Why did more cartoon inspired graphics never really take off?

[90 50]

So the new Streets of rage got me wondering , since it has a cartoonish graphics look, why this never really took off in games?

I know there have been a few over the years , but given how big pixel games were for so long, and the tech was out to make them “more cartoonish”. But smoother and look better why that never took off?

I’m gonna show my age a bit here, but when Dragon’s Lair https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon's_Lair_(1983_video_game)
Came out , it was so far graphically advanced at the time the lines to play it at the arcade where always long as heck. I can remember standing in line for AGES waiting my turn to play.

Just something that sparked into my head looking at the new Streets of Rage graphic design.

 

[OCGSC]

I think game development before I came out the pick cave was moving fast as a mofo. That lead to designs being outdated really fast.

 

[treelo]

What about Cuphead?

The reason the likes of Dragons Lair didnt really take off, was it because it was a shitty game with great graphics for its time, but a lot of games from the 80's were inspired graphically by cartoons/comics, although being limited by the graphics at the time

 

[90 50]

What about Cuphead?

The reason the likes of Dragons Lair didnt really take off, was it because it was a shitty game with great graphics for its time, but a lot of games from the 80's were inspired graphically by cartoons/comics, although being limited by the graphics at the time

Well cuphead is a new game, I’m talking about what was going on from say 83 to 93 as far as development goes.

Most of the games of the 80’s I remember had shitty pixelated graphics compared to what obviously was possible graphically with Dragons lair as an example.

Looking at dragons lair in an arcade next to centapede for example, or pac man etc etc that shit was mind blowing as a kid.

 

[ookii]

Well cuphead is a new game, I’m talking about what was going on from say 83 to 93 as far as development goes.

Most of the games of the 80’s I remember had shitty pixelated graphics compared to what obviously was possible graphically with Dragons lair as an example.

Looking at dragons lair in an arcade next to centapede for example, or pac man etc etc that shit was mind blowing as a kid.

yes but Dragon's Lair controls are very limited with no freedom. It was more like the first ever quick game button game

 

[Snubnoze707]

Dragons Lair was just pre drawn cartoon clips it wasn't "graphics" just smoke and mirrors...

 

[Shoemaker]

Looks like it was the storage medium. Never played it myself, but it was a laserdisc game. Pre-rendered animations and would just jump to the specified time-markers based on your input.

More games probably weren't made that way because it doesn't look like a very good experience.

 

[treelo]

Looks like it was the storage medium. Never played it myself, but it was a laserdisc game. Pre-rendered animations and would just jump to the specified time-markers based on your input.

More games probably weren't made that way because it doesn't look like a very good experience.

Yep, it was a terrible game that was made to suck money out of people by luring them in them in with fancy graphics

Thank god it was not a growing trend and it got phased out quickly by much better games

 

[90 50]

Yeah looking at the game play videos now I’m remebeing the limited movement options and how brutally hard it was and a coin eater for sure now.

Funny how you forget stuff like that over long periods of time.

I remebered it was hard, but now remeber d the having to only do things at certain times only.

 

[Crimson Fury]

Yep, it was a terrible game that was made to suck money out of people by luring them in them in with fancy graphics

Thank god it was not a growing trend and it got phased out quickly by much better games

I know the Sega CD had a bunch of shit like that (Night Trap, Road Avenger, Ground Zero Texas, etc.)

 

[Drain Bamage]

Dragons Lair was just pre drawn cartoon clips it wasn't "graphics" just smoke and mirrors...

This

Nowadays there are plenty of 2D games with that level of smoothness

For a 3D game it would still be hard, I think you would need to use very high polycounts, tessellation, and heavy anti-aliasing to get that level of smoothness

 

[Chubz]

The 16-bit systems had games like Aladdin (Sega Genesis version) and Earthworm Jim, which were drawn/animated on paper and then "scanned" into the game. Aladdin's sprites were actually done by artists from Disney.

See, for example: http://rocketworm.com/making-of-earthworm-jim.html

There was also Comix Zone!

 

[blaseblah]

No idea what you're talking about. Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Spyro, Kingdom Hearts, etc. There's been plenty of games with cartoony graphics.

 

[JayPettryMMA]

Borderlands uses Cel Shading and it's pretty popular I'd say.

 

[Losfer Words]

Nothing like 70s/80s cartoon hotties.

 

[90 50]

No idea what you're talking about. Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Spyro, Kingdom Hearts, etc. There's been plenty of games with cartoony graphics.

Borderlands uses Cel Shading and it's pretty popular I'd say.

Those were all much much later , and fall into the “why did it take so long?” Question which was already answered, that I had forgotten, in order to do it the gameplay sucked because it was all cut scenes that got directed by timed inputs.

 

[blaseblah]

Those were all much much later , and fall into the “why did it take so long?” Question

You never asked that question bud.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Only time I ever played a Dragon's Lair game was when we bought a high end DVD player circe 2000. I think it came with it or something. You had to play it with the remote. It was as bad as it sounds. I don't think anyone ever tried to seriously play that game.

 

[treelo]

You also have the likes of coolspot, mickeys castle of illusion, toejam and earl...there were plenty of games that had cartoon graphhics

 

[Bob Gray]

Oh, man. I remember Dragons Lair. It sucked so many quarters from anyone I knew. Just for the nostalgia factor I bought it on a steam sale for like 1.99. I was like " I am GOING to finish this motherfucker after all these years."

With unlimited lives it took like 25 minutes minutes, lol.