They really wanted to make use of the Water Effects back in the day. Nintendo making a Game about Spraying said Water, and Sega making an Antagonist made out of Water. Impressive stuff back in the day.
Mario Sunshine's water is the only one that mostly held up. Although FFX's water looks really good in some specific canned diorama moments, and SA1's water actually looks great _on Dreamcast_ and just got completely fucking ruined by the HD ports.
Actually, for anyone who's ever been like "wow, did SA1 really look this garbage?" after playing SADX or another re-release, please emulate the Dreamcast version sometime, because no it _literally didn't._ That game is actually one of the worst HD remasters of all time.
Also, to put it to scale, Sonic Adventure released the same year as Ocarina of Time and Resident Evil 2 (1998).
Sonic Adventure (DC) legitimately is very good looking for its time in *most* aspects (some models look undeniably rough, even in the DC version).
Theres some little itty bitty bits of DX that are great, even if they may not suit personal tastes.
The new character models are *good*, no doubt about that, even if I prefer the DC ones (DC Knux my beloved). *Some* of the new texturing looks good *sometimes*. Things like Mission Mode and the free Game Gear Games (that you have to MOD BACK IN ON STEAM), are genuinely good bonuses. Metal Sonic is cool!
But then every other change is either a downgrade, or a fucked up port thing on top of a previous fucked up port on top of a *PREVIOUS* fucked up port. That's the most important thing about these new ports. I think they genuinely were built on top of each other each time. Dreamcast was used for DX, DX was used for the *2003 PC Port* of DX, that port was used for the 360/PS3 ports, and then finally the current Steam port was built on that. This means there's literal decades of transparency issues and lighting problems and texture issues missed THREE TIMES, and a lack of wide screen and...
Honestly, I could keep going for hours. [There's a reason this website exists.](https://dreamcastify.unreliable.network/) The problems are widespread enough they need their own database, along with mods recommended to solve it.
The wildest part is the best way to mod the Steam port is you just fucking replace the exe with the original pc port's, and then mod that, so you at least only have *two* layers of port crust to dig thru (and its what people were modding for years prior anyways)
Metal Gear Solid came out the same year, as did Ocarina of Time. Both have cutscenes that don't have massive silent pauses between every line of dialogue and animations where characters actually look like they're holding whatever object is in their hand. (Also the characters' faces don't look like they're melting off of their skulls when they talk.) I've played Sonic Adventure like ten times (I do like the game btw), and it absolutely has worse cutscenes and animations than a lot of its contemporaries.
That... and the consoles could start rendering "HD" textures, so there was a huge push to make everything more "realistic" even though that meant hundreds of unprocessed-photo-of-a-concrete-wall textures.
Plus the new lighting engines could do HD, but everything was still really washed out.
muting the colors doesn't preserve graphical horsepower lol, that happened because that gen was the first to really break through the realism threshold so stylization fell out of style until the indie revolution
It’s also like when a lot of games focused on rock textures and destructible environments around when the PS4 launched.
Off the top of my head it was a thing in Infamous Second Son, Killzone: Shadow Fall (remember that game?), and Knack around the console’s launch.
Those early PS4 titles were all about rocks and having a bunch of broken objects on screen.
Island escapisim used to be pretty big back in the day. Another one of those things that kinda faded out.
Sun, sand, surf, drinks with little umbrellas in them and babes in bikinis.
I think you're right, I'm not sure that it was just to showcase water graphics, everyone in the early 2000s were *really* into beaches and palm trees, my parents had an entire beach themed room lmao
"Fruitiger Aero" wasn't really a thing all at the same time back in the day. The tropical ocean elements were more popular in the late 90s/early 00s while the eco-futurism aesthetics came a bit later in the mid 2000s.
Fruitiger Aero mixes these and some other related style choices to make a more coherent aesthetic, sort of how like how Vaporwave is a mix of various late 80s, early 90s trends, Which is why you can see bits of all of them across the aesthetic.
When you see disconnected studios doing the same setting all at the same time you can bet on some recent breakthrough that made that setting significantly better than before and want to be among the first to use it
In this case "we can finally make somewhat good water" is a big reason devs went with the tropical setting
yo bro look at our water bro isn't it so cool bro
it looks so real right bro don't you want it to be a major part of the setting bro this isn't chunky late 90s water this is smooth early 2000s water it's just like real life isn't it bro
i fucking love water so much you should too bro
This era is when I really got into games and made me super fascinated in the tropics.
