Shenmue...on a Saturn?!

My comments about Shenmue in a previous post, with hindsight, seem a bit on the harsh side. I still don't think it's the 'epoch making, genre defining' (sic) extravaganza that I was lead to believe it was by such magazines as DC-UK and Mr Dreamcast (which is by far the worst magazine to ever crawl off the drawing board (even worse than if you rolled Games World and Mean Machines Playstation up into one hideous lexicon of filth)).

Since then, I've been doing some research into Shenmue 2 and how much it would cost (i.e. looking on eBay and Google)...and I inadvertantly stumbled upon some rather interesting information - Shenmue was apparently going to be a Saturn game!

Heres a few shots from the unfinished Saturn version:
According to various websites, Shenmue started life as Virtua Fighter RPG (a name I actually remember from my Saturn playing / playground defending days), it then changed to a Dreamcast game called Project Berkley (I also remember watching a teaser video for PB on a disc that came with the Jap system a mate bought on import a few years back). Obviously, Project Berkley became Shenmue, but I find it fascinating that the Saturn could handle a game world like Shenmue's. Take a look at this video of the Saturn version of Shenmue. I know the fact that the Saturn version is called Shenmue and not Virtua Fighter RPG presents something of a paradox, but I dont write this shit...well, I do, but not that shit. You understand.

8 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hey glad you liked my comment on this fantastic dreamcast shrine of yours. Just wanted to reply to what you asked me about where to get the brilliant Broabdand adapter .

I got some bad news because only place I found one so far was on ebay where I won mine for a very steep fee of £70 ! If your lucky sometimes link sang has some but they are even priced higher at £80 or more :( . Too bad SEGA only done a few of them and so they are as rare as Panzer Dragoon Saga .

Still if you ever find yourself in London feel free to come try it out on my dreamcast eh eh ;) , I would be happy to let you play some PSO online and Quake 3.

Keep up the excellent work and hope this isnt too weird to comment stuff like this on your site .

Tom Charnock said...

Thanks for the offer Diogo, good to know I'm not the only Dreamcast nut on Earth! £70 is a tad steep though, so I dont think I'll be doing much broadband DC gaming in the near future...

Anonymous said...

Wow Tomleecee Although I am not that much into gaming I am really impressed with the dedication you have showen to the DC. Keep it up mate will keep checking back to have a read. Peace Du re ss a

Anonymous said...

Wow Tomleecee Although I am not that much into gaming I am really impressed with the dedication you have showen to the DC. Keep it up mate will keep checking back to have a read. Peace Du re ss a

Tom Charnock said...

Cheers mate! The Junkyard is updated several times a week - gotta keep the millions of regular readers happy! lol

fatherkrishna said...

Wow! in retrospect I'm beginning to see how much your Dc obsession hits a cord with gamers out there... You could hit it off and be invited round for a good spanking (on games OBVIOUSLY) by peeps up and down the country just for your dedication to the cause... makes me a little embarassed about my initial contacts and their potential for misinterpretation... but if you want to cross swords (ooer!) and meet me down the docks (ooh matron) in Shenmue OBVIOUSLY... I'd be happy to whack you off (the fighting arena in Soul Calibur for goodness sake) then do you up the kipper (obviously a reference to Sega Marine Fishing)and then ... oh how tiresome can one man get. You knows it!

fatherkrishna said...

Plus the Saturn/Shenmue thing fuses two obsessions of mine and makes me hard. (Obviously in a gaming/toughness type context) God what are you thinking you pervs...)
LOL

Jenny said...
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