"Yes, but how many polygons?" An artist blog entry with interesting numbers

[Sonicfan]

Berserk - ps2

Guts - 3,412 triangles

Schierke - 2,848 triangles

Puck - 3,002 triangles

enemy - 1,233 triangles

Wow! It's insane to see puck is almost 1000 polys lower on ps2 than Dreamcast, and still looks more detailed. Just goes to show that if done right, less is more!

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Wow! It's insane to see puck is almost 1000 polys lower on ps2 than Dreamcast, and still looks more detailed. Just goes to show that if done right, less is more!

Ha my bad, look at the pic. Thats a typo. Both pucks are actually around game polygon count for both consoles

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Fate Extra - PSP
Characters polygon count lower than shown because multiple hand copies and shadow meshes for feet i suspect.

Lancer - 2,172 triangles

Saber- 2,583 triangles

monster - 2,458 triangles

Stage - 15,336 triangles

save point/ main room - 12,234 triangles

classroom- 18,856 triangles

npc - 1,383 triangles

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Metal Gear Solid 2 - ps2
Models were extracted from archives from someone else given to me.

Solidus - 4,748 triangles

Solid Snake - 3,002 triangles

Cyborg - 2,168 triangles

regular enemy - 1,540 triangles

room - 7,776 triangles

exterior big shell - 8,376 triangles

first cutscene - 28,738 triangles

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Spiderman - Dreamcast
Yes the characters are jumbled but all body parts are there at center point. Runs on the tony hawk engine. Seems the dc version has upgraded assets.

Outside stage - 8,982 triangles

tunnels - 6,379 triangles

another outside stage - 8,875 triangles

scarlet spider - 2,554 triangles

black cat - 1,303 triangles

carnage - 1,342 triangles

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Tony Hawk Pro Skater 1 - Dreamcast
Same issues as the spiderman game, character models all parts at center. Game is higher poly that anticipated. For the spiderman post above the last unlabeled model is supposed to be a henchman, 733 triangles.

Tony Hawk - 1,570 triangles

andrew reynolds - 1,506 triangles

Downtown - 18,486 triangles

Streets - 12,353 triangles

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Mat Hoffman BMX - dreamcast
Same engine as tony hawk.

NY park - 17, 470 triangles

La harba - 13,602 triangles

Kowalski - 1,133 triangles

Mat Hoffman - 1,128 triangles

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Metal Gear Solid : PeaceWalker - PsP

Snake (gameplay ) - 1,756 triangles

Snake alternate ( gameplay) - 1,990 triangles

Soldier - 1,563 triangles

Cutscene Snake - 4,145 triangles

Strangelove ( modelviewer only/bikini) -12,119 triangles

gun - 700 triangles

Metal Gear under wraps - 5,249 triangles

 

[xaeroxcore]

Amazing numbers @Cloofoofoo, thanks for the hard work, as usual. I´m shocked Spider-Man Scartlet Spider model is 2,7 K polys, stages up to 8k!!...An THPS and Matt Hoffman with +1,1k and 1.5k poly models in characters and +12k poly for stages!! That´s CRAZY, specially keeping in mind those games looked better than the 32 bit originals, but no exactly like 128 bit era worth games. Looks like it was a common trend with DC Catalogue, incluiding legendary titles, like these THPS 1 and 2, Soul Reaver or popular at the time like MK Gold and Hydro Thunder....if you see the poly counts of most of these games, they are not that different than PSP numbers you have shown to us. Clearly one can see art direction can be as important as poly counts...Soul Calibur Dreamcast is in fact a 32 bit port (system 12 is a PS1 "Pro") and despite that looked next gen for 1999/2000 and even 2001...I really hope indie DC games reach that level someday!

 

[function]

The evolution of assets is every bit as important as the performance extracted from a console, and the graphics techniques used.

Fortunately, the numbers provided here by @Cloofoofoo show that the DC was a little banger in terms of poly counts, especially by 1998 standards!

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Power Stone 1 - Dreamcast
Only two examples since its a pain to put together uses naomilib. The character models are surprisingly higher in poly count than first thought. Stages include props(tables, barrels, chairs).

Falcon powered up - 2,987 triangles

Room : With props 3,859 triangles ( without any props 740 tris)

 

[xaeroxcore]

I dunno if they have been posted, but it would be nice dreamcast soul reaver numbers and soul reaver 2 or blood omen 2 numbers! pleaseeeee!

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Metal Gear solid Snake eater - ps2
Characters missing a little bit of hair, doesnt change poly much, only increases by around 200 triangles than shown. The land is bare, in game it would be populated by trees. Probably much higher than displayed here since i found layer of tree tops that alone were like 10k to 18k triangles(though that could be for the mid air scene).

