You might have noticed there hasn’t been a ton of new content being published on the SEGA Nerds website over the past couple months, and it’s time to give you an update on the site’s future.

To give you the bottom line upfront, SEGA Nerds is merging with Mega Visions, and all the daily news and other content we previously published on the SEGA Nerds site will now reside on Mega Visions. In fact, it’s actually all there right now, and we’re getting back to publishing content on a daily basis!

In truth, SEGA Nerds isn’t going away so much that it is evolving to something even better. By focusing our attention on running one site, instead of two, the team can bring you better and more robust content instead of splitting it between SEGA Nerds and Mega Visions.

Now, if you’re interested in the longer version to give you the reason why we chose to do this, please keep reading.

You may or may not know that the core staff of SEGA Nerds created a new SEGA-focused magazine a couple years ago called Mega Visions. When we initially created it, the idea was to run SEGA Nerds completely separate of Mega Visions, with the SN site the place where we’d publish daily news, features and reviews that didn’t make it into the magazine.

After we published Issue #6 of Mega Visions, which completed our Kickstarter-funded commitment, we re-evaluated what we were doing with the magazine and how we could continue to build it into the future. That’s when we decided we’d move away from Kickstarter to Patreon to fund each Mega Visions issue individually and begin offering physical print versions, which was our ultimate goal from the very beginning.

Along the way, we also had to take an honest look at what the future of SEGA Nerds would be. We asked ourselves if it made sense to run both sites separately or to bring the two together under one “banner.” The team collectively agreed that merging SEGA Nerds into Mega Visions is the right decision for the future of both sites.

There are several reasons for this, and I’ll give them to you:

Reason #1

It’s been a big pain in the ass to run two separate sites/publications that are pretty much trying to achieve the same thing – provide our readers entertaining SEGA coverage.

We realized we were duplicating our efforts in areas, like on social media, and to be able to focus just on one site while providing all the same things we did before — print and digital versions of the magazine, daily news and features on the MV website, weekly live streams and podcasts — made a lot more sense.

Reason #2

For a long time, I took great pride in knowing SEGA Nerds was one of the best video game fan sites around and loved providing daily coverage of SEGA for our readers.

But as the years have gone on, I felt an increasing desire to do something more – to achieve something that very few people running fan sites have been able to do. And that’s creating a bona fide site/publication that is entirely independent of SEGA.

Mega Visions gives us that opportunity, and we’re going to do everything in our power to make it the greatest SEGA magazine and website ever!

Reason #3

This last reason ties into the previous one, but I’ll expand a bit more. While we love the “SEGA Nerds” name and everything the term evokes – the name itself is also one of the reasons why it can never be something we can own. That’s because it has “SEGA” in its name.

Over the years, we’ve been hit with several copyright and trademark strikes against us by SEGA for selling “SEGA Nerds” branded apparel.

This has been incredibly frustrating because we’re not trying to get rich by selling our merchandise, but it’d help to make some extra cash to help pay some of the bills and even our writers who have dedicated so much time to the site.

I also don’t blame SEGA for protecting its trademarks and intellectual property. Their legal team is just doing their jobs, but the truth of the matter is we’ll never be able to own the name “SEGA Nerds.” Plus, the looming threat that SEGA is in the legal clear to shut us down on a whim is not a very good feeling.

So that pretty much sums things up. I hope you can understand our perspective and that this decision has come from our desire to bring you the best SEGA coverage as possible, through both a daily news site and a dedicated magazine.

This is certainly not the end of SEGA Nerds (the people and spirit that embody the site are all still here), but this is an evolution of our brand and one that gives us more freedom to deliver our commitment to you, the SEGA community!

Here is Sega’s official statement:

“SEGA and D3T indeed had started exploring the feasibility of a full HD remaster for Shenmue I & II. That being said, we soon realised that this was a project with its own set of challenges. Working with original animations and characters but meshing them with enhanced HD visuals gave us a game that we felt would not meet the standards that Shenmue fans expect and deserve. Rather than going ahead with a release that may disappoint fans, we chose to focus on bringing the classic game to PC and modern consoles, so that new players could experience Shenmue’s original charm.”

