The Sega Dreamcast title Jet Set Radio, which was revealed at the 1999 Tokyo Game Show, drew media attention for its cel-shaded style.
Since the early 2000s, many notable video games have made use of this style, such as Cel Damage (2001), The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (2002) and Ōkami (2006).
Cel shading, in contrast to other visual styles such as photorealism, is often used to lend a more artistic or fantastical element to a video game's environment.
"[6] Producer Atsushi Inaba recalls in a 2004 interview that Clover Studios had "abandoned the realistic style" for Ōkami as they became inspired by traditional Japanese art.
"[7] Takizawa also argues that photorealistic graphics, in contrast, would have "had the adverse effect of making information difficult to represent game-wise.