Nice water | Let's look at water in videogames

"Nice water"*. Yes, it's time to take a look at water representation in video games and Digital Foundry have made a splash with this one-hour deluge of liquid analysis!

Did you recall some particularly memorable water in games? Dive straight into the comments.

* "Nice water" is a meme phrase based upon a dude on Wii U's Miiverse who often commented on the water quality in games. A few years later, Nintendo themselves got in on the jape!

i don't know how to react to this one

shy guy 64 wrote:i don't know how to react to this one

Come on in, shy guy - the pixels are lovely!

I think the first time I remember going 'Wow, look at that water, Mum!' was Splashdown on the PS2. It was basically a Wave Race for people without a Nintendo console. I think it came out around Christmas 2001, and was pretty good from what I remember. They then brought it back again in 2003, but rather than be serious with it, they turned the whole game into a theme park. So there was a pirate themed track, a 'Jurassic Park' one etc. The novelty of the water had warn off by that point. And maybe I was going mad or I'm misremembering, but I swear the water wasn't as good in this one. Maybe more processing power had to go into animating the dinosaurs...

The other one was Colin McRae Rally 3. Counterbalancing the disappointment of the there's-a-rod-in-the-middle-of-this-car handling was the amazing rain effects on the windscreen. This I think was the first time they'd ever done it and I was ~~ran over onto the hood of the car~~ bowled over by it.

Should we give a shout out to hydroventure?

There is something alluring about brilliant water :datass:

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I think my first 'wow' moment was swimming in Super Mario 64. Next level would be Wave Race 64, although that was more around how it could change over the laps, and how the jet ski handled on it.

What I've always disliked (after SM64 :shifty:

) is when games that allow you to go underwater have no transition between the under and above screens. One frame you're under, the next you're above – usually with a jarring sound effect for company.

All shall bow before the mighty Overboard on PS1 :capnscotty:

Honourable mention to the first time I saw the river in Skyrim, with the salmon jumping upstream :datass:

Arkham Knight had very good looking water. Looked very cold and dangerous.

Wind Waker?

I like the water in Minecraft now - especially the "newer" warm ocean biomes.

Moggy wrote:

WTF IS DIS REAL :shock:

Preezy wrote:
Moggy wrote:

WTF IS DIS REAL

Yes, but only in California.

Wave Race 64 was and is still is incredible. It may have lost its visual appeal, but the physics still hold up.

Qikz wrote:I like the water in Minecraft now - especially the "newer" warm ocean biomes.

can't believe the water isn't blocks

Starfox Adventures and Mario Sunshine had great water effects (for the time).

As did Baldur's Gate Dark Alliance.

Everybody's Golf World Tour has lovely water.

Bluesky

Too much water. 7/10

Thought Twilight Princess had really nice looking water on the GC.

Nice water | Let's look at water in videogames

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