4th gen 3D games

This thread will be a collection of Genesis, SNES, PC Engine(if theres any) games that are 3D. The 4th gen was the generation where the power was just close enough to handle 3D games. It didn't all start with the 5th gen.

The situation is everyone knows about Star Fox, the most famous example. However the Genesis actually had the power to do brute force 3D without using cheater chips.

I will be mentioning if the game uses a cheater chip but that is not required.

F1 (Genesis, 1993)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GSj6W7V914I

(same game engine) Kawasaki Superbike Challenge (Genesis, 1994)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9v-9lGNJQ4

Stunt Race FX (SNES, 1994, Super FX)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Usl0c6xCung

Winter Gold (SNES, 1996, Super FX2)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2HR8_0z8nwM

The most impressive SNES game

Virtua Racing (Genesis, 1994, SVP)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZozRMLqLNJM

Most impressive game on this list

Requirements: no fake 3D(Doom), or complete joke 3D(Hang-On). CD add-ons are fine, cheater chips(Super FX, SVP) are fine.

3d in the perspective sense or in the sense of using polygons?
2d games using polygons work?

Star Cruiser
Stellar-fire-Sega-CD
Flash Back

There are many classifications in which I disagree, I don't like to rewrite the past but the idea of ​​calling the fifth generation the 3d generation and the fourth generation the 2d generation, implying that there was a transition is a mistake, in fact there were 3d games/ polygonal games in the fourth generation as well as the 32bit 2d game in fifth generation.

the great novelty of the fifth generation is perhaps the idea of ​​building a 3d world, with 3d vision and humanoid characters, this really transcends the 3d power of the fourth generation

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Originally Posted by SegaAMD

3d in the perspective sense or in the sense of using polygons?
2d games using polygons work?

Star Cruiser
Stellar-fire-Sega-CD
Flash Back

There are many classifications in which I disagree, I don't like to rewrite the past but the idea of ​​calling the fifth generation the 3d generation and the fourth generation the 2d generation, implying that there was a transition is a mistake, in fact there were 3d games/ polygonal games in the fourth generation as well as the 32bit 2d game in fifth generation.

the great novelty of the fifth generation is perhaps the idea of ​​building a 3d world, with 3d vision and humanoid characters, this really transcends the 3d power of the fourth generation

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It has to use polygons. Those Genesis racing games I posted are a mix of 2D and polygons.

The 4th gen has 3D games but they are pretty rare. But they do indeed exist.

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The situation is everyone knows about Star Fox, the most famous example. However the Genesis actually had the power to do brute force 3D without using cheater chips.

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The SNES also had the power to brute force 3D without cheater chips.

Like Genesis 3D games, they have mixed results but are a neat gimmick.

https://youtu.be/GkKP_sgMDuo



As for PC Engine, it has the first 4-player splitscreen 3D game:


https://youtu.be/4UVlDraGSUM

If the Amiga/Atari ST count, I just love how smooth Thalion’s 3D gamers are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwM-7EnJbpQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BwDBHzHIqc

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

The SNES also had the power to brute force 3D without cheater chips.

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I was gonna include the SNES version of Kawasaki Superbike Challenge but your post can only have 5 videos.

The SNES can do them but the Genesis does a better job.

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

As for PC Engine, it has the first 4-player splitscreen 3D game:


https://youtu.be/4UVlDraGSUM

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That is impressive, probably runs at like 800 polygons per second but it can be done on PC Engine.

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Originally Posted by Loggo

If the Amiga/Atari ST count, I just love how smooth Thalion’s 3D gamers are:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwM-7EnJbpQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3BwDBHzHIqc

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The hardware is weaker than 5th gen so its close enough.

A lot of early Jaguar games look similar to these 4th gen 3D games:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GCD7P9W4q2M

Its funny if you look at the Wikipedia page for this game, it says it has 6000 polygons on-screen, absolutely not.


Airforce Delta for the Dreamcast is a game that has 6000-10000 polygons on-screen:

https://i.imgur.com/g29Hcid.png

https://i.imgur.com/63BqxgO.png
https://i.imgur.com/XkVr7WC.png

Cybermorph has 6000 polygons total, in-game. That's the charm! People love to hate that game, but I think it's cool. Honestly rather play it over something like Airforce Delta. Tons more polygons, but tons less appealing to the eye.

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Originally Posted by Yharnamresident

The hardware is weaker than 5th gen so its close enough.

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It's almost older than the NES, so it's very impressive considering its age.

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Originally Posted by WarmSignal

Cybermorph has 6000 polygons total, in-game. That's the charm! People love to hate that game, but I think it's cool. Honestly rather play it over something like Airforce Delta. Tons more polygons, but tons less appealing to the eye.

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Yea I'll be trying it soon for the first time.

I wonder how many polys Omega Boost does. Maybe because it takes place in space so the game only needs to focus on the boss and your mech but that game looks amazing on PS1.

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Originally Posted by Leynos

I wonder how many polys Omega Boost does. Maybe because it takes place in space so the game only needs to focus on the boss and your mech but that game looks amazing on PS1.