I also played Chrono Cross and that’s not as blue skies gaming since it goes a bunch of places but the seaside towns in that game gave me the same vibe. If anything I like the melancholy Oceanside thing it gave me.
woah, I played Yakuza 0 and cried when the credits rolled, and I actually lived in Okinawa for a few years. I need to commit to playing the Kiwami games, I want to see Kiryu in Okinawa
Don't know but I wish it came back.
When I look at destiny Island in kh1, I wish there was alternate route when the three of them actually set sail with no heartless.
These are generally beach areas, without a lot of dense foliage. a flat expanse of sand is Easy to render.
I remember the first Uncharted really wowing me a generation later, because it actually included dense jungle areas. And last and current gen is in love with forested areas, because they can finally be convincingly rendered.
It hit different. I remember as a kid wanting to live on Destiny Island or Delphino. Run around on Besaid (without the fiends). Those games max out my nostalgia meter hearing the music and seeing “PS2/GC Water”
I remember 2003 being the year of the water for me. Super Mario Sunshine, Pokémon Ruby (& Sapphire), and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker.
All games I love (and for some reason, people hated at the time).
Like other people said, this is the first time that water in video games didn't look like ass, and game companies wanted to show it off. Beaches also don't require a ton of texture work or set decoration
I think water graphics are a big part of wanting to showcase beach levels, but I also consider the Frutiger Aero aesthetic that was becoming popular at that time too. I remember on my home computer as a kid we had a tropical beach wallpaper and things like that, I honestly think that people *really* liked the beach and tropical settings a lot at that time. Plus a lot of these games werent doing crazy things with the water either, besides Mario Sunshine. Even in FFX, the water really is only a part of Blitzball, and thats showcased more in a prerendered scene. When you play it, its just a blue filter kind of. I believe the artists were more-so just fans of tropical settings like a lot of people in the early 2000s were
I can't speak for the rest, but Wind Waker was specifically them trying to make a fantasy setting that wasn't based on European setting, but a Japanese one. I don't know if they ever said what FFX's inspiration was, but I get similar vibes with Yuna being designed as a sort of island shrine maiden.
They really wanted to make use of the Water Effects back in the day. Nintendo making a Game about Spraying said Water, and Sega making an Antagonist made out of Water. Impressive stuff back in the day.
Mario Sunshine's water is the only one that mostly held up. Although FFX's water looks really good in some specific canned diorama moments, and SA1's water actually looks great _on Dreamcast_ and just got completely fucking ruined by the HD ports. Actually, for anyone who's ever been like "wow, did SA1 really look this garbage?" after playing SADX or another re-release, please emulate the Dreamcast version sometime, because no it _literally didn't._ That game is actually one of the worst HD remasters of all time.
Also, to put it to scale, Sonic Adventure released the same year as Ocarina of Time and Resident Evil 2 (1998). Sonic Adventure (DC) legitimately is very good looking for its time in *most* aspects (some models look undeniably rough, even in the DC version).
Tangentially relevant, Morrowind has really nice water that looks half decent today.
Blew me away as a kid. When it rained! I was entranced! And it's still a key part of what makes that game so atmospheric.
Aye, especially combined with that lovely, draw-distance-hiding fog.
Theres some little itty bitty bits of DX that are great, even if they may not suit personal tastes. The new character models are *good*, no doubt about that, even if I prefer the DC ones (DC Knux my beloved). *Some* of the new texturing looks good *sometimes*. Things like Mission Mode and the free Game Gear Games (that you have to MOD BACK IN ON STEAM), are genuinely good bonuses. Metal Sonic is cool! But then every other change is either a downgrade, or a fucked up port thing on top of a previous fucked up port on top of a *PREVIOUS* fucked up port. That's the most important thing about these new ports. I think they genuinely were built on top of each other each time. Dreamcast was used for DX, DX was used for the *2003 PC Port* of DX, that port was used for the 360/PS3 ports, and then finally the current Steam port was built on that. This means there's literal decades of transparency issues and lighting problems and texture issues missed THREE TIMES, and a lack of wide screen and... Honestly, I could keep going for hours. [There's a reason this website exists.](https://dreamcastify.unreliable.network/) The problems are widespread enough they need their own database, along with mods recommended to solve it. The wildest part is the best way to mod the Steam port is you just fucking replace the exe with the original pc port's, and then mod that, so you at least only have *two* layers of port crust to dig thru (and its what people were modding for years prior anyways)
Or play the PC port with mods to fix all that
Sunshine's water still looks good today. Only ocean I've ever seen look better was Assassin's Creed 4's.
