8 replies to this topic

[Koh]

When an IP changes hands, it often undergoes an art style change.  As an example below, with Puyo Puyo, Compile style is very different from the style Sega would later use when acquiring the series.

 

 

 

 

 

Of course this would eventually become the definitive style for Puyo, and the Compile era is all but forgotten.  What are some games or shows where this has happened, that you noticed?  Prefer the old styles or the new styles?

Edited by Koh, 25 June 2018 - 06:42 PM.

[Alestance]

Because Puyo Puyo is a spinoff of Madou Monogatari, an old-school JRPG game that never reached the west. Weirdest thing, SEGA gained the rights to Puyo Puyo and the characters from Madou Monogatari, but not Madou Monogatari itself.

 

Now, these characters are exclusive to Puyo Puyo, and so, none of the older, grittier RPG's art design even matters.

 

Puyos are generic RPG slime enemies.

[Koh]

Yes I'm aware, hehe.  I like both styles to be honest, but I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss that high quality pixel art, especially in Puyo Puyo Sun.

[Anthus]

I'd have to mention the Donkey Kong Country property. 

 

The SNES games used rasterized CGi pixel art as we all know. It also had a style though, outside of just being computer generated. When it made the leap to the Wii, that 2D style was thrown out the window and replaced with 3D models. At first, I was hoping they'd have used 2D graphics, something more akin to the newer Rayman games, but at the the same time, there really isn't a way to effectively emulate that particular style that was born out of such an odd place between bleeding edge tech, and aging hardware limits. Any attempt to mimic that pre-rendered style may have looked awkward, imo. So the leap to 2.5D made the most sense.

 

I think the Returns games look and play great, but a small part of me wonders what they would have looked like with the old style. To be fair though, I don't think Tropical Freeze in particular would have been as good if it was locked to two planes. I know this sounds weird, since I've said before that I don't like 2.5 graphics that much but in a game like Tropical Freeze, it manages to make the level design even better, cause they actually do something interesting with that space. Games like Samus Returns, or Cave Story 3D don't need to have 3D backgrounds, cause they don't use them in any meaningful way.

 

I typed up this post really fast, and I feel like I'm forgetting something else, but g2g.

[Cukeman]

The new Sega style in your example looks like the new designs for Sonic and co. when Sonic Adventure came out. Of course Sonic didn't change companies at that point, it was just a new modern look. But that's the first thing I thought of when I saw it, maybe Sega was doing a modern redesign of that property to fit the style of other things going on in the company at the time.

[Anthus]

The new Sega style in your example looks like the new designs for Sonic and co. when Sonic Adventure came out. Of course Sonic didn't change companies at that point, it was just a new modern look. But that's the first thing I thought of when I saw it, maybe Sega was doing a modern redesign of that property to fit the style of other things going on in the company at the time.

 

Yeah, changing Sonic's design was kind of a big deal. I obviously have no proof for this, but my personal theory to why they redesigned him was cause they may not have been happy with how Classic Sonic would have looked in 3D, if he was a 1:1 recreation. Hence, the longer quills, more detailed face, and shoes, and longer limbs with a less round body. It says, "it's still Sonic, but he looks even cooler in 3D!" The Sonic doll models in Gamma's  stages strongly resemble his Sonic Jam model, which looked a bit wonky, if not still charming (like Mario 64 Mario).

 

Like I said, I'm just guessing here. This wouldn't explain why they used his Adventure design with the Advance games, other then they wanted to stay consistent with the new style.

[Jared]

I personally think of the big artwork change with A Link to the Past going from Nintendo to Capcom, with it getting that anime-ish upgrade. It was my favorite style change, with the style moving forward onto the Oracle games.

[Koh]

I'm of the opinion that the original Lara Croft design was better.

 

The first 5 Laras (6 if you count the Young Lara in the back) were when she was in the hands of Eidos.  This style, to me, was like the perfect medium of cartoonish expressionism and realism.  You could see her making some very eyebrow heavy expressions and such in the FMV cutscenes.

 

The next 3 Laras are Crystal Dynamics and their reboot.  Not bad, but definitely lost that cartoonish look to her, and is more realistic than before.

 

The last is Square Enix and their reboot.  Needless to say, any cartoonish factor was all lost here.

[TrentonMol]

 

I'm of the opinion that a VPN is necessary today and the original Lara Croft design was better.

 

 

The first 5 Laras (6 if you count the Young Lara in the back) were when she was in the hands of Eidos.  This style, to me, was like the perfect medium of cartoonish expressionism and realism.  You could see her making some very eyebrow heavy expressions and such in the FMV cutscenes.

 

The next 3 Laras are Crystal Dynamics and their reboot.  Not bad, but definitely lost that cartoonish look to her, and is more realistic than before.

 

The last is Square Enix and their reboot.  Needless to say, any cartoonish factor was all lost here.

I really like Blizzard's art style. I'm sure it's not everyone's cup of team, but it's unique in a lot of ways. Not to mention their CGI animations which are second to none.

Edited by TrentonMol, 13 October 2022 - 08:33 AM.