What Game Had the Best Graphics on the Dreamcast?

I've noticed something about Dreamcast Games, it seems none of them are at the limit of what the system can do graphically. Nearly every single game on the Dreamcast is a PS1 port, N64 port, PS2 port, Arcade port, PCport,or was a launch title that was rushed in development, or a game near the end of the Dreamcast short lifespan that was rushed in development. It seems like every game on the system had something that held it back from pushing the limits of what the Dreamcast could do. Even exclusive games made by Sega were usually rushed at the begining or end of the Dreamcast life span. So are there any games out there that really show what the Dreamcast can do / what Dreamcast games have the best graphics?

I think Soul Calibur was graphically the best. Although the Dreamcast had lots of great games, not many had good graphics, heck some like Sonic Adventure had terrible graphical bugs, and thus most of its games were smooth and blocky.

Shenmue 2 is the best looking dreamcast game hands down. Other great looking DC games are

Shenmue

Headhunter

PSO

Soul Calibur

Sword of the Berzerk

Ecco the Dolphin

Shenmue series is the best though. It pushed the limits of the system. Shenmue II on a monitor with a VGA box(blaze is my preference) is mind blowing.

Eh, Shenmue is the first game I can remember in my entire life going "HOLY CRAP THOSE GRAPHICS ARE SO AMAZING! THEY ARE SO DETAILED AND REALISTIC!" Never saw Shenmue 2 and I'm pretty sure Jet Set Radio Future was damn pretty looking? I only remember the xbox version though = /

jet grind radio,soul calibur.....and that is about all i cant think of for now

RE: Code Veronica looked really good and was one of my fave DC games also

Shenmue 2 in my opinion , the graphics are pretty amazing , considering the scope and size of the game.

keep in mind that even by that time in 2001, most RPGs were still using pre renderd backgrounds.

Shenmue 1 is also impressive, but less so.

DOA2 is also pretty sharp , as is Soul Calibur.

as far as 2D is concerned , I think Garou Mark of the Wolves is very good looking, both as a Dreamcast game, and as a Neo Geo game (where it appeared originally)

Shenmue 2 in my opinion , the graphics are pretty amazing , considering the scope and size of the game.

keep in mind that even by that time in 2001, most RPGs were still using pre renderd backgrounds.

Shenmue 1 is also impressive, but less so.

DOA2 is also pretty sharp , as is Soul Calibur.

as far as 2D is concerned , I think Garou Mark of the Wolves is very good looking, both as a Dreamcast game, and as a Neo Geo game (where it appeared originally)

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"]

Shenmue 2 in my opinion , the graphics are pretty amazing , considering the scope and size of the game.

keep in mind that even by that time in 2001, most RPGs were still using pre renderd backgrounds.

Shenmue 1 is also impressive, but less so.

DOA2 is also pretty sharp , as is Soul Calibur.

as far as 2D is concerned , I think Garou Mark of the Wolves is very good looking, both as a Dreamcast game, and as a Neo Geo game (where it appeared originally)

sayyy-gaa

Im pretty sure Astra Superstars on the Saturn , runs in the Saturn's highest resolution , which is 704X480 , which is higher then what a DC can do (640X480), not sure why the Saturn seems to have a higher max resolution, as its an older system.

Well Soul Calibur had even better graphics than the arcade version and was pretty spectacular for a 1999 fighter. Same goes for Shenmue, which had amazing facial detail (you should try playing it in high res in Chankast). I'd say Shenmue 2 had the best graphics on the Dreamcast, but I don't think Dreamcast was "out of this world" tech-wise. Enthusiasm may blind people into believing that certain hardware was better than it actually was. The DC was a impressive piece of tech when it first came out in fall 1998, but you have to understand that a high-end PC from 1999 (Pentium 3, Geforce DDR, 128 megs of ram) was superior to the DC and PS2 was stronger than DC too. The DC graphics chip is somewhere in the range of nvidia Riva TNT 2 and it has 16 megs of system ram and 8 megs of video ram. I think a PS2 game like GTA 3 would already be too much for the DC.

