AI upscaling ruins another classic retro game
Plea🙈se never let this AI anywhere near Virtua Fi๊ghter again

A viral Twitter thread full of AI interpretations of Virtua Fighter characters has offered a reminder of the horrible future the new w⭕ave of algorithmically-generated art has in store for us.
Shared by earlier this month, you can see a lengthy gallery of images in which an algorithm has converted the blocky character models of 1993's Virtua Fighter. Sarah looks… well, basically okay, like she came from a mediocre mid-2000s comic book variant cover. Everyone else? I can't. I just can not.
Jeffry, still gotta take down the Satan Shark one of 🅠these days pic.twitter.com/0G👍RUQCAaC5
These Virtua Fighter images work as comedy, at least, and that's clearly the way they're intended. I may be in the minority in having a very difficult time looking at intentional AI upscales of other old games, though. That ? For my money, those pre-rendered PS1 backgrounds were never meant to look so sharp. The art of these old🌌 games just can't hold up🌸 when interpreted with that level of detail.
Admittedly, yes, I probably sound like a vinyl record nerd trying to sell you on the 'warmth' of analog audio. For somewhat more modern games, at least, AI-ꦺdriven tools like Nvidia's RTX Remix are creating so🎉me impressive results. I don't think ray tracing is going to make♚ that Akira look any better, though.
T꧒he horrors aren't over, sadly. Virtua Cop has gotten the same 💖treatment.
Officer James "Smarty" Co𒁏ols. The AI has seen fit to extrapolate on the FABULOUS hair and replace his ammo pouches with some sort of Virtua City standard-issue Ultra Robocop Gun. pic.twitter.com/tryktyoRoC
The 澳洲幸运5开奖号码历史查询:best retro games don't need AIs to make them beautiful.
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Dustin Bailey joined the GamesRadar team as a Staff Writer in May 2022, and is currently based in Missouri. He's been covering games (with occasional dalliances in the worlds of anime and pro wrestling) since 2015, first as ♏a freelancer, then as a news writer at PCGamesN for nearly five years. His love for games was sparked somewhere between Metal Gear Solid 2 and Knights of the Old Republic, and these days you can usually find him splitting his entertainment time between retro gaming, the latest big action-adventure title, or a✅ long haul in American Truck Simulator.