The classic Dreamcast action-adventure series, Shenmue, will finally be playable on modern gaming platforms in the near future, with Sega announcing a re-release collection today. Both the original Shenmue from 1999 and the 2001 sequel will arrive as a packaged deal adorned with various enhancements for PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4 later this year.
Both games" storylines revolve around Ryo Hazuki, a teenage martial artist who is in pursuit of his father"s murderer. The games are set in impressive open-world environments with day and night cycles, various mini-games, weather systems, as well as NPCs that have their own schedules to keep. Hazuki"s martial arts training comes in handy quite a lot of times as well.
Sega says the upcoming re-release collection will "stay true to the originals," while also introducing a host of new features such as "fully scalable screen resolution, choice of modern or classic control schemes, PC graphics options, an updated user interface and the option to enjoy either the original Japanese or English voiceovers."
Shenmue I & II collection doesn"t have a release date or a price attached to it just yet, but pre-orders should begin soon for both physical and digital versions.
Don"t forget that the next installment in the series, Shenmue III, is also set to finally launch later this year, with Deep Silver taking care of publishing duties. Hopefully, the original games" re-release will happen beforehand to give newcomers as well as fans a chance to experience the enhanced classics before jumping into the new title.