Remastered versions of the original Shenmue and its sequel Shenmue II will be released as part of a two-game bundle, Rice Digital reports. According to a “trusted source” close to Atlus USA, both games will be released together at some point this year, although no specific date or platforms are mentioned.
SEGA, who still owns the publishing rights to the two open-world titles, has never officially confirmed the existence of such re-releases or, for that matter, if it has even committed any development time to them, but Rice Digital’s report seems to support previous murmurs suggesting the same eventuality.
Last year, in an episode of SEGA Central, the company said that if such a thing were to happen, it would “need to ensure that any HD remaster lived up to the quality of the original titles, adding that it was “currently investigating how to make it a reality.” Not so much as a whisper has been heard on the matter since, although it emerged earlier this year that various domain names pertaining to Shenmue remasters had been registered by SEGA over the course of several months. To date, none of these sites appear to be active, so it’s unknown whether SEGA plans to use them for the above purpose or simply as a method of protecting the property from being misused.
Without official confirmation of such, we can’t say for certain that Shenmue remasters are coming, but with series creator Yu Suzuki hard at work on the Kickstarter-funded Shenmue III, now couldn’t be a better time for them to be announced. Assuming Shenmue III is still on course for a release at the end of 2017, giving fans the opportunity to replay the originals would be the perfect marketing tool.
If any updates come to the fore, we’ll be sure to let you know. Stay tuned.