Originally the ambitious game of Yu Suzuki and his AM2 studio, Shenmue, was planned to be released for Sega Saturn instead of Dreamcast. Finishing Shenmue 2 for Dreamcast or Xbox, you can unlock a rare video of the Saturn version of Shenmue. It was just an early demo, but you can see the untapped 3D graphical power of the Saturn, with an amazing graphics for its time and hardware, all in real time on the original Saturn, without using the famous “booster cartridge”.
Shenmue was in fact considered a “killer app” for the Saturn, but it was canceled because of time needed to complete the game and the arrive of the new Sega 128 bit console. The first chapter of Shenmue for Saturn would have been published on more than 8 CD!
The game was originally going to be “Virtua Fighter RPG” a role-playing game based on Akira, a character from Virtua Fighter (a fighting game developed by AM2) that looks a lot like Ryo, the protagonist of Shenmue.
Thanks to John for the english translation!
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gl1Y53W89bw
ahah, wow! We did not have a video in the page already? Somehow i forgot to add it :( Thanks a lot Fraxy! :)
Why is this description in a foreign language???
Because Unseen 64 was born as an italian site, and only later we decided to write all the articles in english. There are still some old articles that are in italian, untill we’ll have the time to translate them! :)
We can ask if it could release the SEGA Saturn version of Shenmue in all we can do together … no?
by italia
non si potrebbe chiedere alla SEGA di rilasciare la versione saturn di shenmue? anche se non completo… in sieme possiamo farcela
Sarebbe bello, ma di solito questi tentativi non hanno mai successo (vedi anche Mother 3) :(
si potrebbe pressarli fino alla morte, o ingaggiare un programmatore per far creare shenmue per sega, è un lavoro pesante ma non credo che sia molto costoso programmare un gioco a 32-bit
Sarebbe un bel colpo riuscire a mettere le mani sulla versione Saturn di Shenmue.
Il video presentato sopra è stato inserito in shenmue 2, perciò qualcuno deve averlo registrato partendo dall’originale per Saturn.
Questo mi porta a credere che la versione Beta per Saturn esiste e che qualcuno la possa avere.
se il demo-tech c’è ci dovrebbe essere anche il gioco, dato che il video mostra anche shenmue due… quindi almeno il primo dovrebbe esserci.
poi ora sta uscendo dei gioci per saturn, vedete SONIC X-TREME, Werewolf: The Apocalypse, Major Damage, Fighting Force e qualche altro, quindi perche non shenmue?
English Translation:
Originally, the great game of Yu Suzuki and his AM2, Shenmue, was designed to Saturn instead of Dreamcast. Finishing Shenmue 2 for Dreamcast or Xbox, you can unlock a rare video of the Saturn version of Shenmue.
It is simply a tech demo, but able to show the potential of Saturn, in fact the demo had amazing graphics for the time, all done with a common Saturn, without using the famous “booster cartridge”.
Shenmue was in fact considered a “killer app”. The game was almost completed when it was canceled because of scheduling problems that plagued the Saturn, which had accumulated during the whole development of the game, and the capacity of the console SEGA not properly handle 3D models. More space to hold the game would amount to less than 8 CD!
Thus, the development of Shenmue was postponed.One of the unconfirmed reports said that the game was originally going to be called “Virtua Fighter RPG,” a role-playing game based on Akira, a character from Virtua Fighter (a fighting game developed by AM2 always) that looks a lot like Ryo, the protagonist of Shenmue.
Thanks John! :D I will add your translation in the page :)