Originally Posted by
robt
Interesting, hadn't heard of that one, but then I never liked sports games or joystick-waggling, so I may have simply ignored it. Looks like Karateka by Jordan Mechner, which definitely used rotoscoping, came out around the same time as the first Summer Games (both 1984). Based on a quick google, the only suggestion that Summer Games used rotoscoping seems to be a random forum post. Having watched some videos, it looks to me like the sequel almost certainly did use rotoscoping, but the first one looks more like traditional hand animation (e.g., onion-skinning), albeit very well done for that time. The movements are smooth, but not entirely realistic.
Of course all of these are just animating a small sprite. I did something similar myself on the MSX for a fighting game I never finished: the animations were all hand drawn on graph paper, but I made it quite fluid by simply using a lot of them. Had I known about rotoscoping and had access to a video camera at the time, I would have done that. I had a lot more free time on my hands in those days. Hand drawing animations on graph paper then converting them to hex is pretty time-consuming.
The animation in Prince of Persia is in a different league altogether, but that's mainly an artistic achievement, as it's still sprite-based. The sort of large-size animations done in modern demos are a whole different thing from a technical perspective.