Cartoon

King's Quest 1 and the first few up to King's Quest IV (with a slight change to the style with KQ4 SCI, but still relatively the same as the AGI version of the game) were intended to look like interactive 'cartoons'. In Roberta's own words it was 'it's the ultimate cartoon - a cartoon they can participate in.' It was this style that may have influenced the look of later King's Quest 7.)

The earliest release of "King's Quest" (King's Quest Classic, the first game) even included cartoonish depictions of "Graham", roughly similar to how he appeared in the game.

While King's Quest IV SCI, and King's Quest 1: Quest for the Crown SCI remake, both updated the graphics to slightly more realistic style, they both maintained certain cartoon sensibilities, such as Graham being flattened like a pancake, or leaving a Graham shaped hole after falling from the sky. Certain events that would better fit in with Looney Toons or Merry Melodies (Disney) than 'realistic' movie.

With King's Quest 5, and 6 the games went more for a realistic 'storybook' look than its cartoon roots.

King's Quest 7 went to emulate a Don Bluth or Disney feature film look.

Mask of Eternity had a look somewhere between storybook realism of KQ5/6, some Don Bluth inspiration (where the Don Bluth tended to lean on more realistic 'darker' approach than Disney did), with facial and body animation styles of 7.

The new series of King's Quest, goes back to the series roots with a mix of storybook visuals, a lot of Don Bluth film (see Dragon's Lair game), and a mix between realism for some characters and cartoon silliness for others (Graham stuffing entire person's in his 'inventory' cape).