SEGA currently "investigating" making Shenmue 1/2 HD happen

[FlagshipFighter]

Shenmue is what it is. Let's not be afraid of putting it out there and letting it live or die on its own merits. To in any way hope that remasters aren't released in case they discourage people from buying Shenmue 3 would be to overlook the whole point of reviving the series in the first place. We've come this far because we have faith in this franchise and believe it should be enjoyed by more people. Now's not the time to blink.

[FlagshipFighter]

Shenmue is what it is. Let's not be afraid of putting it out there and letting it live or die on its own merits. To in any way hope that remasters aren't released in case they discourage people from buying Shenmue 3 would be to overlook the whole point of reviving the series in the first place. We've come this far because we have faith in this franchise and believe it should be enjoyed by more people. Now's not the time to blink.

Spot on. A good friend of mine really wants to play them too. He's a big Yakuza fan and fan of old school SEGA like myself (had and all Dreamcast but just never got around to getting them), it's really all up to SEGA to do this now, the fans have spoken. Classics like Shenmue 1 and 2 deserve to be preserved anyway, our Dreamcasts certainly won't be around forever...

[punkmanced]

Dual voice option.
Problem solved...now get to releasing this sh*t, Sega.

If not, then just dump the English voices. 21st century hipsters are all about subs anyway.
Problem solved...now get to releasing this sh*t, Sega.

[drunkensailor]

Dual voice option.
Problem solved...now get to releasing this sh*t, Sega.

If not, then just dump the English voices. 21st century hipsters are all about subs anyway.
Problem solved...now get to releasing this sh*t, Sega.

I'm sure sega will fuck that up

[FlagshipFighter]

What will interest me more is which version of Shenmue 2 Sega will choose to port, the Xbox OG or dreamcast, since the community seems to be split on this one. Some like the original Xbox's textures, extra features, optimisations and VO, while some despise these + bloom effects. Some of the tracks are also different between games (eg Fangmei, Ziming discussion).

If I could guess I'd say the XBOX version would be the one that SEGA would use as a base for the port although SEGA needs to pay attention to which textures they add in this time around because I recall reading a while back that the XBOX version used the DC textures for some items and not the redone textures, as for the music and VO thing just include an option to switch between the DC and XBOX audio with maybe a few newly recorded lines (preferably using the same equipment as was originally used to record the VO) to restore certain script changes (or add a 2nd script with the Japanese version).

Is it safe to assume the Xbox original is easier to port because of its x86 based architecture? Or is the dreamcast comparatively effortless as well?

Honestly it's pretty easy to use either one really the XBOX's is based around a similar hardware architecture and design to the DC (the hardware is actually closer to the SEGA Naomi arcade system but it can handle DC material pretty well all things considered) that being said SEGA does have more knowledge of the DC's hardware so it could go either way on a technical level.

[GYO6161]

Seeing the amount of issues fans had to go through to make that undub of shenmue 1, i wonder if Sega will lazy out and just give us English only Shenmue 1 and 2..... hmm...

[Superrayman3]

Seeing the amount of issues fans had to go through to make that undub of shenmue 1, i wonder if Sega will lazy out and just give us English only Shenmue 1 and 2..... hmm...

That is possible but don't forget whereas fans had to use mostly tools created by programmers to do things like the undub, SEGA more likely than not still have the original tools used to create the files so they can work on the files in ways that fans can't.

[Sonoshee]

I just hope Sega offer both audio options in a HD release. I prefer the Japanese voice work, but I know others who prefer the English ones.

[Sonoshee]

@Sonoshee I like your avatar.

[punkmanced]

I just hope Sega offer both audio options in a HD release. I prefer the Japanese voice work, but I know others who prefer the English ones.

I just hope Suzuki & Co go down the dual voice option route for Shenmue III as well.
Corey-Mue served its purpose back in 2000, but it's the 21st century now.

(I suppose, worst case scenario, PC modders would find a way. They always do.)

[mrandyk]

If Sega is going to do these remasters they aren't going to release them until we are near the Shenmue 3 release. Given that timeframe it makes sense that they also won't announce the development of these games until the release date is a reasonable distance away - you don't announce simple remasters 18 months ahead of their tentative release. Sega mentioning the games is the best one can hope for at this point, maybe something concrete will be put out there early next year.

[Kodama667]

IMO, shenmue is not the kinda series that needs to be revived, it didn't sell well for a reason...

It needs to cater to us, the few hardcore fans that love it to pieces and are willing to throw $100+ dollars at a potential sequel just to get o7r name in the credits... we are the fans, we are who they need to remaster for, that's it...

While I fully welcome new fams, let's be honest, new fans will be very, very hard to come by. Let's voice to sega and YS our opinions, because ours are the only ones that matter...

[Sonoshee]

it didn't sell well for a reason...

It was one of the few games on Dreamcast to sell over a million copies. It's not that it "didn't sell well," it's that it didn't - and mathematically couldn't - sell enough to recoup its exceptionally high development costs.

If it had been exclusive to any of the other three platforms of that generation and sold to the same percentage of its installed user base, it would have turned a profit. And I'm sure I don't need to point out how PlayStation 4 hardware sales compare with the Dreamcast's.

Shenmue isn't for everybody, then or now, but it's for a lot more people than it's often given credit for.

[Sonoshee]

it didn't sell well for a reason...

It was one of the few games on Dreamcast to sell over a million copies. It's not that it "didn't sell well," it's that it didn't - and mathematically couldn't - sell enough to recoup its exceptionally high development costs.

If it had been exclusive to any of the other three platforms of that generation and sold to the same percentage of its installed user base, it would have turned a profit. And I'm sure I don't need to point out how PlayStation 4 hardware sales compare with the Dreamcast's.

Shenmue isn't for everybody, then or now, but it's for a lot more people than it's often given credit for.

The data I see shows Shenmue 1 sold 1.2 million copies with 9.1 million Dreamcasts sold, meaning about 13% of Dreamcast owners bought the game - which is rather successful.

There currently (a full 18 months before release of Shenmue 3) are 40 million Playstation 4 units sold. Shenmue 3 needs to reach just 3% of that install base to sell 1.2 million copies, and that doesn't even include the PC platform and future PS4 sales. Should Shenmue 3 manage to get the adoption rate the first game had, an incredibly lofty expectation, it would sell between 5 and 6 million copies. In the end both games will be successful in their own rights.

[Verderame]

Tweaks needed in a Shenmue 1 & 2 HD remastered in my opinion:

-The most important one: actual analog stick-based movements and controls. Capcom did it in the recent RE HD remaster, so why Sega shouldn't be able to do the same? They really need to do this, because otherwise the first 20/30 mins of the game are going to be very, very tough, traumatizing and off-putting for tons of newcomers. [very doable and likely]

-Of course, second analog stick based camera control [sure thing]

-Extremely reduced loading times [sure thing]

-Add the time skip option from Shenmue 2 in Shenmue 1 too [unlikely but who knows?]

-No matter how much we love it, the original english voice acting is simply god awful, and it's the second, serious flaw that ages the game. But what they could realistically do about this? I would really LOVE the inclusion of the japanese track, but the Undubbed mod showed us that it would be super complicated to do (mainly because the english version has added dialogues). And, of course, american people need their english dub, otherwise they're not going to buy it. [extremely unlikely - without a real solution]

I really think that with the right adjustments Sh 1 and 2 (especially the second one) could actually be decently appreciated nowadays. I mean, we have lots of "walking simulators" today, why not Shenmue then?