If we're talking 2D, it's somewhat of a tie between SFIII: Third Strike and Garou Mark of the Wolves, but I have to give the upper hand to Third Strike because even with refined graphics, SNK's trademark 'grainy textures' are still present in Mark of the Wolves.

Well Soul Calibur had even better graphics than the arcade version and was pretty spectacular for a 1999 fighter. Same goes for Shenmue, which had amazing facial detail (you should try playing it in high res in Chankast). I'd say Shenmue 2 had the best graphics on the Dreamcast, but I don't think Dreamcast was "out of this world" tech-wise. Enthusiasm may blind people into believing that certain hardware was better than it actually was. The DC was a impressive piece of tech when it first came out in fall 1998, but you have to understand that a high-end PC from 1999 (Pentium 3, Geforce DDR, 128 megs of ram) was superior to the DC and PS2 was stronger than DC too. The DC graphics chip is somewhere in the range of nvidia Riva TNT 2 and it has 16 megs of system ram and 8 megs of video ram. I think a PS2 game like GTA 3 would already be too much for the DC.

nameless12345

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

Well Soul Calibur had even better graphics than the arcade version and was pretty spectacular for a 1999 fighter. Same goes for Shenmue, which had amazing facial detail (you should try playing it in high res in Chankast). I'd say Shenmue 2 had the best graphics on the Dreamcast, but I don't think Dreamcast was "out of this world" tech-wise. Enthusiasm may blind people into believing that certain hardware was better than it actually was. The DC was a impressive piece of tech when it first came out in fall 1998, but you have to understand that a high-end PC from 1999 (Pentium 3, Geforce DDR, 128 megs of ram) was superior to the DC and PS2 was stronger than DC too. The DC graphics chip is somewhere in the range of nvidia Riva TNT 2 and it has 16 megs of system ram and 8 megs of video ram. I think a PS2 game like GTA 3 would already be too much for the DC.

Darkman2007

The PS2 could do 60 million polys in theory, but it had too limited VRAM to do so.

DC specs: 200 Mhz RISC CPU (three times stronger than Pentium 2 - in theory), 100 Mhz PowerVR GPU (comparable to nvidia Riva TNT 2), 16 megs system ram + 8 megs VRAM

PS2 specs: 299 Mhz "Emotion Engine" ("three times stronger than Pentium 3"), 147 Mhz "Graphics Synthesizer" (in between Geforce 256 and Geforce 2 GTS), 32 megs unified RDRAM

Maybe GTA 3 could run on the Dreamcast, but San Andreas clearly wouldn't. Atleast not without massive sacrifices.

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"][QUOTE="nameless12345"]

Well Soul Calibur had even better graphics than the arcade version and was pretty spectacular for a 1999 fighter. Same goes for Shenmue, which had amazing facial detail (you should try playing it in high res in Chankast). I'd say Shenmue 2 had the best graphics on the Dreamcast, but I don't think Dreamcast was "out of this world" tech-wise. Enthusiasm may blind people into believing that certain hardware was better than it actually was. The DC was a impressive piece of tech when it first came out in fall 1998, but you have to understand that a high-end PC from 1999 (Pentium 3, Geforce DDR, 128 megs of ram) was superior to the DC and PS2 was stronger than DC too. The DC graphics chip is somewhere in the range of nvidia Riva TNT 2 and it has 16 megs of system ram and 8 megs of video ram. I think a PS2 game like GTA 3 would already be too much for the DC.

nameless12345

The PS2 could do 60 million polys in theory, but it had too limited VRAM to do so.

DC specs: 200 Mhz RISC CPU (three times stronger than Pentium 2 - in theory), 100 Mhz PowerVR GPU (comparable to nvidia Riva TNT 2), 16 megs system ram + 8 megs VRAM

PS2 specs: 299 Mhz "Emotion Engine" ("three times stronger than Pentium 3"), 147 Mhz "Graphics Synthesizer" (in between Geforce 256 and Geforce 2 GTS), 32 megs unified RDRAM

Maybe GTA 3 could run on the Dreamcast, but San Andreas clearly wouldn't. Atleast not without massive sacrifices.

If we're talking 2D, it's somewhat of a tie between SFIII: Third Strike and Garou Mark of the Wolves, but I have to give the upper hand to Third Strike because even with refined graphics, SNK's trademark 'grainy textures' are still present in Mark of the Wolves.

