As a society, we were in a "tropical island" phase in the early 2000s. Also reflected in TV shows and movies. We had LOST and Survivor and Pirates of the Caribbean. We just go through phases like this. Early 90s was all about dinosaurs (Jurassic Park, Dinsoaurs (TV series), Land Before Time, etc..)
I became kind of obsessed with Hawai'i during the 2000s and I happened to get the opportunity to go there in 2008, conveniently right at the height of my interest. There was something about tropical islands back then. It's just not nearly the aesthetic and cultural craze it used to be.
@@enz0ferrari Also "Who Let the Dogs Out" It was just the style at the time, possibly because of Y2K optimism for the future, which is why we also have the whole glossy space-ship aesthetic in music videos during that era. That whole vibe seemed to fall out of favor around 9/11 when.... yeah, people were understandably less enthusiastic.
Nothing gives me as much nostalgia as the whole early 2000s tropical island aesthetic that was big in Japanese media at the time. Playing Pokemon Emerald on the way to school, playing Mario Sunshine in the afternoon, then watching One Piece later on Toonami.
I think devs have kind of gradually built themselves a huge bear trap between 2004-2014 with the push for realistic high fidelity graphics. The dev cycle for games is just far too long and risky now for developers to take risks with new IPs and sequels, i really think we need to redefine what’s considered an AAA game or we’re gonna be stuck replaying and buying the same games as remasters forever and pay up to $80-90 per game. They need to find a better balance between quality, cost and time
For me, a game should just have a stable frame rate, and if it has online features, they should work. Then the game should be fun. That's it. I don't care about graphics, and haven't for some time. After a while I realized that my favorite video games did NOT have realistic graphics. I mean, I literally grew up playing super Nintendo and N64, and I can still boot those games up while having a BLAST.
Maybe stupid people will keep buying Assassin's Creed and such, but gamers who like honest and artistic games have a cornucopia at our disposal right now. Bzzzt, Pepper Grinder, Indika, Bakeru, Core Keeper. Those are great games and that's just the last couple weeks for me. There's always great stuff out there for people who care.
@@ADreamingTraveler that's what I've done. 🙏 I don't buy video games anymore, I steal them online. Only game I've bought since like 2018 is the new Dragonball Sparking Zero coming out next month!!! Game is about to be so peak bruh
@@kurtisdelonge3372 Yeah first memory I have of levels like that are from Wind Waker but even before that water levels in Donkey Kong or any platformer were a treat for me.
I think the seventh generation was the absolute peak with the 360, ps3 and Wii after that, it was a slow decline PS4 was pretty solid and honestly Xbox one eventually found their footing with the one S and X models, but the current generation has been disappointing
I would argue that it really hit its polished peak at the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS era. The generation you named was definitely the last Golden era of innovation.
@@night6724Xbox one was pretty good once Microsoft got over its foot and mouth disease I was disappointed that just as they started to get good at gaming again they completely abandoned all the other features that made Xbox One unique. Sure we all wanted a gaming platform first and foremost but the Media center features were also a big plus and I was disappointed to see them being abandoned especially the voice controls and connect.
to this day, tropical and snowy levels are my all-time favorite settings in video games. brings me back to my childhood playing super mario sunshine, final fantasy x, 007 nightfire, and tekken
When I think of videogames with snow, I think of Crash 2, Crash Team Racing, Crash Bash, Crash Twinsanity, MK: Armageddon, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Jak and Daxter, Spyro PS1 trilogy and 007: Tomorrow Never Dies
Snow is my LEAST favorite of any video game biome/setting. Living in the upper Midwest, it snows like 6 months out of the year. Its cold. Bleak. Everything is dead. The constant monotone color. The first signs of green in spring is like a drug. Seasonal depression is rampant in areas with changing landscapes. Yay, I get to go outside, slog through a foot of snow, freezing my ass off, looking at all of the brown, grey, and lifeless empty treelines on the backdrop of a white field for half a year.
This is absolutely right. The low polygon era was more simplified, which allowed you to relax and disconnect from the world for awhile. Something that is sorely missed today.
Now you have to wait for the game to install and then download updates and then insert their xyz agenda in your face. The fun is dead. I only stick to old school games and the indie scene
@@masterkcIt's not just that either. Don't forget the endless remasters/remakes and rehashing of the same formula for games with a lack of innovate genres.
I was born in 1989. It was such a interesting time to grow up. I'm glad I got to experience it. Before things changed to how they are nowadays. There was a sense of Retro-Futurism mixed with vintage vibes. McDonald's had Nintendo 64's, Blockbuster/Hollywood video, you could preview music before buying it. Magazines would come with demo discs for new games coming soon. There's so many reasons why the 90's ruled. Because it had a bit of a 80's vibe and attitude. Such awesome Aesthetics all over in such diverse ways. It was like "okay kids, go have fun, you might get hurt so watch out, but, have fun 👍🏻." Nowadays, it's like they completely got rid of any "fun, goof off, odd stuff." It's like everything is all modernized, minimalism, contemporary, bland, repetitive and if it doesn't make money 💰 then it's gotta go.. so all those old houses, old shops, drive in movie theaters, roller rinks, obstacle courses, bouncy houses, indoor fun zones with r/c speed boats, mini golf ⛳ with loops, bumper cars, ball pits, just weird random stuff. Random weird local shops, stores that you could play halo 1 on big TVs and link up LAN parties. Towns still had older run down sorta house's, duplexes, just unique "lower income living options ya know?") where I live they have literally gotten rid of all of that and just put in cookie cutter type places to live and everything costs ridiculous per month and everything is so bland and stale. I just miss the creativity, the quirkiness that's all. Being born in 1989 I was lucky to get to see the tail end of these things that aren't around anymore and I can't help but wonder what it must be like for kids that never got to experience the stuff the 90s kids got to experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Getting to be a teen when wild Boyz, jackass, CKY was a big deal 🤘🏻 a kid when Steve Erwin was literally my idol! Growing up on magic school bus, bill Nye the science guy, captain planet, X-Men the animated series, all the animated series tv shows. All the classic animated movies. Like it was the best time to be a kid and a teenager. It had such a Vibe.
I was born a year after and i do miss the 80's reruns and 90s movies. Back then i had so much hope for games and movies but all we got now is the tech but the media is shit😅
1990 born midwestern kid, you're spot on here, especially about the simple random attractions in the most random places. Completely agree that it was a whole vibe in itself, definitely the best childhood era.
Born in '92, it really was a great time. Now everything is anchored to the internet, and the internet has become so centralized (look where we are!) that it's all homogenized and the same.
PBS and other sources of children's shows are now LITTERED with the same 2D puppet animation and aren't hand-drawn or manned by actual puppets anymore; the plots are too sanitized and PC. And that's a byproduct of a certain population refusing to support their local stations, but that's another story.
I was born in 1998 i have to say growing up as a kid in the 2000's was honestly the best. There was the best movies coming out, the kid shows were awsome, the ps2 i have to say had some of the best games, and there was a good balance between outside play and tv/gaming time.
We were born on the same year. One of my earliest memories for gaming was playing the 2nd gen pokemon games around 2002-2003. Then i got my first home console was the PS2 back when i was 6 in 2004. I remember me and my older bro played Duel Masters and Ratchet and Clank for the first time and it blew me away because of the 3D graphics. The excitement of playing new games back then were different than now. Back then you wouldn’t know how the game plays until you buy it yourself. Your best bet was to subscribe to video games magazine or watch G4TV shows.
@@sanderhackerhd8369 It was ;P We got snes/n64 and Ps1 as kids and got the ps2/x-box/gamecube as teenagers. We got Peak Pokemon, tamagotchis, jojos, Digimon, Yugioh and Dragonballz xD We got the better Shows in Tv no Smartphones no internet ...
@@karinadelma People who say this really don't expand beyond triple AAA titles. There are many if not more inovative IPs today than there was in the 2000s. You just have to go beyond the AAA crap.
@@jjct111 they keep try doing the new ip these days yet wasn't much big as old ones because they were more originally than more ip games trying it, also AAA these days are garbage as hell. So thats about it.
@@karinadelmathere were still mountains of garbage back then, like the troves and troves of shitty licensed games made by companies like THQ and the like, or all the brown and yellow shooters that were trying to copy call of duty
As an older gen z (2003), I also prefer those games. They were made by passionate people who liked making games. Money was still important but their mindset was that they will make money when they offer a good game to the players. Now it's entirely about that money and how to make more profits with the least amount of creativity.
I grew up on a island so games that involve one were automatically right up my alley, Kingdom hearts 1 in particular with Riku and Sora wanting to leave and explore the world really resonated with me.
