In the earliest days of 3D graphics, developers hit on a bit of a snag. It was one thing to create fully 3D character models and the occasional static object, but fully realized backgrounds? That was just too tall an order.
The solution to this problem was pre-rendered backgrounds. Basically, the designers would create a large, detailed static image, then place 3D models or character sprites on top of it.
By placing invisible objects and boundaries, they could make it look like the characters were walking around on the detailed images when they were actually just floating in a void.
While this was mostly intended as a stopgap solution, pre-rendered backgrounds are stillfondly rememberedby those who grew up with them for their artistic merit. Even some modern games still use them for stylistic purposes.
10The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time
Visit The Temple Of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Timewas one of the most visually dense games on the Nintendo 64, rightfully so for one of Nintendo’s heaviest hitters of the generation. While the game had plenty of fully 3D environments, though, it had to save a little space here and there.
A shortlist of isolated locales around Hyrule switches to pre-rendered backgrounds, giving us a little extra detail for spots you might not need to spend much time in. Quite a few of these locales are in Hyrule Castle Town, such as the back alley of the market or the Happy Mask Shop.
Perhaps one of the most iconic pre-rendered spots in the game is the exterior of the Temple of Time, which features an imposing static shot of the building itself with Death Mountain in the background.
9Myst (1993)
A Classic Work Of Art
Mystis still well-regarded as an absolute triumph of video games as a medium of art. As you may expect, the game’s near-exclusive use of pre-rendered backgrounds is a major contributor to this.
In the original version of this game, you couldn’t freely roam around the environment like you can in games these days. You could only move by clicking on the location you wanted to move to, after which you’d be presented with another static image.
Since you’d be looking at a lot of these static images over the course of the game, it’s only sensible that they’d be exceptionally pretty to look at.
Just about every frame of Myst could be framed and hung in a museum, utilizing a remarkably distinct flavor of perspective to give everything depth without actually having to animate it. Myst was remade in 2021 as a fully explorable 3D world, but honestly, it’s not quite the same.
8Donkey Kong Country
The Hills Are Alive
Donkey Kong Country
Pre-rendered backgrounds aren’t the exclusive territory of games with 3D explorable spaces. Case in point,Donkey Kong Countrywas a 2D platformer, but still made pretty impressive use of the concept. In fact, Donkey Kong Country was one of the first home console games to use pre-rendered backgrounds.
All of the character models, including DK, Diddy, and the Kremlings, are fully rendered and animated in 3D, then compressed into sprites. These sprites are layered on top of the game’s pre-rendered backgrounds, so it alllookslike a 3D affair.
As a small side effect of this process, the game does occasionally have some mildly weird collision with platforms. Remember, there aren’t actually any platforms; the sprites are just bumping up against invisible collision modifiers. It was quite a graphical magic trick for 1994, eh?
7Super Mario RPG (1996)
The Most Detailed Mario World
Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars
Since the original mainline Mario games were all fairly straightforward platformers, there wasn’t much in the way of fleshing out for the Mushroom Kingdom and its surrounding lands. One of the first games to change that wasSuper Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.
Utilizing a combination of sprites and pre-rendered backgrounds, Super Mario RPG created the most fully realized instance of the Mushroom Kingdom to date. No longer was it a nonspecific line of bricks; it was a full town complete with shops and a castle, each one designed to reflect the Toads that live there.
It’s also worth highlighting this game’s awesome battle backgrounds, particularly those that appeared during boss fights. Even if only the character sprites were moving, the detailed backgrounds went a long way toward making the boss fights all the more climactic.
6Final Fantasy 7 (1997)
The Original Face Of Midgar
Final Fantasy 7
The many iconic locales ofFinal Fantasy 7have been painstakingly rendered in full, detailed 3D multiple times over since the original game’s release. If you wanted to know the full scope of theMidgar Sector 7 Slums, for instance, you could definitely get that from playing Final Fantasy 7 Remake.
However, it’s always worth remembering the original incarnation of these locales and the impressions they made on us. Outside of the overworld and combat scenes, Final Fantasy 7 made extensive use of pre-rendered backgrounds, giving its towns and cities an almost fantastical, larger-than-life quality.
