The Shenmue Thread - Now with an anime adaptation

[tehpope]

I guess this has been buried due to everything else happening in the world, but Sega finally, finally announced Shenmue I & II are getting released on PS4, Xbone, and PC.

It's been hinted at for years, but finally getting released.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/758330/Shenmue_I__II/

About​

Originally released for the Dreamcast in 2000 and 2001, Shenmue I & II is an open world action adventure combining jujitsu combat, investigative sleuthing, RPG elements, and memorable mini-games. It pioneered many aspects of modern gaming, including open world city exploration, and was the game that coined the Quick Time Event (QTE). It was one of the first games with a persistent open world, where day cycles to night, weather changes, shops open and close and NPCs go about their business all on their own schedules. Its engrossing epic story and living world created a generation of passionate fans, and the game consistently makes the list of “greatest games of all time”.​

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Story​

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A tale of revenge.​

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In 1986, teenage jujitsu artist Ryo Hazuki returns to the dojo of his father, Iwao Hazuki, only to witness his murder by a Chinese man, Lan Di. Lan Di steals a mysterious artifact known as the Dragon Mirror. Ryo vows to avenge his father’s death and sets out tracing Lan Di’s path.​

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The first game in the series, Shenmue begins the tale as Ryo travels around Yokosuka, Japan, gathering clues about his father’s murder and dealing with nefarious gangsters along the way.​

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The sequel Shenmue II continues Ryo’s quest, this time crossing the sea to Hong Kong, China. Ryo ventures deeper into the criminal underworld, meeting martial arts masters who aid him on his journey and offer insight into his father’s death, and unravels the mysteries of the Dragon Mirror that his father kept hidden.​

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Gameplay​

• Take the role of Ryo Hazuki.
• Explore a 3D open world searching for clues, examining objects, and talking to NPCs.
• Battle enemies and bosses making full use of the moves of Hazuki-style jujitsu.
• Beat quick-time events (QTEs) and mini-games.

Key features​

• The best Shenmue experience
  • Pioneering Dreamcast classics available for the first time on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
  • Updated user interface
  • Choice of modern or classic controls
  • Japanese audio available for the first time for a global audience (English audio also available)
  • Fully scalable screen resolutions
• An epic legend
  • A tale of revenge on a grand scale
  • Solve the mystery of your father’s murder
  • An experience never to be forgotten
• The world feels alive
  • Talk to anyone, scour the world for clues
  • NPCs live independent lives on their own schedule
  • Faithful recreations of 1980s Japan and Hong Kong, China
  • Distract yourself with arcade games, collectibles, duck racing, and more

Edit: since there's a shenmue anime in the works, renamed the thread. Formerly known as "Shenmue I & II HD - It's Finally Happening"

 

[sasazuka]

Would you believe I own a Dreamcast, well, actually 2 Dreamcasts (one more functional than the other but they both work), but I have never played Shenmue?

I bought gaming magazines and even read early gaming websites so I was obviously aware of Shenmue at the time and it looked impressive but I was simply more interested in racing games. Maybe I would have bought it if I had known you could race a forklift. Another racing game connection is that the music from the ride to the harbor is an instrumental version of the song "Scarlatto" by Genki Hitomi from the very underrated (Ferrari) F355 Challenge Sega Naomi arcade and Dreamcast (and later Playstation 2) game, since both games were directed by Yuu Suzuki.

It's a game I wouldn't mind trying but it's just too expensive any time I see it in used game stores so this re-release for current consoles and gaming capable PCs would be something I quite possibly be interested in. Alas, I don't have a current gen console to play it upon and I doubt the laptop I'm typing this on could handle it.

 

[Red Hood]

Aw, hell yeah. I've been waiting for this. I only ever got to play a little bit of the original due to having to play it on a buddy's Dreamcast and never any of the second. I'm stoked for this.

 

[aqua sama]

I liked the first better at the time.
It felt more intimate and iconic. The second is definitely more fun to play, but 80s japan is one of my favourite settings.

either way, I dont think it's gonna sell that good, especially with sega's shitty marketing.
I also think the xbone port is a waste of time. The game flopped when it was new on ogxbox and they are not getting 3, so people will be even less inclined to pick it up.
Typical sega dumbtardness.

 

[Nazi vegeta]

Would you believe I own a Dreamcast, well, actually 2 Dreamcasts (one more functional than the other but they both work), but I have never played Shenmue?

I bought gaming magazines and even read early gaming websites so I was obviously aware of Shenmue at the time and it looked impressive but I was simply more interested in racing games. Maybe I would have bought it if I had known you could race a forklift. Another racing game connection is that the music from the ride to the harbor is an instrumental version of the song "Scarlatto" by Genki Hitomi from the very underrated (Ferrari) F355 Challenge Sega Naomi arcade and Dreamcast (and later Playstation 2) game, since both games were directed by Yuu Suzuki.

It's a game I wouldn't mind trying but it's just too expensive any time I see it in used game stores so this re-release for current consoles and gaming capable PCs would be something I quite possibly be interested in. Alas, I don't have a current gen console to play it upon and I doubt the laptop I'm typing this on could handle it.

talking about racing games, Shenmue 1 allows you to play hang on in dobuita's arcade, while Shenmue 2 adds outrun. Other playable games included are, all yu Suzuki creations such as: space harrier and afterburner.

As for your pc, I think it might be able to run it. These are dreamcast games after all and they seem to be just straight up ports, so I don't think they'll be crysis-level hard to run. Unless it's a really old laptop, you should be fine.

