Topic: How important are HD graphics to your enjoyment of a game?

I just bought Twilight Princess HD and with the new controls, I just can't go back to Wii era blurriness and forced motion controls; swinging the remote for a sword attack in a Zelda game was hugely off-putting. Sure gameplay is important but graphics count too. Which is why I want Nintendo to continue releasing enhanced HD ports of classic GameCube and Wii games for Switch. Perhaps two or three from the same series on a single Switch cartridge, depending on the size of the game.

Super Mario Galaxy and 1 & 2 with HD graphics on a single Switch cartridge? Yes please!

Then there's the unavoidable droughts between new big releases. Enhanced ports of past big releases go some way to lessening the droughts without delaying those new games. Everybody wins! And if you only want new games then it won't matter if enhanced ports exist or not.

I do love HD remakes of games, or at least re releases with better graphics. That's part of why I like MM3D, SM64DS and the Pokémon remakes, among other things. However, I'd have to say that HD graphics have no bearing on my enjoyment of a game. I've been playing a lot of NES, SNES, and GBA games recently, and they're still super fun for me.

Same here, but I think it has more to do with TP having an artstyle that greatly benefits from more detailed HD graphics than anything else. I've been playing lots of PS1 games lately (on my PSP, no less) and resolution is a total non-issue.

Sixth-gen games in general sit in a very awkward spot for me. They don't look so hot nowadays on anything that's not a CRT TV and the highly stylized graphics are very hit-or-miss artstyle-wise, especially in games with humanoid characters and stylized graphics. Psychonauts, Ratchet and Clank, Beyond Good and Evil and the old Tomb Raider games just look a bit awkward to me.

As far as Nintendo games go, I think most have aged very well. Pikmin can get a bit brown and blurry here and there, for example, but it's not as acute as in the other titles I mentioned.

@HDXylophone Spritework is always easier on the eyes, in my experience.

If you have the right equipment, such as high quality cables, upscalers or VGA boxes, you can make any old system look sharp and crisp, even with their lower graphics. Got the GameCube and my Dreamcast connected on a VGA box, that offers 480p crystal clear and completely noise-free images, and the Wii is connected with component cables. All of them are displayed on a 42" Full HD Panasonic plasma screen and it looks absolutely gorgeous.

Having said that, I definitely enjoy beautiful graphics in a game, but ultimately, it doesn't decide if I enjoy a game or not. Graphics are a big factor, but not the deciding one. That is up to the game's mechanics and the story. If a game looks gorgeous, but controls like crap, then the illusion is broken and the game will be very unpleasant for me to play.

Same goes for a game with no story, unless it is a racer or a fighter, types of games that don't really require much of a story line. And I agree with the other posters above me that 2D graphics have more longevity, especially if you compare them to early 3D games such as on the N64, the Saturn and the PS1.

But even on those systems, there are still plenty of games worth playing, simply because these are games that are good regardless of their aging graphics, because they still offer a solid gameplay experience. So personally, I go back to a number of them, from time to time. Also of course to relive the good old days, so there is definitely some sentiment involved, but I genuinely don't mind their appearance, even on a Full HD TV...

@MarcelRguez That's true about spritework. I haven't been able to play many old 3D games, so I can't say a lot on that matter, but as far as I've seen, sprites age better than 3D.

Ideally, I would love for all games to be available at as high a resolution as possible, likewise as I do with movies, as I will always favour a Blu-ray release if there is one available (and I've passed on many DVDs where a Blu-ray version was never made available). Resolution doesn't affect my enjoyment of a game so much as the art style itself. Many Wii games look absolutely fine and have aged well enough. In fact, having too high a resolution for games comprised of what appear to be vector graphics, for instance, actually look less "cheap" at lower resolutions.

dont care about Graphics at all, as long as they do not detract from the game it is all good!

Honestly even if they re-released a blurry version of Sunshine/Galaxy 1+2 on the Switch I'd buy it instantly. If they release an HD version even better but I wouldn't be sad otherwise.

I'm weird about this. In general I don't care but I do have a few caveats. I can replay old games all day long without a care in the world. The "this hasn't aged well" argument means nothing to me. YET I hate most indie games that copy retro looks (although I think it is because they don't play well and miss the mark asthetically) and when playing pc games that take mods I spend a silly amount of time improving textures. Yet most games I will play without a second thought or complaint.

When I've played this Kirby Rainbow Brush game for the WiiU, I noticed the HD/SD difference all too much. Ruined my enjoyment of the game even. As for TPHD, I don't feel like it has improved all that much tbh (graphically, it's just a tiny less blurry but still as hideous as ever).

Overall, graphics aren't that important to me unless I have a direct comparison like it was the case with the Kirby game above. If not, my gaming experience is independent on the resolution of a game or the graphics in their entirety. Don't get me wrong, though, I'll still get most HD remakes because I just love having those games on a newer console just as I will the older versions if they're released on VC.

Just a quick upscale to 920 or 1080 is fine by me. I've run Super Mario Sunshine on 1080 via emulator and the game looks better than any official HD re-release I've seen on the latest console iterations.

Having said that, I also play PSone games on both the Vita and Vita TV and playing them in their original blocky messes doesn't bother me at all.

HD improvements are a plus, but they're not game breaking without. A game with great gameplay is a game with great gameplay, regardless. Few exceptions of games that look so bad that I can't play them (here's looking at you, N64).

HD is nice, but it isn't the end all be all for me. I can play my older games just fine, and for example, I prefer less pomp in the graphics in favor of a good frame rate.

Games on my 3DS are just give me the same entertainment as my Wii U.

Compare a top-tier looking SNES game to most early Xbox 360 shooters. Nuff said.

Honestly, I'm legitimately bored by whether anyone cares about graphical power about it. How many times can we say "it's nice looking but entirely secondary to gameplay"? Also, spoiler alert, the Super Mario games are popular and well liked video games!

To add to this though, I grew up with N64 games that I still love, so high quality graphics clearly don't matter too much to me.

story and gameplay is more important, but good graphics have always impressed also

It's weird for me. Sometimes, HD graphics don't matter; I was perfectly fine playing Ocarina of Time on Wii Virtual Console on my HDTV in the past, and I don't mind playing GameCube games in Standard Def as well.

For some reason though, I can't stand lack of HD on the Wii. Maybe because in my mind I feel the tech was available at the time but still wasn't used, but it always annoyed me with Wii games. It's pretty annoying to play Wii games on an HDTV, and having the games in 480p barely improves things. It's one of the many reasons why I like Wii U WAY more than Wii, besides annoying waggle, spotty WiFi, sensor bar issues, etc.

Zero.
Zero importantness.

Atari or GTFO.

I only play on CRT. I play HD consoles on a widescreen CRT. Don't like LCD or ant flat panel. Gaming never should have left CRT 😊

You can't go wrong with HD graphics but it's usually lower on my list of importance
-Gameplay
-Story/music/atmosphere
-Art style (I prefer a cool artstyle over 8K Gray/Brown HD graphics)
-Performance (I'm not 60+FPS anal, but I can't stand completely inconsistent performance)
-HD graphics

I still go back every now and then to play my old (the original) Xbox games. Blinx 2, Phantasy Star Online & Mad Dash Racing. I never understood the graphics argument but like someone above already mentioned, I can't stand the newer retro style games. Not sure if that's a fair comparison but whatever.

I grew playing Atari, Amiga, NES, GAMEBOY and all the following consoles, including PS1,2,3 and I enjoyed the games in all of this platforms so for me Graphics are not a big problem, as long as I can play my games with no issues!