I haven't paid much attention to 8th generation gaming out all whatsoever until a few months ago. However, I just can't help noticing the leap in the graphics. It appears the DS had PS1 graphics and jumped to Nintendo Wii level. The leap was absolutely amazing. I don't think there has been a generation whereas graphics had a major improvement in a short amount of time. Can anyone imagine the N64 went to Wii level graphics after 6 years the 64 came out? My comparison is pretty much what happened.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51zZWMEk3SL.jpg
http://static1.gamespot.com/uploads/scale_super/gamespot/images/2006/036/reviews/711157-929584_20060206_002.jpg

technically they did as the wii u was close in spec to the gamecube, and the gamecube came out in 2001 and the n64 in 1996.

n64 was probably the most mind blowing leap for me. think my jaw was on the floor seeing mario 64 as a real thing that really existed. the second most maybe, though i never owned one, was seeing the Dreamcast in action for the first time. kinda sad we're sort of at diminishing returns now, especially on the PC side of things.

Wouldn't quite call the 3DS Wii level graphics. Take a look at Xenoblade Chronicles for Wii and the remake for New 3DS (3DS's slightly more powerful remodel). Looks good, but not quite as good as the original game. That being said Resident Evil Revelations is a damn good looking game.

I saw the trailer comparing the 3ds version and Wii. There's no difference for either game except for the coloring of the monsters. Both games look the same to me. It looks like the 3ds can play Wii ports and is on par with Wii level.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c4EBvxsPrJo

The jump was pretty significant but as someone who's owned a 3ds since a year after it came out, it's starting to feel pretty underpowered, and I'm looking forward to seeing its replacement soon (supposedly).

Hell, we went from Wolfenstein 3D to Unreal in 6 years. Wolf3D to Quake in 4.

I miss those massive leaps. The last time I sat in true awe of a game's visuals was Crysis, and that was (holy shit) almost a decade ago.

It's pretty big, but I wish it wasn't so hampered by the resolution.

It's pretty crazy how good some 3DS games look all things considered. Nintendo uses some kind of weird magic. I mean Hyrule Warriors looks pretty damn good, same with Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate.

You can squeeze out a lot of power when you're only rendering at like 8p.

Crysis is an old game now. So crazy. Took a long time for games to catch up to it visually. Also a fun game to play despite what people said. Not entirely related, but here is a screenshot of Crysis 3 in 4k. Keep in mind this game came out during the 360/PS3 era.

It is always hard to pin down leaps, because a leap for some is just the next step to a person who has seen the smaller jumps that often go unnoticed.

Going from Return to Castles Wolfenstein to Quake was a big jump for some, but if we played all the FPS shooters that came in between the player would noticed a gradual improvements. If we went to an arcades in 1996 you saw Virtua Fighter 2 and Tekken 2 which had been out for a two years would N64 really impress? (I for one was there at teh time and really all I wanted as VF2 at home!) If players owned a PSX then what N64 was doing was just slightly more polygons, but with the trad off of being slightly blurry.

People will look back on VR too, but they will talk about Oculus or Vive consumer editions. Yet they would be forgetting that those came into existence because a university was experimenting with High Definition VR being used and some dude said, "Oh this is possible now? Cool" Our modern PC interfaces are thanks to Xerox PARC who invented GUI, mice, laser printers, and Ethernet; but most people don't know that.