You must all see the light...

http://66.34.113.184/articles/swirlvision/576.asp

Holy Crap...I was right all along! Saturn was freaking amazing, I demand hi-rez pics, immediatedly!


Eric Jacob

We both agreed on the Saturn\'s graphical prowess LONG ago.  Looks like Shenmue downgraded to Metal Gear Solid quality characters and backgrounds.  That\'s not a knock against the screens, Altered, MGS was probably one of the best graphical show pieces of any 32-bit console.  To see it running like this on the Saturn is amazing.

Yeah, but basically nobody else was convinced with that topic like me and you. It just looks so cool to see the tattoo guy (mind is blank) in 32-bit gfx, he still looks crazy, but has retained many of his 128-bit qualities. This looks amazing for Saturn, and it makes me mad that the American public ignored it to the point that great looking and playing games like this were never released.

Think fo the possibilites of the announced NiGHTS2 game back in the day! and SOnic X-Treme, Panzer Dragoon 4, etc.


yikes!


Eric Jacob

Actually, to a certain extent I\'m glad this game was never released on the Saturn. I think it would have lost a lot in terms of production values (no way that had a comparable budget to that of the DC version), and the overall atmosphere of the game would simply not have been the same.

Not to say that I was glad at the demise of the Saturn, afterall it was the console that brought about the sidescrolling shooter renassansce (sp?).

and the overall atmosphere of the game would simply not have been the same.

That\'s like saying that MGS had nowhere near the presence of MGS2 simply because of it\'s graphical style.  In that respect, I highly disagree.  A game can be just as moving and just as amazing even in the proverbial graphical low end of the spectrum.  FF7, MGS, and many other games have not lost their emotional touch even though their graphics were dated and the same could have been said for Shenmue.

What excites me most about seeing this would have been knowing that they might have been on chapter 4 or so by now if the originals had been released on the Saturn.  Sadly, us Americans have yet to even touch part 2.

Originally posted by Ryu


That\'s like saying that MGS had nowhere near the presence of MGS2 simply because of it\'s graphical style.  

Indeed that\'s exactly what I\'m saying. Atmosphere is pretty much a function of the graphics in a game, as is emotion (to a lesser degree). That\'s not to say Silent Hill was not terryfying, because it sure scared the #%$@! out of me, or that Chrono Trigger was not a genuine adventure, but as far as atmosphere is concerned improved graphics really do help that much more. A great part of the experience of playing Shenmue was the feeling that you were actually in a living town of some sort, and I frankly doubt the Saturn could have pulled that off effectively. Rather in the same manner that the town in Silent Hill has little semblance to an actual town because of the limitations of the Playstation hardware, I don\'t think the illusion of Yokosuka would have been realized with the limited capacities of the Saturn (compared to the DC).  

Note I never mentioned graphical STYLE in my post. Shenmue for the Saturn, and for the DC had the same graphical style (semi-realistic), hence if your going for a realistic style the better the graphics the better the atmosphere. The actual style of the graphics is a completely different matter.  

With regards to the actual progression of the story it would be kind of cool to be going into the latter chapters by now, but thinking of what could have been is rather pointless.

I don\'t know, Saturn was pretty untapped, look at those pictures, it looks exactly the same as DC, with lower poly counts, IMO. I am sure they could\'ve done an almost carbon copy (-graphics, of course) and by then, like Ryu said, we could\'ve had Shenmue IV out here. It would\'ve helped DC\'s popularity in Japan and the states, too. Perhaps to the point of fueling the popularity of both systems to the point of selling millions more.


Look at Final Fantasy VII for PSX.


Eric Jacob

Personally, I don\'t see what is so special about those pics. The models have very low poly counts(compared to the DC version) and the textures pretty much suck. There is no telling whether or not the could have acheived the scope the did on the saturn. For all we know Shenmue would have been half the size of the DC version.

I think it looks amazing for what the Saturn can do. I wish there were better shots of it. Though if the rumor is true, we can hopefully see it ourselves when we get Shenmue II.

Now as far as the Saturn version representing the same scope of things as the DC version, I doubt it. Not the polygon limitations, but RAM. Remember all the time elements in Shenmue, I doubt they\'d manage to squeeze all of the town\'s \'life\' in the Saturn\'s puny RAM. There\'s always the RAM cart, but I still don\'t think it would be in the same grand scale as the DC version.

Now what I do agree on is that if Shenmue had existed on the Saturn, the DC version would have generated more sales, no doubt. Though I\'m glad they decided to hold it off for the Dreamcast.

/ dm /

They would\'ve released the 8meg RAM cart, like they were planning to do with VF3 on Saturn a long time ago.

with 8 more megs of RAM, they could\'ve made this huge, still. I wish there was a playable demo or something, this is a Sega Afficiando\'s (me) dream, I must play it, experience it!! ahhhhh!!!!


Eric Jacob

[Living-In-Clip]

That is pretty damn amazing in itself. Personally I think, the Saturn was untapped potenial at its fullest.

http://www.classicgaming.com/saturn/

Shenmue for the Saturn...THE VIDEO!!!


It is real baby! You must download it. Now.


Eric Jacob

Thats amazing I have always knew the saturn was good but that good, wow.

Cool video..

I like the Saturn and PSX graphics.. Pixles..

I think they look great!

wow, i never though tfor a second that saturn was capeable of these graphics. wow, i really had forgotten that it was 32 bit . jeez that is quite amazing for a saturn...