30 Graphically Top-Notch Pixel Art Games (That Metal Slug Fans Will Love)

Are you a nostalgic of pixel art aesthetics in video games? Then you'll love this video! where I cover the history of video games in search of the most visually stunning action 2D games, that emulate the graphic style of such an iconic saga as Metal Slug


Pixel art was born in the 70s as an illustration technique in the first computers for the home market and video game consoles. The technique consists of drawing an image using small dots known as pixels.

The pixel art of the 70s and 80s was severely limited on video game consoles, which had very little memory compared to modern standards. In the case of the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES), the maximum resolution of the console was 256 horizontal pixels by 240 vertical pixels or 240p, i.e. all elements displayed on the screen were limited to a grid of 61,440 pixels. That number seems too large, but it was limited by the console's reduced color palette of 56 shades, of which only 25 could be displayed simultaneously on the screen.

By the 1990s, with the advent of consoles such as the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES), pixel art improved substantially because it could display more colors on screen (256 simultaneously out of a palette of 32,768), even though the resolution was slightly lower than that of its NES predecessor.

By the end of 1994, Sony launched the PlayStation in Japan, a console capable of displaying polygonal graphics. Meanwhile, by 1996 Nintendo would do the same with the Nintendo 64, migrating the development of video games from 2D to 3D. This transition meant the gradual death of pixel art in video games, even though the PlayStation had true gems that took pixel art to a new level thanks to a higher resolution and a wider color palette (up to 153,600 shades).

On the PlayStation, games like Rayman, Beyond the Beyond, Suikoden and Castlevania: Symphony of the Night showed that pixel art was far from reaching its ceiling. Paradoxically, when pixel art was looking its best, the video game industry migrated to three-dimensional models that did not reach an outstanding level of detail until well into the 21st century.

In another paradox, when three-dimensional graphics reached an outstanding level of detail, a handful of developers who championed the indie game movement (video games created without the support of major distributors) saw pixel art as the ideal graphic style for new games. Video game consoles and computers had made quantum leaps since the popularization of pixel art in the 1980s, reaching resolutions of up to 2 million pixels with Full HD and millions more colors, while animation and illustration techniques had also evolved substantially.

Summarizing the evolution of pixel art in video games, in this video we cover a series of video games that have graphically influenced (and have been influenced) by one of the greatest milestones of pixel art: Metal Slug.

In this video you will find:

• Some of the most gorgeous pixel art games ever created
• Information related to each game such as release date, developer company, game genre and system it was released on.
• Official game box arts with a 3D presentation.
• Educative and/or critical comments on the importance of the video game and why you should play it
• Average Lenght of every game

Intro and Outro Music

Aries Beats "Synthwave Dreams 2020" is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license https://creativecommons.org/licenses/...
Source: https://free-songs.de/synthwave-2020/

0:00 Intro
0:16 1989 Cal .50: Caliber Fifty (Arcade)
0:41 1990 Mercs (Arcade)
1:07 1990 Out Zone (Arcade)
1:34 1991 Cosmic Cop (Arcade)
2:00 1992 R-Type Leo (Arcade)
2:31 1992 Last Resort (Arcade)
2:56 1993 In the Hunt (Arcade)
3:25 1993 SpinMaster (Arcade)
3:50 1993 Air Assault (Arcade)
4:16 1994 GunForce II (Arcade)
4:42 1994 Contra Hard Corps (Sega Genesis)
5:06 1995 Rapid Reload (Playstation)
5:31 1995 Alien Soldier (Sega Genesis)
5:57 1995 Gundhara (Arcade)
6:23 1997 Shock Troopers (Arcade)
6:48 1998 Blazing Star (Arcade)
7:16 1999 Bangai-O (Dreamcast)
7:41 1997 DoDonpachi (Arcade)
8:06 2001 Progear Storm of Progia (Arcade)
8:31 2002 Demon Front (Arcade)
8:56 2003 Dolphin Blue (Arcade)
9:21 2010 Akai Katana (Arcade)
9:47 2014 Mercenary Kings (PC)
10:13 2014 Broforce (PC)
10:39 2018 Valfaris (PC)
11:05 2019 Blazing Chrome (PC)
11:30 2020 Huntdown (PC)
11:58 2021 Steel Assault (PC)
12:25 2021 Mighty Goose (PC)
13:02 Outro

⚠️ All gameplay recording, game curation and opinions included in this video, as well as editing is completely done by me