gear so he wouldn't look as crappy as in the NES, but it still looks like 8-bit puke.

I never realized how freaking big the chocobo's head was in the early days. Those birds must've had powerful necks.

Pict0079-web
July 28, 2011

Snake. He's so...old. Lol.

As for the chocobo--it's just the super deformed version. Y'know, sort of like super deformed Gundam robots...ack. Must unsee.

Mindjack
July 28, 2011

Ah yes, I see what you mean. RPG characters looked funky while walking around in the world map.

Photo3-web
July 28, 2011

Great stuff as always Samir! Like Hollywood, gaming is fond of old franchises, so you'll have a never-ending list of candidates :)

Mindjack
July 28, 2011

Thanks! I figured everyone likes baby pictures, and not every character stars in a game with Babalities, so this is as close to that as we'll get.

12316_390964573856_517183856_3883870_3650368_n
July 28, 2011

We've come a long way. What will they look like 20 years from now? 

Me_new_years_eve_2010
July 28, 2011

They'll look so realistic, it will be indistinguishable from a movie!

Default_picture
July 28, 2011

Some other good visual upgrade examples are Samus from Metroid and Lara Croft. Then there are the football and baseball model upgrades.

Mindjack
August 02, 2011

Oh yeah, I forgot Lara explored the Game Boy Color. I'll keep it in mind!

Profile
August 02, 2011

That's amazing to see how far we've progressed. I'm scared for the future!

Mindjack
August 02, 2011

Sensors like Kinect will probably scan your whole body and make you the game's protagonist. I'm frightened as well.

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