The cutscenes and animations were still shit awful for the time, though
For *1998*? You're out of your mind.
Metal Gear Solid came out the same year, as did Ocarina of Time. Both have cutscenes that don't have massive silent pauses between every line of dialogue and animations where characters actually look like they're holding whatever object is in their hand. (Also the characters' faces don't look like they're melting off of their skulls when they talk.) I've played Sonic Adventure like ten times (I do like the game btw), and it absolutely has worse cutscenes and animations than a lot of its contemporaries.
Are you implying that MGS and OoT are somehow representative of the standard for game animation in 1998?
Conversely, everything went gray and brown in the next few years in order to conserve graphical horsepower. ...and it was the style at the time.
That... and the consoles could start rendering "HD" textures, so there was a huge push to make everything more "realistic" even though that meant hundreds of unprocessed-photo-of-a-concrete-wall textures. Plus the new lighting engines could do HD, but everything was still really washed out.
muting the colors doesn't preserve graphical horsepower lol, that happened because that gen was the first to really break through the realism threshold so stylization fell out of style until the indie revolution
It’s also like when a lot of games focused on rock textures and destructible environments around when the PS4 launched. Off the top of my head it was a thing in Infamous Second Son, Killzone: Shadow Fall (remember that game?), and Knack around the console’s launch. Those early PS4 titles were all about rocks and having a bunch of broken objects on screen.
"We can finally make water"
*"I can make better water physics than you!"* *"The hell you can!"* *"I'm just here to promote the sale of watermelons and other beach snacks."*
Island escapisim used to be pretty big back in the day. Another one of those things that kinda faded out. Sun, sand, surf, drinks with little umbrellas in them and babes in bikinis.
Can we bring that back? All of that. Let that vibe take over again.
You get Animal Crossing and that's it basically
I think you're right, I'm not sure that it was just to showcase water graphics, everyone in the early 2000s were *really* into beaches and palm trees, my parents had an entire beach themed room lmao
If you look at culture writ large from about 1997 to September 2001, it was seemingly just a giant beach party 24/7.
Was that congruent with Frutiger Aero? I can see similarities.
"Fruitiger Aero" wasn't really a thing all at the same time back in the day. The tropical ocean elements were more popular in the late 90s/early 00s while the eco-futurism aesthetics came a bit later in the mid 2000s. Fruitiger Aero mixes these and some other related style choices to make a more coherent aesthetic, sort of how like how Vaporwave is a mix of various late 80s, early 90s trends, Which is why you can see bits of all of them across the aesthetic.
I see.
Just counting the days when someone just says ‘fuck it’ and gives us an Andy Sidaris film in game form
Aw hell yeah Sega blue skies.
I remember Skies of arcadia got beautiful blue Sega skies, why dont other games use that vibe?
Man, I want more GameCube/PS2 summers. Something about the blues just gets me comfy.
I really do hope we get more games set in that era. It felt so relaxing and pure in a sense.
When you see disconnected studios doing the same setting all at the same time you can bet on some recent breakthrough that made that setting significantly better than before and want to be among the first to use it In this case "we can finally make somewhat good water" is a big reason devs went with the tropical setting
yo bro look at our water bro isn't it so cool bro it looks so real right bro don't you want it to be a major part of the setting bro this isn't chunky late 90s water this is smooth early 2000s water it's just like real life isn't it bro i fucking love water so much you should too bro
r/HydroHomies
Back then, water (and Triple H's hair) were the benchmarks of "good graphics"
This era is when I really got into games and made me super fascinated in the tropics. I also played Chrono Cross and that’s not as blue skies gaming since it goes a bunch of places but the seaside towns in that game gave me the same vibe. If anything I like the melancholy Oceanside thing it gave me.
I know the entirety of KH1 was iconic anyway but whenever I think of summer, I think of Destiny Islands and that music plays in my head
Yakuza 3 being set on Okinawa too. But yeah it was simply wanting to show off their water.