I buy it. A faithful port with enhancements was the right way to go about it.

I am not a fan of meshing old animations with half baked modern visuals, Yakuza Kiwami is a prime example. I don’t like that in a remake. If I am to buy a remake I’d prefer that it be like Capcom’s Resident Evil remakes.

If Sega can’t do a remake from scratch then I will gladly take an enhanced port over a half old – half new mesh of a game.

Earlier this year, SEGA announced a successor initiative of sorts under the (oft used) moniker, SEGA AGES. With M2 again at the helm, a plethora of first party classics were promised for the Switch. First out of the gate are Sonic the Hedgehog (yes, again) and the classic Mega Drive shmup, Thunder Force IV.

One for the AGES

For whatever reason the game was retitled Lightening Force: Quest for the Darkstar in the US, but those of you reading this from across the pond will be happy to learn that both it and the international release are available here. It’s worth also noting that although this AGES outing is based on the original Mega Drive version and not the 1996 Saturn Port, it does include the previously Saturn-exclusive Styx mode, which we’ll go into later.

The all new AGES interface is pretty slick, with large, colourful icons (presumably for visibility in handheld mode) and artwork, in addition to a great little animated intro sequence. There’s even a cool “SE-GA” like jingle on the title screen that’s sure to tug on the old heart strings when you’re not perusing bet365 betting.

As is par for the course nowadays with retro reissues, there are a ton of visual customization options, including the obligatory CRT filters. Sometimes these effects can be somewhat overbearing, but the AGES preset Vintage Mode actually looks pretty good, with just the right amount of blur and curvature applied to the image to evoke childhood memories of classic gaming via cathode ray.

Styx and Stones

Thunder Force IV follows the shmup genre’s broad strokes, while at that same time successfully forging an identity all of its own.

Unlike many horizontal shooters, in Thunder Force IV, the play area can also be scrolled vertically within a limited range on most stages. This serves to at least create the impression of freedom, even if in truth, you’re just as anchored to the inevitable rightward crawl as ever.

As you’d expect, weapon power-ups come in many shapes and sizes, but unusually, you’re free to cycle through any you’ve collected at will rather than being stuck with the last one you acquired. There’s also a rear fire mode, which is handy given that a great many enemies will try and flank you.

Moreover, it’s possible to control your ship’s speed, charging your engines to anything from 1 to 100% by holding down the Y button. We have two misgivings with this: first of all, in such a fast paced shooter, we don’t really understand why you’d ever want your ship at anything below 100% manoeuvrability at all times. Secondly, while you can adjust engine power by as little as a single percent at a time, we’re pretty sceptical that affording players such pinpoint precision was ever really all that necessary.

Given Thunder Force IV’s gameplay quirks, it’s no bad thing that there’s a digital manual specific to this AGES release to consult at your leisure. Interestingly, it actually opens in the Switch’s onboard web browser, which to be fair, doesn’t prove as cumbersome as it might sound. Most importantly, the manual is sharp and legible in both handheld and docked modes.

Now onto Styx Mode. As we mentioned earlier, this was previously exclusive to the Saturn version of Thunder Force IV, released as part of Thunder Force Gold Pack II. In Styx mode you take control of the eponymous ship from Thunder Force III, sporting a different array of weapons in addition to a dodge move of sorts. Interestingly, (minor spoiler alert) Styx also makes a cameo appearance in stage 5 to fight alongside your usual craft, Rynex. Styx mode is a nice addition and could prove attractive to Thunder Force IV veterans that never got around to picking the game up on the Saturn.

AGED to Perfection?

The shooting in Thunder Force IV is just as fun now as it ever was, but difficulty may prove a sticking point for the uninitiated. In short, it’s a pretty challenging game, even when tackled in the patronisingly titled Kids Mode, and unlike some retro shooter reissues we’ve reviewed recently, there’s no option for unlimited lives to abuse while you get your bearings. One one hand, this forces newcomers to actually play the game as intended, but on the other, many will find retreading the initial stages over and over off putting.