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We can talk about this.

https://https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0wBXnDOcoc=youtu.be

https://youtu.be/m2Ouop9a208

Hunter for the Atari ST, one of my first experiences of a 3D open world. A bit like GTA I would lose myself in the world and finding the different vehicles rather than working on the mission objectives.https://youtu.be/m2Ouop9a208

Someone is porting Another World to PC Engine and already has it running well.


https://youtu.be/jiY6zWx0ygo

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Originally Posted by gamevet

https://https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b0wBXnDOcoc=youtu.be

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A little too advanced for this thread, the car even has an environment map on it.

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Originally Posted by Sut

https://youtu.be/m2Ouop9a208

Hunter for the Atari ST, one of my first experiences of a 3D open world. A bit like GTA I would lose myself in the world and finding the different vehicles rather than working on the mission objectives.https://youtu.be/m2Ouop9a208

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That does look like fun, wish it was ported to a console.

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Originally Posted by Black_Tiger

Someone is porting Another World to PC Engine and already has it running well.


https://youtu.be/jiY6zWx0ygo

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Not my kind of game by any stretch, but it'd still be interesting to see if they can fit that much animation and everything in an 8 Megabit limit.

Not sure if it qualifies and it was very crude graphically, but I think F-18 Hornet on the Atari 7800 might count?

You can see that the aircraft carrier you land on appears to be made of polys...

https://youtu.be/gIj3MIzfEBA?t=504

And here another example where you can see the buildings are made up of simple polys etc. Again, while that game certaintly doesn't play like an actual flight sim, I remember being pretty impressed with its graphics at the time in the late 80s when I bought it and played it on my 7800.

https://youtu.be/gIj3MIzfEBA?t=1042

Captain Skyhawk on NES the plane has a 3D look to it tho probably pre-rendered

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Originally Posted by CrossBow

Not sure if it qualifies and it was very crude graphically, but I think F-18 Hornet on the Atari 7800 might count?

You can see that the aircraft carrier you land on appears to be made of polys...

https://youtu.be/gIj3MIzfEBA?t=504

And here another example where you can see the buildings are made up of simple polys etc. Again, while that game certaintly doesn't play like an actual flight sim, I remember being pretty impressed with its graphics at the time in the late 80s when I bought it and played it on my 7800.

https://youtu.be/gIj3MIzfEBA?t=1042

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No, that's bitmapped graphics. Those 8-bit computers used wire frames, whenever it came to anything close to representing 3D objects. Even the Amiga struggled with these simple polygon objects in F/A 18 Interceptor.

https://https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHsUbGTIXyE
=youtu.be

The Genesis struggled pretty hard with those simple polygon fighter games as well.

https://https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4jU0C2clYLE
=youtu.be

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Originally Posted by CrossBow

Not sure if it qualifies and it was very crude graphically, but I think F-18 Hornet on the Atari 7800 might count?

You can see that the aircraft carrier you land on appears to be made of polys...

https://youtu.be/gIj3MIzfEBA?t=504

And here another example where you can see the buildings are made up of simple polys etc. Again, while that game certaintly doesn't play like an actual flight sim, I remember being pretty impressed with its graphics at the time in the late 80s when I bought it and played it on my 7800.

https://youtu.be/gIj3MIzfEBA?t=1042

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You were a 7800 kid? Thats pretty amazing.

At least they really knew how to market the thing. A lot of 2600 kids must've thought the console sounded a lot more advanced(which was the case), than 360 compared to One.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

No, that's bitmapped graphics. Those 8-bit computers used wire frames, whenever it came to anything close to representing 3D objects. Even the Amiga struggled with these simple polygon objects in F/A 18 Interceptor.

https://https://https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oHsUbGTIXyE
=youtu.be

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Yes these Genesis/SNES games only run at like 2000 polygons per second, with much weaker hardware its simply impossible to render polygons.

You got Dreamcast/PS2 games running at 1-5 million PPS, PS1/N64 games running at 50,000 - 100,000 PPS, Genesis/SNES games running at 1000-6000 PPS, NES/SMS games running at 0 PPS?

Flash Back, Out of This World, Winter Gold, etc are not 3D games. Winter Gold is closer to an FMV game. The use of polygons ≠ 3D.

Flash Back is more like 2.5D.

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Originally Posted by gamevet

Flash Back is more like 2.5D.

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It's just 2d using the same technique as Prince of Persia for the smooth animation (Rotoscoping)

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Originally Posted by Yharnamresident

At least they really knew how to market the thing. A lot of 2600 kids must've thought the console sounded a lot more advanced(which was the case), than 360 compared to One.

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I feel like the only people who bought into the 7800 were clueless adults tbh :)

My family had a 2600, and my parents bought me a 7800 for my 7th birthday. When I saw the box I first went into dumbfounded shock as I came to terms with what had happened, then immediately what must've been pure visible wide-eyed panic. I begged my parents to take it back, which I basically NEVER did, I was taught to be thankful of all presents regardless of what they were, but the stakes were just too high in this instance.

My older brother still laughs about this event to this day.

^*shrugs* I would've made the best of it. Ninja Golf, that proto-Gauntlet game I can't think of by title, Food Fight, etc. Like the Master System and TurboGrafx-16(which I did have), it would have been cool to have the console most others didn't.