Snake paratrooper - 6,263 triangles

The boss - 4,219 triangles

Snake - 4,637 triangles

soldier - 2,452 triangles

Chasm leading to bridge - 15, 468 triangles

Forest / mountain - 17,577 triangles

 

[xaeroxcore]

Metal Gear solid Snake eater - ps2
Characters missing a little bit of hair, doesnt change poly much, only increases by around 200 triangles than shown. The land is bare, in game it would be populated by trees. Probably much higher than displayed here since i found layer of tree tops that alone were like 10k to 18k triangles(though that could be for the mid air scene).

Snake paratrooper - 6,263 triangles

The boss - 4,219 triangles

Snake - 4,637 triangles

soldier - 2,452 triangles

Chasm leading to bridge - 15, 468 triangles

Forest / mountain - 17,577 triangles

I´m shocked how PSP Peace Walker models looks near to the ones of PS2 Snake Eater, despite having less than half of the geometry....I insist, the importance of a proper art direction!

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Metal Gear Solid - The Twin Snakes - Gamecube
Was able to compile someones tool to convert the models on the disc. Twin snakes is surprisingly lower than I would say mgs 2. Characters barely go higher than 3.5k triangles and locations probably no more than 8.5k triangles. Masked Enemies seem to be missing their eyes but its because its modeled seperately in open and closed position only adds 200 to 300 triangles to their count. Soldier models can also be as low as 1,600 triangles.

Area 1 - 7,947 triangles

another area - 6,913 triangles

Snake - 3,030 triangles

liquid (no hair) - 2,922 triangles

Cyborg Ninja - 2,038 triangles

Psycho Mantis - 3,029 triangles

meryl - 3,407 triangles

soldier - 2,058 triangles

another soldier - 2,392 triangles

Vulcan raven - 1,693 triangles

metal gear - 4,024 triangles

rifle - 666 triangles

 

[Sonicfan]

Metal Gear Solid - The Twin Snakes - Gamecube
Was able to compile someones tool to convert the models on the disc. Twin snakes is surprisingly lower than I would say mgs 2. Characters barely go higher than 3.5k triangles and locations probably no more than 8.5k triangles. Masked Enemies seem to be missing their eyes but its because its modeled seperately in open and closed position only adds 200 to 300 triangles to their count. Soldier models can also be as low as 1,600 triangles.

Area 1 - 7,947 triangles

another area - 6,913 triangles

Snake - 3,030 triangles

liquid (no hair) - 2,922 triangles

Cyborg Ninja - 2,038 triangles

Psycho Mantis - 3,029 triangles

meryl - 3,407 triangles

soldier - 2,058 triangles

another soldier - 2,392 triangles

Vulcan raven - 1,693 triangles

metal gear - 4,024 triangles

rifle - 666 triangles

Those are DC numbers for sure! What could have been...

 

[xaeroxcore]

Metal Gear Solid - The Twin Snakes - Gamecube
Was able to compile someones tool to convert the models on the disc. Twin snakes is surprisingly lower than I would say mgs 2. Characters barely go higher than 3.5k triangles and locations probably no more than 8.5k triangles. Masked Enemies seem to be missing their eyes but its because its modeled seperately in open and closed position only adds 200 to 300 triangles to their count. Soldier models can also be as low as 1,600 triangles.

Area 1 - 7,947 triangles

another area - 6,913 triangles

Snake - 3,030 triangles

liquid (no hair) - 2,922 triangles

Cyborg Ninja - 2,038 triangles

Psycho Mantis - 3,029 triangles

meryl - 3,407 triangles

soldier - 2,058 triangles

another soldier - 2,392 triangles

Vulcan raven - 1,693 triangles

metal gear - 4,024 triangles

rifle - 666 triangles

Less polys than MGS 2, but looks on the same level, at least for me.

 

[PSman1700]

Rogue squadron and its successor on the GC. That little console could push some polygons if needed, geometry too i remember.

 

[Sonicfan]

I'd love to see the counts of vf2 saturn vs arcade, doa1 Saturn vs ps1 vs arcade, fighting vipers saturn vs arcade, and last bronx saturn vs arcade. Is it even possible cause of the quad rendering?

 

[Cloofoofoo]

Maken X - Dreamcast
I thought I uploaded info about maken x but I guess not, so here it is. Overall not bad at all for 1999. Regular enemies range from 1.1k to 1.8 tris. Bosses from 1.8k to 2.7k tris. First person arm models range from 900 to 1.7k tris.

Hakke Shaja(boss) - 2,540 triangles

Hakke Yusuf (boss) - 2,760 triangles

Kei (cutscene) - 3,166 triangles

Geist(final boss 1st form) - 3,351 triangles

Geist(final boss 2nd form) - 6,854 triangles

Grenade (regular enemy) - 1,435 triangles

Dancer (regular enemy) - 1,844 triangles

First person Kou - 1,443 triangles

Badelaire first person mode - 1,650 triangles

city - 6,368 triangles

forbidden city - 8,328 triangles

Jet - 3,999 triangles