Enemies are loose riffs on the Giger-inspired biomechnical aesthetic very common in video games at the time (see Gynoug, Mega Turrican et al), but are far from the best examples of this particular sci-if trope. While rarely more than merely serviceable in the looks department as a whole, Thunder Force IV’s impressive parallax scrolling effect deserves a special mention. The many interweaving layers of sprites here, both in the fore and background, create a pleasing sense of depth and forward momentum.

The original Mega Drive release of Thunder Force IV is notorious for chugging on occasion when things get too busy. Given how many orders of magnitude more powerful the Switch is than the Mega Drive, M2 have seen fit to include a ‘Reduce Processing Delay’ option, thereby utilising some of the Switch’s leftover horsepower to improve performance. There’s a tangible improvement, but the game still doesn’t deliver a locked frame rate, even with this mode engaged. A disclaimer states that some slowdown is by design, and thus unavoidable. We’ll have to take M2’s word for it on that one.

Sound effects are forgettable and of generally poor quality, particularly the harsh, lo-fi voice clips that play when you collect a power up. Weapons likewise sound brittle and tinny. The music is a mixed bag: we think the compositions are pretty great, but the actual quality of the samples leaves a lot to be desired. Ultimately, it seems that Thunder Force IV may have been hamstrung by the limitations of the Mega Drive’s Achilles heel: its notoriously lacklustre Yamaha YM2612 sound chip.

Summary

It’s easy to become weary of SEGA’s never ending cycle of modern re-releases, but to the company’s credit, each set of reissues is generally better than the last. This AGES version of Thunder Force IV is an excellent starting point, and certainly more interesting to hardcore SEGA fans than yet another Sonic the Hedgehog redux.

The game is satisfying to play with some nice and unique ideas, even if it hasn’t aged all that gracefully from an aural standpoint and pulls few punches in terms of difficulty. The new AGES wrapper is by far the slickest yet, and bodes well for future releases, among which is the arcade version of Thunder Force III, Thunder Force AC. .

PROS:

+ Original shmup gameplay

+ Extra STYX Mode

+ Slick AGES interface

CONS

– Poor sound effects

– Performance issues

– High difficulty

Yakuza Studios announced a “legal suspense action” game titled Project Judge, which will launch in Japan this December for PlayStation 4. Luckily western fans won’t have to beg for a release, because SEGA simultaneously announced a 2019 release date us too!

Here’s SEGA’s official press release, which you can check out below

■ About

Sega is proud to announce that the new courtroom thriller from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios, Project Judge (working title), will release in 2019 on the PlayStation 4. Project Judge will feature the voice acting talents of Japanese actor / artist Takuya Kimura as the game’s main protagonist, Takayuki Yagami.

Project Judge takes place in modern day Tokyo, following a serial murder case. The main protagonist, private detective Takayuki Yagami (played by Takuya Kimura), is a man of conviction who fights for his beliefs, despite the overwhelming despair surrounding him. Kimura has met extensively with the game’s development team to craft this protagonist, dedicating more than 1,000 minutes of voice recording time for his lines. By putting forth so much effort in developing this role, Project Judge aims to redefine what it means to truly bring a character to life.

Other talented actors, including Akira Nakao, Kenichi Takito, Shosuke Tanihara, and Pierre Taki were brought in to play the game’s supporting roles. Additionally, the rock band Alexandros enhances the drama to its peak with the original theme song Arpeggio and feature song, Your Song. This game is developed by Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios headed by Sega Chief Product Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi. The studio is known primarily for their work on the Yakuza series, which has sold over 11 million copies worldwide. To create an experience in line with the studio’s core belief to “Create enjoyable games that address mature themes” the team spent more than 3 years developing Project Judge‘s story and characters.

Enhancing the game’s position as a courtroom thriller and embodying the feeling of playing a detective, players will need to utilize key investigative skills in conjunction with unique gameplay features to unveil the truths hidden at the core of Project Judge‘s plot.

What lies beyond the suffering and failures of the man trapped within his past; is it a divine revelation, or something more sinister? Stay tuned for more information on Project Judge, the courtroom thriller action game brought to you by the prolific tag team of Takuya Kimura and Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios.

■ Characters

Takayuki Yagami (cast: Takuya Kimura)

The main protagonist of Project Judge.

