I've recently been playing some old Ridge Racer games, and I was absolutely blown away by the grand-canyon-sized jump in graphic design between before and after Ridge Racer Type 4. Like, SERIOUSLY! Ridge Racer Type 4 is a graphic design masterpiece!
Compare Ridge Racer Revolution (95) to Ridge Racer Type 4 (98):
Keep in mind, this is the same console!
I'm really bummed that Ridge Racer's style really fell towards the latter games, I hope it comes back with a new style-exploding game (and on Switch, (two) too).
What are some other examples of really great Menu and/or HUD graphic design in games that you know of? I know that the Persona series is a really great example.
There is no conversation about slick or stylistic menus and UI without Atlus, they’re probably the best at it because of how consistently imaginative and dynamic their UIs are. Special mention to Persona 5 of course but Persona 4, Persona 3 Reload and now Metaphor Refantazio look to have that Atlus over the top flair.
A few studios that don’t do amazing UI? Monolith and Square, at least until recently. Monolith’s menus are incredible clunky and difficult to navigate, especially in Xenoblade 1, X and ESPECIALLY 2, which has one of the ugliest UIs I’ve ever encountered in a game, 3 is passable. As for Squeenix, their menus are functional but they’re also very unimaginative. Nothing to write home about.
Currently playing:
Final Fantasy VII Rebirth
Persona 4 Golden
Dragon Quest XI S
F1 23
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Atlus does have some great menus, not just limited to their Persona games. I also like the menus in the Atelier games too, mainly for their excellent item filters.
Kirby's UI game in general is very overlooked, that series has a lot of fantastic menus. I love the corkboard in Super Star and how it's both organized by mode while also looking convincingly messy, the comic book theming in Star Allies is super slick, and the diegetic menus in Waddle Dee Town are adorable.
Also if we're talking about slick PS1 racing game UI, Wipeout 3's minimalist menus with the tiny text look super distinctive and timeless to this day.
@StarryCiel I must agree, some Kirby games do have very good menus, Dreamland 3 comes to mind. But oh my goodness, I did not know how good Wipeout's menus were.
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Topic: Appreciation Of Stylistic Game Menus
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