The 5 Best Uses of Cel-Shading in Video Games

In this writer's mind, there is nothing more beautiful in this world than a cel-shaded video game (I am guilty of purchasing games based entirely off of the inclusion of cel-shaded visuals). The vibrant colors and charming aesthetics bring a certain warmth to any video game world that is sadly not seen enough in a generation concerned first and foremost with gritty realism. It's sounds cliche and cranky, I know. But stereotypes don't appear out of thin air y'know. Here is a list of games that not only buck this trend, but do so using cel-shading in such a way as the visuals transform from just visuals into characters themselves.

[MultiConsoleGamer]

This author sums up my feelings perfectly.

My friends and I just had this headed discussion over the proper use of cell shading. One of my gamer pals HATES the cell shading in Borderlands 2, but he loves games like Jet Grind Radio and Zelda Wind Waker.

I personally prefer cell shading that looks cartoonish or like "living art," such as games like Okami.

[ASTAROTH]

Have any of you played The Darkness 2?? It looks like a fukn comic... Also Gravity Rush, SSF4, MvsC 3 and some others looks very good. But I think the selection is spot on...

[BISHOP-BRASIL]

The much I hate cell shading in some games, I love it in others... And it has nothing to do with art-ish vs cartoon-ish settings for me.

What makes me mad is that some games seens like they can't get the same feeling to everything. For example, Prince of Persia had some great cell shading in characters but they simply didn't set well with the environment, I don't know what it is technically but I got the same feeling from SF4/MvC3 engine and Borderlands.

I think Okami is a great example not just because it set a great art style with cell shading, but because it's able to give the same feeling to every corner of its beautyful world. This makes the whole setting more believable.

One game I would love to see with cell chading (if done right) is Infamous. The comic book "cutscenes" are great, would love to see the whole game looking like that... But as they say "if it ain't broke, don't fix it", it already looks good and changing the franchise look in the third game would probably be awkward, but would love to see some superhero game with a real comic book art style.

[InTheZoneAC]

Hate the cel shading for Zelda.

Love it for Borderlands, Street Fighter, Marvel vs Capcom, Okami, Prince of Persia, Sly Cooper Trilogy, snd Rayman Origin's.

[Lucretia]

same, absolutely ruined link when windwaker came out. made him look like an egyption drawing but uglier.

the cell shading was great, but the art style was hideous and still is.

i also hated borderlands cell shading. and im not sure if rayman is cell shading lol, i think they are just 2d sprites, i could be wrong though :P

and okami is gorgeous

[ThanatosDMC]

Wind Waker had the best cell-shading back in the day.

Also, Budokai 3 isnt on here. Weird

[InTheZoneAC]

24 disagrees?

what If I said I liked every zelda games except Link's Adventure and dislike every zelda for n64, gamecube, and wii?

I'll replay all the one's from nes, snes, gbc, gba, but don't give a damn about all the new one's.

I'm expecting 30 disagrees and 5 agrees, get to it.

[schlanz]

Wind Waker is one of the best Zelda games and the art direction is timeless.

[joab777]

Borderlands look is great but I am sure that if it looked realistic it would be fine. Its the loot, classes and co op. That being said, the charm is there. Would the new ni no kuni be cell shaded or just cartoonish. It is gonna be gorgeous and great.

[Chuk5]

No Viewtiful Joe?

[HammadTheBeast]

No Gravity Rush/Daze? Really surprising. It's art style is amazing...

[ASTAROTH]

Im very anxious to see and play Ninokuni... that game could end up being something...

[neogeo]

No punch out Wii

[LocutusEstBorg]

No Budokai 3?

[NukaCola]

MadWorld?

I love toon-shading and Wind Waker mastered it like no other.

[Skizelli]

Am I the only one who liked XIII?

[hoolesy]

No you're not, you beat me to it! XIII (or "thirteen" if roman numerals don't tickle your fancy), was quite groundbreaking looks-wise if I remember rightly. It was of course back in the day - 2003. I blatted in on the Xbox. Let down a bit with gameplay but like Jet Set it was very unique. Ze French people at Ubisoft Paree did a good effort.

[mcstorm]

Well said was just about to put this to. Amazing looking game for its time but imo JSRF and JSR are two of the best ever created for looks and game play.

