Topic: Wind Waker tech tricks

[TrueNerd]

http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104415

Kotaku just posted this and I figured I'd pass it along here. This is a look at some of the techniques Wind Waker used to look so damn pretty. I don't know the first thing about any of this stuff, but it would appear the game was graphically ahead of its time. Anyway, I thought it was cool.

[ShyGuy]

That was great. Nintendo are the masters.

[MegaByte]

What was interesting was that most of the "tricks" listed weren't tricks at all -- the GameCube was simply powerful enough to do the big calculations, and Nintendo was able to make it work.

[Anth0ny]

And people say Nintendo isn't ready for HD development... they've been ready for 9 years!  : :

Wind Waker is still the best looking game I've ever played.

[Louieturkey]

And people say Nintendo isn't ready for HD development... they've been ready for 9 years!  : :

Wind Waker is still the best looking game I've ever played.

I'm guessing you are a Nintendo only gamer?

[BranDonk Kong]

There are more realistic-looking games, but I'd probably agree that Wind Waker (if you run it through Dolphin at 1080p at least) is the best looking game ever.

[ShyGuy]

Windwaker don't crack!

[Stogi]

I think Skyward Sword would beat it in overall graphical mastery if in dolphin in 1080p, but nothing beats charm.

[Anth0ny]

And people say Nintendo isn't ready for HD development... they've been ready for 9 years!  : : :

Wind Waker is still the best looking game I've ever played.

I'm guessing you are a Nintendo only gamer?

Nope. I've always been a multi-console owner, and nothing has come close to Wind Waker's beauty.

Okay, maybe Journey. But that's it.

[Louieturkey]

And people say Nintendo isn't ready for HD development... they've been ready for 9 years!  : : :

Wind Waker is still the best looking game I've ever played.

I'm guessing you are a Nintendo only gamer?

Nope. I've always been a multi-console owner, and nothing has come close to Wind Waker's beauty.

Okay, maybe Journey. But that's it.

Interesting.  Have you played WW on the Dolphin emulator?  I've heard it looks pretty good on that.

My personal favorite looking game is FFXIII.  Everything just looked pretty to me and looking at the scenery in the game gave me a sense of calm.  I always thought WW looked great, but felt there were too many flat colors.  If they were to make WW on the Wii U now without ever having made it on the cube, I think it would definitely rival anything out there.  For what it is, it probably was the most beautiful game of its time though.

That's why everyone has their own opinion and their own preferences on art style.

[Anth0ny]

And people say Nintendo isn't ready for HD development... they've been ready for 9 years!  : : : :

Wind Waker is still the best looking game I've ever played.

I'm guessing you are a Nintendo only gamer?

Nope. I've always been a multi-console owner, and nothing has come close to Wind Waker's beauty.

Okay, maybe Journey. But that's it.

Interesting.  Have you played WW on the Dolphin emulator?  I've heard it looks pretty good on that.

My personal favorite looking game is FFXIII.  Everything just looked pretty to me and looking at the scenery in the game gave me a sense of calm.  I always thought WW looked great, but felt there were too many flat colors.  If they were to make WW on the Wii U now without ever having made it on the cube, I think it would definitely rival anything out there.  For what it is, it probably was the most beautiful game of its time though.

That's why everyone has their own opinion and their own preferences on art style.

I have indeed played it on Dolphin. Only one word to describe it: Sublime. If your PC is strong enough, I highly recommend giving it a play. Certain games like Wind Waker, the Galaxies and Smash Bros Brawl look like totally different games running in that emulator. Mind boggling to say the least.

It would be a crime against humanity if Nintendo doesn't release a Wind Waker HD Remaster for the Wii U.

[Louieturkey]

It'd be pretty awesome if something similar to the Dolphin emulator ran Wii games on the Wii U.  Plus any VC GCN games could be run the same way.

[BranDonk Kong]

Nintendo doesn't need to necessarily have any HD remakes - they just need to use hardware acceleration and be able to run VC GameCube and BC Wii games in 1080p. If you haven't seen what Wii games (and some GCN games) *could* look like simply running at 1080p, you seriously need to check it out. They don't all of the sudden look like Crysis or anything, but it's a huge, huge difference over 480p.

[NWR_insanolord]

This is Nintendo, though. Do you really think they're going to put in that kind of effort for standard VC and backward compatibility when they could get away with charging a lot more for the HD version?

[BranDonk Kong]

Well, N64 games are bumped to 480p at least, so I do have a little hope. It would certainly be cheaper for them to do it this way as well.

[Louieturkey]

According to an article at 1-Up, it looks like Reggie announced that it'll be like the Wii with GC games.  The system will run like a Wii when a Wii game is in there. Obviously, the output will be 1080p, but not actual upgrade like what the Dolphin emulator does.