One additional thing I also like about simpler graphics is the clarity. I always gravitated towards TF2 instead of all the other classmates who were neck deep into CoD. I just could not differentiate friend from foe in those games.
I was born in 1999, and im so happy I got to grow up during the 2000's and early 2010's. I'm thankful that I got to grow up with so many epic movies, games, and novelties.
@@karinadelma How would you know when I grew up? I was born in 1990 btw. But people tend to be nostalgic to the era they grew up in so I think that can warp their perceptions of what era was the best
@@jimmymackinnon8474 It was great to be alive because everyone knew they were born in 90s or the 80s. Its way better than kids who grew with ipad because they never knew.
I still remember clearly every Sunday morning I watched Sunday morning cartoons (anime like Doraemon, Dragon Ball, Digimon, Ninja Hattori, etc) and later played Mortal Kombat 3 and Bare Knuckle 3 on my Sega Genesis. What a time!
Totally agree. If I could just have all the games of the past with some modern quality of life improvements (not graphically, but like maps, journals to summarize progress/story thus far, decent inventory or menu management, etc.) I would probably be set. Like I love the megaman battle network games but damn if those maps don't get confusing after some time. That said, there are a ton of retro indies that doing exactly this, just without the recognizable mascots and worlds that I hold so dear.
I got a weird middle ground one for ya. Since I got my new Xbox and a 4K tv I’ve been going back to play the old games that never seemed to look as good as they were supposed to in their E3 demos. I discovered the issue finally, they were running demos with hdr from a pc. Battlefield 3 with its e3 level the one that starts in the back of the apc second level I believe. It finally over a decade later looked like the E3 trailer, it was just hdr lighting that made it so much easier to see the low light environment it was mind blowing. Battlefield 4 exactly the same thing with their e3 level. Actually it also worked well on Battlefield Bad Company 2 with its e3 level taking place at pre dawn it never looked as good as that trailer until it was playing on my series S on my 4K it’s made me load up a bunch of games that never looked as good as they were supposed to.
Water and Tropical Islands were big in the 2000s! Lilo and Stitch, Cast Away, Total Drama Island, SpongeBob, Madagascar, The Incredibles, 50 First Dates, The Scooby Doo Movie, it was almost everywhere when you look back.
For the first 10 minutes i didn't give that attention to the description of the video, and I thought it had 3-4 millions of views, and that was made 2-3 years ago. Keep the good work!
@@josiahferrell5022 Several games do this but we don't go around calling Shin Megami Tensei V as Shin Megami Tensei Vee. It's just stupidity. FF fans are really stupid.
Thought I was the only one who noticed the pervasive tropical theme of this time. I like the theories you offered. Additionally, something about it just feels right to me - as if this era were the 'summer' of games.
Early 2000s had a whole "trance music, tropical islands/beach clubs, electronic rock" vibe that played into the whole Y2K aesthetic and it was just...Amazing. Games were either a frickin' summer vacation at the beach or a cyberpunk/biopunk dystopian police state that we were bringing down (or even both, in some cases!). Even popular media like Star Wars played heavily into that. It truly was a great time to be alive and play games.
Early CGI/graphics but you can just tell which generation it’s from too it’s the sweet spot where it’s not hyper realistic but the graphics aren’t bad either if anything they can look better than most modern games
A gen z that is in love with the 2000's and the 90's era rather than what they love now is great and amazing really wish to stay at the 2000's era if possible
Nostalgia for an era they never experienced, it's honestly the most common problem with most modern games...but a lot of that is due to revisionist history. A lot of people want to deflect that video games "didn't have xyz" while ignoring that they did, it's just that they were done in a different way. I'm 42 years old, certainly not gen-z, but I can understand the love and nostalgia for post 2000's atmosphere. Even after tragedies across the globe, insane recessions and a depression; After the same inflation we're going through today, the mindset of these forms of media was around looking toward a brighter future, one that's futuristic and without our current faults. I remember being in my 20's, telling someone in early 2000's that playing video games at tournaments will be a career one day, and people just laughed. A lot of that was due to Halo, and how large MLG had gotten in such a short amount of time, and how people loved that slight bit of competition that, before 2005, just didn't exist in a video game on this specified scale. In today's world, it'll take something special to really advance our perception of current media and spin it into a positive light. I'd argue Fortnite was the last wave of change in the video game landscape, but since around 2013, most types of media went to different genres and never combined again.
Man the portion of gen z that weren’t around to experience this stuff is much smaller than the portion that was here to experience this stuff, im gen z, born in 1999, I grew up with all this stuff, I look fondly on that era but I don’t want to live in that era again. Your view of gen z is much more inline with generation alpha
@@kingzded5130 Yeah right. Generation Alpha is either making fun of the 2000s era or they're trying so desperately to claim that they like the same movies, shows, and games that we Gen Z's grew up with in the 2000s. Besides that I wish that I can live in the 2000s era again despite tons of bad things that have happened during that time.
Finally someone is saying it aloud, IMAGINATION! Been saying this a lot but many do not understand. I don't dismiss the experience people get from "high poly" games, I inclune in this group. Maybe it's just nostalgia but there's so many popular indie games that realize the old-school-look. People love it in all ages. High poly games shoud bring new experineces what new techonolgy is able, something that could not be done before. Nowdays most of these triple-A games are getting so tiring it's not fun (the creativity is the there but not for the player). Summary; imagination adds the game experience, fun and experientiality should be the key, not what is "expected" or games that hold your hand till the end PS. very delightful analyze, subscibed
As someone who was born in 2000...this video is a godsend!!! The specific style these games have is amazing, the development tool of yesteryear we're "worse" compared to today's tools, much more flexibility, templates, etc.
It seems that a lot of us are older gen z rather than young millennials. I expected to see them here because they were the exact age to experience these in their time. I wasn't even born when Halo CE came out.
It’s because of art style. Technical limitations drive innovation. It’s like how anime was created. A lot of iconic styles are improvisations. Heck even in music. So many music styles to mask bad singing or music theory and they end up creating cool genres. This era of everything having to be photorealistic - when it isn’t even really possible just has no style or substance. It all looks the same and there’s nothing unique about it. This is why games like Borderlands have aged so well with the cel shading or why 2d/3d JRPGs have. It’s always the most boring art that tries to replicate reality rather than interpret it.
The older I get, it amazes me even more how Rockstar was able to simulate entire cities using the tech and polygons at the time. Talk about doing the most with what you have.. they still feel like real places. I miss San Andreas.
2001 was an amazing year for me to be born while having two older sisters who were also gamers. I got to have the full 2000s kid childhood, with bits of the 90s kid childhood too, Movies and tv shows included.
I kept thinking... Frutiger Aero, he's managed to avoid that particular cliché, but then, there it was, as reliably present as it was all watery and futuristic. I've come to realise that I'm too old for nostalgia. Is that a paradox, or am I just a whining old fart?😂
The very concept of "frutiger aero" was invented by zoomers who weren't even born yet when it allegedly existed. Their obsession with the (imagined) aesthetics of the "early 00s" is comparable to the millennial obsession with the "80s" which led to the rise of synthwave and outrun. It's funny, it's always the generation that JUST missed out on something that seems to worship the thing the hardest
You should also ask yourselves why so many modern games are set in a gritty, post-apocalyptic world? The answer is how we perceive our times. In the early 00s, we were optimistic about the future. The technological jump from PS1 to PS2 was BIG and impressive, and the world seemed to be a in a good direction despite problems. This was reflected in our pop culture. Now we are pessimistic about the future. Half of us hate our own rulers, and the other half want you replaced by foreigners in your own homeland. Men and women can't see eye to eye like never before in human history. As a result, people are not breeding, we literally going through a major demographic collapse. This is also reflected in our pop culture and productivity. Technology seems stagnant and the advances we have are either not impressive or it scares the shit out of us (like AI). It's no wonder post-apocalyptic and zombies are the standard theme in fiction now, because that's how our collective conscience is seeing our times.
On the other hand, if you look at Asian games, despite all their economical difficulties, they seem way more colorful (actually too much for my taste lol).
@@JaggedMercenary yeah but themes remain basicaly the same as ours. The main different is that asians like to distract themselves more with sexuality rather than violence
This perfectly encapsulates how I feel about modern AAA visuals. When developers still had to approximate their vision due to inherent limitations, everything had a sort of crafted look to it. You could tell what they were trying to get out of the console, but it'd come out as something more unique even with its subtle flaws. It was charming, but now that charm has been largely phased out.
As someone who grew up in the early 2000s in the middle of the mountains of Colorado, the jungle/beach theme always was nice because it was something I never seen in person.
