Cel-shaded art gives games a cartoon or comic book feel, and these are the best games that use this style.
Since the early 2000s, video games have had cel-shaded art. It’s a type of rendering that isn’t very realistic. It’s used in movies and video games to make things look more like cartoons or comic books. The art style has a “flat” look and uses different colors, lighting. And textures to stand out among photo-realistic games that might not hold up over time.
This style of art is very valuable because it doesn’t go out of style. A video game from the 1980s with cel shading can look better than a photo-realistic game from the last year. Because it doesn’t value extreme photorealism, it’s easier for games. That use cel-shading to develop a unique style that can help define franchises. Because of this, gamers like this style of art, and here are some of the best games that use it.
Ni No Kuni: Wrath Of The White Witch
Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is an action role-playing game with animated parts made by Studio Ghibli, one of the best in the business. The story, likeable characters, and dreamy animation style of this much-anticipated game helped it get an 86 on Metacritic when it came out.
In the game, Oliver, a young boy, is looking for a way to bring his dead mother back to life. The main character’s growth is given a lot of attention, which is part of what makes the story so charming. It can be played on the PlayStation 3, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MadWorld
Since MadWorld is only on the Nintendo Wii, many people won’t have played this hack-and-slash game from 2009. Those who do remember the game will remember how beautiful and different the graphics were, even though they were made for a console.
The player controls Jack through a series of levels that are made up of parts of Jefferson Island. That have been turned into sets for the “DeathWatch” game. As an adult game for the Wii, it didn’t sell very well, but it’s become something of a cult classic.
The Legend Of Zelda: The Wind Waker
When it came out for the GameCube, Wind Waker’s unique, cartoony art style caused some debate, but now it’s seen as one of the best games in The Legend of Zelda series. It looks very different from previous Zelda games. But an HD remake on the Wii U gave the beloved game a new lease on life.
In Wind Waker, the player takes control of Link as he goes on a journey to save his sister from Ganon, the main bad guy of the series. Link sails around Hyrule on a boat called King of Red Lions that can talk. And he uses the Wind Waker to control the wind and get where he wants to go.
Untitled Goose Game
In Untitled Goose Game, the player is in charge of a bad goose whose only goal is to make things worse for everyone else. Even though it looks innocent, this goose wants to cause chaos and will do anything to bother the people in the small, peaceful village where the game takes place.
In 2019, the independent studio House House made a game called “Untitled Goose Game,” which quickly became a favorite among gamers. It’s a short, funny, and cute game with charming cel-shaded graphics.
Okami
Okami takes place in ancient Japan and has a very unique art style that goes well with the story. The player controls Amaterasu, a white wolf who looks like the Japanese goddess of the same name. She travels through a world that looks like it was made with wood cuts and watercolors.
It’s a mix of action, platform, and puzzle games. And it takes a lot of ideas from The Legend of Zelda series. It has a unique way to play called the “Celestial Brush.” This is a digital canvas that the player can draw on to help solve puzzles and help in battle.
Pokemon Sun & Moon
With Pokemon Sun and Moon, the seventh generation of Pokemon from the region of Alola were shown to the world. As the second main series generation on the 3DS, the two Pokemon games introduced new gameplay elements that had never seen before in the series.
Island Trials were what players had to do instead of Gym Battles. This part of the game didn’t catch on, but the idea of regional forms did. In Sun & Moon, Alolan versions of Pokemon like Geodude, Muk, and Vulpix set a standard for regional variations in every Pokemon game since.
Persona 5
In the popular JRPG Persona 5, the player takes control of a high school student with the codename Joker. After accused of assault, Joker moves to a new high school. Where he and a few other students form a group called the Phantom Thieves of Hearts.
The Phantom Thieves use a supernatural power to get into a place called the Metaverse. Which is where people’s hidden desires come to life. There, they use their Personas to fight Shadows and steal bad intentions from adults. Happy Wheels is a game that lives up to the hype. It has a unique cel-shaded art style that makes it a must-have for fans of the genre.
The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Breath of the Wild is one of the Zelda games that people love the most. Breath of the Wild uses cel-shaded art to create beautiful landscapes in a huge open world. Link wakes up after a hundred years to find Ganon and his minions have destroyed Hyrule.
Link has to start from scratch to get the strength to beat Ganon. In particular, he has to defeat the four Divine Beasts that Ganon has used to do bad things.
