Remember Sega Dreamcast, the last of the company's home consoles? After a little more than 15 years following its release, it's seeing a resurgence in popularity.
Most agree it's due to a nostalgia-steeped decision by Sony to remake or re-release older titles. At Sony's E3 press conference this past June, the company announced its plan to remake some fan favorite IPs, including Final Fantasty VII, for up-to-date consoles. One of the games included in this lineup is Shenmue 3, the upcoming sequel in the Dreamcast Shenmue franchise.
To refresh your memory: the Shenmue action-adventure series follows the story of protagonist/martial artist Ryo Hazuki, and mixes elements of RPG, life simulation and battle brawling.
To make the follow-up, Sony used Kickstarter to drum up enough money for creative costs, which fans were only happy to oblige: as of now, it's raised around $6.3 million. While the first two Shenmue games were originally made for Dreamcast, the current iteration will only be compatible for PS4 and PC consoles.
Reports involving an extreme uptick in sales for Sega's 1999 flagship device are mostly coming from independent video game stores.
In a conversation with The Market for Computer and Video Games (MCV), a UK gaming trade publication, retailer Alex Bowness from the Canterbury-based Level Up Games commented, "All of sudden, people are asking where they can play the original two Shenmue games. The announcement of Shenmue III really piqued everyone's interest."
Even gamers who can't get a hold of the original console have contributed to the Dreamcast revival.
Michael Wealleans of Reload Games added, "People are trying to get hold of the original copies of Shenmue and Final Fantasy VII, even if they don't have the console to play it on. They just want it in their collection."
Check out the original Kickstarter video for Shenmue 3 below.
Via: MCV
Photo: luftholen | Flickr
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