Older games that aged well. (strictly talking about graphics)

[munx13]

Battlefield 1942

Spoiler

 

[Skops]

Battlefield 2 still looks pretty decent.

 

[Skops]

No one said Crysis yet? Huh.
Remember it's 4 years old by now.
Still haven't seen more awe-striking graphics.

Battlefield 3 absolutely trumps Crysis now.

Yeah, I soppose this is somewhat true... You know, when you're not being blinded by the sun, flashlights, car lights, laser sights, not being suppressed by LMG fire, not dizzied by nearby explosions... Sure when you can SEE the game looks great, too bad the game finds everyway it possibly can to make sure you can't see.

 

[F'Angus]

I think the Oddworld ps1 games have aged pretty well. The graphics are still quite good. Especially in the cutscenes. But the in game graphics were also good.

EDIT:

Abe's oddysee still looks gorgeous. Why am I the first to mention this one?

Darn Ninja'd

But yeah I agree.

 

[Cowabungaa]

Games made during the height of the 2D era still hold up extremely well today I think. Examples being the gorgeous Legend of Mana:

And Planescape: Torment:

Just goes to show that, when you choose your art direction carefully and really put a lot of effort into that, your game can survive through the ages.

due to how awsome the source engine is...half life 2

It's still sorta funny how Half Life 2 manages to create characters that feel a lot more alive and have a lot more emotions than, say, The Witcher 2, one of the most graphically advanced games we have.

Battlefield 1942

Spoiler

And people complain about brown games today... See folks, they're from all eras.

 

[Gluzzbung]

World of Warcraft. People somehow think the graphic are bad and, while the graphic are inferior to other, modern games, the environments look beautiful and the graphics have a distinct style about them that can't be match by any other game.

 

[Vivi22]

Most of the games in the middle-to-late sprite era still hold up. There was just a bad gap about ten years ago where 3D was still catching on. There's only a few, like Mario 64, that made the limited polygon count into a style instead of being confined by it.

Have to agree with the sentiment here. By the time 3D came around the technology was already there, and had been for some time to translate some great looking 2D art styles into a game. So stuff like the SNES Final Fantasies, Chrono Trigger, Super Metroid, Super Mario World, Yoshi's Island, etc. that all had really great art direction weren't hindered by the technology of the day, while early 3D stuff was constantly bumping up against the limits of the technology of the day.

That said, there are still great looking early 3D games that are still great looking because, like you said, they had an art style that worked well within the limits of the technology. Super Mario 64 being a great example. I'd say Mega Man Legends is actually another that works well for similar reasons, and certainly the PSX era FF's, particularly IX, and the Resident Evil games all looked great and hold up fairly well all things considered, in part thanks to their use of pre-rendered backgrounds. On the PC end, stuff like the original Quake still looks good as well.

Last gen is really where 3D started to come into it's own though. Games like the PS2 Gran Turismo's, MGS2 and 3, FFXII, Prince of Persia, Silent Hill 2, 3 and 4, Persona 3, Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Jak and Daxter, Wind Waker, and a hell of a lot more still look great. And while not really 3D, I have to give a shout out to the 2D in Odin Sphere and Grim Grimoire. And of course this generation, we're no longer really facing the sort of limitations we used to. At this point, short of making a massive open world game, it's hard to push the hardware so hard that it limits the art style a company can use.

 

[Gottesstrafe]

Games that went for simple, yet stylistic choices aka your Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Tales of Phantasia, many Final Fantasy games before 7, Fire Emblem games. I was recently watching a slew of the cut scenes for Final Fantasy 6 from the PS1 era and it still surprisingly holds up well.



In the future when Nintendo releases the 30th or so The Legend of Zelda installment (we're at 20 with Skyward Sword), I wonder how The Wind Waker will fare? Certainly there were those who complained about the cel-shaded look of the game and how it made everything appear too "cartoony", but I would think it would fair better than Ocarina of Time considering its more unique stylistic direction. Even considering how spoiled my eyes have been by modern HD graphics on my PS3 and XBox 360, when I replayed the Wind Waker the graphics still held up for me. My replay of Ocarina of Time on the N64, however, lead to progressive eye strain and headaches only an hour in, and they're only 5 years apart! Thank god for the re-release on the 3DS, I mean just look at these comparisons:

Spoiler: Comparison 1

Spoiler: Comparison 2

 

[damselgaming]

Oh man, totally the PS1 Rayman. When I got my PS1 back in '97 I literally couldn't believe how pretty it was. But to follow up some previous comment Half Life 2 and it's episodes are still top notch.

 

[thespyisdead]

the thing that really amazed me, was hos the original flatout ALWAYS looked good

 

[Sombra Negra]

sonic (1991) still looks pretty sweet to my eyes. it's probably a combination of nostalgia and a bad memory but the sprites always look good to me.

X3 reunion (2005) still looks alright, too.

Spoiler

 

[Sparrowsabre7]

Any and all of the Rogue Squadrons. Project Zero II (bought it for xbox recently and was surprised how good it looks. Resident Evil 4 and REmake hold up well, in fact REmake perhaps more so. Smash Bros Melee.

 

[Scarim Coral]

Aye I agree about Fire Emblem looking better as 2D than 3D. Also what the 3D version the fight scene were slow compare to the 2D version so it feel less dynamic.

OT- Does F-Zero GX count?
For a Gamecube game, the graphic is fantastic!

Also I think Golden Sun 1 and 2 still hold out pretty well.

 

[Carnage95]

I'm a bit disappointed that no one has yet to mention Arcanum: Of Steamworks and Magick Obscura. It still looks fantastic even to this day.

 

[AlternatePFG]

Wind Waker looks just as good now as it did when it came out. Really beautiful game, it was a really wise move for Nintendo to do it cel-shaded. Still hoping for a re-release one of these days though, kind of hard to get.

 

[IrateDonnie]

Oddworld Strangers Wrath even six years later the cut-scenes still look better than a lot of newer games.

 

[babinro]

Anything with a cell shading or cartoon style will stand the test of time. Zelda Wind Waker, Vieutiful Joe, Tales of Symphonia, Warcraft 2, Diablo 2, etc.

Pretty much every NES and SNES title looks nice so long as they don't try to emulate reality or 3D.

 

[Tallim]

Heroes of Might and Magic III/IV for me. Both games had absolutely gorgeous graphics, especially so with the third installment. I really miss the old sprite graphics.

Yeah 3 looks really good still. Especially if you get the resolution patch so you can fit massive maps on your screen and make use of all those lovely pixels we didn't have when it first came out.


In a similar vein Planescape Torment still looks brilliant, even better with the resolution patch so you can see lot's more on screen.

 

[ultimateownage]

Most of the games right at the end of the 2D era have aged great.

 

[Mafoobula]

Chrono Cross, some of the best graphics and aesthetics the PS1 had to offer, as well as Legend of Dragoon. Paper Mario for the N64 looked alright, but I guess it isn't hard to make that art style look good. Half-Life, Half-Life, Half-Life. Starcraft was pretty sweet too.
Going back to the 8- and 16-bit eras, Mario ALWAYS looked good. The Sonic games were alright, but 3 had more polish than the others. Ninja Gaiden, Kirby, Contra, Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Terranigma, Seiken Densetsu 3 (Legend of Mana 3, never officially released State-side), the list goes on.
Honestly, I think the SNES games that DON'T look good would make for a far shorter list.