I remember saying these exact words the first time I saw the original X-wing on the PC with VGA graphics.

Every game is just an HD rerelease of Pong.

I don’t think I ever had a point where I felt things reached a pinnacle. Photo-realistic was a goal, but nothing reached that. Some games looked good and I could be impressed with 3d, but that excitement was about how good they were getting, so anticipating what they would look like in the future

That was my thought the first time I walked into an arcade room and watched the first Virtua Fighter running on a big screen.

The PS1/PS2 era was the highlight of gaming. Before it was pixelated and after it was enshitificated due always online / subscriptions etc.

I remember playing some racing game on the Sega saturn and thinking the same

I was amazed when Rome Total War came out. 20 years later, the game looks like it was made on Windows Paint. At least Creative Assembly remastered the game.