A fiercely idealistic ex-defense lawyer turned private detective. After facing a devastating betrayal by one of his former clients, he became known as a fraud who lets murderers run free, effectively destroying his reputation.

Now he’s caught up in an enigmatic serial murder case and will need to push his investigative skills to their limit to solve it.

Takashi Genda (cast: Akira Nakao)

A gritty lawyer who has taken on the role of overseeing Yagami’s growth since the start of his career as a lawyer.

Even after Yagami’s incident that forced him out of the legal world, Genda still looks after him and helps him find work from time to time.

Kazuya Ayabe (cast: Kenichi Takito)

A detective with Tokyo PD’s Organized Crime Division.

Ayabe is a crooked cop who withholds information on investigations for his own benefit, but often helps Yagami with his cases – for a price.

Mitsuru Kuroiwa(cast: Shosuke Tanihara)

A detective with the Tokyo PD’s Organized Crime Division, famous for his leadership skills and high successful arrest rate in Kamurocho.

A talented officer who plays by the rules, Kuroiwa sees unknown elements like Yagami as a dangerous nuisance.

Kyohei Hamura (cast: Pierre Taki)

Captain of the Matsugane family, a subsidiary of the Tojo Clan based in Kamurocho.

Hamura is self-centered, but he’s also a mastermind skilled in taking others down for his own benefit. He’s heavily involved with Yagami throughout the serial murder case.

■ Comment from Alexandros

“We are very honored to be part of such a wonderful production.

The demo video that Director Nagoshi showed us was so cool, we were able to envision a song very quickly.

From there, we had multiple meetings and the lyrics kept flowing until it was a complete piece that we feel very strongly about.

We are very excited to play the game ASAP (laughs).”

Gameplay Trailer 

Via Gematsu 

Titled Space Channel 5 VR: Arakata Dancing Show, this VR game will allow players to “dance with Ulala to save the world from the invasion of mysterious dancing aliens known as “Morolians.” Players will take on the role of a newbie reporter at a future universe television station, decide on poses with senior reporter Ulala, and eventually dance.”

Space Channel 5 VR: Arakata Dancing Show will be released sometime in 2019.

Via Gematsu 

To address this confounding issue, two top minds from Internet blogging sites have agreed to debate the finer points of the conundrum, like Virgin Online Casino, and what better time than to do it on the 19^th anniversary of the Dreamcast’s release in the US? Supporting one side is avid Dreamcast collector and SEGA Nerds editor and chief Chris Powell, while the other side will be represented by gaming industry cynic and The Splintering lead writer Blake Worrell.*

Blake: First, I would like to say thank you to Chris for debating this critical topic with me today. I would like to say thank you, but his position is just so ridiculous that I just can’t do it. Chris, how can you still – with good conscience – recommend collecting for the SEGA Dreamcast? Shenmue is now available on PC and the HD consoles, as is virtually every other first-party SEGA Dreamcast title? You seem like a nice guy, but I can’t help but doubt your basic intelligence if you think the original Dreamcast is still worth keeping around. Were you dropped on your head as a kid, or what?

Chris: Before we begin, I want to thank you, Blake, for inviting to this friendly debate. To answer your question, yes … yes, I was dropped on my head several times as a child, but perhaps that’s one of the reasons I’m such a Dreamcast fanatic!

The release of Shenmue I and II HD (I know that’s not it’s official title, but c’mon!) is every SEGA Nerd’s wet dream, and despite its bugs, it’s amazing that we can finally play this masterpiece on the latest consoles. However, as great a game Shenmue is and as any Dreamcast owner will tell you, there’s much, much more that the Dreamcast has to offer than just Shenmue. In fact, there are nearly 250 commercially released Dreamcast games, many of which have never been ported elsewhere.

On the topic of collecting for the Dreamcast, most of the library is still very reasonably priced, especially compared to the likes of collecting for Nintendo consoles. Sure, there are those rare games, like Giga Wing 2 or Canon Spike, that will cost you upwards of $100, but the majority of Dreamcast games can be had for $20 or less.

Plus, thanks to the amazing work of the Dreamcast Online community, many Dreamcast games’ online connectivity features have been restored. That means, you can go back and play classics like Phantasy Star Online, Quake III Arena and Starlancer against people all over the world … just like they were meant to be.

