# Photo-realistic graphics **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [February 2, 2009, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099 "2009-02-02T09:02:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Danger\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/6de8d8/32.png) [@Danger\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Danger_Man)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 9:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/1 "2009-02-02T09:02:33Z")
We all know that whenever a game with revolutionary better graphics comes out, it is being called photo-realistic by game magazines and the publishers themselves. Often they were hilariously wrong in retrospect. I am wondering, what is the earliest instance of a game’s graphics being called photo-realistic? ---
**Author:** ![Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Uosdwis\_R.Dewoh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Uosdwis_R.Dewoh)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 9:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/2 "2009-02-02T09:32:59Z")
[Police Quest IV](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Police_quest_4) comes to mind. Released 1993. ---
**Author:** ![brewha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/91b2a8/32.png) [@brewha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brewha)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/3 "2009-02-02T14:03:59Z")
[Mortal Kombat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_(video_game)) was advertised with photo-realistic graphics. Released in 1992. I remember being blown away by the realism. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/4 "2009-02-02T15:43:26Z")
> [@brewha](#): > > [Mortal Kombat](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortal_Kombat_(video_game)) was advertised with photo-realistic graphics. Released in 1992. > > I remember being blown away by the realism. The game sprites were made from video of live actors. A good idea I’m surprised hadn’t been used before even then. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/5 "2009-02-02T16:23:45Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The game sprites were made from video of live actors. A good idea I’m surprised hadn’t been used before even then. If I remember correctly being able to show a high number of colours (maybe 256) was new around the time of MK. Photos don’t look good using 16 colours. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/6 "2009-02-02T16:30:57Z")
[Super Battletank: War In The Gulf](http://www.mobygames.com/game/snes/garry-kitchens-super-battletank-war-in-the-gulf) (SNES) used digitized film footage for its cutscenes, which was big deal at the time. Can’t find any screenshots, though. I remember nearly crapping my pants the first time I saw SNES _Pilotwings_, SNES _Axelay_ _Dead or Alive_ on I think Dreamcast, and the original _Ridge Racer_ arcade game. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/7 "2009-02-02T19:03:01Z")
1986 brought us a digitized photo of Samantha Fox in _Samantha Fox Strip Poker_. Link to page about the game unparsed because of a grainy b/w newspaper photo of Ms. Fox’s boobies. [http://members.chello.at/theodor.lauppert/games/samfox.htm](http://members.chello.at/theodor.lauppert/games/samfox.htm) ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/8 "2009-02-02T22:32:01Z")
The 1983 arcade game [M.A.C.H. 3](http://www.dragons-lair-project.com/games/pages/m3.asp) used a laser disc with actual video footage. The planes were computer graphics but the aerial ground images and canyon landscapes were real video. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [February 2, 2009, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/9 "2009-02-02T22:48:15Z")
> [@garygnu](#): > > The game sprites were made from video of live actors. A good idea I’m surprised hadn’t been used before even then. [Pit Fighter](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pit-Fighter) is a digitised video beat-'em-up that predates Mortal Kombat. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 7:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/10 "2009-02-03T07:00:08Z")
Having been heavily involved in video arcade gaming at the time, I do believe the winner is [Dragon’s Lair](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Lair), ca 1983, although Mach 3 came out in the same year. The difference is that Dragon’s Lair actually used animation (albeit hand-drawn cels), while Mach 3 used actual video footage, so I don’t know if it qualifies. The first home video game that really broke the graphics barrier was probably Myst. ---
**Author:** ![Cisco](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ccd318/32.png) [@Cisco](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cisco)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 7:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/11 "2009-02-03T07:13:43Z")
I dunno if they advertised it but I remember being blown away by the cutscene you got when you dunked in the NES game _Double Dribble_. I’m sure I’d laugh if I saw it now, but I remember thinking it looked like a completely real (though black and white) video of a guy dunking. That was sometime in the '80s. ---
