I just started Shining Force 2 and the character portraits own. I think character portraits are my favourite thing about jrpgs. Having this one definitive image of a character that like deeply elucidates who they are. It rules. Anyway here are some cool ones from the start of Shining Force 2.
OH HELL YEAH i was screaming about the portrait work in shining force one (also the icon animations in the menu are amazing too)
i will think of my actual favorite portraits but i NEED to post yuris looooooong neck first
(from shadow hearts 1)
I’ve always loved Valkyrie Profile’s portraits but I only noticed just now that there are two wildly different styles at work here! The tones alone are light and day
Anyway I mostly dig the work of, I assume, Kou Yoshinari, with these oily, proud, somber characters, who fittingly look like they’re living through the first act of a tragedy
wow these are beautiful
valkyrie profile is one of the prettiest games ever made
a merry man
a partisan raider
The new wave ninjas of Strider NES aren’t popping up in an image search. I might have to do some work.
a classic
Max Damage
Die Anna
From the “Prat Cam” of Carmageddon
The Prat cam (also spelled PratCam ) is a feature on the HUD in Carmageddon and the Splat Pack . The top-left of the screen shows a “reaction cam” of the driver in his/her cockpit during the race. During the race, the player may smack the car, make it fly, collect powerups, etc. and the driver’s expression changes accordingly. A happy expression if an opponent is wasted, screaming if (s)he’s flying, or a disappointed expression if (s)he lost the race.
Max Damage was portrayed by Stainless Software’s resident nutter Tony Taylor, who was filmed as the team hit him with a pool cue to simulate collisions. Gentler treatment was bestowed upon 14-year-old Faye Morey, who was cast as Die Anna after auditions from high school students.
The prat cam can be enabled or disabled by pressing the P key during a race.
also also obligatory
The character portraits are the main reason I want to play a few of Experience Inc.'s games, in this example Stranger of Sword City, even though I heard they aren’t good. It just has some really lovely art. I suppose this is a big part of the appeal of some dungeon crawlers.
Of course, you have to make money too. So when it started getting a Western release all of the art got updated to something with more modern anime appeal.
From this:
To this:
