Yu Suzuki : Western Release of Shenmue Gai Planned

[Riku Rose]

I thought AM2 was working on another VF for arcades at the moment.

[Crimson Ryan]

Yep. Final Showdown or something. Before that was Type R.

[DoubleO_Ren]

Only reason Suzuki is suggesting the success of this game may lead to other projects is purely to eliminate people believing that something is going on with Shenmue III and so far it's working. Lets go back a bit, if i'm not mistaken i believe the last game Sega AM2 done was Virtua Fighter 5, now that's been out quite a while i doubt that they've been sitting in their offices watching porn all the time since then. We've had Ryo make his first appearance in years when he appeared on All Stars racing. We've seen Shenmue Gai come out of nowhere and now we're getting a Western release and Sega recently had a questionnaire at an expodition asking about revisiting franchises and suggesting an alternative option if Shenmue was their initial answer, this isn't all just a coincidence. I think i've said it before but it's worth keeping an eye on Sega's activity especially around Shenmue Gai over the next 6 months or so especially as we get nearer to E3, because you'd be naive to think they don't have something bigger in the works.

My theory is similar to this except I think Yu only saw the fans wake up after Ryo was announced on SEGA allstars and probably got out of his crises of confidence and decided to do something about it, fans went crazy after Sega Allstars came out and the news of Dreamcast DLC on consoles has risen a lot more Shenmue fans from the Modern Warfare grave and I think Suzuki is just capitalising on this Shenmue hype.

[Schiff]

If it comes to the West, I'll get it for sure. Never played this sort of game but I can try for Shenmue.

[fuku_san]

I know we all want shenmue III but we need to support this crap and spend some money buying items and other stupids things and maybe if this game makes money yu suzuki can rebuild his vagina..

[ThyDarkAngel]

I know we all want shenmue III but we need to support this crap and spend some money buying items and other stupids things and maybe if this game makes money yu suzuki can rebuild his vagina..

Wow, that attitude and those quotes are really something else.

[Supa]

Am2 is working on Final Showdown I think. It's heavily rumored to be coming to consoles at least in Japan, so maybe they're doing that at the moment.

[ThyDarkAngel]

Well, about the Final Showdown things.
Truth be told, if they are truly working on it, they are doing it now for a hell of a lot of time, specially having in mind the basis of the game was already available; we're talking abot an upfate to VF 5, not a whole new entry in the series.

[Axm]

This is great news!

[Hazuki Legend]

Well, about the Final Showdown things.
Truth be told, if they are truly working on it, they are doing it now for a hell of a lot of time, specially having in mind the basis of the game was already available; we're talking abot an upfate to VF 5, not a whole new entry in the series.

My point exactly right there.

[Henry Spencer]

lol fuku_san.

^ shenmue, rent a hero also failed lamentebly

Well, I wouldn't call VF5 (or the versions of the game after it) a failure.

[Panda_rapist]

soryy but shenmue was 1 of the main reasons for the downfall of sega, dont you think they are at least a lttle sceptic after that, if it wasnt for virtua fighter series and there talent in the arcade side they would of probably been gone already

[Henry Spencer]

No. The downfall of SEGA was the ridiculous amount of money poured into too many consoles. SEGA CD, 32X, Sega Saturn; a confused consumer base (which I was a part of) unsure what to buy next. Many of their fans were fed up with them releasing all these consoles and then before Saturn even got proper backing [and had barely found its fanbase], they released the Dreamcast, which was what sold poorly. SEGA fans could just not keep up with the console releases (I can still even remember editors for SEGA magazines that were unsure which one would keep going).

The first Shenmue actually sold well, considering the demographic of Dreamcast owners (Shenmue did cost a ridiculous amount of money to make, but don't try to make it sound like it was the sole reason for SEGA's downfall, since that is ignoring all of the other blackspots on their history). For Shenmue to even make half of its money back, it would have to have been bought twice by every Dreamcast owner there was.

[ThyDarkAngel]

The 'whys' and 'hows' aren't as linear as any of the versions you tell, GboyKing and Henry. You both are right, to a point. You both are wrong, too. And it goes beyond that: other factors, not mentioned, also had a lot of weight in said downfall.

Water under the bridge.

Nowadays it should be all about looking to the future, my friends.

Sometimes too many reminescences of the past only held you back.

Today, that's pretty much all that is stopping Shenmue to continue and Sega from achieving it's proper shape.

[Riku Rose]

For Shenmue to even make half of its money back, it would have to have been bought twice by every Dreamcast owner there was.

I think that with the budget it had that would have spanned the series with just a little more being added onto each entry. We never hear how much Shenmue II cost.