Is The 32-Bit Gaming Era The New Retro?

Thanks to GameSpy for its 'Pixel' column discussing whether the early days of the PlayStation and Saturn are a newer, but nevertheless interesting stage of 'retro'. The author points out: "Moving to 3D brought a lot of challenges along with it, not the least of which involved graphics. The 32-bit generation differs greatly from its 16-bit predecessor in that a lot of 32-bit games' visuals have not aged well." But he nevertheless highlights the fact "there were so many vibrantly original games released for these machines, some obscure, some blockbusters... Motor Toon Grand Prix brought cartoonish designs to 3D life. King's Field put you in a truly non-linear, 3D dungeon. WipeOut married futuristic racing with high-caliber visual design. Panzer Dragoon gave flight to every kid's 'Neverending Story' fantasies." What were your favorite titles from the early days of 32-bit?

Comments

Nights!

[WiKKeSH]

Nights into Dreams!
Single-handedly sold the saturn to me.

Ground Breakers

[miyako]

Mario 64...ok so the Nintendo 64 wasn't 32bit, but is from the same era, and I think it has some of my favorite classics.
Mario 64 is still one of my favorite games of all time, and the graphics are still quite good, if primitive. This was really a revolutionary game, and I can't really even think of a game on any non-nintendo system even today that has quite re-created the formula.
Tekken - I've always prefered the tekken series over the virtua fighter series. These two titles though really brought the fighting game genre into it's own with 3D fighters.
Blood Omen - Legacy of Kain. While I did not care for the sequals, this remains one of my favorite games of all time. With lots of great voice acting this macabre adventure surpasses even a number of the zelda games in my mind.
Resident Evil - this game is like one of those 60's horror flicks, it was scarry at the time, but even now it's a lot of fun because while the graphics "special effects" are dated, it's great fun to go back and laugh at.
Final Fantasy VII - One of my all time favorite Final Fantasy games, the rich detailed pre-rendered backgrounds still look good today, and the storyline and gameplay still offer plenty of fun. I would love to see a sequal to this game, rather than that dreadful FF:X2.

Not Quite Long Enough

[Mupp252]

Am I the only person that belives that the 32-bit era never really got a chance to get off of the ground?

I mean the "16-bit era" (I use that term loosely since one could endlessly argue specs of the systems at the time.) had a solid amount of time to create very unique gameplay and push it boundaries wheras the 32-bit boom was merely a blink of an eye. The platforms were introduced, games were made and then new consoles took over.

In a way that whole time frame has kinda scarred me when trying to classify new classics on the 3 leading platforms. It's almost like game manufacturers are no longer concerned with pushing the limits of their hardware. They only feel threatened when a bigger and badder system is introduced.