[AbyssGravelord]

God I loved XIII still have it for PS2. I used to rock the online on Xbox Live back in it's early days. So much fun.

[Skizelli]

I wish they'd make a sequel. It had a really good cliffhanger.

[listenkids]

Fear Effect!

[Information Minister]

You deserve another bubble just for mentioning that game. Fear Effect did cell shading before it was even called cell shading... and on the PS1!

[Menashe]

That's the game with "the elevator scene", no?

[christian hour]

@Mensahe Just to clarify, That was Fear Effect 2 ;)

I must have been around 11 or 12 when my brother bought the first fear effect game, I remember everytime I was playing it, i was half terrified by the games atmosphere, and the other half from fear my parents would walk in and catch me playing what was essentially gore porn :P

[godzilla72]

Fear Effect 3 was supposed to come out for the PS2, but was cancelled. Then they were heavily considering releasing it for the PS3, still no word. Love the first 2 games, still have Retro Helix!
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[Dark_Overlord]

lol Fear Effect, still have it somewhere, used to be able to speedrun it in less than 20mins :)

[Serjikal_Strike]

Im hoping for a new Fear Effect...

[godzilla72]

Fear Effect 3 was supposed to come out for the PS2, but was cancelled. Then they were heavily considering releasing it for the PS3, still no word. Love the first 2 games, still have Retro Helix!
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[SimpleSlave]

Sadly Fear Effect was not rendered using Cel-Shading, like Jet Grind Radio was. Hence why it probably wouldn't fit on this list.

It does, however, emulate the style through texture maps though. And it does a good job at it. But it's not the same as the games mention in the list.

And if we want to get technical then I'll bring Aladdin, Out of This World, and Flashback from the sega genesis days as among the first games to truly emulate cel-shading style.

Cheers

[guitarded77]

Don't know if those are indeed the 5 best cel-shaded games ever, but they are 5 kick ass games indeed. Should go ahead and make it a 6 list with Boarderlands.

@Skateboard (below)
Gravity Rush for sure.

[Skateboard]

Gravity Rush.

[AznGaara]

Agreed. The way objects fade into the background in that game is beautiful.

[LiViNgLeGaCY]

Yep, I also agree. The way it's used in that game is absolutely amazing.

[dark-hollow]

It's pretty sad that WW on dolphin blows a lot of "next gen" games in overall looks.

[omarzy]

WW without dolphin looks better than most of this gen as well

[vickers500]

That's the power of art style in gaming, and why it should be prioritized over super high res textures. Give a game the latest super high res textures, and it will look amazing for about 2-5 years (even less for console games), but once the next gen ushers in, those super high res games are forgotten and become known as great looking "at the time".

But give a game a great and creative art style, and the game will never look dated and ugly. Look at Shadow of the Colossus, Okami, Wind Waker, Super Mario Sunshine (looks amazing on dolphin), and those games which go for a very artistic direction instead of a realistic one.

Even today these games with great art styles look far better than a lot of the crap out there, even though they're inferior on every technology based level, they still manage to look amazing.

Games with beautiful art styles have even driven me to buy games just because of how beautiful the art style looked. A couple of examples of that are folklore and valkyria chronicles. I own both of them and I don't even really like the gameplay all that much, but Folklore was worth the 20 bucks because it's just SOOO damned beautiful and vibrant. It still remains one of the best looking games I've ever seen, all because of the art style and not some fancy shallow textures.

Not THE best, but REALLY close. The best looking game I've ever seen is Journey (when you're sand surfing and the sun is just beautifully reflecting off the gorgeous sand).

[snipes101]

Agree completely. Look at Xenoblade Chronicles. Not graphically insane by any standards, but the art style is so great that it makes up for it.

Cel-shading makes games future proof and far mroe attractive. Hell, I bought El Shaddai just because of the art style.

[christian hour]

A lot of games from the gamecube still stand up pretty well today, alot of people seem to forget that last gen nintendo had the more graphically capable console over xbox and ps2. The remake of resident evil one still surpsises me today with its ambient lighting and realtime reflections, even these days on 360 and ps3 that stuff is faked a lot.

[nikoado]

Is "Journey" considered a cell shaded game?

That game is amazingly beautiful.

