It’s been nearly five years since the launch ofShenmue III. Even though the game’s release after nearly two decades was akin to a miracle, the story isn’t finished. Fans haven’t given up yet, as proven by aShenmue 4adthat decorated New York’s Times Square this week.
Do you think Sega noticed? This is admittedly a incredible way to flag the publisher’s attention. Getting one 15-second ad at Times Square starts as low as $40, so it’s not like they had to break the bank. Still, it’s a bold strategy; let’s see if it pays off.
Shenmuefans are still on Lan Di’s trail
TheShenmuesaga has been a fascinating one to live through and cover over the years. First released on the Dreamcast in 1999,Shenmuewas developer Yu Suzuki’s magnum opus. TheVirtua Fightercreator dreamed of an open-world adventure game so personal and unique that he felt it would conceptualize a new genre: FREE, or Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment.
These days, we’d likely dropShenmueinto the open-world RPG subgenre and call it a day. The game did bring about innovations, though, such as time-based story progression and NPC scheduling — the latter of which some games eventually adopted.
Unfortunately,Shenmuemostly heralded a headache for Sega. Despite the positive reception, the game wasexpensive to make and too nicheto meet sales expectations. The series lurched on withShenmue IIin 2001 (2002 on Xbox) but fell off the radar soon after. Suzuki, of course, never gave up.Shenmue IIIwas revealed at the E3 2015 Sony Press Conference, getting astanding ovationand, understandably,some tears. I was right there with you, Michael.
Five years later, Suzuki andShenmuefans clearly aren’t giving up on aShenmue 4. The third game sadly couldn’t shake the ol’Shenmuecurse of beingtoo niche for strong sales, but fan action is what got protagonist Ryo Hazuki moving further in his journey to find those damn sailors. And it probably won’t stop even with aShenmue 4. Suzuki has said the third gamerepresented 40% of the story, so there may be more campaigns ahead. Are we thinking #letsgetshenmue5 someday?