88 child here. I've seen every version of gaming so far. The biggest thing devs had less to work with but made games feel way more. Now it's the other way round. The late night releases where u had to line up, the lan parties where you were actually with people There's a reason why we keep getting remakes or remastered versions of games.
We were truly spoiled for most of the 2000s. I don't really like saying this but it has to be said, Gen 6 (The PS2/Xbox/Gamecube/Dreamcast era) is GOATed
you nailed it with the whole techincal aspect. realisitc water/wave physics was such a huge hype point in the early 2000s. i remember being blown away the first time i saw hydro thunder in arcades. i think wave race was the first game i remember that really leaned into the water physics.
Yes! I was a PS3 gamer at that time but I remembered thinking the blades was such a cutting edge menu concept for a console. PS had XMB, which they still use (much improved) today, but back then the idea of pushing the console logo and getting a dashboard was very innovative. It took several years for Sony to really catch up.
2000 - 2010 when games had actual color and didn’t need HDR to bring it back to our eyes. Also *Environmental Variety* was essential even if narratively it makes no sense for the characters to fast travel from a Sunny Beach to a Snow Filled Area but the Rainy Scenes looked the best. Now it feels like all games are just set in the afternoon with a Raytracing Sun, Grass Fields, ASSet Flip Trees, and Mountains you can never reach even though the developers lied to your face that your character model can possibly touch them. All open worlds feel like you’re on an island due to its borders because God forbid if someone actually makes an open world that has enough land to be an actual Country.
By 2010 we were knee deep in brown "realism" already. You bring up a good point about environmental variety though. I think many developers still had an old-school "level-based" mentality even when the games weren't necessarily divided up into levels.
@@todesziege We need to go back to level design rather than a checkpoint system when the places your interacting with hasn't changed 20 hrs into a game well unless it is Fallout.
@@assassin8636 Early 2000s Video game colors hit different back then but I am not going back to CRTs or anything. I have an HDR monitor and it still looks awesome when I play older games.
you touched on some good points, and i think THE biggest factor was appealing to the older audience as you mentioned. The other one factor that you briefly mentioned is graphical techniques & available technology. For example, lighting model in sun-lit environments are a lot easier due to uniform outdoor lighting. Later, as real-time lighting with multiple light sources were introduced, it made sense to make games that highlight these graphical improvements. Hence, games with darker shadows, etc.
Squares influence in islands i believe is particularly interesting you have to remember that final fantasy spirits within just finished and released in 2001. That studio was located in Hawaii it was also grueling labor to finish and keep that on track. I'm sure having Sakaguchi and those who returned to Japan after this or transfered after this left Square with an influx of creators longing for Hawaii as winter rolled in and left there Tokyo offices a bitting 40ish degrees compared to the more milder Hawaii offices they came from.
in the 2000s they always tried to have the best graphics possible even if it was not a good idea .like on the game boy advance a lot of games had pre rendered 3d sometimes it looked great but often it looked tacky and there was a race to make the first handheld 3d games. on the pc some games had system requirements so high most people couldn't not run it when it was new. i like the tropical island themes because i wanted to imagine being there and exploring underwater zones was cool you never knew what was down there
Growing up in coastal Australia, playing FFX and wii sports resort, and watching Pokemon Orange Archipelago as a kid might explain why i only feel comfortable around the beach/water
That part about bold and interesting characteristics of the characters' visual design boils down to shape language in art. If you want to know more about that I highly recommend Marco Bucci's 2D art videos about shape language.
I was born in 91, and was a teenager during the edgy era. It was great, ngl. I find it refreshing, it's nice to engage with something that clearly doesn't take itself too seriously - it's a great form of escapism to me. The gunshots being the UI element sound for the Sonic spinoff game made me lol irl
I didn't played none of these games at that time but they look nostalgic for me because the cheap notebooks I used during school years often had this picture of summer in a tropical island with coconut trees
I miss the 2000s so much. In my opinion it was the last great decade in human history. Like there was still a little vibrancy and magic and joy that persisted even after the world's death on September 11, 2001, up until the corpse of the world was finally put in the casket in 2008. With the global recession came the eradication of the final bits of hope and optimism, all color and detail erased from modern culture: Product variety went down and in came the era of minimalism. Soulless, empty, blank space and ascetic fonts everywhere. In media, we went from connecting with the warmth and vibrance of the tropics and jungles and shallow seas, to connecting to the desolate emptiness of the tundra and desert. All dramatics aside, I really feel so much more connected to and at home in the culture of the 2000s. Like these hopeful maximalists are my people. I mean it makes sense, I was born in 2000, but actually I'd love to be able to experience the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, and 50s as well, with interest waning slightly as you go back in time.
Dang, I honestly forgot about pre-ordering meaning something because you actually went to the store and stood in line for a midnight release. I would do midnight releases for final fantasy and call of duty. I had watched family members play the earlier FF games. FFX was the first one I played myself and it blew me away. Honestly, still one of my top favorite games too 😂
He only includes nintendo, ONLY NINTENDO YOU HEAR?! NINTENDO NINTENDO THERES ONLY. INTENDOOOOO. Seriously these ytubers sukks for only including Japanese wii aboo crraapp. Sony had the best games period.
It's interesting how nobody is nostalgic for the dark edge that games from this era were trying to evoke, instead the nostalgia for even those games seems to stem from how unconvincing/goofy they seem at it. Whereas games like Mario sunshine and ffX, with a more earnest aesthetic, are not seen like this (I think we've even moved past that "ha ha ha" scene in ffX because in the context of the game it works).
I remember reading game informer or some shit back when ffx (and many other games like you've shown here) was first being shown at E3 and the article was about how the theme of E3 that year was just "water". Your video nails so much of that whole era, wish I could find that article again it is one of those mental time capsules I still think about sometimes over twenty years later.
My theory in why games and interfaces for everything looked more bright, colorful and inviting is because people had more optimism back then. It always seemed that the state of the current media is a reflection of the current state of mind of the general population.
If you’re missing the social aspect of gaming, the best place to look is def the fighting game community. Basically the only gaming subcommunity that still has offline events and meetups as the core of its identity
The "edgy" era was mainly for one single reason, trying to pig back in the success of GTA III. ND devs have come directly and said that Jak II would be more similar to the first one, just another traditional 3D platformer but when GTA III came out they pivoted, putting guns, cars and a more edgy/mature tone. I don't doubt that other franchise shit were for similar reasons.
Me and my friends still meet up for a LAN-Party every September, playing CoD 2, CS, Warcraft 3 and AoE 2. We were inspired by my older brother, who hosted a lot of LANs at our house back in the day. Although there isn't really a need to meet up in person to enjoy a smooth multiplayer experience anymore it's just a special feeling seeing your buddy raging in real life after you backstabbed him in CS lmao
I miss the maximalism that went in to the 2000s from the 90s and prior. Towards the end though I almost felt that vista and 7 were themselves kinda "minimal" and taking on a sort of glass and metal "modern office" aesthetic of the time. Little did I know how far the minimalism would go. The dark, edgy media back then I considered a bit too serious and depressing but looking back, compared to what we have today, it was hammy and downright wacky at times. Now it seems they've really figured out much better how to make believable (even if not realistic) and affective drama to really make the audience feel kinda miserable and hopeless and crushed. But yeah there was that kinda bipolarness with the aesthetics like you mentioned where there was a lot of paradise settings in games that had a very positive atmosphere, even if many of the characters were edgy. I'd say gaming has reached a better balance and just variety in general, due to the democratization of tools and tools being better and easier to use. Modern style in general is still just ultra minimal and depressing though. Also, not mentioning the blades dashboard? I'd say even the one you mentioned as the more charming dashboard was already somewhat heading towards minimalism too, in much the way vista/7 were. Defintiely still a good few glowy, shiny things but more greys and whites creeping in, things becoming more boxy and like "windows" rather than other less "practical" shapes.
Pre rendered backgrounds were my favorite as a kid. I loved the survival hororr games of the PS1 era for this reason. Then you look at a game like resident evil 0 and its absurd how good it looks for its time
This is my favorite “aesthetics” deep dive channel on YT I never even realized how many games in the early 2000s were set in tropical locales, until watching this video
As an indie game writer having grown up with these games, I’m willing to admit that I constantly bring up and refer these games and aesthetics often while developing new games. Not to try to copy or match this style, but to try to make all those childhood wishes we had as a generation come true. For that peaceful future we were promised, especially those with tropical islands and smooth jazz. For those adventures and comradery that we’re supposed to find along the way. I’m happy that there’s lots of fellow indie studios out there who also keep trying to keep these aesthetics alive for that reason, even if mainstream games have gone a different direction.
