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Shenmue: Undub Edition! The best way to ask about sailors ;)

VGEsoterica

Member
Not sure how many people have gotten to experience this yet but damn is Shenmue: Undub edition one of the best fan mods I’ve ever experienced.

Don’t get me wrong, the American voices are iconic. It’s a lot of what makes Shenmue...well...Shenmue! But objectively you kind of have to admit they are pretty hokey.

the Japanese version though? Some great dialogue and it loses all the cheese factor the US version deals with. Issue though? Well...it’s all in Japanese!

Enter the Undub edition! Full Japanese voice acting throughout the entire game with full English subtitles for the entire experience. Best of both worlds. Well except for you don’t get to hear Ryo ask about sailors in English 🤣

but in all honesty if you haven’t played the Undub version yet...do it! Makes the game feel brand new somehow
 

Miles708

Member
English dub in Shenmue detracts so much from the experience is not even funny.

Especially in Shenmue 2 and 3, the English dub aggressively taints the enjoyment. So I welcome this project.
 

nowhat

Member
Enter the Undub edition! Full Japanese voice acting throughout the entire game with full English subtitles for the entire experience. Best of both worlds. Well except for you don’t get to hear Ryo ask about sailors in English
Never played any Shenmue, but are you honestly telling me there is no way to select Japanese voices with English subtitles?
 

Miles708

Member
OK, but didn't we have games that allowed voices and subtitles to be individually selected in 1999 as well? Seems like a baffling oversight.
It was extremely uncommon until, I'd say, 7-8 years ago. I agree with you but it was really a different era. We made great progress in a relatively short amount of time, in this sense.
 

Hugare

Member
OK, but didn't we have games that allowed voices and subtitles to be individually selected in 1999 as well? Seems like a baffling oversight.
Not really an "oversight"

They had limited disc space to work with back then. Including another language would require a lot of space.

Games that were pushing the storage limit of CDs back then like FF games didnt even have voice acting.

It would become a thing in the PS2 era with DVDs
 
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Deft Beck

Member
Not really an "oversight"

They had limited disc space to work with back then. Including another language would require a lot of space.

Games that were pushing the storage limit of CDs back then like FF games didnt even have voice acting.

It would become a thing in the PS2 era with DVDs

Sure, but SCEA in particular required all Japanese games to have a full English dub by default in order to get certified. Only by the end of the PS2's life did you see any games with dual audio options, but often you had to put it on an entirely separate disk (Sakura Wars). Then with Yakuza 2 they were able to get away with Japanese audio only with subtitles because SEGA didn't want to pay for a dub and it was like 2006 so SCEA gave them a pass.
 
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Hugare

Member
Sure, but SCEA in particular required all Japanese games to have a full English dub by default in order to get certified. Only by the end of the PS2's life did you see any games with dual audio options, but often you had to put it on an entirely separate disk (Sakura Wars). Then with Yakuza 2 they were able to get away with Japanese audio only with subtitles because SEGA didn't want to pay for a dub and it was like 2006 so SCEA gave them a pass.
Yeah, but my point was regarding Dual Audio, obviously

"SCEA required all Japanese games to have a full English dub"

Sure, but they didnt have both English and Japanese options
 

VGEsoterica

Member
It was extremely uncommon until, I'd say, 7-8 years ago. I agree with you but it was really a different era. We made great progress in a relatively short amount of time, in this sense.
yes it was extremely uncommon. I can’t think of a game from the DC era that had dual language support for audio
 

VGEsoterica

Member
English dub in Shenmue detracts so much from the experience is not even funny.

Especially in Shenmue 2 and 3, the English dub aggressively taints the enjoyment. So I welcome this project.

English dub just makes it feel like a wholly different experience. Back in 99/2001 it didn’t feel too bad but with a modern perspective it’s hard to see past the voice acting
 

Miles708

Member
English dub just makes it feel like a wholly different experience. Back in 99/2001 it didn’t feel too bad but with a modern perspective it’s hard to see past the voice acting

I guess so. The strange thing is that Shenmue 1 sounds a little more organic in its english dub, while Shenmue 2 is straight up unbearable (and i've played those shortly after release). I kinda hate the Xbox version on S2 just for that (....and the fake motion blur on combat).

The kickstarter money spent on S3 english dub is effectively wasted, and I will always think that it detracts just too much from the experience to the point that it makes the game feel much more amateurish, compared to the Japanese dub.
 

Soltype

Member
I actually prefer the English dub, the game is too janky to take too seriously.The english dub lets you know the tone of the game a lot better, the game is written like an 80s movie, and the japanese dub is just far too mature for game's beat to beat.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
I guess so. The strange thing is that Shenmue 1 sounds a little more organic in its english dub, while Shenmue 2 is straight up unbearable (and i've played those shortly after release). I kinda hate the Xbox version on S2 just for that (....and the fake motion blur on combat).

The kickstarter money spent on S3 english dub is effectively wasted, and I will always think that it detracts just too much from the experience to the point that it makes the game feel much more amateurish, compared to the Japanese dub.
Shenmue 2 is harder to listen to English dub wise compared to the first game. Some of the characters in 2 are straight up terribly voiced.
 

6502

Member
I appreciated Shenmue 2 japanese dub with english subs on DC Pal release. Easier to forgive poor dialogue in a foreign languages. Back then we were used to reading all dialogue anyway in most rpgs.
 

VGEsoterica

Member
I appreciated Shenmue 2 japanese dub with english subs on DC Pal release. Easier to forgive poor dialogue in a foreign languages. Back then we were used to reading all dialogue anyway in most rpgs.
The only bad thing about the PAL Shenmue 2 release is the damn cases. I don’t know what Sega was thinking but those cases break if you so much even look at them the wrong way
 

clem84

Gold Member
Not really an "oversight"

They had limited disc space to work with back then.
Including another language would require a lot of space.

Games that were pushing the storage limit of CDs back then like FF games didnt even have voice acting.

It would become a thing in the PS2 era with DVDs
Yup, that's the reason.
 

lachesis

Member
Shenmue in English dub, really is something though. Not exactly an enhancement, but it did change how I see Ryo.
For example, I thought English version of Ryo being much more confrontational, than overly polite Japanese Ryo in Shenmue 3.

It's like having english voice added a different layer to the game, often a secondary translation of the character too. It really shouldn't be and the character should been kept exactly the same - but at the same time, I enjoyed it on both English dub and Japanese dub.
 
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