 |
TGS Videos Galore!
Direct
feed movies of Eternal Arcadia, Virtual On 2, Jet Set Radio,
Langrisser Millenium, and more!
September 19, 1999
If
you'd asked me yesterday how impressive Sega's showing at the Tokyo
Game Show was, I would've probably given you the big thumbs down
symbol. And then, I got my hands on a copy of Sega's promotional TGS
video, and all was okay. Not only is there footage from more than
thirty titles on the tape, but some of the games seem to have come
out of nowhere - Jet Set Radio and Space Channel 5
being the prime examples.
We've made some Quicktimes of the various games from the video,
although there's just so much footage that we couldn't grab
everything in time for today's update. Be sure and download the
below movies, then check back tomorrow for footage from some of the
more obscure games.
Jet Set Radio: When trying to come up with a good way of
describing this title, I ran into a little problem. You see, at
first glance, it seems like it could be a roller-blading game, but
looking at it from an entirely different angle, it may be one of
those Parappa-style dancing games. Then again, Sega seemed to label
it as a "street action" game, suggesting something entirely
different. One thing's for sure, though, the game is one of the most
impressive, original titles we've seen in a long time, at least in
terms of graphical presentation. We've all heard of 3D graphics
trying to replicate the beloved style of handdrawn artwork; the
pre-rendered CG intro to Toy Commander actually does this
well, as the game's main character is shaded in such a way that he
looks handdrawn. Never did I expect to see such a feat being
performed in real-time by Sega's underdog console! I think I'll
leave our overall feeling for the title in the hands of former
SaturnWorld editor-in-chief Jeff Chen: "hands down, the most
intriguing title of the season." This is a must-download video.
Space Channel 5: We're so in love with the idea behind
this game that we decided to do a separate news story, complete with
a few new pictures, and details on Ulala. Check out the other story,
in today's headlines, and be sure and download the video.
Virtual On: OT: At last, the Dreamcast manages to top
model 3 graphics. It may not be apparent in the tiny quicktime video
window, but upon seeing the game in action, and seeing this footage
running on a big screen, most have commented that it seems to have
better textures and more complex geometry than its arcade
counterpart. I was kinda disappointed by the graphics in the Saturn
version of the first Virtual On, but I sure loved the game.
Virtual On: OT has more refined gameplay, and
better-than-arcade graphics . . . how can it possibly go wrong?
Eternal Arcadia: There's not much we need to say about
this game. Destined to be the Dreamcast equivalent of such classics
as Grandia and Phantasy Star (interestingly enough,
the DC will be seeing new additions to those brilliant series soon
enough), we're anticipating this title more than we're anticipating
waking up tomorrow morning. Maybe it's the world design, or the ship
design . . . we don't know. Judge for yourself by downloading the
video and checking out our full preview.
Langrisser Millenium: The Saturn versions of
Langrisser III, Langrisser IV, and Langrisser V
never made it out to America, mostly due to the Saturn's sad state
stateside (although, part III was apparently no good in the first
place). Rumour has it that Working Designs is considering the
possibility of bringing Millenium to America, though. The
video below shows the same kewl character design of the previous
installments, as well as the new 3D engine Masaya has whipped
together this time around. If you like what you see, be sure and
drop Victor Ireland and the crew over at Working Designs a note by
heading out to http://www.workingdesigns.com/.
World Advanced Daisenryaku: I'll give you a shiny Abe
Lincoln if you can tell me the name part 1 of this series featured
as it came over to America back in early 1996. Give up? Okay, time
for a little bit of history. Back in 1996, a company called Working
Designs was in full support of Sega's young Saturn console, and
promised to bring over various titles from Japan, including
Shining Wisdom, Magic Knight Rayearth, and . . . here
it comes . . . Iron Storm. Iron Storm was actually the
American version of World Advanced Daisenryaku, Sega's WWII
sim in which you could take control of both the Axis and Ally
forces. Part II never made its way stateside, apparently due to your
being able to only control the Nazi forces (although, we're certain
the Saturn's lagging sales also contributed to the matter). This new
addition to the series looks good, and if rumors haven't already
sprung up about Working Designs bringing it over, I hereby begin
said rumors. The video features a mix of realtime and pre-rendered
footage.
Jojo's Adventure: Capcom's first CPS-III 2D fighter comes
to the Dreamcast. If you want my personal opinion, the game doesn't
look any better than a CPS-II game, but that's okay, as the
character designs and artwork are still first class Capcom all the
way. We can expect an arcade perfect port on the Dreamcast. The
video features a mix of footage from the game.
Evolution 2: Hmm . . . this game seems to be very
similar, graphically, to the first one. A note about the video
below, though. The video moves very quickly, so we had to keep the
quality high. As a result, the video is quite short, but the file
size is very high. Just a note to make sure you're not disappointed
when you spend all the time downloading the thing only to be on the
receiving end of sixteen seconds of footage.
Metropolis Street Racer: The environments in Bizarre
Creation's street racer are absolutely huge, and we expect great
things from the promised realistic driving model. The video footage
shows a mix of replay and gameplay shots.
Animastar: We don't know too much about this, other than
that its creators, Aki, label it as an action RPG. The video shows a
bunch of cute animal creatures running around, and it made our art
director inquire about the possibility of a Monster
Rancher-style game for the DC.
-- Anoop Gantayat,
IGNDC
|
.gif){kind=small}
