And by the way, here's a Shenmue character model upscaled to HD:

Jag85

Maybe it's just me then, but I find the character models from METAL GEAR better even if those pics don't do them justice. SHENMUE goes more for the more colorful, easy going anime-ish look.

Also, I think that Shenfa model is different from the ones in-game. She never appears in-game only in those few couple of movies.

Plus SHENMUE had plenty of technical hiccups, like in-game loading and null draw distance. Chararters would disappear and appear just a couple of steps away from you.

In any case, for the original question of the theard that if the PS2 was really stronger, there's very little doubt in my mind that the PS2 it was a stronger and more capable system that DC. There's a lot of games besides METAL GEAR bear significant proof.

Even the NAOMI arcade board required to be upgraded upon and thus there were many games that SEGA wasn't able to convert to the DC.

[QUOTE="Panzer_Zwei"]

For some reason I have trouble envisioning the DC coming close to running stuff like METAL GEAR SOLID 2 or SILENT HILL 3.

Also, I don't think DOA2 is a good comparison example seeing as the game is a NAOMI-based game and the PS3 port was rather lousy.

Sort of how it was with DRACULA X on the SS.

For all it's worth the first DC-PS2 multireleases (SPACE CHANNEL PART 2 and REZ) ran much better on the PS2. 

Jag85

If the Dreamcast could pull off graphics like this...

Shenmue II (2001)

...Then I'm pretty sure it can handle MGS2's graphics.

The  art design and colorful, detailed enviroments go a long way in SHENMUE II. The character models, specially those of the NPCs are pretty bad.That shirtless Mexican arm-wrestler comes to mind. Or any of those NPCs in the picures, really.

METAL GEAR SOLID 2 & 3 look beautiful even now just in upscaled HD. I don't think SHENMUE games would look good if they received the same HD treatment.

For some reason I have trouble envisioning the DC coming close to running stuff like METAL GEAR SOLID 2 or SILENT HILL 3.

Also, I don't think DOA2 is a good comparison example seeing as the game is a NAOMI-based game and the PS3 port was rather lousy.

Sort of how it was with DRACULA X on the SS.

For all it's worth the first DC-PS2 multireleases (SPACE CHANNEL PART 2 and REZ) ran much better on the PS2. 

SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI NINE.

[QUOTE="Panzer_Zwei"]

I love my PC-88, MSX-2 and X68000 systems. Though most of the times emulation is more comfortable than handling all those floppy disks.

Darkman2007

The good thing when it comes to buying retro Japanse PC systems is that everyone seem to be after the latest models, so in the case of the X68000 or any other PC system you can buy a model capable of running all games (like the EXPERT II or PRO for the X68k) very cheap.

I barely use any windows programs, so I could care less about using obsolete programs on those old PC systems.

I bought my X68000 (CPU, keyboad, speaker etc.) practically in mint condition with original box and documentation, plus a controller and 2 games for around US$70.

The bad thing is that the monitor alone costs more than that. Though if you don't want to own the original monitor, there's always the possibilty of A/V cables or RGB. Of course the X68k monitor is beautiful, plus it can be used with my other PC systems, so it was worth the investment.

I also bought this cheap RGB to JAMMA adapter from Japan that lets me hook up the X68k and PS2 to my arcade cabinet.

I love my PC-88, MSX-2 and X68000 systems. Though most of the times emulation is more comfortable than handling all those floppy disks.

as far as I know, no , a game from the US will work in Europe and vice versa.

 

though I think Japanese games will not work on other systems as the cartridges are a different size (though in theory if there is an adapter, they would work)

Darkman2007

It's not just the size, Japanese system use different BIOS, so they won't run.

There's a third party adapter that can bypass the BIOS check, though.

[QUOTE="Panzer_Zwei"]

[QUOTE="Jag85"]

The thing is that consoles were never NEC's main market, just as it wasn't for Sega. NEC's main speciality was computers, just as arcades were Sega's main speciality.

In other words, the PC-FX didn't hurt NEC that badly... NEC still continued to dominate the Japanese computer market (though IBM PC clones were closing in), remained the #2 semiconductor company in the world (after Intel surpassed them), and began gaining success with the PowerVR graphics accelerator chipsets (second only to 3dfx, I believe). In other words, NEC were still very relevant to gaming in the 90s (at least up until the Dreamcast, which used PowerVR). It wasn't really until 2000 that NEC really went downhill, when they dropped from #2 to #5 in the semiconductor company rankings.

Jag85

It did hurt NEC badly. There's no way in hell such a failure couldn't have hurt them. They never came back with another gaming platform after all.

It might not have affected their PC and other technology bussiness, because they were unreleated. But they had a consumer branch, and that was terminated along with their NEC console brand.

It's the sames as if SONY or MS fail with their future consoles. That doesn't necessarily mean their other bussiness will be affected and the companies will go to ruin. However, the disappearence of the XBOX or PlayStation brand would be no small thing for them. Which wasn't very different with NEC, with SEGA or for anybody else really.

