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March 10
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You know, I've noticed a trend that happens in video games, but it was something I realized after I took a look at one of my old Berenstain Bears books yesterday. (Remember those books? :D)

Usually, we start off by seeing various characters in a simplified or smaller form, where they don't have much detail. This is present in older video games where they had to draw their sprites smaller to conserve space, or just because we wouldn't be able to see them any other way. However, there's the rare chance that we actually see the characters up close and with more detail.

My case in point, using the Berenstain Bears books I mentioned:

Usually we see the characters from far away or in a small, kind of cramped illustration space, like in this title cover: [link]

But in one rare case, the artists illustrated a full-page spread of one of the characters getting her loose tooth removed, with all the details we usually see (i.e. her fur, etc.) crisper and more clearer: [link]

Back when I was 5 or 6 years old, it was kind of a positive shock to see one of the characters that up-close. (Tells you something about my future career choice, eh? :D I was appreciating the art on the pages even before I knew or understood that I was! ;P)

Now, I mentioned video games because it happens mostly there. Case in point with Super Mario World & Starfox 2:

Usually we see the characters in a smaller form:
(SMW): [link]
(Starfox 2): [link]

But once in a while, the artists throw a good curveball at us and show the characters in much higher detail than we're used to seeing them in the game:
(SMW): [link]
(Starfox 2): [link] (I know it's hard to see this, but at the proper scaled resolution in the original SNES game, you'll see what I mean.)

Even my own favorite games Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure and Commander Keen did this! (However, for Commander Keen: "Goodbye Galaxy!", and Commander Keen: "Aliens Ate My Babysitter!", it was usually seeing the characters in higher detail first, and then the game's sprites in lower detail from then on.)


It's not really important, it's just something I wanted to point out. :D
:iconziblink:
~Ziblink Mar 10, 2013  Hobbyist Photographer
What I've seen is increasing detail as series move on, from pixels to models to full 3D rendering glory.
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