Some of the media attention for CS may also be from the controversy generated by The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. I think that the proliferation of mid-size gaming devices such as 5-inch phones and 7-inch tablets, coupled with a growing interest in porting and re-releasing older major games, may increase the popularity of cel-shaded ports. Rockstar did this in Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars for the Nintendo DS, while Activision did this for the early Tony Hawk games. Cel-shading can represent cartoon or comic styles incredibly well, making it one of the best aesthetics for superhero media, especially combined with the utopian/fantasy atmosphere I mentioned earlier.Д¬el-shading can also be used to port a realistically-styled game across to a lower-powered system without sacrificing major parts of the game. My theory is that this rise could be connected to the increasing popularity of superheroes and superhero-related media. Games using CS or pseudo-CS have increased in popularity in the last few years. It is also useful for quirkier games which aim to create a unique universe for their characters (such as Okami or Crackdown). Non-photorealistic methods like cel-shading can help maintain a gameвЂ™s long-term playability (for those focused on graphical capability), as the game will take a lot longer to look dated. Below is a comparison of Silent Hill (1999), and Silent Hill: Downpour (2012).

When you compare this to the progress of games with realistic graphics since 1999, cel-shading has aged much more gracefully. After 13 years, there isnвЂ™t a dramatic difference between them: the HD remake has improved contrast and greater detail, but itвЂ™s still clear they are the same level, and the original game still looks pretty good. Here is the same level, in the original JSR (right) and the HD remake (left). ItвЂ™s visually unique, and probably didnвЂ™t even need to be made HD in order to stand the test of time. While IвЂ™m not very good at the gameplay, so havenвЂ™t progressed far yet, I really like the overall game environment, especially its music and graphics. JSR was given the HD remake treatment and released on the Xbox Live Arcade in 2012, which is where I picked it up. Also, as many CS techniques were invented by JSRвЂ™s development team, to me Jet Set Radio wins.

However, although Fear Effect looks cel-shaded, itвЂ™s lighting system technically prevents it being truly cel-shaded. Arguably, Fear Effect (2000) went into development first. The first console game to use CS was Jet Set Radio, released for the Dreamcast in 1999. Killer Is Dead shows how heavily stylised violent scenes can seem less real. ItвЂ™s also known as вЂњtoon shadingвЂќ, due to its cartoon-like appearance.В However, the term cel-shading refers to a lighting system rather than just a graphical style: a gameВ with the visual appearance of a comic, but lit and shaded in a realistic way, would not be cel-shaded. However, one way to instantly get me interested in a game is to tell me itвЂ™s cel-shaded.Д¬el-shading is a relatively recent animation technique that renders 3D objects in a 2D way.В A cel-shaded work usually hasВ flat textures and colours, with sharp separations between light and dark areas, like in a cartoon or comic book. I donвЂ™t normally put too much attention on a gameвЂ™s graphics вЂ“ as long as they arenвЂ™t incredibly bad or otherwise distracting, I wonвЂ™t think too much about them. This media portrayal can just happen because graphical improvements are the easiest way to demonstrate that one game/system is newer or more advanced than another, and also the most obvious difference to explain when talking about consoles to a non-gamer. ThereвЂ™s an element of truth to this, but usually with good reason. A commonВ media stereotype is that gamers are obsessed with the graphics of their games and systems.

Borderlands without cel shading