This is a fan concept of the cover art to Shenmue on the Wii
Shenmue is a classic unfinished video game series that should be ported to the Wii. Shenmue I revolutionized gaming with its unparalleled realness and innovations of the time. If you pop the game into your Dreamcast you will realize how great it is. You can do just about anything in the game and exploration is encouraged. In fact you can open just about every door and drawer put in the game.
The story follows the quest for revenge of young Ryo Hazuki. He watched his father be beaten to death by Lan Di, a leader of a Chinese Mafia. Over the next months Ryo is consumed by this quest and eventually makes his way to Hong Kong in search of Lan Di. Lan Di is searching for two ancient mirrors with ancient and mystical properties.
After the great costs of the first two games, the games were marginalized and plans of the third and final installment were canceled. For a long time there have been rumors of a sequel but all have failed. There have even been rumors of ports to the Wii. The Wii could reinvigorate the series and give Yu Suzuki, the games creator, a chance to finish the epic story he began fifteen years ago.
Here is the trailer to the first game on the Dreamcast. Amazing how well the graphics hold up even with the last generation console.
The gameplay consists of exploration, free fighting in a 360 degree environment, and Quick Time Events, which you must press the right button at the right time to advance the scene. All of these are very fun and if motion controls were implemented on the Wii it would be really amazing.
Now as to the reason the Wii should port the first two games. Firstly they are both great games. If you play these games they will probably make your all time top 25 games list. Secondly, it would be cheap to make. It's a bit ironic as they were two of the most expensive games ever at the time to make, but the games are already made. Maybe boost the engine a little, and implement a new control scheme for the Wii utilizing the Wii Motion Plus and you're done. It couldn't be that expensive to do those things and put them on a Wii disc. Port them one at a time and charge $30 each. If they are successful then Sega can go all out with the conclusion of the series.
Here is the trailer for the Xbox version of Shenmue II. I personally liked the first better but this was still an amazing game. I like them both for different reasons.
I don't understand why Nintendo doesn't get on the phone with Sega to try to get this dream done. It is a low risk, high reward move to put the first two games on the Wii and it's a risk that Nintendo and Sega should take. The market is there. There are thousands who want to see this game be made. There are countless online petitions to make a third installment and numerous online communities devoted to the games. Here is a link to a facebook group devoted to Shenmue. www.facebook.com/group.php They have further instructions if you want to help get Shenmue to the Wii
Here is a link to the Shenmue campaign website. A group of people who really love the games and want to see others made. www.shenmuecampaign.org/
If you enjoyed this article then feel free to read my previous articles. They entail the Conduit, Wii Sports Resort, Zelda, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, and E3 coverage.
www.examiner.com/x-13000-NY-Wii-Examiner~y2009m6d17-Five-ways-Nintendo-can-win-the-console-wars
www.examiner.com/x-13000-NY-Wii-Examiner~y2009m6d16-Red-Steel-2-preview-for-Nintendo-Wii
www.examiner.com/x-13000-NY-Wii-Examiner~y2009m6d12-The-Conduit-can-be-a-disappointment
www.examiner.com/x-13000-NY-Wii-Examiner~y2009m6d6-Zelda-Mario-Metroid-Beatles-announced-at-E3
Also here is my official group for this column:
Comments
Its cause MS bought the rights to bring the second shenmue over here to US and they still own the rights... Also AM2 was the part on Sega that made those games and they would need to rejoin with sega.... But I would still buy the first and second one if they came to the wii....
Rob,
A very good point but Am2 was absorbed by Sega. The main reason is Sega and Yu Suzuki are angry with each other over the Shenmue games because Sega didn't make its money back and Yu being mad they abandoned the series. I blame Sega for not really pushing the game and just throwing in the towel at the end of the Dreamcast anyway. Seeing Sonic in a Mario game makes me sick anyway but if Nintendo gave Sega orders like they've been doing for years now to make Shenmue they'd probably do it.
Nice idea indeed - i would love to see the first two parts on Wii. But i wont expect that... also i wont expect that nintendo will ring sega to do the games and maybe make a third part.
The fact was, that the games on dreamcast and on xbox did not sell well enough, so i guess nintendo wont put too much of theyr interest into it.
If i am not mistaken your article (nice written indeed) is based on rumors in the net?
Well... then get the next rumors - sega tells they do not have plans on shenmue 3 on a video on youtube. Funny is, the oviously the guy is lying ;) (bodytalk) and also he added that it is indeed the most demanded game by sega fans.
So if there is such a big hype that grew up in the years AFTER the release and breakdown of dreamcast and shenmue... i suppose they will do a third part some day. also they finished shenmue online, which never came up... but on which console will they bring it?
maybe on theyr own... the arcade market is down on the floor and they registere
...registered arcade machines with the name ringedge and ringwide :) the funny thing is that they did put also 'stand alone game machine' ... also they renewed the rights to the name dreamcast and updated a controler patent of the saturn controlers, with those movement and position control stuff ;) ...that gave food for speculations and hope to the sega community. However - all rumors and dreams. maybe that is the tactics of sega anyway - giving out informations that surely bring up rumors, but which are too less to be sure about anything... so people will talk :) the cheapest commercials on earth ;)
A shenmue portation to Wii would be great anyway! the only two videogame companies that rule the world are sega & nintendo... i hope they work together, they have a face and a personality, not like sony and microsoft, that only spend money on commercials to tell people they want to buy theyr crap ;)
Sega... come back... and maybe team up with nintendo to twist up the market :)
sorry rob to correct you in ONE thing ;) the rest is true off course :)
MS only owns the rights for the portation to the xbox, not of on the name shenmue in total. that's the information i got ;)
Dragonseye I love your passion. Unfortunately you fail to realize what the Dreamcast and the Saturn did to Sega. Even though the Dreamcast was a great system and believe me I'm hooking up the old dreamcast to play Shenmue I very soon; Sega is a shell of its former self. This isn't the 90's anymore where it's all about Mario vs Sonic. Now Sonic is getting his butt kicked by Mario in Brawl and losing to him at both the winter and summer Olympics. It's sad because Sega made some great games and I never thought I'd see the day sega would become subservient to the other consoles. Now in the new millennium it's all about the big three: Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony. My point in all this being that if any of the big three put in the call to Sega, then they'll make Shenmue. It's actually a really good idea because they're already made and it'd be cheap to slap on a few enhancements and put a $50 price tag on each game. You and I both know we'd all pay it to play Shenmue again.
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