The improvement is in the shadows. Link’s real-time shadow on the ground, the self-shadowing of the roof of the house that Luigi emerges from, the shadows the ropes cast on Kirby… the N64 could not do these things even at coarse resolution due to limited texture bandwidth.

It would be an interesting feedback loop to capture a screenshot of a game (sm64), determine the green texture is grass, update the texture realtime, take another screenshot, and iterate, having the game flesh itself out realtime as it’s being played.

> Doesn't seem to be a noticeable improvement from N64-era graphics

right, because that's the not point, the point is to be like N64-era graphics at 60fps and greater, with widescreen, motion blur, and other things that have high engagement amongst gamers (whether the self-proclaimed gamers like them or not)