Aw man.. I reallly hoped this was a video about something I've been thinking about and pondering for years now. That Dreamcast has such a distinct kind of style for many of its games, Blue Stinger off the top of my head is one of them. You can just glance at the gameplay of it and KNOW that it's a Dreamcast game. PSO is another. There are just games I can spot in Google Images or w/e, even if I've never played, hell, never even heard of them, I can accurately guess "Oh, that's a Dreamcast game." and for w/e reason, you can't as accurately do that with other consoles. My personal, surface level theories as to why I sort of recognize a pattern there, is possibly that they share a lot of colors between games, particularly a healthy amount of bright ones.. or possibly even re-use the very exact, distinct shade of said colors maybe? And idk, maybe it's something to do with how they made polygonal models, that made them distinct from PS and other counterparts. I THINK, but I'm not certain, that most of the games I recognize as having that "distinctly Dreamcast" style may be first party developers, ie made by Sega or a related subsidary company or w/e. I could be wrong about that, though. A sort of random, rambling sidenote.. Without looking, off the top of my head, I remember looking it up once and I think it was something like 9, or maybe 11 months between the release of the Dreamcast and the PS2. It's so insane to me that, I distinctly have so many specific memories that must take place within that particular time window. Because I remember having NUMEROUS conversations with my friends at school about "how advanced" the Dreamcast was compared to other consoles that were out currently and discussing which games we had, etc etc.. And even discussing hearing about the announcement or ads for the PS2. Be it in the middle of class, at recess or at the lunch table, even walking home from school. So many conversations with diff friends about that, and it's wild to think I have so many memories I can narrow down to such a specific window of time I thought was much longer. Something mentioned in this video I never thought of, but I already know I'll remember and think about for the rest of my life now.. I REALLY have, truly, grown up "together" with video games. As an industry and artform and source of entertainment and all. It went through its rebellious, edgy teenage phase roughly around the same time as I did. Now it's either in its young adult or full on responsible adult phase, as I also reluctantly am. It's just really fascinating. And a bit sad. Just like getting older as a human, video games don't experiment and try new things as often anymore, just as goes for most human adults. And like most adults, have learned, or rather been conditioned, through repeated failure, to just keep our heads down and take the path of least resistance and stick with what works.
Halo looked like that because it is inspired by the Pacific Northwest of Washington State. When I drove to Olympia to get my NERF Assault Rifle...WOW. It felt like I was driving around Zeta or Alpha Halo. I still get a cozy feeling from exploring the level Halo or The Silent Cartographer to this day. I've lived in Washington for most of my life though...so the effect is pretty strong. I remember wanting to explore the bottom parts of the level Halo because of how breathtaking the expansive background is!
When games had replay ability due to unlock able secret contents after finishing the game once. Now days that stuff is locked behind downloadable content pay walls. Worst they’re selling their games half finished and have to pay more for the next installment. These companies are so pathetic
Early 2000s Y2K aesthetic of PSO, the PS2 intro, F-Zero GX, Halo, and Custom Robo are my favorite aesthetics in media. It's amazing. And the vibrancy of the classic Gamecube/PS2 games made it so much prettier.
I remembered Runabout 2 PS1 first stage, It's a beach, a really memorable bright beach. Fun visual, happy memory. GT2 first beginner race? Tahiti. it's a beach Crash bandicoot first stage? Beach CTR Crash's map? Beach Megaman Legend first scene? OCEAN xD
I distinctly remember the horse armor thing, I also remember telling people "just wait and see where this goes..." after them telling me it wasn't a big deal. Given the way storage space is starting to be monopolized by some game companies, I wouldn't be surprised if down the road we see games that can't be played without installing a dedicated storage device for it.
![[#2024MAMA] G-DRAGON - 무제(Untitled, 2014)+POWER+HOME SWEET HOME+뱅뱅뱅+FANTASTIC BABY | Mnet 241123 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/Ox29z5Nf1Uk/mqdefault.jpg)
As a society, we were in a "tropical island" phase in the early 2000s. Also reflected in TV shows and movies. We had LOST and Survivor and Pirates of the Caribbean. We just go through phases like this. Early 90s was all about dinosaurs (Jurassic Park, Dinsoaurs (TV series), Land Before Time, etc..)
I became kind of obsessed with Hawai'i during the 2000s and I happened to get the opportunity to go there in 2008, conveniently right at the height of my interest. There was something about tropical islands back then. It's just not nearly the aesthetic and cultural craze it used to be.
Even music videos with hip hop and R&B, Thong Song, Area Codes, Trade It All Pt 2, Whatcha Like, etc.
Aaa very interesting analysis, I like it, we kind of were on a tropical island, until the 2008 crash 😂😂😂
Zombies defined the 2010s for me lol
@@enz0ferrari Also "Who Let the Dogs Out"
It was just the style at the time, possibly because of Y2K optimism for the future, which is why we also have the whole glossy space-ship aesthetic in music videos during that era. That whole vibe seemed to fall out of favor around 9/11 when.... yeah, people were understandably less enthusiastic.
Ah the 2000s, an era full of passion and creativity
You mean games, they have pretty creativity stuff back then.
True. The 2000’s was about creating new IP’s and taking risks, something sorely missed in today’s gaming scene.
@@xXLunatikxXlul maybe is 2010s, they barely had new ip games except they weren’t big as old ones.
@@xXLunatikxXlulthey play safe and try to appease to audiences
@@Atlas92936 Due to the fact that games were created by gamers and nerds back then, now they are made and managed by men in suits.
“Why did 2000’s games look like that?” Cause it’s fucking cool
beause devs really care about their consumers .
Your comment combined with the Hybrid Theory pfp make you the coolest
@@robyjacker thank you bro . Now I want to marry you
Nothing gives me as much nostalgia as the whole early 2000s tropical island aesthetic that was big in Japanese media at the time. Playing Pokemon Emerald on the way to school, playing Mario Sunshine in the afternoon, then watching One Piece later on Toonami.
based
Frutiger aero
The second season of Pokémon is just so damn cozy!
Drinking a blue kool aid jammer same time
Jak and Daxter, Far Cry, Crash Twinsanity and MK Deception are not Japanese.
I think devs have kind of gradually built themselves a huge bear trap between 2004-2014 with the push for realistic high fidelity graphics. The dev cycle for games is just far too long and risky now for developers to take risks with new IPs and sequels, i really think we need to redefine what’s considered an AAA game or we’re gonna be stuck replaying and buying the same games as remasters forever and pay up to $80-90 per game. They need to find a better balance between quality, cost and time
For me, a game should just have a stable frame rate, and if it has online features, they should work. Then the game should be fun. That's it. I don't care about graphics, and haven't for some time. After a while I realized that my favorite video games did NOT have realistic graphics. I mean, I literally grew up playing super Nintendo and N64, and I can still boot those games up while having a BLAST.
Don't aim for realism! Create an art style and add raytracing etc from there if you want!
Not every game can be last of us!
Maybe stupid people will keep buying Assassin's Creed and such, but gamers who like honest and artistic games have a cornucopia at our disposal right now. Bzzzt, Pepper Grinder, Indika, Bakeru, Core Keeper. Those are great games and that's just the last couple weeks for me. There's always great stuff out there for people who care.
We won't be stuck replaying and buying the same things if people just stopped buying them
@@ADreamingTraveler that's what I've done. 🙏 I don't buy video games anymore, I steal them online. Only game I've bought since like 2018 is the new Dragonball Sparking Zero coming out next month!!! Game is about to be so peak bruh
That does explain why I have such a strong nostalgia towards Island settings with clear blue oceans. Comfort.
I thought it was just me. And anything that sounds tropical too
Also cause it’s a fkn beach lmao which are just relaxing places
@@nono9543 Chrono Cross is another good one. I wouldn't mind another return to that aesthetic.
@@kurtisdelonge3372 Yeah first memory I have of levels like that are from Wind Waker but even before that water levels in Donkey Kong or any platformer were a treat for me.
@@Atlas92936 Lmao. People acting like they discovered beach relaxation and vibes from a video game when it's just naturally like that.
The GameCube, PS2, Xbox, GBA, DS, PSP era was honestly when gaming peaked.
What a coincidence. Those are all the platforms I emulate (just replace Xbox with Dreamcast)
I think the seventh generation was the absolute peak with the 360, ps3 and Wii after that, it was a slow decline
PS4 was pretty solid and honestly Xbox one eventually found their footing with the one S and X models, but the current generation has been disappointing
Ps1->ps3 gen is the peak and we haven’t needed higher graphics since.