As the first 3D game in the mainline Final Fantasy series, Final Fantasy 7 still carried a lot of its fantasy DNA from previous entries, and it brought that to life with exaggerated proportions and massive art installations.
5Resident Evil (1996)
“What A Mansion!”
Resident Evil
The originalResident Evilis quite possibly one of the most iconic games to feature pre-rendered backgrounds ever made, if notthemost. Those backgrounds form the backbone of this game’s delightfully tense, claustrophobic atmosphere.
Along with its signaturefixed camera angles, Resident Evil’s detailed pre-rendered backgrounds would force you into extremely tight confines, often preventing you from seeing around corners.
You never quite knew what was going to be waiting for you when you stepped beyond the camera’s view, and combined with the janky aiming, it really got to you after a while.
Fun fact: the Resident Evil series kept using pre-rendered backgrounds until Code Veronica in 2000, when they switched to full 3D. However, the Resident Evil remake that was released in 2002 returned to the pre-rendered backgrounds, presumably for authenticity’s sake.
4Grim Fandango
One Skeleton In A Big World
Grim Fandango
Pre-rendered backgrounds are an excellent match forpoint-and-click adventure games, where you’re supposed to carefully observe and interact with your surroundings. Not only do the static backgrounds give you plenty to look at, but they also help proper interactable objects stand out a little more.
Grim Fandangois a good example of this, giving you large cityscapes to wander around in that provide you an effective scope of the afterlife’s size and diversity.
The game’s stylized, angular character models also mesh very well with the equally angular objects and buildings in the background, to the point that you may’t tell the difference sometimes.
On occasion, there might be something in the background that you’re supposed to interact with that isn’t immediately apparent, which leads to some confusing bits. Hey, if pre-rendered backgrounds were a perfect solution, we’d still be using them.
3Parasite Eve
New York Never Looked So Good
Parasite Eve
Parasite Evecame out in 1998, one year after Final Fantasy 7, and as another Square game, it shares a bit of its design DNA.
This includes its pre-rendered backgrounds, though unlike the exaggerated and fantastical backgrounds of Final Fantasy 7, Parasite Eve’s backgrounds are a little more down to Earth.
While Final Fantasy 7’s backgrounds are larger-than-life, Parasite Eve’s are more realistic and proportional, not to mention carefully detailed tomake the world feel a little more lived-in. A good example of this is the NYPD 17th Precinct, one of the game’s most recurring locations.
The desks of the police station are covered in files, mugs, and other assorted knick-knacks, the floors are well-trodden, the blackboards have scribbles all over them, and so on.
Even if there are no character models present, it still looks like a real New York City police station, a place where real people live and work.
2Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
Crossing Catwalks And Mountains
Oddworld: Abe’s Oddysee
One of the major recurring themes ofOddworld: Abe’s Oddysee, as well as the greater Oddworld franchise, is the intersection between the natural and subtly mystical with the mechanical and heavily industrialized inits titular world. you may see examples of this all over the game, thanks in large part to its pre-rendered backgrounds.
In a similar vein to Donkey Kong Country, Abe’s Oddysee uses 3D models layered over a static background. However, that background still goes a long way toward informing both the gameplay and overall setting of the world.
In the levels set in RuptureFarms, you’re able to see a lot of worker signage and mechanical components in the backgrounds, while out in the wilderness, there are massive mountains and sprawling landscapes. Both the natural and unnatural are treated with a similar level of care and detail.
1Disco Elysium
Detailed Across The Board
Disco Elysium
Pre-rendered backgrounds are definitely a relic by today’s standards, but they still crop up every now and then, often in smaller, independent games. One such smaller game that put them to excellent use wasDisco Elysium, a game that was experimental in more ways than just its background art.
Distinctive art is a recurring design theme through Disco Elysium, such as the incredibly detailed portraits used for character dialogue and skill checks. The pre-rendered backgrounds have a similar level of detail to them, with every gross gutter and fading neon sign presented in extensive isometric clarity.
Interestingly, while all the character models are fully-rendered and detailed 3D, they’re deliberately colored to match perfectly with the backgrounds. It looks less like a 3D model floating in a painting like the games of yesteryear did, and more like an entire living work of art.
