Any video game lover who came of age in the late 1990s probably remembers the Dreamcast, Sega‘s ill-fated answer to the Nintendo 64 and the final major console the company would ever release. Just because it didn’t stand the test of time doesn’t mean it didn’t have some well-remembered games, however, and a pair of them are about to make a return to modern platforms.
As Kotaku notes, both Shenmue I and Shenmue II will be arriving for Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC later this year, giving a whole lot of gamers some serious deja vu.
The first Shenmue was released in late 1999, and it put players in control of Ryo Hazuki, a teenager living in Yokosuka, Japan in 1986. With a combination of world exploration, martial arts quick time events, and, at times, downright hilarious voice acting, players guide Ryo on a revenge quest to track down his father’s killer, the nefarious Lan Di.
Sometimes, that revenge quest involves wandering through a suburban or urban sprawl, tracking down shady characters, and getting into bar fights. Sometimes, on the other hand, it involves getting a job as a forklift driver, and painstakingly coming into work every day to slowly cobble together enough money for a boat ticket.
The games will be released in both physical and digital formats, and they’ll feature improved textures, which should come as a relief to anyone who remembers the original Dreamcast versions.
Both Shenmue I and Shenmue II have developed a considerable cult following over the years, despite their creaky animations and stilted controls, and in 2015, a crowdfunding campaign for Shenmue III hauled in more than $6 million. That sequel is scheduled to be released later this year, although it’s already been delayed by a year, so it’s hard to know when exactly it’ll drop.
But until then, players across multiple platforms will be able to sate their appetite by revisiting the first two chapters of the saga on their current console of choice.
