Dead or Alive 5 Shenmue mod does what Sega won't

The likelihood of Sega investing the millions of pounds it would take to create the Shenmue sequel the series' fans want gets less and less with each day. But we always have mods!

The Dead or Alive Shenmue Edition mod was created by tinkerer Esppiral, who retextured a couple of the characters in the PC version of Koei Tecmo fighting game Dead or Alive 5 Last Round to look like characters from Shenmue.

So, Jacky becomes Ryo, Akira is Lan Di and the Dojo stage is Shenmue's Dojo.

It's pretty impressive work, as the screenshots, below, show.

"Have you ever wanted a Shenmue fighting game? You already know it won't happen, EVER!" Esppiral wrote in a post on Shenmuedojo.net.

"But we can always mod existing games to fullfill our deepest dreams."

Last month Koei Tecmo called on PC modders to play Dead or Alive 5 Last Round "in good moral and manner".

Here's part of a statement sent to Eurogamer on the matter last month:

"...please take into consideration that contents created by, not only game developers, but also from music composers, film producers, animators etc. should be respected and protected so that they further the longevity of their intellectual properties."

Hopefully Koei Tecmo takes the Shenmue mod in the spirit with which it is intended. Meanwhile, the inevitable raft of Dead or Alive nude mods is already widely available. Koei Tecmo will no doubt target those before any others.