[guitarded77]

Journey is not cel-shaded, but it is a beautiful game.

[WildArmed]

Prince of Persia was very nicely done too, beautiful cell shading

[Information Minister]

Indeed. I was surprised to see it wasn't included on the list. It's also a little sad that only 1 of those games is current-gen. Maybe the author should have done a top 10 list.

[WildArmed]

Indeed, we had some pretty nice cell-shaded games this gen.

[Fyflin]

Good list. I thought Wind Waker had so much effort and personality, being cel shaded really brought the characters to life.

Would love to see a couple of original cel shaded games next gen, they could look truly amazing in 1080p.

[ACBAA]

oh my god, Jet Set Radio Future.. my first game ever
damn i feel like im 7 again watching this gameplay video

[DasTier]

Hmmn I always though Borderlands looked pretty cool, but my favourite use of cell shading was in the original crackdown.

[AznGaara]

Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm series should be on this list, I mean it looks just like the anime. Hell even better.

[Yangus]

And Eternal Sonata....very nice cel-shading JRPG game.

[nik666uk]

XIII on PS2

[BitbyDeath]

Dragonball Budokai Tenkaichi Series (PS2)

[GhostofHorizon]

Lack of Naruto on the list makes this list weak.

[omarzy]

ninja storm games have fantastic cell shading.

[Menashe]

Cel-shading almost lets a game mask its age. When you don't expect a game to look realistic you don't judge it with the same criteria.

[kagon01]

Rouge Galaxy, Tales of Synphonia, Crimson Tears, Oni, etc...

[Skate-AK]

Ni No Kuni

[2pacalypsenow]

No XIII?? And Borderlands?

[Plagasx]

Where the FUCK is Naruto Ultimate Ninja Storm??

The game looked exactly like the show O_O

[CanadianTurtle]

I totally have to agree with you on that. I remember playing that for the first time and I was just blown by how closely the action looked to the anime.

Also, Borderlands looks great, but to be honest, the game's graphics grew on me. I hated Borderland's graphics at first glance, but as I gave the game a chance and started playing it a bit more, I realized how amazing the graphical style was. It was like a hybrid betweeen realism and cellshading!

[snipes101]

Herp derp I even played that game and I forgot it. Son of a...I had a list of cel-shaded games up on wikipedia for me to reference and everything.

I could have traded out Dark Cloud 2 for that in a second.

[TheDivine]

Tales of Vesperia, Wind Waker, Okami, Borderlands all were fantastic.

Im playing Gravity Rush right now and its pretty beautiful.

[NeXXXuS]

Dragon Quest VIII

[vickers500]

Oh how I wish that game would be remastered. That game would look even more amazing with no jaggies.

[AKS]

DQ VIII was one of the first games that came to mind. Level 5 is brilliant in using cel shading, and I am glad that their Dark Cloud 2 was included.

[Menashe]

Dragon Quest X is also cel-shaded but it actually looks worse than DQ8. Maybe that's because it's an MMO.

[Infernostew]

Killer 7

[Ben_Giff]

Yes, Killer 7 for sure.

[tarbis]

Atelier Arland series and Gravity Daze should be in that list too. =/

[malypso]

I was soooooo disappointed when I first seen The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, I was damn near in tears, as I was expecting the E3 demo they showcased showing off a mature Link fighting Gannon... After a few years I got over it, and gave it a shot; to my surprise, it really blew me away! The artistic direction Nintendo chose to go with was brilliant. I felt as if I was playing a cartoon 3D version of TLOZ: A Link to The Past. To this day, this game is the pinnacle icon of cel-shaded games, and just how fluid cel-shaded games can be.

[InTheLab]

Sly Cooper?

[snipes101]

I considered it, but this article was more about how the cell shading added to the game, not just how it made the game look.

[HurstDarkStar]

I'm amazed viewtiful joe wasnt one this list because it was like one of the most stylish cell- shaded games

[attilayavuzer]

Can we get a Dark Cloud 2 HD please? or a full blown sequel...

[Drake117]

Yes please

[No_Pantaloons]

Cell shading sucks. Lazy ass artists should be fired.

[SeekDev]

Glad you think them artists, they deserve the title.

