Shenmue 1 & 2 PC and Console Release Date Announced

We've been waiting so long for Shenmue 3, that the idea of its release alone has become a joke. While it's not quite reached Half Life 3 levels of meme-ery, It's a bit above Beyond Good and Evil 2 at this point. While we have a while to wait still, we can at least bide our time with Shenmue 1 and 2, which will be coming to PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC on August 21.

The two games, originally for the Sega Dreamcast, will be offered as a bundle package for $29.99 and is available for pre-order on Steam and the Xbox Store. Sega has announced before that physical copies of the game will also be released for the current gen consoles.

The re-release was initially announced back in April as an effort by d3t. The PC version is said to have a scalable screen resolution and "PC graphics options," though it's unclear how much of these upgrades will be seen in the console variants. We do know that both versions will include modern and classic controls, voice-overs in both Japanese and English, and a new interface. "Modern Controls" means that instead of using the D-pad, players can control Ryo Hazuki with an analog stick.

Additional information is provided by a recently-published FAQ. This confirms that saves will carry over from the first to the second game. You'll be able to save your game anywhere. There are new post-processing effects for both games. And all platforms will have achievements.

The two games will be locked at 30 frames per second, unfortunately. This is because the game, its engine, and the scripts therein all rely on a fixed 30Hz frame update rate. Though the screen will support a 16:9 aspect ratio, at least.

Most importantly, Sega confirms that all the in-game arcade games will be playable in the re-releases.