Ryo Hazuki Returns!

[Specially Cork]

http://uk.xbox360.ign.com/articles/103/1032667p1.html

After an eight year absence, Shenmue star Ryo Hazuki is returning to videogames, with SEGA announcing the sailor-seeker as a playable character in forthcoming SEGA All-Stars Racing.

Awesomesauce.

[Code-Red]

Pretty lame fucking way to make a come back if you ask me.

[Nico0020]

LOL, you beat me to it. I actually got a fucking phone call this morning with a friend telling me. Lame yes, but funny as hell. His normal vehicle is a motorcycle, but you do a special or something and it puts you in the forklift.

[mrandyk]

If I hadnt already heard about this then I would have been horribly let down by this topic. I guess this is a step towards Sega maybe thinking about finishing up Shenmue, it definitely helps. I might have to play this game now that Ryo is in it, and it is awesome they have the fucking forklift as a vehicle.

[Juan]

Never really cared for Ryo, just the actual game. Shenmue that is.

[Jeeba Jabba]

RYOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

[spinksy]

What a load of rubbish.

Sega are practically rubbing our faces in it!!

Who cares about this new stupid game coming out...........no-one at all that I know thats for sure (let's face facts it aint going to sell well is it ).

Release Shenmue 3 though and me and all my mates would be absolutely buzzing.

Sort it out Sega.......

[Jeeba Jabba]

Shenmue 3 will never, ever happen.

[Specially Cork]

It's going to cost millions of dollars to make a third game in a series that has never come close to making a profit. If it had low sales but high critical acclaim they could go down the "unplayed classic" angle to re-market the franchise, but it didn't really get a lot of high critical acclaim either. Even as a fanboy, going back to it...the game is kinda rough.

[Nico0020]

Amazingly I never really cared for Shenmue 1. I played it and liked it, but it was Shenmue 2 that I just found absolutely amazing. I just felt so limited in Shenmue 1 with only two areas to explore, though I admit there really was a lot of places to go. I just wanted to be somewhere other than the town and the harbor. I never did pick up and play the xbox version as I had already picked up the PAL version from my local gamestop (crazy find I know), but when i've seen it played it looks really washed out for some reason.

[mrandyk]

Really if you want to see the end of this story you will have to hold out and hope that a novel or something comes out. And if one came out I would probably just ask someone if he kills Lan Di, but for some reason I feel like Ryo will pussy out of it or get fucking destroyed. He should buy a gun.

[Lartrak]

What's most interesting about Shenmue is that it sold well - for a game with a more moderate budget, anyway. It surpassed a million sold, after all.

I think I'm in a small minority who really enjoyed the first game but didn't particularly care for the second. It had a similar exploration element, but it got tiresome for me because the world was so much bigger. I also hated the bits where you had to follow some ultra slow person somewhere. Boring as shit.

I dunno, I'm gonna go back and try it again some time. I probably would have given it a longer go if I'd have payed the high price most did - but I got real lucky and snagged it for $14 (Dreamcast version) from GameStop.

[Quzar]

He should buy a gun.

That would be an amazing plot development. I want to see that now in any free-roaming sort of game. Most of the game you spent doing martial arts and such, then near the end out of desperation you just start shooting people.

[spinksy]

Me and my mates loved Shenmue 1. I remember getting it when it first came out - I was in absolute awe!

I've been playing it acouple of weeks ago and still loved it. Amazingly I've never ever played the second. I have a cd-r copy I downloaded but kind of want to get an original copy before I play it through.

[cube_b3]

Wow, you guys are completely out of the loop considering SOL is a member of this forum as well.

Here's what happend since Sumo Digital is so in touch with the online community they were bombarded like hell for a playable Ryo Hazuki in Sega Superstars Tennis, in an interview and on Sega Nerds Forums SOL was asked If you could add one more character to SST who would it be?

He responded 'Ryu' Hazuki because the fans have been giving him hell (yes he called him Ryu in the interview and on the message board, and I called him on it he responded that it was just a typo and he knows it's Ryo)...

So unsurprisngly this time Ryo had to be in it, this is not an indicator for Shenmue 3 had things worked that way we would have had Chu Chu Rocket 2, Space Channel 5 part 3, Jet Set Radio Future Future (aka JSR3) and sequels to all the other dead franchises that were featured in the Sega Superstars Tennis Game would've been brought back before this one.

[Specially Cork]

I never really had my hopes up. It's honestly a part of my gaming past I'd just like to forget about. I can't believe 8 years have passed. Those 2 games consumed my life when I played them, and gave me an experience I had never felt before in gaming. I loved them. Knowing it will probably never end up finished used to anger me...but now it's just a dissapointment I've accepted. Worst of all, going back to the games, I can't find that same experience anymore. The controls are horrendous, and the story is lacking way more than I remembered it to be. I'm very nostaligic about certain parts of both games, but the rest just feels like dull filler to me now. Both used to fight for 1st place on my Top 10 games list, now I'm not sure if they're even on the list at all.

[Calavera]

I loved Shenmue 1 and 2, parts of 2 were frustrating but it was still a great game. If I went back and played them now, I don't think I would enjoy it very much

[Skynet]

Walking across the planks in that building was boring

[not just souLLy now]

I'm still gutted the B&K outing on the 360 was terrible, I persevered for hours before I'd accept it sucked.

[Specially Cork]

Rare were never known for pumping out videogames, but that was forgiveable when their games were almost all AAA. Now though...I'm starting to wonder exactly how much longer they'll last.