**Author:** ![Cuckoorex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ad7895/32.png) [@Cuckoorex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cuckoorex)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 10:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/12 "2009-02-03T10:06:16Z")
> [@Sam\_Stone](#): > > Having been heavily involved in video arcade gaming at the time, I do believe the winner is [Dragon’s Lair](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Lair), ca 1983, although Mach 3 came out in the same year. The difference is that Dragon’s Lair actually used animation (albeit hand-drawn cels), while Mach 3 used actual video footage, so I don’t know if it qualifies. I’d think that Dragon’s Lair, while being graphically pretty, definitely doesn’t qualify as “photo-realistic” as per the OP. There was another game that was out sometime around DL’s era called [Time Traveler](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=10124) that featured holographic images and some sort of shooting game…it was something like a 3D shootout. That had 3D holograms of human actors. ---
**Author:** ![MOIDALIZE](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e274bd/32.png) [@MOIDALIZE](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MOIDALIZE)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/13 "2009-02-03T15:19:55Z")
[Mad Dog McCree](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mad_Dog_McCree) was a laser disc based shooting game that came out in the arcades in 1990 and later to the PC and 3DO. ---
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2009, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/14 "2009-02-03T15:33:39Z")
MegaRace was another one that was billed as very realistic. Mainly because the course was pre-rendered so it was really just showing you a movie off a CD with a vehicle sprite that could move around: > **[MegaRace](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegaRace)** > > MegaRace is a racing video game developed by Cryo. It features pre-rendered 3-D graphics and over twenty minutes of full-motion video of fictional game show host Lance Boyle. It was released for DOS in 1993. It was then released for the Sega CD and the 3DO the following year. It spawned two sequels, MegaRace 2 and MegaRace 3. > MegaRace takes place in the distant future, where the player is a contestant on a fictional game show and namesake, MegaRace. MegaRace is broadcast on the fictional VWBT (V... Edit: 1994 it came out. ---
**Author:** ![tds1273](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/df705f/32.png) [@tds1273](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tds1273)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/15 "2009-02-04T21:12:45Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > There was another game that was out sometime around DL’s era called [Time Traveler](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=10124) that featured holographic images and some sort of shooting game…it was something like a 3D shootout. That had 3D holograms of human actors. I remember that one; the ‘out-of-order’ signs were always amazingly realistic. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/16 "2009-02-04T21:18:31Z")
> [@Cuckoorex](#): > > I’d think that Dragon’s Lair, while being graphically pretty, definitely doesn’t qualify as “photo-realistic” as per the OP. There was another game that was out sometime around DL’s era called [Time Traveler](http://www.klov.com/game_detail.php?letter=&game_id=10124) that featured holographic images and some sort of shooting game…it was something like a 3D shootout. That had 3D holograms of human actors. The hologram thing was impressive, but they weren’t 3d - it was just a 2d image that was shown through a big fresnel lens to make your eyes perceive it as being suspended in mid air - but it was still a flat image (analogous in actual form to, say, flat card puppets). ---
**Author:** ![Munch](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/munch/32/5281_2.png) [@Munch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Munch)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2009, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/17 "2009-02-04T22:09:18Z")
In 1982, Intellivision put out this print ad for Star Strike, with the headline: “Either this is their best space game ever or my living room is going 165 mph!” [![](http://gamesmuseum.pixesthesia.com/history/gen2/intell/starstad.jpg) ](http://gamesmuseum.pixesthesia.com/history/gen2/intell/starstad.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2009, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/photo-realistic-graphics/484099/18 "2009-02-05T01:01:11Z")
> [@SmackFu](#): > > MegaRace was another one that was billed as very realistic. Mainly because the course was pre-rendered so it was really just showing you a movie off a CD with a vehicle sprite that could move around: > > [MegaRace - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MegaRace) > > Edit: 1994 it came out. Wow, thanks for posting this. I remember this game! My brother and I loved it!