Games have been around for a long while, and they’ve made leaps and strides technologically. From the smallest number of pixels to millions of polygons, games have changed so much over the decades and have left us thinking older things, well, look old.
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Most of us aren’t experiencing old games how they’re meant to be seen, though - on a CRT TV. Plenty of old games weren’t meant to be seen in a pixel-perfect way, making them seem muddier and less detailed than they are. A lot of the time, games really do look as good as you remember.
10Crash Bandicoot
One of the early video game platformer mascots,Crash Bandicoothas become an inseparable part of gaming culture alongside characters like Sonic, Mario, and Spyro. There are a great many games, too, coming back strong after a long hiatus with It’s About Time.
The original game was a pioneer in the genre, too, featuring locked camera angles, precision jumping, and wacky antics, though it looks decidedly jagged by modern conventions. At the time, though, a CRT screen would have smoothed out those edges, giving the world and characters a much softer, more cohesive look.
9Street Fighter 2
Seen as one of the greatest fighting games ever made,Street Fighterhas a prestigious legacy, and Street Fighter is still often seen as the greatest entry in the series. It has a great cast of characters, as well as immaculate art.
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When many games were transitioning to 3D, Street Fighter had hit its stride with sprites. The incredible detail in the animations is still hard to match, especially in their own 3D games. A CRT only takes this further, making all the various moves and combat as a whole flow that much cleaner into each other.
8PS1 Final Fantasy
In the 90s, many games started the transition to 3D with the increased power of modern consoles, withFinal Fantasytaking the hybrid approach of pre-rendered backgrounds with 3D characters overlayed. This style was used for each of the PS1’s entries.
Nowadays, this style looks rightly awful with sharp blocky characters walking on very detailed flat images, though this is a result of how these games have been ported. In their original form, a CRT blended the blocky characters with the more fuzzy background, adding more detail that’s lost in modern releases.
7Sonic The Hedgehog
The originalSonic The Hedgehogwas created as a competitor to Mario, though shortly afterward took on a distinctly different personality. Much of modern Sonic is built around breakneck speeds, though earlier games were much more focused on building up momentum.
Another achievement of the original pixel games is how they used parallax scrolling to great effect, making the games feel 3D on a flat plane. This still looks great by modern standards, though when viewed on a CRT, the layers blend more seamlessly, which is especially effective as Sonic picks up speed.
6Metal Gear Solid
Metal Gearis a series much older than many realise, originally created in 1987. That said, the Metal Gear Solid series is much more well-known as the series' transition to 3D, frequently earning it the accolade of one of the greatest stealth games ever made.
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Utilising a fixed camera angle and incredibly styled environments, Metal Gear Solid was an instant hit, and much of that style still holds up overall. With a CRT added to the mix, though, it really shines. The Codec portraits display more detail as if to match the scanlines, and it actually helps blend the pixels of Snake’s face to add some definition.
5Super Metroid
Being the birth of a genre, the originalMetroidpulls heavily from theSci-Fi horror of the 70s and 80s, creating a world that feels incredibly alien and isolated in a way unique to the period. Metroidvania’s are commonplace now, though few manage to match the atmosphere set up by the original and Super Metroid.
The original Metroid benefits greatly from a CRT, though Super Metroid gains incredible depth, too, even if its art style holds up wonderfully. Samus' suit gets more definition, and many enemies look hazy and more extraterrestrial, though best of all is how the natural look of a CRT gives it that vibe of an old VHS, bringing it closer to the Sci-Fi that inspired it.
4Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards
Following the trend that plagued just about every game on the Nintendo 64,Kirby 64was the first Kirby game on the console and the first entry in 3D as a result. Kirby is a beloved mascot of Nintendo, yet his games rarely get as much attention.
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Unlike many other Nintendo 64 titles, however, Kirby 64 instead used a 3D world but locked it to a 2D plane, giving it a unique perspective for the period. It’s slightly blocky looking on a pixel-perfect display, which is fixed on a CRT. However, a CRT also has the incredible ability to render Kirby perfectly round, as he should be.
3A Link To The Past
When looking at many older games, it can be common to say they look outdated, which is fair enough without the proper equipment to view them as intended. Many NES games get a dramatic amount of detail on a CRT, though SNES games likeA Link To The Pasthave an incredibly well-preserved art style, even aside from this.
As a result, many people think these games look good, though they are still a bit behind the curve. However, when viewing A Link To The Past through a CRT, it’s suddenly much cleaner. From something as simple as jagged edges on the title card to how grass blends with pathways are all improved, as well as the typical extra depth added to characters.
2PS1 Resident Evil
The originalResident Evilgames are often seen as some of the greatest,most frightening horror games ever made, and with good reason. The original, especially, is a true fear-inducing adventure, with its Gamecube version being an incredible remake of the game.
However, all three entries on the PS1, in a similar sense to Final Fantasy, look massively pixelated on modern displays, lacking any defined features. When viewed on a CRT, these pixels start bleeding together, the different shades adding detail to characters and backgrounds and making them appear much more seamless together.
1Castlevania Symphony Of The Night
The other half of Metroidvania,Castlevania, is as beloved for its gothic castles and exploration as it is for its characters. It helped create a genre and looked great doing it. Symphony of the Night, in particular, is striking, shooting the series to new heights.
Symphony of the Night is often one of the leading examples of how modern ports and emulations lack the detail of the originals through the medium they are viewed. The detail of character portraits, how light blends into backgrounds, and the most famed examples of Dracula’s gleaming red eyes.
