Shenmue 64

[Kintor]

It's important to remember what's being discussed here. Namely, the beta version of Shenmue and how it can be realised on fifth generation hardware. For example, this video shows footage of Shenmue on the Saturn, which was included a bonus with Shenmue 2X:

phpBB [video]

In terms of scope and ambition nothing on the Nintendo 64 even comes close to the Shenmue. The weak hardware of the Nintendo 64 simply couldn't allow games like Shenmue to be made. Comparing Shenmue to any actual games released on the Nintendo 64 makes the gap between Nintendo and the rest of the industry all the more apparent.

[Peter]

Yes, it is important to remember what the topic is about, so please keep on it.

Also, if you are going to debate, at least do it with a slightly open mind. Not wth arrogance that the opinion you have is one that should be shared by all. Great debates go places, and provide a great read. This has drifted into childish arguing which derailed the topic in the process. Show some mutual respect and keep it constructive and we see good

Shenmue 64. With expansion pack and rumble pack. Go.

[SMDzero]

Yes, it is important to remember what the topic is about, so please keep on it.

Also, if you are going to debate, at least do it with a slightly open mind. Not wth arrogance that the opinion you have is one that should be shared by all. Great debates go places, and provide a great read. This has drifted into childish arguing which derailed the topic in the process. Show some mutual respect and keep it constructive and we see good

Shenmue 64. With expansion pack and rumble pack. Go.

AND with the option to play using 2 controllers just like in Goldeneye!

This way you can use one analog for moving and one for camera control!

[BigTuna]

Man, everytime I watch that Sega Saturn trailer for Shenmue I yearn to play it. My Saturn needs more love. It's unfortunately pretty difficult to find games for those systems these days.
I would love it when or if they re-release Shenmue they attached what they had of the Saturn version. I doubt it's even in existence.

But back on topic. It'd be nice to have the option of experiencing the game on another console. The 64 would have definitely been interesting, it'd more than likely need to be scaled way down. But it was impressive what they were able to store on those cartridges back in the day. A cartridge of Shenmue would look so bad ass to!

[ShenmueTree]

Rather than N64, I'm interested to see how Shenmue would have worked on PSP.

Some PSP games look just as good and sometimes even better than PS2 games to me, so I think it would have been exciting to see a Shenmue port. Alas, it didn't happen.

[SMDzero]

Actually Shenmue could have been great on the Genesis. On the Genesis there was this awesome peripheral called THE ACTIVATOR, an octagonal ring you would stand in and your every movement would be instantly replicated by your character on screen.

You could have actually learned moves by performing the actual movements inside THE ACTIVATOR , step forward, extend your arms, etc.

I admit the graphics would take a bit of a hit on the Genesis but with THE ACTIVATOR there would have been a new level of immersion.

[Telekill]

I'm way late to this party, but I'm a firm believer that any game could have been possible on any previous generation... story wise. If we were to take Shenmue and attempt to put it on the N64, there would have to be considerable changes made. Beyond the obvious graphical hit, Shenmue on N64 would be text based story like any Zelda game. The soundtrack would have to be compressed or even be completely redone in Midi (I personally love Midi music in many games).

I saw some art that proves that any great game could be put on just about any previous generation with serious concessions to graphics and other features. My favorite series, Uncharted, would have still been awesome on Genesis or SNES. Check out the art below:



I'd totally play that! Sadly, none of the voice acting would be included as the 16bit days didn't really allow for great audio. Imagine the Uncharted theme song as a Midi file. It would be both hilarious and awesome at the same time.

[theseabass]

I think the comparison between Shenmue and Majora's Mask is a very valid point of how the game would work. In my mind, Majora's Mask proved that the N64 can handle a game with a complex time system where every character has something unique that they will be doing at different times, and how cause and effect can change the outcomes. The dialogue, as stated by others, would likely have to be done in text rather than voice acted. If they were to go the completely impractical route and spread the game across however many cartridges they needed (not financially feasible, but this is in a theoretical sense so bear with me) they could likely fit voice acting along with the music into the mix. Let's say they go through with however many cartridges necessary route, they could then make use of the N64 memory card to transfer the save from one cartridge to the next, or just have it save to the memory card in the 1st place. Now for a super impractical way of getting rumble AND using the memory card, they could have it setup so if the game detects a rumble pak in the 1st player controller, then the game would look for a memory card in the 2nd player controller. This way, it would allow for people who want to use Rumble to be able to use it, while also not requiring that you have a 2nd controller to save. Anyways, those are just some of my thoughts on how it might work.

I also like the idea that somebody else mentioned of the dual controllers Goldeneye style setup, it would be odd, but as long it worked it'd be sick!

[Testament]

I'm way late to this party, but I'm a firm believer that any game could have been possible on any previous generation... story wise. If we were to take Shenmue and attempt to put it on the N64, there would have to be considerable changes made. Beyond the obvious graphical hit, Shenmue on N64 would be text based story like any Zelda game. The soundtrack would have to be compressed or even be completely redone in Midi (I personally love Midi music in many games).

I saw some art that proves that any great game could be put on just about any previous generation with serious concessions to graphics and other features. My favorite series, Uncharted, would have still been awesome on Genesis or SNES. Check out the art below:



I'd totally play that! Sadly, none of the voice acting would be included as the 16bit days didn't really allow for great audio. Imagine the Uncharted theme song as a Midi file. It would be both hilarious and awesome at the same time.

It should be noted that the SNES would probably not display this nearly as well as you'd like. Interesting idea though!

[SMDzero]

It would also be nice to not have those incessantly long load screens with Shenmue 64.....

[Kintor]

It would also be nice to not have those incessantly long load screens with Shenmue 64.....

Of course, by using Nintendo 64 cartridges to negate loading screens you inadvertently create a whole host of problems. This would be a version of Shenmue without voice acting, crippled by low-res textures and kept out of the hands of many gamers thanks to ridiculously expensive manufacturing costs - completely unacceptable.

[SMDzero]

Well Shenmue always had a "soft" look.... everything was intentionally a little blurry in Shenmue to make the faces look perfectly smooth and realistic..

[Kintor]

Well Shenmue always had a "soft" look.... everything was intentionally a little blurry in Shenmue to make the faces look perfectly smooth and realistic..

That's all well and good but blurring all in-game assets won't be enough to overcome the technical limitations of the Nintendo 64. It was common enough for Nintendo 64 games to employ large amounts of fog, in order to disguise poor draw distances. However, delivering high quality facial animation is a different matter entirely; compressing or deleting all unique facial textures to fit on a cartridge would ruin one Shenmue's most amazing features.

[SMDzero]

I don't think N64 was blurry at all.. no worse than PSX anyway. The worst part of the N64 (which you've failed repeated to address) is the loose and crusty or stiff and squeaky analog stick. My old 64 controllers are basically unusable now since the sticks are long since worn out.

[Kintor]

I don't think N64 was blurry at all.. no worse than PSX anyway. The worst part of the N64 (which you've failed repeated to address) is the loose and crusty or stiff and squeaky analog stick. My old 64 controllers are basically unusable now since the sticks are long since worn out.

As a matter of practicality the Nintendo 64 had the worst visuals out of any fifth generation console. Any improvements that Nintendo 64's hardware could have made were immediately comprised by the lack of storage space on each cartridge; this lead to low-res textures and poor draw distances, of which the Nintendo 64's notoriously blurry graphics were just another symptom. Basically, Nintendo 64 is unfit to play an ambitious game like Shenmue, as has already been made clear.