I would argue that it really hit its polished peak at the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii, 3DS era. The generation you named was definitely the last Golden era of innovation.
@@night6724Xbox one was pretty good once Microsoft got over its foot and mouth disease I was disappointed that just as they started to get good at gaming again they completely abandoned all the other features that made Xbox One unique. Sure we all wanted a gaming platform first and foremost but the Media center features were also a big plus and I was disappointed to see them being abandoned especially the voice controls and connect.
to this day, tropical and snowy levels are my all-time favorite settings in video games. brings me back to my childhood playing super mario sunshine, final fantasy x, 007 nightfire, and tekken
Thank you for mentioning snow levels
When I think of videogames with snow, I think of Crash 2, Crash Team Racing, Crash Bash, Crash Twinsanity, MK: Armageddon, God of War: Ghost of Sparta, Jak and Daxter, Spyro PS1 trilogy and 007: Tomorrow Never Dies
007 snow level were always top tier!
Diddy Kong racing had beautiful Ice levels and other stunning tracks, looking to be explored.
Snow is my LEAST favorite of any video game biome/setting. Living in the upper Midwest, it snows like 6 months out of the year. Its cold. Bleak. Everything is dead. The constant monotone color. The first signs of green in spring is like a drug. Seasonal depression is rampant in areas with changing landscapes. Yay, I get to go outside, slog through a foot of snow, freezing my ass off, looking at all of the brown, grey, and lifeless empty treelines on the backdrop of a white field for half a year.
This is the era I grew up with because I was born in 93. I love this era of games. It's the best.
This is absolutely right. The low polygon era was more simplified, which allowed you to relax and disconnect from the world for awhile. Something that is sorely missed today.
Now you have to wait for the game to install and then download updates and then insert their xyz agenda in your face. The fun is dead. I only stick to old school games and the indie scene
@@masterkcIt's not just that either. Don't forget the endless remasters/remakes and rehashing of the same formula for games with a lack of innovate genres.
okay boomer
Try playing AA or budget looking games though, not just indie@@masterkc
I live in Okinawa and its 100% like living in the world of FFX
South Thailand is pretty similar too! I was listening to the playlists while being there and experienced absolute solace.
Damn I have to go there then!!!
What part of Okinawa would you say is most like Zanarkand?
The north. Most of the south consists of the city of Naha, which looks like a weird mix of an american and japanese city @@Trivial_Man
I was born in 1989. It was such a interesting time to grow up. I'm glad I got to experience it. Before things changed to how they are nowadays. There was a sense of Retro-Futurism mixed with vintage vibes. McDonald's had Nintendo 64's, Blockbuster/Hollywood video, you could preview music before buying it. Magazines would come with demo discs for new games coming soon.
There's so many reasons why the 90's ruled. Because it had a bit of a 80's vibe and attitude. Such awesome Aesthetics all over in such diverse ways. It was like "okay kids, go have fun, you might get hurt so watch out, but, have fun 👍🏻." Nowadays, it's like they completely got rid of any "fun, goof off, odd stuff." It's like everything is all modernized, minimalism, contemporary, bland, repetitive and if it doesn't make money 💰 then it's gotta go.. so all those old houses, old shops, drive in movie theaters, roller rinks, obstacle courses, bouncy houses, indoor fun zones with r/c speed boats, mini golf ⛳ with loops, bumper cars, ball pits, just weird random stuff. Random weird local shops, stores that you could play halo 1 on big TVs and link up LAN parties. Towns still had older run down sorta house's, duplexes, just unique "lower income living options ya know?") where I live they have literally gotten rid of all of that and just put in cookie cutter type places to live and everything costs ridiculous per month and everything is so bland and stale. I just miss the creativity, the quirkiness that's all. Being born in 1989 I was lucky to get to see the tail end of these things that aren't around anymore and I can't help but wonder what it must be like for kids that never got to experience the stuff the 90s kids got to experience. I wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. Getting to be a teen when wild Boyz, jackass, CKY was a big deal 🤘🏻 a kid when Steve Erwin was literally my idol! Growing up on magic school bus, bill Nye the science guy, captain planet, X-Men the animated series, all the animated series tv shows. All the classic animated movies. Like it was the best time to be a kid and a teenager. It had such a Vibe.
I was born a year after and i do miss the 80's reruns and 90s movies. Back then i had so much hope for games and movies but all we got now is the tech but the media is shit😅
Also 1989 here, and I resonate so much with your comment.
1990 born midwestern kid, you're spot on here, especially about the simple random attractions in the most random places. Completely agree that it was a whole vibe in itself, definitely the best childhood era.
Born in '92, it really was a great time. Now everything is anchored to the internet, and the internet has become so centralized (look where we are!) that it's all homogenized and the same.
PBS and other sources of children's shows are now LITTERED with the same 2D puppet animation and aren't hand-drawn or manned by actual puppets anymore; the plots are too sanitized and PC.
And that's a byproduct of a certain population refusing to support their local stations, but that's another story.
I was born in 1998 i have to say growing up as a kid in the 2000's was honestly the best. There was the best movies coming out, the kid shows were awsome, the ps2 i have to say had some of the best games, and there was a good balance between outside play and tv/gaming time.
98 gang let’s gooooo
We were born on the same year. One of my earliest memories for gaming was playing the 2nd gen pokemon games around 2002-2003. Then i got my first home console was the PS2 back when i was 6 in 2004. I remember me and my older bro played Duel Masters and Ratchet and Clank for the first time and it blew me away because of the 3D graphics. The excitement of playing new games back then were different than now. Back then you wouldn’t know how the game plays until you buy it yourself. Your best bet was to subscribe to video games magazine or watch G4TV shows.
@@Kira_KovalyovaNo
@@sanderhackerhd8369 It was ;P
We got snes/n64 and Ps1 as kids and got the ps2/x-box/gamecube as teenagers.
We got Peak Pokemon, tamagotchis, jojos, Digimon, Yugioh and Dragonballz xD
We got the better Shows in Tv no Smartphones no internet ...
#98gang wrd 💯
I appreciate that your video about the 2000s is exactly 20:00 long. Well done sir, well done
Early 2000's gaming was really a magical time, everything felt so futuristic and ambitious.
@@Ness-op2uyYeah, more magical and fun than today.
Agreed. I'm glad someone else knows this.
@@karinadelma People who say this really don't expand beyond triple AAA titles. There are many if not more inovative IPs today than there was in the 2000s. You just have to go beyond the AAA crap.
@@jjct111 they keep try doing the new ip these days yet wasn't much big as old ones because they were more originally than more ip games trying it, also AAA these days are garbage as hell. So thats about it.
@@karinadelmathere were still mountains of garbage back then, like the troves and troves of shitty licensed games made by companies like THQ and the like, or all the brown and yellow shooters that were trying to copy call of duty
It is bothering me that you arent calling it "Final Fantasy 10"
Right?
I really miss 2000’s tropical games tbh.
Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort were the OG.
Man I love the 2000s and the 90s games style even though I was born in 2009 but still beautiful ❤
dude those were the times, i was born in 1989 so i got to enjoy the bulk of this during the time, but im glad the younger generation appreciates it.
@@ZERODIS0 thank you
It was a FUN time to come of age (I was born in 1985)
i started highschool in 2009 lol (born in 1997)
As an older gen z (2003), I also prefer those games. They were made by passionate people who liked making games. Money was still important but their mindset was that they will make money when they offer a good game to the players. Now it's entirely about that money and how to make more profits with the least amount of creativity.
I grew up on a island so games that involve one were automatically right up my alley, Kingdom hearts 1 in particular with Riku and Sora wanting to leave and explore the world really resonated with me.
Thanks for the nostalgia trip, I was born in 94, and I had the great experience of playing early 2000s games on the PS1, PS2, and PS3. Good times.
Fun fact about the Shadow the Hedgehog game: The reason it exists was because the fans wanted Sonic to use a gun.
Not so fun fact about Shadow the Edgehog:
Sonic Team didnt even make a research on how guns work.
@@DontKnowDontCare6.9 somehow I feel like that's not the least realistic thing about the game🤔
One additional thing I also like about simpler graphics is the clarity. I always gravitated towards TF2 instead of all the other classmates who were neck deep into CoD. I just could not differentiate friend from foe in those games.
I was born in 1999, and im so happy I got to grow up during the 2000's and early 2010's. I'm thankful that I got to grow up with so many epic movies, games, and novelties.
90s was still better
@@skurinskiNot really.
@@jimmymackinnon8474yes It is just because you didnt growning up in the 90s.
