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SEGA is “investigating” the possibility of remastering Shenmue 1 and 2 for modern-day platforms, the publisher has revealed.
Asked whether SEGA had plans to re-release the two games during the latest episode of SEGA Central, SEGA Europe’s community marketing manager Dan Sheridan explained: “Of course we would love to release these tomorrow.
“Sadly it’s not as simple as porting the games to the current platforms as we will need to ensure that any HD remaster lived up to the quality of the original titles. And with games as immersive as Shenmue 1 and 2 there are further complications from 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.”
You can check out the full question and answer at the 2 minute mark in the video below.
Shenmue 1 and 2 were both released on Dreamcast in the early 00s, with Shenmue 2 later ported to the original Xbox. Rumours of HD remasters have been circulating for years, with the game’s creator Yu Suzuki stating last year that he “would like to see remastered versions come out before Shenmue 3, so fans can really get to know the story and enjoy 3 even more”.
“I really hope this could happen,” he said. “The rights to Shenmue 1 & 2 belong to SEGA, so I am not in a position to comment on it. However I would like to talk to them about it.”
Shenmue 3, the long-awaited next game in the series, is targeting a release at the end of 2017.
Source: SEGA Central
