The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (GCN, 2002)
One thing a lot of the games we’re citing have in common is that they looked amazing at the time they were released, but now—years or even decades later—they’re maybe less impressive. Does Far Cry 3 really look that great in 2023? Ehhhh. But every time I look at Wind Waker, my favorite video game of all time, I’m struck by how timeless it is. How the game’s clean visual design, artistic restraint, and clever use of techniques like cel-shading, that we normally associate with motion pictures instead of video games, has it looking just as good today as it first did over 20 years ago. — Luke Plunkett
