8 Impossible Games That Pushed Consoles To Their Limits

8. Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader

Let's kick this list off with a feat of video game engineering so ridiculous it's still a massive pain in the ass to emulate an entire 25 years later.

Star Wars Rogue Squadron II: Rogue Leader was a launch title for the Nintendo GameCube and received rave reviews from critics, most of whom deemed it a must-own title for the platform, while also serving as a stunning audio-visual showcase for the system.

Many highlighted the impressive number of ships on-screen at once, combined with dynamic lighting and highly detailed explosions, all while maintaining a largely smooth 60fps.

This was down to the absolute wizards working at developer Factor 5, who had an acute, intimate understanding of the GameCube's system architecture and built the game around it from the ground-up.

And with the game being a GameCube exclusive, Factor 5 were able to tailor it precisely to the system without needing to worry about ports to other platforms, allowing them to further optimise their process.

This is all the more impressive considering the game was created and released within a span of just nine months, and even by the end of the GameCube's life cycle it was still held up as one of its most technically awe-striking offerings.