Praise be to the seven deities of the gaming world, Shenmue and Shenmue II are heading to your next-gen console at last!
Sega America officially made the announcement earlier today, fulfilling the wishes of hundreds of thousands of gamers all over the world, who have hotly anticipated this day for decades. They have also published a video on their official YouTube page that contains early, pre-release footage that may not actually make it into the finished games.
The original Shenmue first appeared way back in 1991 on the Sega Dreamcast, and was followed up quickly in 2001 with the massively ambitious Shenmue II, a game so good that it sits atop many gamers all-time great lists even in 2018. As far as gameplay goes, both games were early proponents of the open-sandbox video game that is so common in today’s market. Players controlled teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he traversed puzzles, minigames, social simulations, and street fights, as he travels across Japan and China in search of his late father’s killer.
Sega is calling this release the ‘Shenmue definitive editions’, and hinted that the long-awaited Shenmue 3 is still on the cards, though no specific details were offered. Series creator Yu Suzuki actually began a Kickstarter for the 3rd game in the series, with a $2 million target. Through the generosity of fans all over the world, the Kickstarter actually made a massive $6.3 million – which is 315% more than Suzuki needed.
The games, which will appear on Xbox One, Playstation 4 and PC, will be released with the original Japanese voice cast, as well as full English voiceover. It will also have options for the original and modern-era controls and will receive a full HD makeover.
At press time, there is no concrete release date, with 2018 being the only details thus far. But surely Sega wouldn’t go to all this effort if plans were going to fall through again, so we think it’s safe to say we’ll be reunited with Ryo very soon.
What do you think about Sega’s big announcement? Are you excited to revisit the world of Shenmue? Let us know in the comments section below.