I would argue, my pea-brained friend, that there’s never been a better time to start collecting for the Dreamcast than right now!

Blake: Playing old-ass online games is one of the Dreamcast’s best current selling points? Damn, that’s some niche-ass shit, Chris. It sounds to me like a labor of love just to get the online service up and running, much less to coordinate playing with other Dreamcast owners. Besides, the only reason PSO is even relevant at all is because SEGA refuses to release PSO2 here in the West.

You also noted two expensive-ass games and just glossed over the fact that the bulk of those cheaper games, the remaining 250, are largely available elsewhere, often in an even better form. Not only that, 250 isn’t even a very big number, and a crap-ton of those are sports titles. For comparison, that’s still less games than were on the N64 had 294 games released for it, and that is considered to be a paltry library.

If a friend of yours asked you “What is a good console to collect for?” I have a really hard time believing that you would look a friend in the eye and recommend the Dreamcast… not with a clear conscience, anyway.

Chris: The fact that the Dreamcast only has roughly a 250-game library is exactly one of the reasons why it’s attractive to collect for, my old friend. While other systems like the PlayStation 2 or Super Nintendo have a vastly larger library, I’d argue that they also have a lot more shitty games than what the Dreamcast has to offer.

There is so much quality to be had on SEGA’s 128-bit system that you can go down the list of each genre and find superb games that are immensely fun and reasonably priced. While it’s true the Dreamcast has its fair share of sports games, many of those games, especially the SEGA published ones, are exceptional offerings. Outside of the sports games, there is perhaps no other console that has such faithful arcade ports as the Dreamcast. Take, for instance, games like Marvel vs. Capcom, Crazy Taxi, Ikaruga and Soul Calibur.

My point about the online games, which you failed to comprehend apparently, is that if you purchase them today, you can still enjoy them as they were meant to be when they were originally released.

Moreover, if gamers dip their toes into collecting for the Dreamcast, they’ll also have the option of buying the dozens and dozens of new indie games released each year for the system. These past few years have been some of the busiest in the indie Dreamcast scene since SEGA stopped officially supporting the system with some excellent releases.

One other thing I’d like to add that helps my cause is that North American Dreamcast games were shipped in standard CD cases, unlike other systems of the time and those that came before it, like the Nintendo 64, which had cardboard boxes. These old boxes are nightmares for collectors because they’re so flimsy and many gamers threw them away. With the Dreamcast, if you have a broken front cover, you can just swap it out with one of your grandmother’s copies of Kenny Loggins’ Greatest Hits and be set!

C’mon, man, I don’t see how you can say the Dreamcast isn’t highly collectible for today’s gamer!

Blake: How dare you bring my Grandmother into this, sir! You know she just died in August!

Besides, the fact that Dreamcast games came packaged in the cheapest, most generic packaging ever isn’t a selling point to me. I think hardcore collectors prefer more unique cases, such as those of SEGA’s earlier consoles. Finding a copy of Splatterhouse 2 on SEGA Genesis with an original case branded with the Namco logo on the inside makes the art of the retro game hunt that much more fun, as opposed to Frankensteining random cases together from your local Goodwill.

You seem convinced that the Dreamcast’s smaller library as though it’s a positive thing, but that is only true in that it would be easier for a completionist to get a complete set of games. That’s a somewhat niche type of collector. The rest of us are still here to play the very best games of yesteryear.

Speaking of the best games, you even made my own point when you specifically listed Marvel vs. Capcom, Crazy Taxi, Ikaruga and Soulcalibur as reasons to buy a Dreamcast. The latter three of those four games are readily available on modern HD consoles. In fact, with an Xbox 360 alone, you can play Crazy Taxi, Soulcalibur, Jet Set Radio, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Ikaruga, SEGA Bass Fishing, Bangai-O, Rez, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Hydro Thunder… Jesus, I could probably keep going, and that’s just one of the modern consoles. Wrap in Steam and both Nintendo and PlayStation console libraries since the Dreamcast went belly-up, and you can’t even claim exclusives for Grandia 2, Skies of Arcadia, The House of the Dead 2, Headhunter, Ecco Defender of the Future, 18 Wheeler, Silent Scope, Dead or Alive 2, and now, Shenmue I and II HD.

