There are some incredible games out there that just don’t get the love they deserve outside of a fierce cult following – Shenmue 1 and 2 are among those games.
Good news for the devoted few though, as SEGA has confirmed they’re “investigating” the possibility of HD remasters for the first two Shenmue games.
Speaking in an episode of SEGA Central, Sega Europe community manager Dan Sheridan said the company would “love to release these tomorrow”, but there are all kinds of things to consider.
Sheridan explained:
Sadly it’s not as simple as porting the games to the current platforms. We need to ensure that any HD remaster lives up to the quality of the original titles. With games as immersive as [Shenmue and Shenmue 2], there are further complications [involving] licensed products that were included in the original games. That said, we’d love to do it and are currently investigating how to make it a reality.
Sheridan is presumably referring to the Japanese version of the game, which featured licensed food and drink products, including the Coca-Cola vending machines, which were replaced with the less delicious sounding Jet Cola in the Western releases.
Come on now SEGA. Surely it isn’t too difficult to remove any pesky branding if you’re remastering the game in the first place? Please just give me Shenmue HD. There isn’t much I wouldn’t do to make it happen.
Meanwhile, the Kickstarter funded Shenmue 3 is in development and planned for late 2017. SEGA has a golden opportunity to release a Shenmue trilogy here, let’s hope they take it.
Considering the Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3 met its goal less than a day after it was announced at E3 2015, it’s clear people really want the franchise back in their lives.
And by people, I absolutely mean me.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.