New Shenmue Game Coming…As Inspired by Mafia Wars

I have a soft spot in the blackened onyx gemstone where my heart should be for Shenmue. So, you can imagine my excitement when I heard that a new Shenmue game was being developed, for real. You can also imagine my immediate disappointment when I heard that it was a mobile phone game.

From that little paragraph, you can assume my even greater disappointment when I heard that this new game was inspired by Mafia Wars. But it’s not all bad.

Yu Suzuki, the creator of Outrun, Virtua Fighter, Space Harrier, and Shenmue, told Famitsu in an interview that the new social game Shenmue City was partially inspired by the multiplayer browser game Mafia Wars. Zynga’s popular browser game showed Suzuki that a browser-based game might be a good medium to tell the Shenmue story in a unique way without the need for high-quality graphics and production values. He also felt that if he could make Shenmue a success in this area, he could perhaps do more with the series in the future.

The good news is that Shenmue City is NOT Shenmue 3. “Shenmue has the image of grand scale,” said Suzuki. “But making something of grand scale requires appropriate preparation. I want to make 3 with the same volume as in the past. There have actually been a lot of requests from fans for 3 as well. There were even petitions signed by by tens of thousands of people. I wanted to carry out my obligations for the series.”

So, it’s not so bad after all. Suzuki needs money, and browser games have been known to literally crap gold bars; it’s all a means to an end. Eventually we might get a Shenmue 3, and a well-designed phone game is something everyone loves.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go look for some sailors.

Sources: Kotaku,  Andriasang,

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