Shenmue (Beta demo)

Shenmue (Beta demo)

It is interesting to see what would have been in the final product. Shenmue went through a lot of changes, even more than Metal Gear Solid 2. It was originally designed for the Sega Saturn, but was moved up to the Dreamcast.

Even in this Dreamcast game, there were a lot changes from the final game. I would have liked to have played the bicycle sections that were taken out. The weather effects seemed to be more intense in the early demo version on the Dreamcast in this demo. Something tells me that GB disks wouldn't have allow for some the things they were trying to do in the game. It would have been interesting to see what the game would look like on the DVD format.

Side notes

Here's video of a Shenmue Demo with the executive from Sega. This is not in the final game.

The Gaming Historian goes through the saga behind Shenmue's development. Part 1 and Part 2.