Speculation: Shenmue 3 Could've Released in 2003
Posted: Thu Sep 28, 2017 4:25 amI was thinking about the Dreamcast days and how Sega had an incredible first party lineup. Games like Shenmue, Ecco the Dolphin, Sonic Adventure, Space Channel 5, Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, etc., etc.... made for an incredible platform. One that I'm sure most of us were sad to see fail when Sega eventually left the console market.
Then I started thinking about the "What Ifs". What if Sega had been successful with Dreamcast? I'm guessing that Dreamcast would have lasted until around 2005 when a possible successor would have released. Then I got to thinking that if the Dreamcast had been successful and lasted until 2005, then we would have had Shenmue 3 probably around the 2003 mark as there was a two year gap between the first and second game; 1st releasing in 1999 and 2nd in 2001.
That means that we would have had this continuation so long ago. We would also have potentially seen a Dreamcast successor release in 2005 with Shenmue IV as a launch title. Can you imagine how awesome that would have been? Dreamcast 2 being backwards compatible would have allowed the entire series to be playable in one place. It would have been a system I cherished for decades when you add in the other first party games that Sega had when they were at the top of the market.
As I was a Sega fan before jumping over to PlayStation (skipped Saturn but loved my Genesis, Game Gear and Dreamcast), the thought of Dreamcast being successful and the possibilities of Shenmue being completed by around 2007 (assuming it would have stopped at the 5th game on the Dreamcast 2), almost makes me a little sad. Hopefully the multiverse theory is correct and somewhere there is a reality where this occurred; not that I'll ever see it.
What are your thoughts on if Dreamcast had succeeded? Would Shenmue have continued on with a new chapter every couple years? I know it's speculation but it's fun to speculate sometimes.
Then I started thinking about the "What Ifs". What if Sega had been successful with Dreamcast? I'm guessing that Dreamcast would have lasted until around 2005 when a possible successor would have released. Then I got to thinking that if the Dreamcast had been successful and lasted until 2005, then we would have had Shenmue 3 probably around the 2003 mark as there was a two year gap between the first and second game; 1st releasing in 1999 and 2nd in 2001.
That means that we would have had this continuation so long ago. We would also have potentially seen a Dreamcast successor release in 2005 with Shenmue IV as a launch title. Can you imagine how awesome that would have been? Dreamcast 2 being backwards compatible would have allowed the entire series to be playable in one place. It would have been a system I cherished for decades when you add in the other first party games that Sega had when they were at the top of the market.
As I was a Sega fan before jumping over to PlayStation (skipped Saturn but loved my Genesis, Game Gear and Dreamcast), the thought of Dreamcast being successful and the possibilities of Shenmue being completed by around 2007 (assuming it would have stopped at the 5th game on the Dreamcast 2), almost makes me a little sad. Hopefully the multiverse theory is correct and somewhere there is a reality where this occurred; not that I'll ever see it.
What are your thoughts on if Dreamcast had succeeded? Would Shenmue have continued on with a new chapter every couple years? I know it's speculation but it's fun to speculate sometimes.