When you mentioned the PC-6001, I thought you were referring to both console and computer gaming? My point is that even after exiting the console manufacturing business, NEC still remained a relevant gaming company, with the PC-98 gaming scene continuing to be successful in Japan (but of course slowly dwindling over the years) and particularly the PowerVR graphics chipsets gaining wide support (both in the PC gaming scene worldwide as well as Sega's console & arcade businesses).

The PC Engine was simply an exception, a successful console from a computer company, a success that has never been repeated again in Japan and wouldn't be repeated again anywhere else until Microsoft's Xbox brand.

And speaking of Sega, they have remained a successful arcade gaming company to this day, so they are still relevant to gaming in Japan (and maybe other parts of Asia), if not worldwide.

In the 80's the PC-98 was meant mostly for bussiness use and the PC-88 was for consumer use and entertainment. For the several years that both PC-98 and PC-88 were in the market together, the PC-88 was the leading platform for PC gaming.

Later in 1989 NEC released a PC-98 model that was compatible with PC-88 software, which is when the system really took off for the average user. However when it came to stand out on its own, the PC-98 was never as strong as the PC-88 in terms of computer games. And in the 90's the PC-98 (alongside what was left of the Japanese PC gaming scene) became mostly a platform for eroge games.

When the PC ENGINE came out, NEC was already having a failure with the PC-88 VA, which introduced a 16-bit mode to their 8-bit computer line.

NEC worked hard with the PC-ENGINE. It definetely meant more for them than for HUDSON.

And they didn't remained a relevant gaming company after their PC-FX failure, that's the whole point. Their divisions and former studios went under and never came back again with the exception of InterChannel.

They remained constant in manufacturing computers and other technology, but never again in video games.

[QUOTE="Panzer_Zwei"]

[QUOTE="Jag85"]

As far as Japanese consoles go, I'm pretty sure the Apple Bandai Pippin, Bandai Playdia and Casio Loopy all performed worse that generation. At best, I'd say the PC-FX was about on par with the FM Towns Marty in terms of success.

Anyway, I think the reason the PC-FX failed, relatively speaking, was because NEC made a big error assuming FMV was the future instead of 3D. They initially developed a fairly powerful 3D graphics chipset with Hudson Soft planned for the PC-FX, but this 3D graphics chipset was removed from the final product and was later instead released as a seperate 3D graphics accelerator card called the PC-FXGA for the NEC PC-9821 computer in 1995. This graphics card was capable of pushing a higher 3D polygon count than the PS1 and almost approached N64 levels. If this 3D graphics chipset was used for the PC-FX, then it could have been a pretty powerful 3D console for its time.

Jag85

To be fair the BANDAI Playdia was aimed at small children and to promote mainly BANDAI stuff. It wasn't ever intended for it to be a serious competitor in the market.

Honestly I haven't a single clue about how it perfomed, but I wouldn't be so sure to claim it performed worse than the PC-FX. At least it was a product some parents might have bought for their children. Specially as it dropped in price. Not to mention the BANDAI brand sells.

The PC-FX in turn just didn't existed in the market and offered next to nothing to anyone who was actually interested in video games. The few worthwhile games it does have came out very sparsingly, so for the longest time people had nothing to play on their system but CD magazines.

The PC-ENGINE at one point in time was the second most popular console in Japan, only behind the Famicom. And they went from that to practically not existing in just a couple of years.

None of those other consoles really had the advantage of following up after a well-established brand. And certainly none has threw it out of the window the way NEC did with the PC-FX. NEC had been around the video game scene since the days of the PC-6001, and it all ended up just too pathetically for their history.

The thing is that consoles were never NEC's main market, just as it wasn't for Sega. NEC's main speciality was computers, just as arcades were Sega's main speciality.

In other words, the PC-FX didn't hurt NEC that badly... NEC still continued to dominate the Japanese computer market (though IBM PC clones were closing in), remained the #2 semiconductor company in the world (after Intel surpassed them), and began gaining success with the PowerVR graphics accelerator chipsets (second only to 3dfx, I believe). In other words, NEC were still very relevant to gaming in the 90s (at least up until the Dreamcast, which used PowerVR). It wasn't really until 2000 that NEC really went downhill, when they dropped from #2 to #5 in the semiconductor company rankings.

It did hurt NEC badly. There's no way in hell such a failure couldn't have hurt them. They never came back with another gaming platform after all.

It might not have affected their PC and other technology bussiness, because they were unreleated. But they had a consumer branch, and that was terminated along with their NEC console brand.

It's the sames as if SONY or MS fail with their future consoles. That doesn't necessarily mean their other bussiness will be affected and the companies will go to ruin. However, the disappearence of the XBOX or PlayStation brand would be no small thing for them. Which wasn't very different with NEC, with SEGA or for anybody else really.