@@karinadelma How would you know when I grew up? I was born in 1990 btw. But people tend to be nostalgic to the era they grew up in so I think that can warp their perceptions of what era was the best
@@jimmymackinnon8474 It was great to be alive because everyone knew they were born in 90s or the 80s. Its way better than kids who grew with ipad because they never knew.
Aquatic Ambiance 10 hours is a deep cut, I have that saved on my "Sleep" play list.
Born in 1990
We had such great childhoods. Truly lucky. Great video
1990 gang gang
I still remember clearly every Sunday morning I watched Sunday morning cartoons (anime like Doraemon, Dragon Ball, Digimon, Ninja Hattori, etc) and later played Mortal Kombat 3 and Bare Knuckle 3 on my Sega Genesis. What a time!
Distinctly remember looking at the water in halo 3 and being blown away
All I’ve been playing lately is retro games and never once have I said to myself “I wish this had better modern graphics”
Totally agree. If I could just have all the games of the past with some modern quality of life improvements (not graphically, but like maps, journals to summarize progress/story thus far, decent inventory or menu management, etc.) I would probably be set. Like I love the megaman battle network games but damn if those maps don't get confusing after some time. That said, there are a ton of retro indies that doing exactly this, just without the recognizable mascots and worlds that I hold so dear.
I got a weird middle ground one for ya. Since I got my new Xbox and a 4K tv I’ve been going back to play the old games that never seemed to look as good as they were supposed to in their E3 demos. I discovered the issue finally, they were running demos with hdr from a pc. Battlefield 3 with its e3 level the one that starts in the back of the apc second level I believe. It finally over a decade later looked like the E3 trailer, it was just hdr lighting that made it so much easier to see the low light environment it was mind blowing. Battlefield 4 exactly the same thing with their e3 level. Actually it also worked well on Battlefield Bad Company 2 with its e3 level taking place at pre dawn it never looked as good as that trailer until it was playing on my series S on my 4K it’s made me load up a bunch of games that never looked as good as they were supposed to.
Water and Tropical Islands were big in the 2000s! Lilo and Stitch, Cast Away, Total Drama Island, SpongeBob, Madagascar, The Incredibles, 50 First Dates, The Scooby Doo Movie, it was almost everywhere when you look back.
And Shark Tale.
And also Nemo.
For the first 10 minutes i didn't give that attention to the description of the video, and I thought it had 3-4 millions of views, and that was made 2-3 years ago. Keep the good work!
lol
same lol
“Final Fantasy Ex”
ugh
FINAL FANTASY 10! 😂
Maybe if the entirety of the rest of the series hadn't already been using Roman numerals...but they had
Why did he say "Final Fantasy Seven" instead of "Final Fantasy Vee Ai Ai"?
@@afroraykun LMAOOO
@@josiahferrell5022 Several games do this but we don't go around calling Shin Megami Tensei V as Shin Megami Tensei Vee.
It's just stupidity. FF fans are really stupid.
Frutiger aero aesthetic was everywhere back then and it was amazing.
Thought I was the only one who noticed the pervasive tropical theme of this time. I like the theories you offered. Additionally, something about it just feels right to me - as if this era were the 'summer' of games.
My headcanon is that many kids would play games in summer break, so they put levels with summer theme in them
Early 2000s had a whole "trance music, tropical islands/beach clubs, electronic rock" vibe that played into the whole Y2K aesthetic and it was just...Amazing. Games were either a frickin' summer vacation at the beach or a cyberpunk/biopunk dystopian police state that we were bringing down (or even both, in some cases!). Even popular media like Star Wars played heavily into that. It truly was a great time to be alive and play games.
Early CGI/graphics but you can just tell which generation it’s from too it’s the sweet spot where it’s not hyper realistic but the graphics aren’t bad either if anything they can look better than most modern games
A gen z that is in love with the 2000's and the 90's era rather than what they love now is great and amazing really wish to stay at the 2000's era if possible
Nostalgia for an era they never experienced, it's honestly the most common problem with most modern games...but a lot of that is due to revisionist history. A lot of people want to deflect that video games "didn't have xyz" while ignoring that they did, it's just that they were done in a different way.
I'm 42 years old, certainly not gen-z, but I can understand the love and nostalgia for post 2000's atmosphere. Even after tragedies across the globe, insane recessions and a depression; After the same inflation we're going through today, the mindset of these forms of media was around looking toward a brighter future, one that's futuristic and without our current faults. I remember being in my 20's, telling someone in early 2000's that playing video games at tournaments will be a career one day, and people just laughed. A lot of that was due to Halo, and how large MLG had gotten in such a short amount of time, and how people loved that slight bit of competition that, before 2005, just didn't exist in a video game on this specified scale.
In today's world, it'll take something special to really advance our perception of current media and spin it into a positive light. I'd argue Fortnite was the last wave of change in the video game landscape, but since around 2013, most types of media went to different genres and never combined again.
Man the portion of gen z that weren’t around to experience this stuff is much smaller than the portion that was here to experience this stuff, im gen z, born in 1999, I grew up with all this stuff, I look fondly on that era but I don’t want to live in that era again.
Your view of gen z is much more inline with generation alpha
@@kingzded5130 Yeah right. Generation Alpha is either making fun of the 2000s era or they're trying so desperately to claim that they like the same movies, shows, and games that we Gen Z's grew up with in the 2000s. Besides that I wish that I can live in the 2000s era again despite tons of bad things that have happened during that time.
i loved being a kid/teen in the 2000s
Finally someone is saying it aloud, IMAGINATION! Been saying this a lot but many do not understand. I don't dismiss the experience people get from "high poly" games, I inclune in this group. Maybe it's just nostalgia but there's so many popular indie games that realize the old-school-look. People love it in all ages. High poly games shoud bring new experineces what new techonolgy is able, something that could not be done before. Nowdays most of these triple-A games are getting so tiring it's not fun (the creativity is the there but not for the player). Summary; imagination adds the game experience, fun and experientiality should be the key, not what is "expected" or games that hold your hand till the end
PS. very delightful analyze, subscibed
Thank you!
frutiger aero gave a sense of optimism/futurism
As someone who was born in 2000...this video is a godsend!!!
The specific style these games have is amazing, the development tool of yesteryear we're "worse" compared to today's tools, much more flexibility, templates, etc.
It seems that a lot of us are older gen z rather than young millennials. I expected to see them here because they were the exact age to experience these in their time. I wasn't even born when Halo CE came out.
It’s because of art style. Technical limitations drive innovation. It’s like how anime was created. A lot of iconic styles are improvisations. Heck even in music. So many music styles to mask bad singing or music theory and they end up creating cool genres.
This era of everything having to be photorealistic - when it isn’t even really possible just has no style or substance. It all looks the same and there’s nothing unique about it. This is why games like Borderlands have aged so well with the cel shading or why 2d/3d JRPGs have. It’s always the most boring art that tries to replicate reality rather than interpret it.
The older I get, it amazes me even more how Rockstar was able to simulate entire cities using the tech and polygons at the time. Talk about doing the most with what you have.. they still feel like real places. I miss San Andreas.
2001 was an amazing year for me to be born while having two older sisters who were also gamers. I got to have the full 2000s kid childhood, with bits of the 90s kid childhood too, Movies and tv shows included.
Show the superiority of the game's water physics is the biggest flex you could do on that time (and even now it still happens).
And somehow he didn’t bring up bioshock getting multiple engineers involved to make sure the flooding in the walkways looked right.
Also spyro and majora's mask perfecting swimming controls but most games still have the slow ones for some reason.
I love the tropical, blue skies, colourful era of videogames from the late 90s and the 2000. Everything seemed more happy
@@dukepy6936 and today everything is bland and shitty gray and brown colors.
I kept thinking... Frutiger Aero, he's managed to avoid that particular cliché, but then, there it was, as reliably present as it was all watery and futuristic. I've come to realise that I'm too old for nostalgia. Is that a paradox, or am I just a whining old fart?😂
The very concept of "frutiger aero" was invented by zoomers who weren't even born yet when it allegedly existed. Their obsession with the (imagined) aesthetics of the "early 00s" is comparable to the millennial obsession with the "80s" which led to the rise of synthwave and outrun. It's funny, it's always the generation that JUST missed out on something that seems to worship the thing the hardest
@@MentalParadox respectfully shut up
@@MentalParadox UGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
@@NTEDOG561aesthetics are named like historical periods - no one during medieval period knew they were living in the medieval period lol
@@NTEDOG561oh sry i meant to reply to the guy above
You should also ask yourselves why so many modern games are set in a gritty, post-apocalyptic world?
The answer is how we perceive our times.