ThePerro

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"][QUOTE="nameless12345"]

Well Soul Calibur had even better graphics than the arcade version and was pretty spectacular for a 1999 fighter. Same goes for Shenmue, which had amazing facial detail (you should try playing it in high res in Chankast). I'd say Shenmue 2 had the best graphics on the Dreamcast, but I don't think Dreamcast was "out of this world" tech-wise. Enthusiasm may blind people into believing that certain hardware was better than it actually was. The DC was a impressive piece of tech when it first came out in fall 1998, but you have to understand that a high-end PC from 1999 (Pentium 3, Geforce DDR, 128 megs of ram) was superior to the DC and PS2 was stronger than DC too. The DC graphics chip is somewhere in the range of nvidia Riva TNT 2 and it has 16 megs of system ram and 8 megs of video ram. I think a PS2 game like GTA 3 would already be too much for the DC.

The PS2 could do 60 million polys in theory, but it had too limited VRAM to do so.

DC specs: 200 Mhz RISC CPU (three times stronger than Pentium 2 - in theory), 100 Mhz PowerVR GPU (comparable to nvidia Riva TNT 2), 16 megs system ram + 8 megs VRAM

PS2 specs: 299 Mhz "Emotion Engine" ("three times stronger than Pentium 3"), 147 Mhz "Graphics Synthesizer" (in between Geforce 256 and Geforce 2 GTS), 32 megs unified RDRAM

Maybe GTA 3 could run on the Dreamcast, but San Andreas clearly wouldn't. Atleast not without massive sacrifices.

[QUOTE="nameless12345"]

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"] to be honest , the PS2's specs were hyped alot , to the point where some of the specs given regarding its polygon ability , were exaggerated. yeah ,its a newer system, by over a year , but to be honest , the higher price was just as much due to the DVD drive , as much as newer tech. I can see GTA3 running on the Dreamcast, given a solid programming enviroment, Shenmue 2 has less characters on the screen but they are considerably more detailed then he characters of GTA3. very late PS2 games would have serious trouble running on a DC, but eariler ones such as GTA3 are quite possible.sayyy-gaa

The PS2 could do 60 million polys in theory, but it had too limited VRAM to do so.

DC specs: 200 Mhz RISC CPU (three times stronger than Pentium 2 - in theory), 100 Mhz PowerVR GPU (comparable to nvidia Riva TNT 2), 16 megs system ram + 8 megs VRAM

PS2 specs: 299 Mhz "Emotion Engine" ("three times stronger than Pentium 3"), 147 Mhz "Graphics Synthesizer" (in between Geforce 256 and Geforce 2 GTS), 32 megs unified RDRAM

Maybe GTA 3 could run on the Dreamcast, but San Andreas clearly wouldn't. Atleast not without massive sacrifices.

I've noticed something about Dreamcast Games, it seems none of them are at the limit of what the system can do graphically. Nearly every single game on the Dreamcast is a PS1 port, N64 port, PS2 port, Arcade port, PCport,or was a launch title that was rushed in development, or a game near the end of the Dreamcast short lifespan that was rushed in development. It seems like every game on the system had something that held it back from pushing the limits of what the Dreamcast could do. Even exclusive games made by Sega were usually rushed at the begining or end of the Dreamcast life span. So are there any games out there that really show what the Dreamcast can do / what Dreamcast games have the best graphics?

SauceCaptain

S-S-S-S-S-S-Soul Calibur!!!!

Maxi- was seriously wounded- but the soul still burns!

The legend will never die.

okay I'm a little obsessed... but yeah, SC looked the prettiest IMO...but Dead or Alive 2, MDK 2, Rayman 2, Jet Grind Radio, Street Fighter III, Shenmue, Tony Hawk 2, and a bunch more had tons of pretty.

Yeah, Soul Calibur...

