Vandal Hearts - Sega Saturn - Intro & attract mode with first hour of gameplay [HD 1080p]
59During the 1990s Konami had a number of studios developing games and their Nagoya studio's name should strike fear into the heart of any Sega Saturn fan. Following the success of their PlayStation exclusive titles Konami decided to port Vandal Hearts, Castlevania: Symphony of the night and Genso Suikoden to the Sega Saturn. Hideo Kojima also mentioned in an interview they might port Metal Gear Solid if there was enough demand but sadly that never happened.
Unfortunately Konami gave the task of porting Vandal Hearts and Castlevania to their Nagoya studio. Which was set up as a studio with the task of doing quick and cheap port of games to other formats. To make matters worse they were an inexperienced team who hadn't previously done development on the Sega Saturn. Vandal Hearts was the first title they ported and its engine would later be used for Castlevania.
Only released in Japan, this is one for hardcore Sega Saturn or Vandal Hearts fans who want to see the extra content or don't have a PlayStation so can't own the original. The English script is available over at gamefaqs, so the language barrier isn't an issue, but this port takes a major hit on the graphics engine.
Here's a summary of all the changes you can see in this video which shows off the new intro and the attract fight along with the first hour of gameplay which includes the first two story battles:
Improvements over the PlayStation version:
1. New true motion intro (It's utter rubbish however and doesn't link with the game in anyway)
2. Extra battle maps and new items at the end of the game (Thanks to Hardcore Gaming 101 for this information)
3. Improved audio, better bass and overall quality (listen to drums and trumpet in first battle)
4. New and better looking loading screens with character artwork
5. Improved gameplay mechanics (including archers able to open treasure chests)
6. Higher resolution, benefits the map which are less obscured by the compass now in the top right corner
7. Text window has improved transparency and a cleaner rendering (Makes you wonder why Castlevania used a mesh effect for the window, as it's working perfectly in Vandal Hearts.)
8. New magic spells
Areas weaker than the PlayStation version:
1. 2D and 3D graphics appear stretched and distorted in-game
2. Original movies all have the bottom cropped off and the subtitles now appear in the middle of the picture, this includes the Konami intro.
3. All weapon, armour and item graphics have been totally removed from the menus and shop. (likely due to the new Saturn items not having them) There graphics do however still appear in battle when you discover a hidden item strangely????
4. Some transparency effects aren't working and are changed to mesh effects
5. Added slowdown, during some of the more intense spells
6. Some graphics textures are missing, such as the darken town texture during the Dover District battle, the houses look much brighter as a result and it kills the atmosphere of the scene
7. Slight more loading times between missions (not really noticeable)
8. The menu slide effect seen in the shop etc... as you swap menus has been removed
Other tweaks and changes:
1. There is far more blood in the Saturn version, when you kill enemies
2. When Magnus approaches and touches the stone in the opening intro in the Saturn version it emits a 3D pulsing wave of light, in the PlayStation version it emits a small transparent glow.
3. The blue and orange icons at the feet of the player and enemy characters has had its design changed.
4. The design of the text boxes have been changed and they no longer use the speech bubble effect either during cutscenes.
5. Direction the scrolling background moves has been changed on some stages
6. Most transparency effects are working such as the cursor, text window, heal spell, rain and smoke on battle two. Some like the 3D whirlwind aren't, the flame dragon in the attract battle isn't, yet the flame damage that appears on the enemies after the dragon appears is. It's almost like one of the coding team could do transparency and another couldn't. Same happens in Castlevania where the Saturn exclusive areas have enemies like the ghost with working transparency, yet other enemies just use a mesh effect.
Also known as: ヴァンダルハーツ 〜失われた古代文明〜 (Japanese title) Vandal Hearts: The Lost Ancient Civilisation (Full English translation of originally Japanese name)
Release: 1997
Developer: KCE Nagoya (Original game KCE Tokyo)
Publisher: Konami Computer Entertainment
Format: Sega Saturn (SS) / セガサターン
Note Vandal Hearts runs at 30fps.
Currently there is no re-release of Vandal Hearts outside the original PlayStation and Sega Saturn retail releases.
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Unemulated footage captured directly from a modified European Sega Saturn at 60hz using RGB Scart via a scart upscaler in order for it to work with an Elgato Game Capture.