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There is a certain beauty in well-designed[br]pixel art.

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It speaks of a simpler era - a time when sprites[br]reigned supreme.

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Designed to move across a game's playfield,[br]sprites are two-dimensional images that represent

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the player, enemies, or other non-static aspect[br]of a game.

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Often drawn with the help of dedicated hardware,[br]they have been an essential facet of computer

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graphics almost as long as games have existed.

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Early sprites were small in size and limited[br]in palette, but as the pace of technology

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increased they became larger; more detailed;[br]and much more colourful.

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Huge sprites meant huge arcade impact.

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Games like Strider were held in high regard[br]for the sheer scale of the action: towering

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characters and huge sweeping plasma swords.

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This was made possible by the powerful CPS-1[br]arcade board - with custom sprite chips capable

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of drawing 256 16-colour sprites per scanline.

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This was the board that would power Street[br]Fighter II: a title which would set a benchmark

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within the fighting game genre, with large[br]and diverse character sprites coupled with

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fluid action.

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It sent the popularity of fighting games skyward[br]and kickstarted a new wave of arcade popularity.

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Graphics might not be important, but they[br]certainly attract attention.

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One technique that proved particularly popular[br]during the 2D era was parallax scrolling:

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splitting the foreground or background into[br]a number of layers which move at different

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rates, to give the impression of scene depth.

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Moon Patrol was one of the first games to[br]make effective use of the technique, with

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its colourful mountain vista background.

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It's a striking effect - and home computer[br]users were quick to imitate: with games like

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Parallax on the Commodore 64 even named for[br]the scrolling effect.

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By the time of the 16-bit machines, it was[br]a far more attainable technical feat: and

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would become a common sight in 2D platformers.

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Shadow of The Beast's colourful implementation[br]impressed: and as hardware power increased,

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scenes became more complex: and the blast-processing[br]power of the SEGA Megadrive gave games like

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Sonic The Hedgehog more character than ever.

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It was an era of cartoon mascots, and platformers[br]were en vogue.

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The arcades were no stranger to animated heroes:[br]tie-ins to popular television series such

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as the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or The[br]Simpsons were major draws, and their frantic

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paced four-player action was the perfect fit[br]for the social nature of such amusements.

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On the home consoles, the success of games[br]like Mario and Sonic inspired a large number

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of similar games - and the familiarity of[br]film licenses made tie-ins like Aladdin a

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huge success.

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The colourful world and expressive animation[br]of Disney gave the game a great visual grounding

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- and ensured its place as a best seller.

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Some characters were home-grown: Shiny Entertainment's[br]Earthworm Jim had all of the style and flair

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expected of the platform genre, but did so[br]with a new creation: a powered-up worm wearing

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a cybernetic super suit.

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Its zany sense of humour and unique style[br]made for a memorable close to the 16-bit era.

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Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island embraced[br]a painted aesthetic: rather than a push for

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showy effect or realistic appearance.

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It's this style that helps the game's visuals[br]stand up today: while it might not be technically

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impressive, there is a hand-drawn charm consistent[br]throughout.

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By the mid 1990s, sprites were starting to[br]become passe: the focus was starting to shift

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towards a new wave of three-dimensional games,[br]and the potential that lay within another

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dimension.

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That's not to say that 2D games went away[br]entirely: there were still plenty about, and

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the mature tech behind them made for some[br]particularly impressive visuals towards the

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end of the decade.

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The lush spritework in games like Metal Slug[br]remains a pinnacle of the style: unbound by

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colour or size restriction, and with fantastic[br]animation.

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Some games work best in 2D - and while 3D[br]fighting games eventually rose in popularity,

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there were still plenty of traditional sprite-based[br]ones: such as SNK's long-running King of Fighters

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series.

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Beautiful, but a dying breed: the best hand-drawn[br]sprites require good artists. However - there

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are some techniques that serve as a passable[br]alternative.

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Animation is a vital part of making movement[br]in games believable - and in the days before

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motion capture, some artists would draw from[br]reality using a process called rotoscoping.

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The original Prince of Persia's sprites are[br]traced directly from video: A labour intensive

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technique, but one that delivers natural-looking[br]movement with realistic inertia.

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Similar techniques were used in other cinematic[br]platformers, such as Another World - and Flashback.

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Both made use of rotoscoping for in-game sprites[br]and for cinematic cutscenes: fluid in motion

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yet compact enough to fit on a couple of floppy[br]disks.

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Digitised sprites were fashionable for a while,[br]too - images taken directly from photographs

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or video of real-life subjects.

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The earliest example is Journey, which featured[br]black and white images of the band - but the

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technique wouldn't become commonplace until[br]the early 90s.

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Winners don't use drugs - nor do they have[br]any qualms in slaughtering drug dealers by

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the dozen.

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Narc was a very early 32-bit arcade machine,[br]with thousands of on-screen colours and hugely

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impressive digitised sprites for its time[br]- and unabashed ultra-violence paired with

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realistic images certainly courts controversy.

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The realistic characters and large number[br]of animation frames found in fighting games

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were a good fit for digitisation.

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Reikai Doushi and Pit Fighter paved the way,[br]but it was one game in particular that flung

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such sprites to the forefront: Mortal Kombat.

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Photo-real characters and brutal action made[br]the game a controversial one - which in turn

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ensured its popularity.

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Like Streetfighter II before it, Mortal Kombat's[br]realistic sprites were particularly influential

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- titles like ClayFighter were clearly moulded[br]in its image, and the previously hand-drawn

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riders of Road Rash were replaced by real[br]bikers in the third instalment.

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The impressively-rendered Donkey Kong Country[br]was perhaps the pinnacle of 2D 16-bit platformers:

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colourful; beautifully animated; and a smash[br]hit to boot.

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The advent of multimedia technology meant[br]more room for pre-rendered content and full

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motion video.

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Games like Myst took full advantage of the[br]huge amount of storage space that CDs brought:

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enabling atmospheric prerendered backdrops.

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The serene island setting of Myst proved a[br]shining example of what the emergent technology

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was capable of.

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Most early CD-based games were pure tripe,[br]however.

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Games like Night Trap for the SEGA CD are[br]remembered not for their groundbreaking technology

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- but instead for their awfulness.

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All the bluster of new tech, and none of the[br]impact.

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The future wasn't in interactive movies - and[br]while the compact disc's extra storage would

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become very useful in the years ahead - FMV[br]would eventually give way to games with more

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depth.

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Join me in part three when we'll be delving[br]into the origins of gaming's third dimension.

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Until then, farewell.