It’s not every day you hear news about Shenmue, but that’s mostly because the series has petered out after making such a big splash at Sony’s E3 2015 conference. Despite years of hype and anticipation from fans, when Shenmue III released in 2019, it was met with the enthusiasm of a wet fart. Too archaic for newer players and too incomplete for returning fans, the game failed to cap off the saga in any interesting fashion. Six years later, though, developer YS Net is trying again with the newly announced Shenmue III Enhanced, which will finally bring Ryo Hazuki’s journey to Nintendo Switch… though only the third installment.
As you could probably figure from the title, Shenmue III Enhanced is an updated port of the third iteration of the series that features many improvements over the original version. Available on PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and “Nintendo” platforms, this belated update will feature enhanced graphics, 4K textures, DLSS/FSR support on PC, increased NPC density, a new “classic” camera option, some gameplay tweaks, and whatever “improved interactions” means. It sounds more in line with what was promised from that Kickstarter a decade ago, though purists can toggle everything off to get the original experience.
If you do happen to own the game on PC or PlayStation 4, an upgrade path will be available. It’s curious, though, that no specific Switch platform is mentioned for this port. I’m guessing that means it will be a Switch 2 exclusive, but I suppose publisher ININ Games is hopeful it can port the title to Switch 1. Whatever the reason, Nintendo fans will finally be able to engage with a bit of Ryo’s story, even if it’s only the latest chapter in it. Maybe this will spur Sega to port Shenmue 1+2 to Switch.
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
