Let's gush about cel-shaded video games

[Ronnie]

Gravity Rush 2 is gorgeous!

Shout out to Guilty Gear Xrd and Dragon Ball FighterZ for unique cel-shading techniques.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Ronnie

[OakTree]

A little unrelated: There are rumours that due to the profits of it's mobile games and of KOFXIV, that SNK is making a sequel to Neo Geo Battle Coliseum and that it will use a visual style that tries to be similar to Guilty Gear Xrd.

I really hope it's true, SNK has made some of my favorite fighting games ever and to see their next big comeback game (Since KOFXIV, while great, was a little lukewarm in it's reception) be rendered in such a gorgeous style would be insane.

Anyway, when it comes to the topic at hand: I. Love. Okami. It's my favorite game of all time and i could spend hours writing poorly-written walls of text on why i love it so much, and like many, the gorgeous looks of are one of my favorite parts of the game, the use of cel-shading to emulate thick brushes is fantastic and adds so much to the mythical and folktale-esque tone the game goes for, this game is just a feast for the eyes:

[TheGoodHoms]

You can't just give Guilty Gear Xrd a simple shout out, you've gotta give them a taste of the incredible, jaw dropping, mind blowing, anime fighting game heavy metal greatness!

In all seriousness cel-shading is one of the best visual styles there is for a video game. I always get excited when I see it pop up in a good looking game.

[Ken Masters]

 

Not a comic stripe, this is Madworld baby! Sucks that it was made for the Wii, but the game aesthetics are amazing. Very similar to Sin City

[Zera]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cel-shaded_video_games
I'm surprised no one included Wind Waker; it's practically obligatory. Cel-shading FTW.

[Locke087]

1 hour ago, Zera said:

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cel-shaded_video_games
I'm surprised no one included Wind Waker; it's practically obligatory. Cel-shading FTW.

It is in there just look under T 

Anyway here is good one people haven’t already mentioned. This game is so beautiful. I love Gravity Rush and Okami too.

Ni No Kuni: Wraith of the White Witch

[Zapp Branniglenn]

Borderlands, No More Heroes, and MadWorld. Even if these aren't your cup of tea, there was definitely a stigma that cel shaded was only for "baby games" with cute characters and family friendly objectives. Then these three come out with positively ugly characters and tons of blood and gore violence. You gotta admire the bold artistic drive in subverting those expectations.

Plus I gotta shout out Sly Cooper. When Conker: Live and Reloaded came out, we thought this was the future of how animals would look in video games. But Cel shaded art worked to Sly Cooper's benefit since they knew an enemy's flashlight could be used to represent their cone of vision precisely for the player. Plus a lot of the levels in the original had torches that dynamically illuminated the surrounding walls according to the flame's flicker. Though if I recall, it wasn't impressive enough to also represent the shadows of other objects moving past the flame. 

Edit: Oops, I thought I remembered the Conker remake coming out in 2002 just like Sly Cooper, but a quick search reveals that was all the way in 2005.

Edited November 28, 2017 by Glennstavos

[Ronnie]

Great picks so far. Very pretty games that have been mentioned.

I'd also like to give praise to the Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series for looking like the anime:

and Shinobi Striker for looking like the manga:

Edited November 29, 2017 by Ronnie

[Slumber]

Dragon Quest VIII, to this day, remains the only open world JRPG that feels like a proper evolution of the JRPGs of the PS1 era. Some either felt like a side-step that didn't try to improve with the times(The PS2 Suikoden games come to mind, and going even as far as the Xbox 360 with Lost Odyssey), felt like a step back in certain ways(The linear style that FFX and XIII went with), or styled their worlds after other genres(FFXII basically using MMO-style instances for its world).

The cel-shading style makes it super nice to look at, too. It's probably up there with Okami as far as PS2 classics that have aged well.

Oh, and Wind Waker was damn near a life-changing experience for me. That game does so much with its style.

Edited November 29, 2017 by Slumber

[TheGoodHoms]

18 hours ago, Zera said:

I'm surprised no one included Wind Waker; it's practically obligatory. Cel-shading FTW.

I would have said something about Windwaker, but I figured since so many people have played or at least know the game it seamed like I really didn't need to mention it, but make no mistake, I love the Windwaker's Art just as much as anyone else.

[Tuvy]

Does Valkyria Chronicles count?