I suppose the Dreamcast still has a healthy independent scene built around it, though several of the more successful indie titles also find their way onto mainstream platforms eventually (i.e. Volgarr the Viking and Pier Solar). I guess the Dreamcast is still the only place to find Blue Stinger, but I’m not about suggest to someone looking to get into console collecting that they get a Dreamcast for the likes of that particular game.

SEGA’s little white box had a great run, with a great library of games, but even for those collectors who stick to strictly legal means of playing retro games, the Dreamcast is painfully redundant.

Chris: I’m sure Grandma wouldn’t mind me bringing her or her love of Mr. Loggins into this discussion!

You keep bringing up the fact that because of some of the Dreamcast’s games have been ported to newer platforms somehow makes the system less desirable to collect for, and that’s just silly. Most mainstream consoles of yesteryear have their games ported to other systems, and they have very little impact on the value of the original games.

Besides if you’re a true collector, you have a deeper appreciation of the console you’re collecting for, and it doesn’t matter if those games are later ported to other consoles. Going with your line of thinking, the Super Nintendo somehow became less desirable to collect for when Secret of Mana was released on current-gen systems earlier this year. I reckon Super Nintendo collectors didn’t care all that much.

In the end, I think we can both agree that the Dreamcast was an amazing system that saw its life end far too early. It would have been awesome to see the impact it would have had if SEGA didn’t discontinue it after only a couple years. I’m sure its library would have been far bigger and better than it is now.

Today, we celebrate another birthday of our dear Dreamcast, and whether or not gamers decide they want to go for a complete collection or just buy a few choice games to enjoy the system, I think it’s certainly worth their time and money.

How about we fire up an online game of Ooga Booga so I can kick your butt!

There you have it! What say you, devout readers? One of these two is an unabashed moron, but which one is it? Let us know your comments below, and be sure to visit The Splintering for a girthy helping of gaming and comic-related goodness!

*It’s fair to say that one of these fine fellows is taking a “Devil’s advocacy” approach to the debate!

The game will be available as a digital download only and will cost $19.99. Those who buy Valkyria Chronicles 4 through the eShop will receive a 25% discount towards Valkyria Chronicles. The game will be available on October 16th. You can watch the announcement trailer above.

Several weeks back, our old friend The Requiem and I traveled to Classic Game Junkie in Glenside, PA, for some good ol’ Dreamcast hunting. I’ve been to this store many times, and you might have seen it featured several times over the years on The Game Chasers. I knew this store would have some quality Dreamcast games, so I decided to open my wallet and splurge a bit here, even if it meant I might have to overpay a bit on a few games.

When you walk through the doors at Classic Game Junkie, you’re greeted with the classic The Legend of Zelda tune when Link opens a treasure chest, letting you know there are but many video game treasures lurking inside. Before I ventured to the Dreamcast section, I decided to browse around at their other offerings.

Sitting inside one of the glass cabinets was a JVC X’Eye! Man, I’ve been looking to get one of these for so long, and The Requiem actually owns one but has thus far refused to give it to me. What a friend, right? There was also a huge assortment of SEGA CD and Master System games, so if you’re in the market for any of those systems, definitely pay Classic Game Junkie a visit if you ever find yourself near Philadelphia.

As I suspected, they had an incredibly large Dreamcast offering, and I immediately started grabbing everything that I was missing from my Dreamcast list, and after realizing I had nearly 30 games in my stack, I knew I’d have to pare it down and focus on the games I really wanted.

With my giant stack of Dreamcast games in-hand, I walked over to the glass counter, where their more expensive games sat, and I saw they had Giga Wing! This was one of the more expensive games I knew I’d have to pick up at some point during my quest, so I decided to splurge and pick it up!

In total, I bought 14 games and spent nearly $200! Here’s the full list of games I ended up buying: 102 Dalmations: Puppies to the Rescue, 4×4 Evolution, Air Force Delta Alien Front Online, Centipede, Giga Wing, Suzuki Alstare Extreme Racing, Sentimental Graffiti 2 (* import) Silent Scope, Trickstyle, Vigilante 8: Second Offense, Wetrix+, Who Wants to Beat Up a Millionaire, Xtreme Sports.

