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I bought the latest issue of GAMES magazine(UK) hoping to see loads of DC games in the top 100 games of all time. Well, Crazy Taxi, JSR and Rez were included, but neither of the Shenmue games. What is it with games journalist and our beloved unfinished trilogy ?

Each game in the top 100 gets it's own front cover, meaning only 400 copies of each. I tried to find the REZ and JSR covers but to no avail. I eventually settled on the 1984 classic Elite.

To be fair, Shenmue was intended to be sixteen chapters, a total of seven games.

It's okay Adam, obviously you were unaware of this, but Sega scrapped Yu Suzuki's 16 chapter plans and instead opted for the game to be broken into three 4 disc games. The reason for this change in plans was believed to be due to Capcom. Capcom was already in the process of a staggered release of Eldorado Gate as a seven volume RPG.

Eldorado Gate had rather lackluster sales and allegedly sold more copies after all seven volumes were re-released later in a box set than they ever did during the individual volume release.

If SoJ had stuck with the plans of releasing Shenmue as a 16-disc game it's unknown if we would have ever gotten an English version release. SoA and SoE would have been far less likely to have wanted to invest in localising a 16-part game than a three part game. Crud, SoA didn't even go as far as SoE in that there was never a North American release of Shenmue II for Dreamcast.

But it's really no surprise that Sega games are so neglected by the modern gaming media. Modern gaming media publications are about 90% paid advertising and 10% opinion.

16 chapters doesn't mean 16 games. Shenmue I was chapter one, but they skipped chapter 2 (the boat ride), and then Shenmue II consists of chapters 3, 4, and 5.

So, the other five games were intended to cover the remaining chapters.

I have little doubt that Sega would have condensed it, similar to the way they did with Shenmue II.

Now, I have no doubt at all, that should we see Shenmue III one day, it will contain 6 through 16.

Yeah, Chapter 2 was a comic book that came with Shenmue 2 on xbox right? I would love to see it as a pdf file or included on a shenmue 2 passport disc if that was possible so it would be viewable on the DC.

Well if Shenmue 3 does come out anytime in the future blueray might become the norm and you could fit 10 chapters easily on one disc.

Favrenation wrote:Well if Shenmue 3 does come out anytime in the future blueray might become the norm and you could fit 10 chapters easily on one disc.

yeah, and they'd prolly charge you €600 for it