Video games have been around for a long time now. What you might consider to b𝓡e a childhood game is now thought of as a retro title. Sheesh. The passage of time comes for all of us, and all that. Whil⛄e some games show their age and end up needing remakes to appeal to a modern audience, other games hide how old they are remarkably well.

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In most cases, this is because the game developers opted for stylized graphics, rather than aiming for ‘realistic’ ones. (I say ‘realistic’, because let’s be real, what counted for realism back in the ‘90s and 2000s is not realistic by today’s standards.) These stylised game🍨s have managed to stave off any signs of ageing and can easily be played today.

10 The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker ♌

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The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Action
Adventure
Systems
Released
March 24, 2003

WHERE TO PLAY

PHYSICAL

ESRB
E For Everyone 𒆙
Developer(s)
Nintendo EAD 🍃 💧
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
Engine
Havok
Multiplayer
𝔍 Local Multiplayer, Local Co-Op 🌜
Platform(s)
GameCube

The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker is a classic case of a heavily stylized game that favors art style over realism. Much to many fans’ dismay at🐬 the time, it introduced us to Toon L♊ink and his very cartoony world. The graphics are cel-shaded and bright, which perfectly fits the tone of this ocean-exploring adventure.

While The Wind Waker did receive an HD port for the Wii U, the Switch 2 straight ported the original GameCube title, without any enhanced textures or models, showing 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:just how well The Wind Waker has aged.

9 Okami

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Okami
Action
Adventure
Systems
Released
September 19, 2006

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

ESRB
🌜 T For Teen due to Blood and Gore, Crude Humor, Fantasy Violence, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol and Tobacco
Developer(s)
Capcom, Clover Studio
Publisher(s)
Capcom
Engine
Propriet﷽ary Engine
Platform(s)
PS4, PS3, PS2, Xbox One, Switch, Wii, PC
OpenCritic Rating
Mighty
Metascore
93

Okami’s graphical style is unlike anything ♛💟else you’ll ever play. It draws inspiration from Japanese ink-washing paintings - known as sumi-e - and uses cel-shaded graphics, which inspired the concept of the Celestial Brush.

Interestingly, the developers originally wanted to strive for more real🐠istic graphi🌼cs, but were held back by the PS2’s power, which is why they took a different approach. Hurray for the PS2’s lack of power!

Okami received an HD upgrade in 2018, but✤ th💦e original still looks great, especially for the time it was made.

8 ♒ ♎ The World Ends With You

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: The World Ends With You
Action RPG
Systems
Released
July 27, 2007

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

ESRB
☂ T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes
Engine
Unity
Multiplayer
☂ Lo💃cal Co-Op
How Long To Beat
25 Hours

While you can play a HD version of The World Ends With You on Nintendo Switch, the Nintendo DS version looks and plays just as well as it did when it launched in 2007 - that’s to say, it looks great.

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The street-fashion-inspired charact🐬er designs were made by Tetsuya Nomura and Gen Kobayashi, and the angular style of the Shibuya backdrops was thought up by art director Takayuki Ohdachi. The DS version holds up spectacul💟arly well and still looks exactly as it was intended to, almost 20 years later.

The only benefit to playing the Final Remix v💯ersion is the addition of the A New Day episode, though you can also just watch that elsewhere after.

7 The Woಌlf Among Us

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: The Wolf Among Us
Released
October 14, 2013

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

ESRB
M for Mature: Blood and Gore, Drug Reference, Intense Violence, Partial Nudity, Sexual Themes, Strong Language, Use of Tobacco ♛ ▨
Engine
ꦛ Telltale Tool 🍨
Franchise
the wolf am🐓ong us
Platform(s)
PS4, PS3, PS Vita, Xbox One, Xbox 360, PC, Android, iOS
OpenCritic Rating
Strong
How Long To Beat
10 Hours

Acting as a prequel to the comic book series Fables by Bill Willingham, The Wolf Among Us was developed by Telltale Game, renowned for its stylized graphics and episodic releases. 𝕴The Wolf Among Us uses a visual style inspired by comic books, with character ♑models and backgrounds having thick, black outlines.

Unlike other games in the 2010s, The Wolf Among Us (and Telltales’ other success story, The Walkin♛g Dead) wasn’t aiming for realism, which is what made it stand out all the more. Aside from some expected gameplay jank, you can play The Wolf Among Us today and it’ll look just as incredible as it did in 2013.

6 Jet Set Ra🌊dio

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Jet Set Radio
Platformer
Sports
Systems
Released
October 31, 2000
ESRB
ꦗ T For Teen due to Lyrics, Mild Violence
Developer(s)
💟 Smilebit, BlitWorks

Publisher(s)
Sega
Franchise
𒉰 Jet Set Radio

As Jet Set Radio launched in 2000 and was very ambitious with its open 3D world concept, you’d think that experimental approach would leave it with some blemishes 25 years on. However, Jet Set Radio still l🦂ooks incredible, and that’s all thanks to the cel-shared graphics the team opted for.