Crazy Taxi looked good, as did the power stone games. I also remembering thinking that this Giant Robot game called Slave Zero had awesome graphics, but I havent seen that since i was like 14 so I couldnt tell you how good they actually were, at the time i also thought Blue Stinger looked incredible

I keep reading about KOF and MvC as very pretty games...and they are, but did anyone here play GGX?

technically it's probably Shenmue 2 but I still think Jet Grind Radio looks nice.

sonic dx

Not in order per se:

Shenmue (2)

Jet set Radio

Giant gram 2000

test drive le mans 24 hours

tokyo highway challenge 2

dead or alive 2

soul calibur

ecco the dolphin

phantasy star online

Maybe I forgot a few but these are among the beast easily and I've played almost any dreamcast game

[QUOTE="sayyy-gaa"][QUOTE="Darkman2007"]

Shenmue 2 in my opinion , the graphics are pretty amazing , considering the scope and size of the game.

keep in mind that even by that time in 2001, most RPGs were still using pre renderd backgrounds.

Shenmue 1 is also impressive, but less so.

DOA2 is also pretty sharp , as is Soul Calibur.

as far as 2D is concerned , I think Garou Mark of the Wolves is very good looking, both as a Dreamcast game, and as a Neo Geo game (where it appeared originally)

Darkman2007

Im pretty sure Astra Superstars on the Saturn , runs in the Saturn's highest resolution , which is 704X480 , which is higher then what a DC can do (640X480), not sure why the Saturn seems to have a higher max resolution, as its an older system.

dreamcast's highest reolustion was 800x600

RE: Code Veronica looked really good and was one of my fave DC games also

bleedvideogames

Yeah, the cut scenes in RECV were fu*king phenomenal! I couldn't believe that sh*t when I got it way back in the DC days.

Shemue and DOA blew my mind... I really don't remember anything else having that effect. SC looked fine but it was just a small platform and 2 characters, DOA had huge levels and up to 3 characters on screen

Oh and none of those games are that fun to play these days! It just goes to show you how important (and relative) graphics are, which is basically the only thing developers focus on these days :(

soul calibur. nuff said.

runner up is shenmue for sure. and i still think that record of lodoss war had decent models even if they arent that big.

and yes, gg looks much better than sf:3rd strike, no question.

I really think Power Stone might be the crowning graphical achievement on the Dreamcast. It has aged REALLY well. Shenmue looks very dated. It still looks good, and holds a nostalgic factor for me, but if you are going in fresh, some aspects will look very bland. Code Veronica looks pretty good, as well.

-Guilty Gear X

-Sonic Adventure

-***a lot of the 2D fighters looked great.

Probably Jet Grind Radio. It seemed to use the DC hardware best with very well crafted graphics and I believe are volumetric shadows.

Well I havent played all Dreamcast games but Resident Evil Coder Veronica had really good graphics as did Sonic adventure 2.

Personally I find Jet Set Radio to be the most pretty looking game on Dreamcast.

Crazy Taxi looked good, as did the power stone games. I also remembering thinking that this Giant Robot game called Slave Zero had awesome graphics, but I havent seen that since i was like 14 so I couldnt tell you how good they actually were, at the time i also thought Blue Stinger looked incredible

slick360ster

DoA2

Shenmue looks very dated.

Heirren

I disagree. It still looks great in an emulator considering the age (great facial detail and animation).

werent most of the games that looked/ran betterr on DC, just ports from the DC to the PS2? ports almost always look worse, unless the system getting the port is vastly more powerful.Darkman2007

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"]werent most of the games that looked/ran betterr on DC, just ports from the DC to the PS2? ports almost always look worse, unless the system getting the port is vastly more powerful.codezer0

I know the Dreamcast was known to be a more programmer-friendly console, Im just saying , ports always look worse, unless its a vastly more powerful system , andI always thought the SDKs Sony had for the PS1 were considerd quite good, better then what Sega offered with the Saturn SDKs from what I hear.Darkman2007

[QUOTE="Darkman2007"]I know the Dreamcast was known to be a more programmer-friendly console, Im just saying , ports always look worse, unless its a vastly more powerful system , andI always thought the SDKs Sony had for the PS1 were considerd quite good, better then what Sega offered with the Saturn SDKs from what I hear.codezer0

Sonic adventure 1 had amazing graphics.

Rayman 2, Soul Caliber, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Legacy of Kain Soul Reaver, Metropolis Street racer