It also serves to prove the thesis of TFA, How does a low texture res mushroom cloud with a few dozen polygons from a 26 year old video game "prove the thesis

It also serves to prove the thesis of TFA, How does a low texture res mushroom cloud with a few dozen polygons from a 26 year old video game "prove the thesis since it doesn't look photorealistic"? This has no connection at all to how modern fire effects are done. That's like seeing a cave drawing and claiming no painting can ever look realistic.