[Gigglefist]

Cell Shading takes a great deal of work. I fail to see how it makes them lazy.
At least they're being constructive and not complaining about the art of others on a video game site...

[SeekDev]

I really like the Borderlands 2 cell shading because it puts emphasis on detailing and lighting.

[blakko22]

Is Eternal Sonata cel shaded? Beautiful game.

[MySwordIsHeavenly]

Wait. Dark Cloud 2 over Rogue Galaxy?!?

[Relientk77]

Um wow

this is a really good list

[Raka]

once Ni No Kuni will be out the rest of these games will be history

Best cel shading game ever made to date

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[dorron]

Dragon Quest VIII

[DestinyHeroDoomlord]

DQ-viii and okami are my best

[Venoxn4g]

Prince of persia
Red steel 2
XIII
Zelda WW
Madworld
No more heroes
Borderlands
Okami
Viewtiful Joe
Killer 7

man, I love cell shading! those games graphics - art is timeless, not like other brown-grey shaded games which one day will be outdated :)

[Jirachi]

Wind waker looked great when it came out but now idk.
They should do a hd remake of this game(same art style but make the models much smoother)

[bubblebobble]

13 was great graphics for time

[MWH]

fantastic list.

[tigertron]

I always wanted to play Killer 7 but never got round to it...

[hoolesy]

XIII was good good good!

[Jazz4108]

What about uncharted? It looks pretty cartoony especialy the first 1

[Unversed87]

1st one only. 2nd one not so much just vibrant colors.

[Reaper9937]

Back in the early PS2 days I was blown away by Klonoa 2, still one of my favorite platformers of all time.

[Picnic]

Jet Set Radio is always the king of this for me in the way that it perfectly suits the gameplay.

If that picture of Valkyria Chronicles is true to the nature of the entire game then I would not quite regard that as truly cel-shaded. If it looks like a watercolour / pencil drawing then it has too many subtleties, and not enough boldness, of colour to quite be cel shading in my opinion. There should ideally be a thickish black outline on many objects too.

I always regard Mirror's Edge as being essentially true to the cel-shading philosophy.

[Unversed87]

Zelda was the best so far and it was nearly two gens ago. Borderlands is a joke but I love rhe game. 100% complete.

[Wigriff]

No Dragon Quest VIII?

[DeadSpaced]

Okami blew my mind. I haven't thought about it in awhile but it's definitely worth being called art.

[chobit_A5HL3Y]

i loves me some cel shading when it's done right ^^ honestly though, i think hd sprites would be my favie... the idea of an hd xenogears makes me tingle lolz

[urwifeminder]

Bf heroes and wacky racers on dreamcast for me.

[ElectricFlare]

No Dragon Quest VIII? Its a beautiful game & looks hardly aged. It should have made it in

[Gigglefist]

XIII and Auto Modellista are two relatively unknown cel-shaded games that are just amazing.

Then there is, of course, Borderlands <3

[gamerben]

JSRF didn't show off xbox's hardware much at all, it look almost identical to the dreamcast prequel released years before.

[Picnic]

JSRF on the Xbox is a more enjoyable game just because it's much easier (because of no police in the main areas of the levels), faster (and yet allows you to be slower because of having no time limit) with more platforming to it and generally superior music. However the DC, like the Gamecube, was the pinnacle of elegant console design and seems to have had a very clean processing style. Things like shadows and signs look subtle, detailed, and gorgeous on the DC whereas they are merely part of the scenery on the Xbox and the DC has some quirky level design / details and incidental objects that were not always changed for the better on the Xbox. Somehow the Xbox game ends up looking more action packed even though in truth it's less action packed. The Xbox game is essentially a platform game where working out how to navigate all of the level is the only enemy. This makes JSR on DC and JSRF on Xbox oddly like night and day - the first is too tense, the second laid back.

[gamerben]

I liked the difficulty in the first one.

The open world thing in JSRF was cool though.

[TheLastGuardian]

Sly Cooper series and Gravity Rush.

[Gamer Muzz]

My top 5 list would have had Fear Effect and XIII on it.

[KrimsonKody]

Top 3;
Zelda WW
Okami
JSRF

I think some games, like El Shaddai, deserves a mention. They may have did cel-shaded on a smaller scale, but it was imaginative & it worked.