Is it worth playing the re-release or sticking with the originals?

Billy Sastard

Billy Sastard

Joined
Aug 1, 2018
Favourite title
Shenmue II
I've never played the re-release but I've heard it is still quite buggy with audio glitches, etc.
I do own both versions so money is not a factor in the choice.
 
The bloom and upscaling is a fresh little feature for an occassiomnal boot up. I keep both versions. Not only convenient, especially for new fans/younger/casual gamers, but also a HUGE marketing boost for Shenmue 3, indirect. Optimistic view: Not perfect and Dreamcast still is better polished, but the glitches are hyperbole.

Hitboxes disappear while using a rare, semi difficult throw-hold move.
Notebook in Shenmue ll is a bit loud, which was on Dreamcast/XBOX compared to original, but definitely a bit too loud in reissue even for Shen2.
Worst for me is darts in the sequel. Odd spikey noise and off beat. If it was in tempo I would atually like it hahaha. {INDUSTRIAL REMIX}
Steps are ever so slightly too loud, as well in both games.
4:3 cutscenes. I'm in minority of not minding 4:3 at all. Actually play most games from Wii/6th gen below at 4:3 if not using a scaler. Possibly another overblown nitpick: quick cut to 4:3 for cabinet/machine payment or bus shots, etc. the scenes them selves being so miniature and the cuts being imperceptibly instantaneous.
 
Depends what you're playing on too.

On the PC there's the widescreen fix patch which works a treat and various texture updates etc. This video Peter made is a great guide to installing those
The originals work and have only the issues that were there in 1999. The problem is the dreamcast itself. Those things die quite easily. Also it doesn't look great on a larger 4k display.

The re-releases on the whole look nice. The bloom works and overall they play fine with minor issues (imo). If you can put up with off music and levels in patches then the re-releases are fine.

If you want a full authentic experience with no bugs or crappy space harrier controls go for the originals.
 
sigh I wish I had a PC powerful enough to do that. Sadly the HD Ports are abit of a let down - I still cannot play Shenmue II in that form and Stick to my Xbox version running on the 360's Backwards Compatible. Using the 360 I use one of the lesser HD Resolutions on the consoles settings and put the image to Full-frame, to be hnoest I can't even notice the image beign stretched & I'd take that over the 4:3 Letterboxed cutscenes any day:
2636
 
I'll quote my post from last time this came up:

DigitalDuck said:
The convenience is not something to be understated - it's absolutely the biggest draw of the re-release. It was the main reason I wanted a re-release in the first place - I'm starting to run out of Dreamcasts! It's absolutely great that we have a version of Shenmue on modern consoles, and if I only want to play the game (e.g. experimenting with things, speedrunning) then I'll pick this version out of convenience.

The biggest improvement of the re-release comes with massively reduced load times, especially when it comes to saving/loading files. That along with being able to save anywhere in Shenmue (I mean a proper save) makes it great for doing things like grinding the raffle. The new collection screen is pretty cool too.

Every other "improvement" comes with caveats, though.

An increased resolution means next to nothing when very few of the assets have been retouched to compensate. It wouldn't matter that the game's running in 8640p if you still have trees made up of four polygons and a 64x64 texture.

The game's in widescreen, except when it isn't because they wanted to preserve the original art (fair)... but then there are some cutscenes which are still in 16:9 and are broken because of it; there are times when the game is letterboxed despite no cutscene taking place; and there are some cutscenes which have complete changes in camera position, most notably those involving the kitten. Every time the camera changes position there's this strange fading effect where it starts dark and then grows brighter over the course of about a second, which can be incredibly off-putting.

It's nice to be able to choose between English and Japanese, but unfortunately you're stuck with the English dialogue timings either way, so it's a choice between bad voice acting or awkward pauses between different parts of sentences; meanwhile, the audio quality itself is significantly reduced for no reason whatsoever, things like footsteps no longer work, and there are still problems with the music (although it has come a long way since the first patch), especially the Shenmue II notebook mus??????wns everything else out.

The promised "modern" control scheme turned out to be literally the equivalent of pressing the ANALOG button on a PS1 DualShock with a game that doesn't support analogue controls, and as such is outdated by even the Xbox version of Shenmue II. The controls of the arcade games, particularly Space Harrier, are broken to the point of being near-unplayable, with D-pad movement having artificial elasticity where none existed before.

The re-release is missing features of the original games, like the passport disc and the promo movies; there are numerous additional bugs that still remain despite being known about and reported from before Day 1 (many of which should be easy fixes, like the Space Harrier controls or the timer in the motorbike section); and of course, it wouldn't be a DigitalDuck post without mentioning the many crashes.

There is absolutely no way I could recommend the re-release over the original. It's not terrible, but it's definitely inferior.
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The 360 BC patch is also buggy, so don't really see the superioroty or even better convenience anymore with 360s aging/fading. The bugs, again, are hypobolic, so it is great and more power to you playing there.
 
xatruio said:
The 360 BC patch is also buggy, so don't really see the superioroty or even better convenience anymore with 360s aging/fading. The bugs, again, are hypobolic, so it is great and more power to you playing there.
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To be honest, I didn't notice many bugs when I played it last December, other than on the Golden Quater Road, the Music would sort of disintergrate.

