Shenmue at the 1999 World Hobby Fair (beta Shenhua?)

[Avon]

Hello everyone, I thought this picture might be of interest to Shenmue fans here, especially since it shows footage of what could be an in-game's really early model of Shenhua. The picture was taken in 13th June 1999 at the World Hobby Fair in Makuhari, 6 months before Shenmue was officially released in Japan.

[ShenGCH]

There is absolutely zero chance that is Shenmue. Looks more like Skies of Arcadia.

[Yokosuka]

I would say keep on researching, that is an amazing quality shot for an event as old and obscure as the 1999 Digitaliland.

[Taren Fox]

I would sell my soul for one of those Dreamcast display units.

[amiga1200]

^^ aka: anti-thieving-bastard cabinets.
really secure housings them.
get a dreamcast fully decked out with it's I/O sockets wedged open.
gdi emulator on the optical socket, and one on the modem socket...and have an sd card reader offset upfront to really cherry the cake, with a svga to CVBS socket array. (and all other video signals catered for in between too)
get a decent flat screen bolted into that, sorted.

[drunkensailor]

that's giant gram wrestling game

[johnvivant]

yeah, image on far right looks like something from grandia 2, or skies of arcadia. haven't ever played those games all the way through so i cant confirm it.

i see what you mean though.

[zema]

That doesn't look like Shenhua to me. Looks more like jar jar binks.

[Avon]

Well, the design of the model certainly doesn't follow what we recognize as Shenmue visual style (too "chibi-styled", one could say), but I don't think there are many characters from the first batch of Dreamcast games who dress so similarly to Shenhua, so it's possible that it could have been a very early model or just a placeholder to represent Shenhua at some video game fairs.

After all, many 1999 game fairs, even as late as September, showed Shenmue builds with content which did not appear in the final game. See for example this picture from the 1999 Tokyo Game Show, in which we can see a Shenmue title screen which was very different from the definitive one.

[mrandyk]

That doesn't look like Shenhua to me. Looks more like jar jar binks.

Thought the same.

[Himuro]

That's Grandia.

[amiga1200]

erm?!

^^ just look VERY closely at that image, her eyes...(get some shades sweetheart, or coronaries are the order of the day.)
noticed the vmu in stock display, probably seconds from it's internal clock readout. (never found a way to customize it meaningfully, wanted a plain digit readout, minus the animal sprites moving across the screen one second at a time.)
[edit]
typo.

[ShenGCH]

erm?!

^^ just look VERY closely at that image, her eyes...(get some shades sweetheart, or coronaries are the order of the day.)
noticed the vmu in stock display, probably seconds from it's internal clock readout. (never found a way to customize it meaningfully, wanted a plain digit readout, minus the animal sprites moving across the screen one second at a time.)
[edit]
typo.

What are you saying is wrong with her eyes?

[amiga1200]

oh dear!
look CLOSELY!
i'll go ahead and spell it out:
if shes wearing acting contact lenses, it would explain WHY her pupils are ellipse shaped, like a cat, or a reptile of some description.

[Himuro]

oh dear!
look CLOSELY!
i'll go ahead and spell it out:
if shes wearing acting contact lenses, it would explain WHY her pupils are ellipse shaped, like a cat, or a reptile of some description.