In the early 00s, we were optimistic about the future. The technological jump from PS1 to PS2 was BIG and impressive, and the world seemed to be a in a good direction despite problems.
This was reflected in our pop culture.
Now we are pessimistic about the future. Half of us hate our own rulers, and the other half want you replaced by foreigners in your own homeland. Men and women can't see eye to eye like never before in human history. As a result, people are not breeding, we literally going through a major demographic collapse.
This is also reflected in our pop culture and productivity. Technology seems stagnant and the advances we have are either not impressive or it scares the shit out of us (like AI).
It's no wonder post-apocalyptic and zombies are the standard theme in fiction now, because that's how our collective conscience is seeing our times.
On the other hand, if you look at Asian games, despite all their economical difficulties, they seem way more colorful (actually too much for my taste lol).
@@JaggedMercenary yeah but themes remain basicaly the same as ours. The main different is that asians like to distract themselves more with sexuality rather than violence
I blame 9/11
I miss the days when video games looked like video games.
This perfectly encapsulates how I feel about modern AAA visuals. When developers still had to approximate their vision due to inherent limitations, everything had a sort of crafted look to it. You could tell what they were trying to get out of the console, but it'd come out as something more unique even with its subtle flaws. It was charming, but now that charm has been largely phased out.
When they were games and not manipulation.
As someone who grew up in the early 2000s in the middle of the mountains of Colorado, the jungle/beach theme always was nice because it was something I never seen in person.
88 child here. I've seen every version of gaming so far. The biggest thing devs had less to work with but made games feel way more. Now it's the other way round. The late night releases where u had to line up, the lan parties where you were actually with people
There's a reason why we keep getting remakes or remastered versions of games.
We were truly spoiled for most of the 2000s.
I don't really like saying this but it has to be said, Gen 6 (The PS2/Xbox/Gamecube/Dreamcast era) is GOATed
Sega Blue Skies will always be Legendary.
yes those blue skies are legendary.
0:40 you better watch your mouth about Tingle...
you nailed it with the whole techincal aspect. realisitc water/wave physics was such a huge hype point in the early 2000s. i remember being blown away the first time i saw hydro thunder in arcades. i think wave race was the first game i remember that really leaned into the water physics.
I can’t believe on the 360 break down that you didn’t use the original blades dashboard as an example, it was god like
Came here looking for this.
It was tacky as hell but still kind of charming.
Yes! I was a PS3 gamer at that time but I remembered thinking the blades was such a cutting edge menu concept for a console. PS had XMB, which they still use (much improved) today, but back then the idea of pushing the console logo and getting a dashboard was very innovative. It took several years for Sony to really catch up.
I love how theses games use frutiger aero in all of theses games which is why I quite loved the 2000s games
i'll never forget being a kid and chuckling every time you'd die in shadow the hedgehog and he'd say " Damn, not here" LOL so edgy
The edgy era was pretty goofy but I kinda miss it
Still better than what we are in right now.
@@sam1_2_1DEI?
@@-lord1754 one of many bad things that is going on now.
@@sam1_2_1 yeeep
@sam1_2_1 not really. You clearly weren't around for every generation. Games have always been mostly garbage
2000 - 2010 when games had actual color and didn’t need HDR to bring it back to our eyes. Also *Environmental Variety* was essential even if narratively it makes no sense for the characters to fast travel from a Sunny Beach to a Snow Filled Area but the Rainy Scenes looked the best. Now it feels like all games are just set in the afternoon with a Raytracing Sun, Grass Fields, ASSet Flip Trees, and Mountains you can never reach even though the developers lied to your face that your character model can possibly touch them.
All open worlds feel like you’re on an island due to its borders because God forbid if someone actually makes an open world that has enough land to be an actual Country.
By 2010 we were knee deep in brown "realism" already.
You bring up a good point about environmental variety though. I think many developers still had an old-school "level-based" mentality even when the games weren't necessarily divided up into levels.
@@todesziege We need to go back to level design rather than a checkpoint system when the places your interacting with hasn't changed 20 hrs into a game well unless it is Fallout.
So HDR is a bad thing? It's really notvand games still have actuall color to this day
@@assassin8636 Early 2000s Video game colors hit different back then but I am not going back to CRTs or anything. I have an HDR monitor and it still looks awesome when I play older games.
you touched on some good points, and i think THE biggest factor was appealing to the older audience as you mentioned.
The other one factor that you briefly mentioned is graphical techniques & available technology.
For example, lighting model in sun-lit environments are a lot easier due to uniform outdoor lighting.
Later, as real-time lighting with multiple light sources were introduced, it made sense to make games that highlight these graphical improvements.
Hence, games with darker shadows, etc.
you better make the same video about the 90s, 80s and the 2010s.
Squares influence in islands i believe is particularly interesting you have to remember that final fantasy spirits within just finished and released in 2001. That studio was located in Hawaii it was also grueling labor to finish and keep that on track. I'm sure having Sakaguchi and those who returned to Japan after this or transfered after this left Square with an influx of creators longing for Hawaii as winter rolled in and left there Tokyo offices a bitting 40ish degrees compared to the more milder Hawaii offices they came from.
in the 2000s they always tried to have the best graphics possible even if it was not a good idea .like on the game boy advance a lot of games had pre rendered 3d sometimes it looked great but often it looked tacky and there was a race to make the first handheld 3d games. on the pc some games had system requirements so high most people couldn't not run it when it was new. i like the tropical island themes because i wanted to imagine being there and exploring underwater zones was cool you never knew what was down there
Growing up in coastal Australia, playing FFX and wii sports resort, and watching Pokemon Orange Archipelago as a kid might explain why i only feel comfortable around the beach/water
you just gave me such a heavy nostalgia trip... man the 2000s games were in a different era
Super smash bros melee looks amazing and it's a damn launch title.
That part about bold and interesting characteristics of the characters' visual design boils down to shape language in art. If you want to know more about that I highly recommend Marco Bucci's 2D art videos about shape language.
It was paradise back then that's why.
Anytime I see anything about Sonic Adventure I get such a wave of nostalgia. God the early 2000s was such a great time to grow up in.
I was born in 91, and was a teenager during the edgy era. It was great, ngl. I find it refreshing, it's nice to engage with something that clearly doesn't take itself too seriously - it's a great form of escapism to me. The gunshots being the UI element sound for the Sonic spinoff game made me lol irl
Same here
I didn't played none of these games at that time but they look nostalgic for me because the cheap notebooks I used during school years often had this picture of summer in a tropical island with coconut trees
I miss the 2000s so much. In my opinion it was the last great decade in human history. Like there was still a little vibrancy and magic and joy that persisted even after the world's death on September 11, 2001, up until the corpse of the world was finally put in the casket in 2008. With the global recession came the eradication of the final bits of hope and optimism, all color and detail erased from modern culture: Product variety went down and in came the era of minimalism. Soulless, empty, blank space and ascetic fonts everywhere. In media, we went from connecting with the warmth and vibrance of the tropics and jungles and shallow seas, to connecting to the desolate emptiness of the tundra and desert.
All dramatics aside, I really feel so much more connected to and at home in the culture of the 2000s. Like these hopeful maximalists are my people. I mean it makes sense, I was born in 2000, but actually I'd love to be able to experience the 90s, 80s, 70s, 60s, and 50s as well, with interest waning slightly as you go back in time.
"60's and 90's magical and vibrant"??! Maaan lil Timmy go home, you're drunk on cocoa.
Dang, I honestly forgot about pre-ordering meaning something because you actually went to the store and stood in line for a midnight release. I would do midnight releases for final fantasy and call of duty. I had watched family members play the earlier FF games. FFX was the first one I played myself and it blew me away. Honestly, still one of my top favorite games too 😂
Don't forget Destiny islands In Kingdom Hearts
That this was posted yesterday and the quality is this good and finally introduced the term Aero to me
Should include the OG God of War games. The graphics were a charm to my eyes.
He only includes nintendo, ONLY NINTENDO YOU HEAR?! NINTENDO NINTENDO THERES ONLY. INTENDOOOOO. Seriously these ytubers sukks for only including Japanese wii aboo crraapp. Sony had the best games period.
Jaks first line of dialogue is literally “I’m gonna kill (baron) Praxis” which is wild from going from a silent protagonist platformer
It's interesting how nobody is nostalgic for the dark edge that games from this era were trying to evoke, instead the nostalgia for even those games seems to stem from how unconvincing/goofy they seem at it.
Whereas games like Mario sunshine and ffX, with a more earnest aesthetic, are not seen like this (I think we've even moved past that "ha ha ha" scene in ffX because in the context of the game it works).