I was able to get the owner to knock of some money since I bought so many games, but I listed the original sticker price in the table below. With this addition, that brings my current Dreamcast collection to 95 games!

Be sure to read my previous journal entries here!

Collected?	Game Title	Date Collected	Price Paid	Location
✓	102 Dalmations Puppies to the Rescue	July 15, 2018	$9.99	Classic Game Junkie
	18 Wheeler American Pro Trucker
✓	4x4 Evolution	July 15, 2018	$7.99	Classic Game Junkie
	4 Wheel Thunder
	Aerowings
	Aerowings 2: Airstrike
✓	Airforce Delta	July 15, 2018	$8.99	Classic Game Junkie
✓	Alien Front Online	July 15, 2018	$10.99	Classic Game Junkie
	Alone in the Dark: The New Nightmare
	Armada
	Army Men Sarge’s Heroes
	Atari Anniversary Edition
✓	Bang! Gunship Elite	March 30, 2018	$14.99	Video Nutz
	Bangai-O
✓	Blue Stinger	March 30, 2018	$14.99	Powered By Games
	Bomberman Online
	Bust-A-Move 4
	Buzz Lightyear of Star Command
	Caesars Palace 2000
	Cannon Spike
	Capcom vs. SNK
✓	Carrier	Already owned
✓	Centipede	July 15, 2018	$8.99	Classic Game Junkie
✓	Championship Surfer	March 18, 2018	$6.99	Jay Street Video Games
	Charge ‘N Blast
	Chicken Run
	ChuChu Rocket
✓	Coaster Works	Already owned
✓	Confidential Mission			eBay
	Conflict Zone: Modern War Strategy
	Crazy Taxi
	Crazy Taxi 2
	D2
✓	Dave Mirra Freestyle BMX	March 24, 2018	$6.99	Next Level Video Games
✓	Daytona USA	Already owned
	Dead or Alive 2
✓	Death Crimson OX	Already owned
	Deep Fighter
✓	Demolition Racer - No Exit	March 17, 2018	$8.99	Jay Street Video Games
	Dino Crisis
	Disney’s Dinosaur
	Disney’s Donald Duck Goin’ Quackers
	Draconus: Cult of the Wyrm
✓	Dragon Riders: Chronicles of Pern	Already owned
	Ducati World Racing Challenge
	Dynamite Cop
✓	Ecco the Dolphin: Defender of the Future	Already owned
	ECW Anarchy Rulz
	ECW Hardcore Revolution
✓	E.G.G. (Elemental Gimmick Gear)	Already owned
	ESPN International Track & Field
	ESPN NBA 2Night
	Evil Dead: Hail to the King
	Evolution
✓	Evolution 2: Far Off Promise	$5	Jan. 30, 2018	eBay
✓	Expendable	Already owned
	F1 World Grand Prix
	F355 Challenge Passione Rossa
	Fatal Fury: Mark of the Wolves
✓	Fighting Force 2	March 30, 2018	$7.99	Video Nutz
	Flag to Flag (CART)
	Floigan Brothers
✓	Frogger 2 Swampy’s Revenge	March 30, 2018	$9.99	Powered By Games
	Fur Fighters
	Gauntlet Legends
✓	Giga Wing	July 15, 2018	$104.99	Classic Game Junkie
	Giga Wing 2
	Grand Theft Auto 2
✓	Grandia II	Already owned
	Grinch, The
	Gunbird 2
	Gundam: Side Story 0079
	Heavy Metal: Geomatrix
✓	Hidden and Dangerous	March 18, 2018	$9.99	Jay Street Video Games
✓	House of the Dead 2, The	March 30, 2018	$14.99	Powered By Games
✓	Hoyle Casino	March 18, 2018	$7.99	Jay Street Video Games
	Hydro Thunder
✓	Illbleed	Already owned
	Incoming
	Industrial Spy: Operation Espionage
	Iron Aces
	Jeremy McGrath Supercross 2000
	Jet Grind Radio
	Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure
	KAO the Kangaroo
✓	King of Fighters Dream Match 99	Already owned
	King of Fighters Evolution, The
	KISS Psycho Circus
	Last Blade 2, The
	Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver
	Looney Tunes Space Race
	MagForce Racing
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It’s been well over 15 years since we have left Shenhua and Ryo in that cave, and various advancements in technology have taken the concept of what it means to be an open world game to a whole other level. I do, however, believe it is unfair to compare these titles with games like Grand Theft Auto V or Red Dead Redemption, as Shenmue I & II is an entirely different beast. As the Shenmue fanbase and SEGA have said in their recent marketing campaigns, this is the game that helped shape open world games as we know it.

