Sub-Zero

When discussing 2D and 3D video games, one comment that is often brought up is that "2D games stand the test of time better than 3D games." Do 2D video games really stand the test of better than 3D games?

mzupeman2

Um, in my experience they can. I think the best games of the past are infinitely more playable than even the games I love from the modern eras of gaming. I guess it's totally dependant on when you started gaming though. Everyone has their nostalgic titles that they can still play year in, year out. I'd much rather play Super Mario World again than Mass Effect Andromeda, Call of Duty, etc. And Chrono Trigger is one of the best games ever.

fujishig

Think about how dated many PS1 games look compared to, say, a Capcom side scroller or fighting game.

Also think about how dated early CGI animation looks compared to, say, Disney classics.

Drexl

I usually read these comments in regard to graphics, as pre-3D games tend to have a cartoony style that hasn't aged as poorly as the early 3D games.

But that can extend to gameplay as well, particularly in the days before the analog stick/second stick. I played Tomb Raider recently and was struck by how poorly it plays now; Lara is stiff as a board, with that feel of cycling through the animations rather than responsive control. Having to hold down a button to look around is not fun, and the clunky auto-aiming doesn't do it any favors.

mzupeman2

To be fair, that 'stiffness' on early PS1 games always bothered me. Nintendo nailed 3D movement with Mario 64 and blew a lot of those titles out of the water.

OldBoy

Is RE4 2D or 3D? What exactly denotes? I've loved the old school games, but nothing really compares to the modern ones of today. I always go for the collections for nostalgic reasons but always seem lackluster to the ones of today. I get bored by the oldies truthfully...

fumanstan

Yup, early 3D games just look miserable these days where as the art styles in a lot of 2D games can still hold up fine today.

You don't know what the difference is between a 2D or 3D game?

RichC2

I still play Super Mario Bros 1,2, and 3. I also still enjoy Mario Kart 64 and Crash Bandicoot.

Supermallet

The more stylized a game's look is, the less dated it will feel simply because games that attempt to mimic reality are going to be continually upstaged as improvements in graphics march on.

But I also agree that 2D games often handle better because you don't have to worry about moving within a 3D space.

Mike86

Older games do hold up better I think. I can still play my NES, SNES, and Genesis games and enjoy them. The more modern 3D stuff is really hit and miss. It's almost hard going back to most N64, PS, and PS2 games because they haven't aged the best in terms of graphics.

OldBoy

I really have no clue what you guys are talking about. Is MW considered a 3D game? Or is that 2D just with really awesome, realistic graphics?

mattysemo247

Jesus...

OldBoy

https://www.ukessays.com/essays/vide...d-3d-games.php

NWO4Life

Never been in this side of this site but, whoever OldBoy is? His not understanding what 2D or 3D means disturbs me. I think that I died a little.

A general 2D game is a game set on some "flat" visual plane. Think Super Mario World or you know, Super Mario Bros on the NES. Some games become a merge of the 2D and 3D planes depending on how they make it. Usually you go left to right on the plane with some going up and down to whatever the objective is. Castevania, Regular Megaman (with most X games included) and Super Metroid are other games that live on the 2D plane.

A 3D game is one where, typically, you have character control of motion of going in what direction the game lets depending on its confinement. CoD is a 3D game. MGS is a 3D game. Megaman Legends is a 3D game. You aren't confined to a flat plane like what 2D mostly was. Think 2D as images moving on a flat piece of paper and 3D as what you do in real life. Fully formed body that can go sideways and whatever else you can do based on your limitations.

Something like a fighting game now works on a 2D spectrum but some use 3D game implementations of design. Fully designed characters for their needed array of motion. And can even shift planes depending on what it does. Virtual Fighter and Tekken do this.

blah blah blah it's easy to tell what a 2D or 3D game is. I'm going to guess that OldBoy is a kid cuz I'm not sure how one doesn't know what either or is if you're an adult who has played a lot of games before.

Obey The D

I really need to find out where OldBoy gets his weed, because I didn't think it was possible to get that high. That must be top notch stuff.

mattysemo247

And Oldboy, I'm really not trying to be mean here, but is Google your Kryptonite? I can't tell if you are joking or not. You even started the other thread about all of the systems you have owned. You have been gaming since the Atari 2600 and don't know the difference between 2D and 3D?

Music

But... we don't use 3D glasses to play COD or MGS.... /Oldboy (to be fair, someone new to gaming (or somehow the 2D vs 3D games terminology) could easily get confused by "3D" games)

RichC2

Not really, it's pretty obvious what 2D vs 3D means in gaming, or The Simpsons.

Music

It may be "obvious", but not to those who are oblivious.

milo bloom

For me, "3D" games became popular in the N64/Playstation 1 era, when graphics weren't so great with pop-in and foggy backgrounds. Trying to play those games now, especially on a bigger screen, and they look like garbage.

Whereas "2D" games, even if the graphics are older, don't have those visual artifacts and it's a little easier to get back into them.

Same with the controls. Older 3D games were still trying to figure out the controls but 2D ones had it down for years by then.


I've mentioned before, hooking up my Atari 2600 to a fairly big display and the graphics are primitive, but they're all clean lines so they don't look so bad.

OldBoy

Doesn't anyone else get my confusion? When I think 3D, I think glasses and actually 3D effect. Any and every game since they were invented are 2D since we all play and watch on 2D screens. I know we're not talking 3D glasses games, thus my confusion on what an actual 3D game is...

Obi-Wanma

The graphics and controls are 3 dimensional. The graphics are not flat, and you can move in more directions than simple up down, left, right. The camera angle moves. There is depth.

mzupeman2

Sighs.

2D. It's usually strictly a side view, or from the top down. All the art is 'sprites', which is basically just animation drawn by pixels. Think of everything that moves in the game being drawn on a grid, and then each new movement you see is a new frame of animation. Think Super Mario World, Contra, etc.

3D is when the game has you, as a character, moving around models in-game that have three dimensions. Your character model itself is usually made out of there dimensions. It's not flat.

Like... seriously?

fumanstan

Music tried to rationalize it, but it's weird that any gamer who supposedly has been playing games for this long doesn't see a different when we moved from the SNES/Genesis to the N64/Playstation and beyond.

OldBoy, the 3D you're thinking of when it comes to movies, 3D glasses, or even the Nintendo 3DS is about adding depth perception for the viewer/player, opposed to the movement within the game world itself - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopic_video_game

OldBoy

Ok. I guess I understand now.