That Snoop Dog malware like popup really made my day 😂
I love that you posted this the same day Like A Dragon: Yakuza Pirates in Hawaii was announced
I remember reading game informer or some shit back when ffx (and many other games like you've shown here) was first being shown at E3 and the article was about how the theme of E3 that year was just "water". Your video nails so much of that whole era, wish I could find that article again it is one of those mental time capsules I still think about sometimes over twenty years later.
My theory in why games and interfaces for everything looked more bright, colorful and inviting is because people had more optimism back then. It always seemed that the state of the current media is a reflection of the current state of mind of the general population.
If you’re missing the social aspect of gaming, the best place to look is def the fighting game community. Basically the only gaming subcommunity that still has offline events and meetups as the core of its identity
The "edgy" era was mainly for one single reason, trying to pig back in the success of GTA III. ND devs have come directly and said that Jak II would be more similar to the first one, just another traditional 3D platformer but when GTA III came out they pivoted, putting guns, cars and a more edgy/mature tone. I don't doubt that other franchise shit were for similar reasons.
Me and my friends still meet up for a LAN-Party every September, playing CoD 2, CS, Warcraft 3 and AoE 2. We were inspired by my older brother, who hosted a lot of LANs at our house back in the day.
Although there isn't really a need to meet up in person to enjoy a smooth multiplayer experience anymore it's just a special feeling seeing your buddy raging in real life after you backstabbed him in CS lmao
I miss the maximalism that went in to the 2000s from the 90s and prior. Towards the end though I almost felt that vista and 7 were themselves kinda "minimal" and taking on a sort of glass and metal "modern office" aesthetic of the time. Little did I know how far the minimalism would go. The dark, edgy media back then I considered a bit too serious and depressing but looking back, compared to what we have today, it was hammy and downright wacky at times. Now it seems they've really figured out much better how to make believable (even if not realistic) and affective drama to really make the audience feel kinda miserable and hopeless and crushed. But yeah there was that kinda bipolarness with the aesthetics like you mentioned where there was a lot of paradise settings in games that had a very positive atmosphere, even if many of the characters were edgy. I'd say gaming has reached a better balance and just variety in general, due to the democratization of tools and tools being better and easier to use. Modern style in general is still just ultra minimal and depressing though.
Also, not mentioning the blades dashboard? I'd say even the one you mentioned as the more charming dashboard was already somewhat heading towards minimalism too, in much the way vista/7 were. Defintiely still a good few glowy, shiny things but more greys and whites creeping in, things becoming more boxy and like "windows" rather than other less "practical" shapes.
The most memorable games for me growing up in the early 2000s were Jak & Daxter series, Beyond Good & Evil, and the best for last Kingdom Hearts 2 😂
JSR was NOT the first game to widely utilize cel-shading. There were a number of PS1 games that used it.
Yup looking at you mega man legends 1 and 2
There were games with a similar appearance, but they generally used different approaches to achieve it, such as flat-shading.
@@todesziege There were literally Japanese cel-shaded games on PS1 made to emulate the look of anime, google it
@@todesziege Seems my comment got removed? On my end it's gone. Just google it there are cel shaded PS1 games.
Pre rendered backgrounds were my favorite as a kid. I loved the survival hororr games of the PS1 era for this reason. Then you look at a game like resident evil 0 and its absurd how good it looks for its time
0:40 what do you have against tingle dude?
Came to the comments just to say this
Yeah, people should leave tingle alone
Tingle is the GOAT
This is my favorite “aesthetics” deep dive channel on YT
I never even realized how many games in the early 2000s were set in tropical locales, until watching this video
very well edited, and very very good visual storytelling including source material into your narration.
youve earned a like and sub from me
Thanks, I appreciate it
As an indie game writer having grown up with these games, I’m willing to admit that I constantly bring up and refer these games and aesthetics often while developing new games. Not to try to copy or match this style, but to try to make all those childhood wishes we had as a generation come true. For that peaceful future we were promised, especially those with tropical islands and smooth jazz. For those adventures and comradery that we’re supposed to find along the way. I’m happy that there’s lots of fellow indie studios out there who also keep trying to keep these aesthetics alive for that reason, even if mainstream games have gone a different direction.
Aw man.. I reallly hoped this was a video about something I've been thinking about and pondering for years now. That Dreamcast has such a distinct kind of style for many of its games, Blue Stinger off the top of my head is one of them. You can just glance at the gameplay of it and KNOW that it's a Dreamcast game. PSO is another. There are just games I can spot in Google Images or w/e, even if I've never played, hell, never even heard of them, I can accurately guess "Oh, that's a Dreamcast game." and for w/e reason, you can't as accurately do that with other consoles.
My personal, surface level theories as to why I sort of recognize a pattern there, is possibly that they share a lot of colors between games, particularly a healthy amount of bright ones.. or possibly even re-use the very exact, distinct shade of said colors maybe? And idk, maybe it's something to do with how they made polygonal models, that made them distinct from PS and other counterparts. I THINK, but I'm not certain, that most of the games I recognize as having that "distinctly Dreamcast" style may be first party developers, ie made by Sega or a related subsidary company or w/e. I could be wrong about that, though.
A sort of random, rambling sidenote.. Without looking, off the top of my head, I remember looking it up once and I think it was something like 9, or maybe 11 months between the release of the Dreamcast and the PS2.
It's so insane to me that, I distinctly have so many specific memories that must take place within that particular time window. Because I remember having NUMEROUS conversations with my friends at school about "how advanced" the Dreamcast was compared to other consoles that were out currently and discussing which games we had, etc etc.. And even discussing hearing about the announcement or ads for the PS2. Be it in the middle of class, at recess or at the lunch table, even walking home from school. So many conversations with diff friends about that, and it's wild to think I have so many memories I can narrow down to such a specific window of time I thought was much longer.
Something mentioned in this video I never thought of, but I already know I'll remember and think about for the rest of my life now.. I REALLY have, truly, grown up "together" with video games. As an industry and artform and source of entertainment and all. It went through its rebellious, edgy teenage phase roughly around the same time as I did. Now it's either in its young adult or full on responsible adult phase, as I also reluctantly am.
It's just really fascinating. And a bit sad.
Just like getting older as a human, video games don't experiment and try new things as often anymore, just as goes for most human adults. And like most adults, have learned, or rather been conditioned, through repeated failure, to just keep our heads down and take the path of least resistance and stick with what works.
Halo looked like that because it is inspired by the Pacific Northwest of Washington State. When I drove to Olympia to get my NERF Assault Rifle...WOW. It felt like I was driving around Zeta or Alpha Halo. I still get a cozy feeling from exploring the level Halo or The Silent Cartographer to this day. I've lived in Washington for most of my life though...so the effect is pretty strong. I remember wanting to explore the bottom parts of the level Halo because of how breathtaking the expansive background is!
The nerf AR is sick
The late 90s to the mid-2000s was that last true experience of gaming.
The golden era
When games had replay ability due to unlock able secret contents after finishing the game once. Now days that stuff is locked behind downloadable content pay walls. Worst they’re selling their games half finished and have to pay more for the next installment. These companies are so pathetic
7th gen was great, second best generation after the 6th. So the golden era of gaming is late 90's-early 2010's.
I was able to get into E3 2005 using a fake paystub with my MMO group. It was a surreal and memorable experience.
Early 2000s Y2K aesthetic of PSO, the PS2 intro, F-Zero GX, Halo, and Custom Robo are my favorite aesthetics in media. It's amazing. And the vibrancy of the classic Gamecube/PS2 games made it so much prettier.
Even Test Drive Unlimited was set on a tropical island, Oahu, Hawaii to be specific
Brings so many memories, i was born in 2008, so i am a 2010s kid but my first console was a ps2 so i grew up playing many 00s games
You are quite literally a 20’s kid.
Lol you'll forever be a fetus to me 😂
@@thatsdoink97342010's kid/2020's teen.
@@thatsdoink9734He’s a 2000’s and 2010’s kid
I remembered Runabout 2 PS1 first stage, It's a beach, a really memorable bright beach. Fun visual, happy memory.
GT2 first beginner race? Tahiti. it's a beach
Crash bandicoot first stage? Beach
CTR Crash's map? Beach
Megaman Legend first scene? OCEAN xD
I distinctly remember the horse armor thing, I also remember telling people "just wait and see where this goes..." after them telling me it wasn't a big deal. Given the way storage space is starting to be monopolized by some game companies, I wouldn't be surprised if down the road we see games that can't be played without installing a dedicated storage device for it.
Definitely, especially with the new cod games I wouldn’t be surprised
Wasn’t that literally memory cards in the past