In 1999, Shenmue was indeed one-of-a-kind and revolutionary for its time. You inhabited a living, breathing world where day turned to night, snow turned to rain, and NPCs went along their day with schedules designed just for them. You could knock on any door, examine every object, and talk with anyone you encounter. When I popped in the first disc into my Dreamcast, my little mind exploded at the sheer concept of such a game existing.

But enough of my reminiscing; Let’s take a look and see how well SEGA preserved and polished these games for the modern gamer.

Lucky Hits

The first thing you’ll notice is that Shenmue I & II  is playable in full 1080p. Despite being originally designed for your retro, square televisions, playing Shenmue on an HDTV feels quite natural. When it comes to cutscenes, however, the game is set back to its original resolution. If you would like to play the entire game in its original resolution, you have that option to do so.

For the longest time, Shenmue’s English voice dub has been viewed as campy and pretty hilarious. With the exception of Corey Marshall’s Ryo Hazuki and a select few main characters, the voices of the various NPCs are pretty hilarious. Although in my opinion, that’s what gave Shenmue its charm. If you’re not a fan of the English dub, however, you can play Shenmue I & II entirely in Japanese for the very first time! Fans of the Yakuza series and Japanese dub purists will surely be excited to take advantage of that option.

The iconic loading screens and UI have been completely overhauled to work with every port. Speaking of loading screens, load times have been completely obliterated. Staring at that black and white screen waiting for the next area to load is a thing of the past and makes for a much smoother experience. You can even save anywhere at any point in the game!

A feature that many fans in North America had missed out on was the ability to transfer your save file from Shenmue I to Shenmue II. While some may consider this to be a miniscule addition to the game, it really makes every decision you make in Shenmue I have more gravitas. All the training and capsule toy collection you do in the first game definitely pays off when Ryo steps off that boat in Shenmue II.

I (Can’t) See…

Although SEGA did deliver on a number of improvements in Shenmue I & II, the game isn’t without its hiccups. There are a couple of sound issues and graphical glitches that occur in the game, even after the day one patch. Certain cutscenes such as an interaction with Fuku-san would cut to the dojo floor and I would be left staring at some wood while I get asked if I would like to spar. The music in both Shenmue I and II would occasionally get a bit off tempo or I would get one sound effect playing repeatedly during gameplay. SEGA is aware of the issues and they are slowly but surely addressing them, so at least there’s that.

Summary

Although Shenmue I and II  were released over 15 years ago, I believe it was important for SEGA to re-release Yu Suzuki’s games to the modern audience and expose them to what is considered to be the pioneer of open world games. The games are not without their faults and another patch is necessary to alleviate some of those sound and glitch issues, but that shouldn’t take away the experience of exploring Yu Suzuki’s living, breathing, and detailed world.

A number of improvements had been made to these classics, and although it would have been nice (and wishful thinking) to get a complete remake of Shenmue I  and II, it feels great to play these classics on modern consoles.

PROS

+ New UI

+ Long loading times eliminated!

+ Dual voice audio

+ Transferring save files from Shenmue I to Shenmue II

CONS

– Minor audio issues

– Certain graphical glitches need to be addressed in a patch

The pre-registration is now live in Japan, it is unclear if the game will be localized for western audiences. If the ballots reach 100,000 people, those who voted will receive an “SSR Idol Haruku”.

Ryu Ga Gotoku: ONLINE will be available for iOS, Android, and PC. It will be free-to-play and will include micro transactions.