We’ve seen the original Doom made “HD” using AI neural networks, now it’s the turn of Final Fantasy VII, with a mod for the PC version of the game creating backgrounds that have 4x the resolution.
The mod’s creator CaptRobau explains how it works:
The Remako HD Graphics Mod is a mod that completely revamps the pre-rendered backgrounds of the classic JRPG Final Fantasy VII. All of the backgrounds now have 4 times the resolution of the original.
Using state of the art AI neural networks, this upscaling tries to emulate the detail the original renders would have had. This helps the new visuals to come as close to a higher resolution re-rendering of the original as possible with current technology.
That sounds too good to be true, but just as with Doom, the results speak for themselves: the game’s backgrounds really do look amazing, in a “this is how I remember them looking from 1997" kinda way.
Here’s a video showing the mod in action, comparing the original backgrounds with the new HD versions:
And here’s some gameplay:
The mod is still in beta, but should work with any PC version of the game. You can download it and try it out here.