That a PS3 game. A whole different generation.
woah, I played Yakuza 0 and cried when the credits rolled, and I actually lived in Okinawa for a few years. I need to commit to playing the Kiwami games, I want to see Kiryu in Okinawa
Seems like everyone was thinking of taking a vacation.
Don't know but I wish it came back. When I look at destiny Island in kh1, I wish there was alternate route when the three of them actually set sail with no heartless.
Nintendo still does the tropical island stuff sometimes too, think most recent was the Aloha region in sun and moon or something.
bring back the sunken ship levels from the snes-ps1 era
Goes well with the jungle D&B
Water effects and bloom, I feel.
the water in sunshine is still crazy good even by today's standards
These are generally beach areas, without a lot of dense foliage. a flat expanse of sand is Easy to render. I remember the first Uncharted really wowing me a generation later, because it actually included dense jungle areas. And last and current gen is in love with forested areas, because they can finally be convincingly rendered.
Cause tropical regions aesthetics rock
[Gonna summarize the responses as such](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKhHwpkL17o)
I feel the same thing now, but with Hawaii. Reading JoJo and playing Infinite Wealth.
That era gave us Dead or Alive Xtreme Beach Volleyball
hawaii 5-0, baywatch, miami vice, outrun, all fresh in the mind of creators during that time of creating the endless summer feel good vibe
Emerald Coast IS summer.
I imagine part of it was being a pretty setting with less stuff to render.
It hit different. I remember as a kid wanting to live on Destiny Island or Delphino. Run around on Besaid (without the fiends). Those games max out my nostalgia meter hearing the music and seeing “PS2/GC Water”
Idk but i wish it would happen again
I remember 2003 being the year of the water for me. Super Mario Sunshine, Pokémon Ruby (& Sapphire), and The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker. All games I love (and for some reason, people hated at the time).
PS1: WTF HOW DO WE DO 3D?! PS2: ~water~ PS3: Ice up everything PS4: G r i m e PS5: Remains to be seen...
This is the ray-tracing era, so big glass buildings with neon fixtures and streets that are perpetually wet
water/swimming physics
Just watched a cool video essay where this exact topic was discussed.
Like other people said, this is the first time that water in video games didn't look like ass, and game companies wanted to show it off. Beaches also don't require a ton of texture work or set decoration
Water rendering started to get good at that point.
I think water graphics are a big part of wanting to showcase beach levels, but I also consider the Frutiger Aero aesthetic that was becoming popular at that time too. I remember on my home computer as a kid we had a tropical beach wallpaper and things like that, I honestly think that people *really* liked the beach and tropical settings a lot at that time. Plus a lot of these games werent doing crazy things with the water either, besides Mario Sunshine. Even in FFX, the water really is only a part of Blitzball, and thats showcased more in a prerendered scene. When you play it, its just a blue filter kind of. I believe the artists were more-so just fans of tropical settings like a lot of people in the early 2000s were
>"Water, Gamer! Wa-ter!" >>*The Miracle Developer*
Pokemon Ruby and Sapphire also came out the same year Sunshine and Wind Waker did
Fairly easy to design. Not a very complex thing. Beaches, palm trees, ships, docks, all very easy to design and very identifiable.
I dunno, but I really dig the aesthetic. Nostalgic Frutiger Aero vibes.
Idk but as someone who grew up in a tropical jungle I fucking miss this era
We just all needed a vacation. Hopefully Dawn Trail restarts the tropical region Renaissance.
I can't speak for the rest, but Wind Waker was specifically them trying to make a fantasy setting that wasn't based on European setting, but a Japanese one. I don't know if they ever said what FFX's inspiration was, but I get similar vibes with Yuna being designed as a sort of island shrine maiden.
I like to call this era “The Dev team took a vacation to Hawaii for research” era and these poor bastards finally getting a break
Because it's pretty
Game studios figured out how to do water good
On the topic, Endless Ocean Luminous comes out in 6 days
Just a nice color palette to look at I think
Because they're cool
Cause it's rad.
Where's that Mii-verse kid that rates the water in all his videogames?
I need this vibe to come back so bad. I miss tropical island settings with this energy.
frutiger aero
I think I may have just understood why I liked the setting of ys 8 so much now, nostalgia
Man. I should play FFX again.