Similar to The World Ends With You, Jet Set Radio’s developers took inspiration from Tokyo’s city street❀s, Shibuya and Shinjuku specifically. Thick lines were also used on models to highlight them specifically where needed. The overall stylization and decision to use cel-shaded graphics has allowed Jet Set Radio to stand as a pinnacle o༒f artistic design, even two and half decades later.

5 ♓ 🤪 LittleBigPlanet

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: LittleBigPlanet
Platformer
Systems
Released
October 27, 2008
ESRB
ꦿ Everyone // Comic Mischief, Mild Cartoon Violence ꩲ
Developer(s)
🐼𓆏 Media Molecule

Publisher(s)
♎ 🏅 Sony Computer Entertainment
Multiplayer
Online Multiplayer, Local♓ Multiplayer
Sequel(s)
ꦯ LittleBigPlanet 2
Number of Players
1-4
Local Co-Op Support
Yes
How Long To Beat
9 hours

In LittleBigPlanet, the playable character, Sackboy, is a knitted rag doll you can dress up and personalise, but the world you play in is where things got really creative. Each level has a specific theme, and the stylized approach to the graphics makes it feel like you could be exploring a children’s book come ꦛto life.

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While LittleBigPlanet had subsequent sequels,🌠 there’s no denying the first game has aged very gracefully. Its inherent dedication to being whimsical and child-like has given it everything it needs to stay looking incredible as 🌳the years go on.

4 Phoen🗹ix Wrighꦐt: Ace Attorney

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Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney
Adventure
Visual Novel
Systems
Released
October 12, 2001

ESRB
t
Developer(s)
Capcom Production St𝄹udio 4 ℱ
Publisher(s)
Capcom
Engine
Unity
How Long To Beat
18 Hours

Okay, Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney is a lot closer to a visual novel than most other games, but you can’t deny how well the original has aged, despite the🅘re being enhanced HD versions available.

I pla🌳yed the DS version last year, and it holds up exceptionally wel🦩l in terms of graphics, gameplay, and narrative. There’s pretty much nothing to scrutinize about its environmental design and character models. You can’t age much better than this.

3 🌱 Paper Mario

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Paper Mario
Systems
Released
February 5, 2001
ESRB
E For Everyone Due💟 To Comic Mischief

Publisher(s)
Nintendo
Engine
ꦅ Proprietary Engine
How Long To Beat
23 Hours
Metascore
93

Paper Mario took a completely different approach to all the Mario games that came before it. While Super Mario 64 made great strides in terms of 3D worlds and movemeꩵnts, its graphical design doesn’t exactly hold up the same. Paper Mario, on the other hand, still looks fantastic to this day.

Rather than generic 3D models, all the characters look like they're made from paper - they’re flat, witꦯh black outlines. Its unique style makes it stand out even today. Even though fans are clamoring for a remake after its sequel, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, was remade, it stands perfectly weඣll on its own, exactly as it did back when it launched.

2 EarthBound ♏ ♏

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Earthbound
Systems
Released
June 5, 1995

WHERE TO PLAY

DIGITAL
PHYSICAL

ESRB
꧟ T For Teen due to Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood, Suggestive Themes, Crude Humor 🅠
Developer(s)
🌺 😼 HAL Laboratory, Ape Inc.
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
Engine
unity
Franchise
EarꦆthBound
How Long To Beat
28 Hours

EarthBound is one of those games that 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:simply does not need a remake, or even an HD upgrade. Its pixel-style graphics are bright, colorful, and wildly charismatic. Trying to ‘change’ that in anꦜ attempt to make them higher definition would only be to the game’s detr🌊iment.

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Playing EarthBound now still feels like the exact experience it was intended to be in the ‘90s, with its stylized pixel graphics being a large paඣrt of what makes it so charming.

1 🦂Pokemon Black & White

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168澳洲幸运5开奖网: Pokemon Black and White
Released
March 6, 2011

WHERE TO PLAY

PHYSICAL

ESRB
💫 E For Everyone // Comic Mischief, Mild Cartoon Violence
Publisher(s)
Nintendo
Multiplayer
🦩 Online Multiplayer
Franchise
Pokemon
How Long To Beat
32 Hours
How Long To Beat (Completionist Runs)
159 Hours
Metascore
87

While Pokemon has never been at the forefront of graphical innovation, it hit the jackpot with Pokemon Black & White. 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Its pixel graphics are the pinnacle of what Pokemoꦗn can be, and playing these games now is still just as beautiful an experience as it was in 2011.

I’ll nev⛎er forget crossing the Skyarrow Bridge for the first time, which showcased the game’s use of 3D angles in a pixel world.

Pokemon Black & White pretty much perfected Pokemon🌞’s formula, while trying something new with🎶 its roster of ‘mons. It doesn’t get much better for Pokemon than this.

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