RiSiO's "Retro Mario 64" (and a thread about graphics)

[Ashworthy-Harvington]

I was doing a bit of research for my course on the subject of computer game graphics, eventually stumbling onto Youtube and onto a video demonstrating a texture mod for SM64:



If you can't watch the video, here's a couple of screenshots:

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Personally, I really like the style of this mod. It's bright, colourful, cartoon-like and visually interesting, and despite it simply being a texture mod for a fourteen year old game from the fifth generation it really stands out in today's modern world of "real is brown". Now I'm not saying graphics are everything when it comes to video games, but if a modern video game had cartoon-like graphics similar to this texture mod as opposed to realistic graphics would it put you off playing/buying it? And yes, I'm ignoring popular titles such as "Wind Waker" and "Team Fortress 2": if an entirely new video game not based on an existing franchise (or made by a huge, well-known and trusted developer) had these graphics, would it really sell?