TOP 128 — Week 6 — Poll 6

[This Old Neon]

Welcome to the #BGE2020 Elimination Round of 128!

Each game is seeded based on its performance in the two opening rounds of pools. Every game in the Upper Bracket has defeated multiple other games in 1-on-1 polls to get to this point. These are still the best of the best.

Polls are updated weekly, typically on Monday. Check back throughout the week to make sure you don't miss a vote!

HOW TO VOTE

This is easy. You only get one vote per poll. The game with the most votes wins. In the event of a tie, the higher seed advances, so don't get complacent!

[Claytone]

I've expressed my lack of love for the SNES DKCs on here before, but boy it's a really easy vote if it's stacked up against DQV lol. What a nice game that was.

[Kong Wen]

Not just nice, but like... huge and well-thought-out. So much meat in that game. Every little system just feels like a treat. DKC is a fine platformer, a fine game, and it was definitely at least marketed to be mind-blowing at the time—this and Vector Man were supposed to be the "next gen!!"-of-current-gen games—but the benefit of hindsight shows us that good old fashioned Mario ended up being both better and more influential.

[Claytone]

Not just nice, but like... huge and well-thought-out. So much meat in that game. Every little system just feels like a treat.

Oh yes, for sure. I was understating my love for it. It challenged DQ3 for the title of my favorite Dragon Quest, which I was so sure would never happen. And it may have even won! It's a tough call for sure. A delight from start to finish and with some elements that really spoke to me on a personal/sentimental level. Now it's the game I struggle to imagine a subsequent entry beating.

DKC is a fine platformer, a fine game, and it was definitely at least marketed to be mind-blowing at the time—this and Vector Man were supposed to be the "next gen!!"-of-current-gen games—but the benefit of hindsight shows us that good old fashioned Mario ended up being both better and more influential.

Fine is really as much praise as I'd give it. I really don't think it feels great to move around, which is kind of the whole point of a platformer! The tunes are good at least.

It's also funny to me as someone whose first console was 3D to look at stuff like DKC and Vectorman after the fact knowing their graphics were marketed as cutting-edge at the time and just being completely incapable of seeing them that way lol. IMO DKC looks much worse than launch title Super Mario World! 3D models converted into muddy sprites just don't look as good as a nice, hand-drawn sprite!

Usually I'm capable of appreciating innovation that predates me and putting myself in a mindset to understand why those things were cool, but with that little fad, I'm at a loss. Did people (broadly speaking) really think they looked good, or was it all marketing?

[Kong Wen]

Usually I'm capable of appreciating innovation that predates me and putting myself in a mindset to understand why those things were cool, but with that little fad, I'm at a loss. Did people (broadly speaking) really think they looked good, or was it all marketing?

People really thought they looked good. But looking good is more than just looking "realistic" or looking 3D. Flow and articulation are a big part of it as well. People thought Suikoden looked good too because the sprites could kneel and individual parts of them could move. Same deal with DKC. I mean Vectorman was even made out of balls specifically to try to highlight that. But you're absolutely right that it didn't age well, because stuff that actually looks good in its own right (not simply by context, in contrast) easily eventually supplanted it.