Shenmue – which turns 25 today – is one of the most significant games Sega has ever made, not just because it was critically acclaimed but because it was a massive gamble for the Japanese veteran at a time when it badly needed a commercial smash.
With its sky-high development costs, it was a real statement of intent by Sega, and was hoped to be the Dreamcast's killer app. Even so, the company was clearly already thinking of its multi-platform future, as it has been revealed that Sega's AM2 division ported Shenmue to PS2 and Xbox, but neither was released.
Speaking to Famitsu (thanks, GameSpew), developer Norikazu Hirai made the admission regarding the PS2 port. "It worked. We changed the graphics system and made it fully playable." Makoto Wada adds that "the shaders for the Dreamcast were fixed, and the PlayStation 2 had to be programmed to support the shaders. From a game perspective, if you had wanted to release it, you could have done it."
The game was also ported to Xbox, and would have served as a neat forerunner to the sequel, which was released on Microsoft's console soon after the Dreamcast version. However, Wada reveals that this port was never released due to rights issues.
"I think it was due to rights issues, not technical issues. You see, it was tied up with real companies, like TIMEX watches and Coca-Cola drinks. That contract was only for the Dreamcast version of “Chapter 1″, so I think it was shelved for reasons such as not being able to be used on other consoles."