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Originally Posted by midnightrider

^*shrugs* I would've made the best of it. Ninja Golf, that proto-Gauntlet game I can't think of by title, Food Fight, etc. Like the Master System and TurboGrafx-16(which I did have), it would have been cool to have the console most others didn't.

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Dark Chambers is the game you're thinking of.

Tbh, and this is coming from a 7800 kid, I loved the thing but by the time I started buying gaming mags, I started to get frustrated seeing the other consoles get the games I wanted, while the 7800 got a trickle of older, smaller scale, or just plain inferior software. Of course I chose it at the time since the games were like half the price of Master System softs, and NES were even more expensive here iirc (AU)

Having said that I loved and got a lot of play from Tower Toppler, Asteroids, Dark Chambers and Alien Brigade (seriously impressive at the time due to the large cart size relative to the other games, seemed more like it was on even footing with the competitor's offerings).

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Originally Posted by midnightrider

^*shrugs* I would've made the best of it. Ninja Golf, that proto-Gauntlet game I can't think of by title, Food Fight, etc. Like the Master System and TurboGrafx-16(which I did have), it would have been cool to have the console most others didn't.

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Whilst I can understand the sentiment, where the 7800 is concerned there's just nothing to work with at all.

I would've played Ikari Warriors, which was better than the NES version, and that's it from the entire library.

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Originally Posted by Joe Redifer

Flash Back, Out of This World, Winter Gold, etc are not 3D games. Winter Gold is closer to an FMV game. The use of polygons ≠ 3D.

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I was watching Winter Gold again, the camera is on-rails like a FMV game. They did a good job of tricking me.

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

I feel like the only people who bought into the 7800 were clueless adults tbh :)

My family had a 2600, and my parents bought me a 7800 for my 7th birthday. When I saw the box I first went into dumbfounded shock as I came to terms with what had happened, then immediately what must've been pure visible wide-eyed panic. I begged my parents to take it back, which I basically NEVER did, I was taught to be thankful of all presents regardless of what they were, but the stakes were just too high in this instance.

My older brother still laughs about this event to this day.

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Well what made you do that? Did you want a Master System instead?

I wasn't alive at the time, but I wouldn't have been happy with the 7800. The console needed too much work, a much better sound chip, modern controller, and modern games. The hardware is about on-par with the NES, the colour palette is actually closer to 4th gen consoles.

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Originally Posted by Yharnamresident

Well what made you do that? Did you want a Master System instead?

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Every kid in the late 80s knew that getting a 7800 was like a death sentence for your gaming life.

It was like getting bought a Booster instead of a TurboMan.

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Originally Posted by Thenewguy

Every kid in the late 80s knew that getting a 7800 was like a death sentence for your gaming life.

It was like getting bought a Booster instead of a TurboMan.

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I actually asked for the 7800 back in '87. I ended up getting it for my B-Day in '88. At that time I had played the NES quite a bit as my stepbrother would bring his NES over often for us to play on. But many of the arcade games I really liked were getting 7800 releases and I thought at that time, they looked as good and in some ways better than the NES versions I'd played. Games like the already mentioned Ikar Warriors sure, but then I also felt that the 7800 version of Xenophobe was better than the NES version, along with the 7800 version of Commando being my favorite version at that time.

But yes, I had high hopes for the 7800 and still disappointed that several of the games I saw advertised on the box never came to be. In late '90 we got our first PC clone computer and I honestly didn't even care about console gaming for like the next 10 years until the early 2000s. Now, the 7800 is my favorite Atari console I still play on next to my Genesis and then modern stuff. But between all of them, the Atari and Sega systems in my collection are played MUCH more frequently than any of my Nintendo consoles.

So yes, I was a 7800 kid and never regretted that decision. The home brew scene for the 7800 has really made some amazing stuff that really shows what it could have been like back then.

The most common used screen resolution in 7800 games of the era is part of what holds it back compared to NES and Master System imo. Sure there was a hard limitation on colours if you went higher but Rikki and Vikki looks so detailed in comparison.

Joe must have noticed this thread, because he put up a video (today) that looks at this subject.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UqXoDQ5luyQ

That thumbnail looks like someone wants their MTV :p.

And their chicks for free!

Greendog is so extreme it's 3D is so good at tricking you it's only badly made sprites! That made no sense but shut up! GreenDOOOOG!

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Originally Posted by OverDrone

The most common used screen resolution in 7800 games of the era is part of what holds it back compared to NES and Master System imo. Sure there was a hard limitation on colours if you went higher but Rikki and Vikki looks so detailed in comparison.

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Its not a big deal, its still a big leap over 2nd gen where the resolutions were like 140x80.

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Originally Posted by Yharnamresident

Its not a big deal, its still a big leap over 2nd gen where the resolutions were like 140x80.

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Atari 5200 has the same resolutions and from what I understand, most 5200 and 7800 games are only 160 pixels wide, same as Intellivision.

Meanwhile Colecovision has the same resolution as SMS.

7800's practical/library resolution is firmly second gen.