5 Gorgeous 2D Games

kukyfrope writes "With the advancement of technology, it's rare to play a game that doesn't incorporate 3D graphics. While 3D games are great, classic 2D side-scrollers are beautiful in their own way. GameDaily takes a look at what they believe to be the top 5 most visually striking 2D games, with less text and more screenshots because words don't do these games justice."

Best looking 2D game ever...

[LLuthor]

has got to be the Worms series. Since Worms 2, the Worms series has been visually fantastic, and the gameplay is second to none. Its simply a great game, in every way.

Not to mention the fact that even years after its release lots of cool online matches can be found in minutes, since the gamer community likes it so much.

(Oh and, Worms 3D is even sexier)

Hrumph

[shoolz]

I'm really, really surprised that Out of This World (aka Another World) [wikipedia.org] wasn't on that list.

5 pages

[nEoN nOoDlE]

5 games, 5 pages to load. These types of crappy banner-whore pages are sprouting up like crazy these days, and it's the most annoying thing since pop-ups. Does user experience mean nothing anymore? I'd rather have a banner between each of the games than put up with having to click through and load 5 pages

Fun vs Flashy

[Original Replica]

this article reminded me of Chu Chu Rocket, a prime example of a game that was great fun, but lacked all of the high end graphics or complexity of most modern games. Simple can be wonderful.

xenon II

[thelost]

I remember actually salivating over Xenon II [gamespy.com] for the Amiga. That and a few other Amiga games such as Shadow of the Beast were and will always be the most gorgeous games I've ever played. I also remember seeing the mode 7 fx in Contra wars for the snes, the first time the plane zoomed over. Pant wettingly good at the time.

Lumines, in the top 5?

[The Eagle Maint]

The page is slashdotted so I can't read the article itself, but after looking at the games on the list I have to ask how they could include Lumines but not a Castlevania game? The GBA Castlevania games (and the more recent, and equally excellent looking Castlevania: Dawn of Sorrow for the DS) are really very polished, with smooth animation and a lot of artistic detail. Lumines was great and all, but I really think there are more deserving alternatives for good looking 2d games.

Lemmings

[Kamineko]

I think the visuals of Lemmings (Amiga) are beautiful, perfectly suited to the gameplay and executed flawlessly.

Where's Gish?

[skjef]

Fluid physics and dynamic lighting FTW.

Screenshots [chroniclogic.com].

All right, I guess.

[Eideewt]

I don't see the point of an article listing five nice looking 2d games. "Here are five games we think look nice! Yay!"

Whoever these guys are, I'm really not impressed that they can think up five nice looking games. On that note, here's a few I like: Gish, Commander Keen, Rayman, and the Fallout series. Hey, you didn't even have to click through five pages to read my list.

Re:5 pages

[Anonymous Coward]

I do something similar (not quite as bad) on my site simply because google won't allow more than 3 of their ads on a single page.

That's for a reason. How many fucking Google ads do you think you deserve?

How about RPG titles?

[chadruva]

RPG titles had awesome 2D graphics back in the SNES days, like FF3. How about Chrono Trigger?, this one even had a mini racing game that was 3D like (camera movements), graphics and gameplay blended very well on those games, I hope square-enix keeps producing quality titles.

Re:Best looking 2D game ever...

[7Prime]

Worms 3D is a completely different game, and yes, Worms 3D is not good. The series you are missing are 3 games built on the Worms 2 engine: Worms 2, Worms Armeggedon, and Worms World Party (which is simply Armeggedon with a few extra goodies). But I've played the original worms as well, and unsurprisingly, it can't compete with the Worms 2 series, either in graphics or in gameplay, but hey, it was a great start, which ended up producing one of the best hotseat party games ever. Are there plans to release it on DS, because that would be PERFECT.

"In their own way"?!?!

[ClamIAm]

"While 3D games are great, classic 2D side-scrollers are beautiful in their own way."

You know what? Fuck you. There have been many 2-D games that are absolute graphical masterpieces compared to whatever bullshit L33t-D00dz-3D pushes out to cash in on the post-Playstation poly whores. If you have to put a qualifier in to try and pidgeonhole something, just leave the discussion. You're not adding anything.

Sometimes the opposite

[Rayonic]

Excellent point, but a lot of the time older games were *more* complicated to control than their modern counterparts. Convoluted menus, awkward control schemes, or just tons of mapped keys. I'll throw out a few examples.

System Shock 1 -> System Shock 2
Dune II -> Warcraft 3
Nethack -> Diablo
TES: Daggerfall -> TES: Oblivion
Wasteland -> Fallout
Text Adventures -> Graphical Adventures (w/ icons)

I'm not "hating" on older games, but you must admit that the older ones I listed are more complicated to control than the newer ones.

Where is...

[-kertrats-]

Viewtiful Joe?

What about the 2D shmups!?

[Anonymous Coward]

Where are the shmups?

Darius (Arcade), Thunderforce 4 (Genesis/Megadrive), Radiant Silvergun (Arcade/Saturn)...

Where are the adventure games?

[TheBiGW]

Monkey Island 2? Sam N Max? Day of the Tentacle? Etc. Superb animation and locations even today. I'd definitely have put those in there above Lumines.

Re:shameless plug

[theantix]

There's no version for Linux. That makes me a sad penguin.

Dude, I'm a linux desktop user myself. But are you really surprised that an independent shop doesn't put out a Linux version of their first game? I assume they are trying their damndest to put out a great game that reaches out to the largest possible audience because of limited scope. Hell, most studios with huge budgets don't bother to put out Linux versions of stuff, yet you expect the small guys to bend over backwards for the two of us who use Linux at home?

I have a dream!

[goodenoughnickname]

Worms Armageddon introduced the ability to switch to higher resolutions. I always think how awesome that is -- high-res 2D! I want a next-gen game to coin 2DHD, so pussy developers have a new genre umbrella to work under. That way maybe, just maybe, we'll get some new 2D games instead of all these mutated offspring of Mario 64. Then people will catch on that 2D isn't all that bad, that we just forgot about it like animatronics, both lost in the 1990's wet-dream of "3D". 3D is the real enemy here! Nvidia and ATI will introduce Vector Processing into their video cards, and we'll be able to play high-res, fullscreen Flash games on low-end systems. And then Team 17 will pick its head up from the mound of 3D cocaine they've been snorting and say, "What have we been doing with our lives? Let's get to work on the best Worms game ever! High resolution graphics, tons of effects; the first of many! Thank you Slashdot post!"


...Awww, who am I kidding? 2D games have gone the way of voxels. Rest in peace, little buddies, I love ya.

Re:Oddworld

[Anonymous Coward]

Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island is 2d using 2d sprites, it happens to be also the most powerful game on the SNES. As for the other, Yoshi's Story, it is a 2d Polygon game.