Though I think there is an issue with them Multiple Button QTE's but eventually got them.

Beyond that, I had a great experience playing it December that way and still debating if I wanna do that or get the PS4 Trophies this time :p
 
Thanks to everyone for their responses, after reading them, I will most likely be sticking to the originals on Dreamcast.

I have the Toro VGA box and a VGA to HDMI upscaler which outputs in 720p/1080p. I have also hex edited Shenmue I and II to have widescreen support and I have added Coca-Cola to the PAL release as well as the Full English version of Shenmue II on 99min CD-R's.
 
The Dreamcast versions are still definitive IMO. It's still worth playing the remasters of course, but I definitely prefer playing on my DC...
As you mentioned, the modding options on DC versions are beast...
 
Reprise said:
Yes. I personally won't bother going back to the originals, to be honest.
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I'm the same way. The re-releases are definitely the way to go in my opinion. Much higher resolution makes the textures in the distance appear much cleaner. Plus the load times are non-existent. I love it! You can also adjust a number of graphical and audio settings to your preference.
 
Billy Sastard said:
Thanks to everyone for their responses, after reading them, I will most likely be sticking to the originals on Dreamcast.

I have the Toro VGA box and a VGA to HDMI upscaler which outputs in 720p/1080p. I have also hex edited Shenmue I and II to have widescreen support and I have added Coca-Cola to the PAL release as well as the Full English version of Shenmue II on 99min CD-R's.
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Even VGA upscaled to 1080p won't look half as crisp as the re-releases because of the improved texture filtering, supersampling and anti-aliasing it offers. But do whatever works for you.

I'm sure I'll play on original hardware again someday, but I'm in no rush. The loading alone is enough of a reason to play on modern systems.
 
orient said:
Even VGA upscaled to 1080p won't look half as crisp as the re-releases because of the improved texture filtering, supersampling and anti-aliasing it offers. But do whatever works for you.

I'm sure I'll play on original hardware again someday, but I'm in no rush. The loading alone is enough of a reason to play on modern systems.
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And it requires a decent, not-so-cheap rig for the upscale to look on par with reissues. I'm lucky enough to have one. Also lucky enough to be in-the-know of GDemu to also compete with seek times. Very small niche and difficult to rival the overall performance conveniences with originals.
 
I & II undeniably has a bunch of small issues in about every technical aspect but they are all so minor that they really don't spoil the overall experience much if at all. It's just sad that they couldn't manage to iron them all out.
 
Honestly, for me, there is something about the sound of the Dreamcast laser chugging back and forth and the feel of that controller in my hand that ties directly to my enjoyment and nostalgia for Shenmue so I'd recommend the Dreamcast version. Also playing it on a 4:3 tube TV where it ever so slightly "smears" the textures and jagged edges making it somehow more appealing to the eye is the way to go. I feel like older games can actually look worse when they're TOO clear and upscaled.

That being said, I do love me some trophies... Hmmmm...
 
Reprise said:
Yes. I personally won't bother going back to the originals, to be honest.
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I have to agree. Although I use my Dreamcast for other games quite often, since the RE release is out it is my way to go when I want to Play Shenmue. The HD Version look better on my 4k Screen, and although the Dreamcast Image Quality is still superb over VGA on my 4K Screen the HD Image of the Ps4 Version is still better.

Not sure if is just my imangination but I like the more Vibrant colours of the PS4 Version. On big Bonus is also that I can Play S1 on japanese. Nothing against the English dub but I still prefer the japanese Version.

For my final playthrough of S1 and 2 be before the Release of S3, I will also use my ps4 Version.
 
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xatruio said:
And it requires a decent, not-so-cheap rig for the upscale to look on par with reissues. I'm lucky enough to have one. Also lucky enough to be in-the-know of GDemu to also compete with seek times. Very small niche and difficult to rival the overall performance conveniences with originals.
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I was thinking of buying a GD-Emu but just for Shenmue, I don't feel the price justifies it.
 
The GDemu clones are cheaper and pretty much just as reliable as the official one now. The first batch of clones had issues like anything, but they were revised and improved. The big thing is not to update thef irmware, whicch even trhe official units never get any firmware update, so it doesn't matter haha.

Also, the second revision of the Pound cable are much better and feature the ability to use your own cable now. If my upscaler box craps out, which I doubt because it is very high professional quality, Pound+MCable is my next rig if I wanna save a few bucks over the Behar Bros HDMI box. My scaler is out of production. Before those two HDMI solutions I always had a nagging irrational fear in back of mind about my Dreemcast video setup haha.

One other feature the reissue has over the originals, are the japnese voices for Ch1. Love the English dub, but always wanted to hear the first game as I have heard the second game for over a decade.
 
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