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Classic SEGA Arcade Games Will Not Be In Shenmue 3

by Jared Rosenberg - June 18, 2019, 4:32 am EDT
Total comments: 10

The creator of Shenmue, Yu Suzuki, confirmed that his old creations like Out Run & Space Harrier will not appear in the upcoming sequel.

During an interview with NWR at E3 2019, the acclaimed game designer Yu Suzuki explained that unfortunately his classic arcade games would not be playable in Shenmue 3.

As the head of SEGA's AM2 division, Yu Suzuki designed arcade hits one after another during the 1980s and 1990s. Games like Virtua Fighter and Daytona USA delivered addictive gameplay and bleeding edge visuals. When the original Shenmue launched on the Sega Dreamcast in 1999, it included two playable classics, Hang-On and Space Harrier. Shenmue 2 would continue this trend with the addition of two more games created by Suzuki, Afterburner II and Out Run.

When we asked Suzuki if some of his classic titles like Space Harrier and Out Run would be returning in Shenmue 3, he responded, "I'm sorry we don't have those arcade games, but instead I do have a lot of other games." Upon noting that we've already seen many of the games that will be featured (like the pachinko game Lucky Hit and turtle racing), Suzuki-san told us, "You'll see more."

Shenmue 3 will not be completely devoid of references to classic SEGA arcade games. For example, during the new wood chopping job, an upbeat tune from After Burner II will start playing if you slice multiple pieces of wood in succession. Failing to hit the next log with your axe will instantly stop the arcade music and switch it to something much more calming. Yu Suzuki described these music changes in correspondence to your actions as a feedback mode.

We'll have a full preview of Shenmue 3 in the near future.

Note: Nintendo World Report will continue to mostly focus on Nintendo games. The coverage of Shenmue 3 is a rare exception.

Disclosure: Nintendo World Report's Jared Rosenberg participated in the Kickstarter campaign for Shenmue 3.

Talkback

ShyGuyJune 18, 2019

Shenmue 3 Switch port when?

But can I play these Sega Arcade Games on the Nintendo Switch?

SEGA arcade games currently available on Switch as part of the SEGA AGES series somewhere in the world:

Out Run (Yu Suzuki masterpiece)
Gain Ground (cool game, no Yu Suzuki involvement)
Puyo Puyo (currently only available in Japan)
Virtua Racing (Coming June 27 to rest of world, Yu Suzuki heavily involved)
Wonder Boy in Monster Land (Coming June 27 to rest of world)

Two other Yu Suzuki arcade games that we'll be getting on Switch at some point:

G-LOC: Air Battle
Space Harrier

Ian SaneJune 18, 2019

With the popularity of selling retro games as digital downloads it now seems funny that there was a time where games like that would get included as a free unlockable in a new game.  It was this narrow time frame where the consoles were powerful enough that they could emulate old hardware well enough but the online infrastructure for a Virtual Console didn't exist yet.  It's the same time period where tons of arcade compilations got released.  Publishers didn't really have an idea of how to make money of their old games so they included them as freebies or bundled them on a disc, usually at a budget price.

In retrospect that time period was awesome from a customer perspective.  It was really the first time we started getting arcade perfect releases and the way they were packaged they would cost like $1 each.

AdrockJune 18, 2019

Quote from: Ian

With the popularity of selling retro games as digital downloads it now seems funny that there was a time where games like that would get included as a free unlockable in a new game.

To add to this, it’s kind of wild that there was a time when porting old releases to new hardware wasn’t even a consideration and some companies were so reckless with their inventory they lost source code of entire games. Nintendo apparently even lost the Wavebird molds despite including GameCube controller ports on Wii.

StratosJune 18, 2019

People have test models from unreleased Disney Infinity figures, so I'll bet some hard core Nintendo fan has the Wavebird molds in his hidden Nintendo shrine. With all the advancements in 3D printing, you could probably make your own Wavebird shells and make a pretty comparable device.

KDR_11kJune 18, 2019

Don't the Yakuza games still include Sega arcade games?

Quote from: KDR_11k

Don't the Yakuza games still include Sega arcade games?

Yes, they're still featured in the Yakuza games and also appear in the Yakuza team's other games like Judgement and Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise.

Luigi DudeJune 18, 2019

Quote from: Ian

With the popularity of selling retro games as digital downloads it now seems funny that there was a time where games like that would get included as a free unlockable in a new game.  It was this narrow time frame where the consoles were powerful enough that they could emulate old hardware well enough but the online infrastructure for a Virtual Console didn't exist yet.  It's the same time period where tons of arcade compilations got released.  Publishers didn't really have an idea of how to make money of their old games so they included them as freebies or bundled them on a disc, usually at a budget price.

It's really funny what Nintendo did during this time.  You got Animal Crossing with a dozen NES games as unlockable content to play which was a pretty big deal at the time for that game.  Then a few years later Nintendo released these exact NES games as individual GBA games for $20 a piece now along with others from that era.  Then just 2 years later you get the Wii with these same games for only $5 a piece on the Virtual Console.

We could literally see in real time Nintendo realizing how popular their classics were and trying to decide the right price and what they could get away with.

StratosJune 18, 2019

They are doing that now with their mobile games. They are trying different profit methods and tragically the P2W and exorbitant micro transactions are winning out over the very reasonably priced Super Mario Run one time purchase. At least some games like Pokemon Quest have a life time expense limit and they told the Dragalia Lost devs to tone down the gatcha baiting to more reasonable payouts, but I fear they are going to eventually go full micro-loot-milking unless legislation outright bans the practice.

Ian SaneJune 18, 2019

Quote from: Luigi

Quote from: Ian

With the popularity of selling retro games as digital downloads it now seems funny that there was a time where games like that would get included as a free unlockable in a new game.  It was this narrow time frame where the consoles were powerful enough that they could emulate old hardware well enough but the online infrastructure for a Virtual Console didn't exist yet.  It's the same time period where tons of arcade compilations got released.  Publishers didn't really have an idea of how to make money of their old games so they included them as freebies or bundled them on a disc, usually at a budget price.

It's really funny what Nintendo did during this time.  You got Animal Crossing with a dozen NES games as unlockable content to play which was a pretty big deal at the time for that game.  Then a few years later Nintendo released these exact NES games as individual GBA games for $20 a piece now along with others from that era.  Then just 2 years later you get the Wii with these same games for only $5 a piece on the Virtual Console.

We could literally see in real time Nintendo realizing how popular their classics were and trying to decide the right price and what they could get away with.

I remember the GBA Classic NES Series.  They seemed like a rip-off to me as at that point you could actually get the original NES cartridges for less money.  That's a key part of modern pricing of classic games - the digital downloads are pretty much always cheaper than the original physical releases so aside from the convenience of playing them on current hardware they're the most affordable way to get the game.  It make sense to some extent for these games to have been throwaway unlockables in the early 2000's because the old carts were largely seen as old junk that people were trying to unload.

Though the most egregious Classic NES GBA game was Metroid.  Why pay $20 for it when it was already an unlockable in Metroid: Zero Mission on the SAME SYSTEM?

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