 

[XYZpdq]

Would you believe I own a Dreamcast, well, actually 2 Dreamcasts (one more functional than the other but they both work), but I have never played Shenmue?

I bought gaming magazines and even read early gaming websites so I was obviously aware of Shenmue at the time and it looked impressive but I was simply more interested in racing games. Maybe I would have bought it if I had known you could race a forklift. Another racing game connection is that the music from the ride to the harbor is an instrumental version of the song "Scarlatto" by Genki Hitomi from the very underrated (Ferrari) F355 Challenge Sega Naomi arcade and Dreamcast (and later Playstation 2) game, since both games were directed by Yuu Suzuki.

It's a game I wouldn't mind trying but it's just too expensive any time I see it in used game stores so this re-release for current consoles and gaming capable PCs would be something I quite possibly be interested in. Alas, I don't have a current gen console to play it upon and I doubt the laptop I'm typing this on could handle it.

I started playing it, then I played GTA3 and realized that having a part-time job and raising a kitten isn't as fun as running over people in a cab and kicking hookers.

 

[Lackadaisy]

duck racing

Sign me the fuck up, fam

 

[Takayuki Yagami]

I saw the tease and was hoping it was Virgua Fighter 6 like a spastic. Every other fighting game is coming back...

 

[MrTroll]

Why is Sega re-releasing crap nobody wants like Shenmue when gems like Sonic R still haven't gotten an HD version?

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

It's a game I wouldn't mind trying but it's just too expensive any time I see it in used game stores so this re-release for current consoles and gaming capable PCs would be something I quite possibly be interested in. Alas, I don't have a current gen console to play it upon and I doubt the laptop I'm typing this on could handle it.

You could just emulate it. Or just pirate it for the DC, that's probably easier.

I bet the new ports will still have that dog shit compressed audio. Characters shouldn't sound like if they were talking through a can on a string.

 

[CIA Nigger]

Why is Sega re-releasing crap nobody wants like Shenmue when gems like Sonic R still haven't gotten an HD version?

I doubt it's crap nobody wants when the sequel to both got $6 million on Kickstarter.

 

[tehpope]

I also think the xbone port is a waste of time. The game flopped when it was new on ogxbox and they are not getting 3, so people will be even less inclined to pick it up.

The only reason Shenmue II flopped on the Xbox was because most people who wanted to play it when it was on DC imported it from Europe. That was a lot easier and cheaper than buying an Xbox and a copy of the game. Its also hard to sell a sequel to a title that also isn't on the same system.

I have an Xbone and will probably pick it up for it.

 

[aqua sama]

The only reason Shenmue II flopped on the Xbox was because most people who wanted to play it when it was on DC imported it from Europe. That was a lot easier and cheaper than buying an Xbox and a copy of the game. Its also hard to sell a sequel to a title that also isn't on the same system.

I have an Xbone and will probably pick it up for it.

or maybe xboners just dont buy japanese games. there also was the shenmue1 movie to watch, included in the package.

 

[sasazuka]

I started playing it, then I played GTA3 and realized that having a part-time job and raising a kitten isn't as fun as running over people in a cab and kicking hookers.

Yeah, I was wondering how well Shenmue has aged compared to other open-world games, even from the same general era. I know it's not fair to compare it to something like Grand Theft Auto V since they didn't really have the technical ability to create a map that large with that level of detail in 2000, but Grand Theft Auto III seems like a more fair comparison since GTA III's map is only about 10% of the area of GTA V's.

Shenmue wasn't the only open-world action game on Dreamcast. there was also Headhunter. though that game only got a Dreamcast release in Europe, its only North American release was on Playstation 2. Obviously, there were also open-world racing games on Dreamcast like, most famously, Crazy Taxi 1 and 2 plus Super Runabout (which featured many different areas within San Francisco, a fairly common city for racing games on the DC since it also appeared in Metropolis Street Racers and San Francisco Rush 2049, and the generic west coast city setting of Crazy Taxi has some obvious San Francisco-inspired sections though no Golden Gate Bridge) but I'm not counting those as being within the same genre since you couldn't get out of your car.

 

[gobbogobb]

Lotta noobs itt who don't know where they can find sailors.

Shenmue was pretty good in it's day. Im willing to bet it hasn't aged as badly as some remasters.

Now where's my ready to rumble boxing?

 

[Computery Guy]

I have never once heard of this game, I do not know anyone else who has ever heard of it, and this is either a game with the world's biggest, quietest fanbase or there is a massive gap in my geek knowledge.

Either possibility is slightly baffling.

 

[vertexwindi]

I have never once heard of this game, I do not know anyone else who has ever heard of it, and this is either a game with the world's biggest, quietest fanbase or there is a massive gap in my geek knowledge.

Either possibility is slightly baffling.

It's got a cult following like Bully's where you have to seek them out instead of having them force it down your throat like Earthbound's.

 

[Nazi vegeta]

I have never once heard of this game, I do not know anyone else who has ever heard of it, and this is either a game with the world's biggest, quietest fanbase or there is a massive gap in my geek knowledge.

Either possibility is slightly baffling.

If you have ever read a console videogame magazine in the late nineties, it was pretty hard to not stumble into it.

 

[sasazuka]

I have never once heard of this game, I do not know anyone else who has ever heard of it, and this is either a game with the world's biggest, quietest fanbase or there is a massive gap in my geek knowledge.

Maybe it's because Sega lost the nostalgia war to the point where the only Sega-produced game on the Polygon All-time Top 100 games list is an NFL game on the freaking XBox, so even innovative games like Shenmue can get overlooked by Big Nostalgia.

EDIT: I was thinking of Polygon's list, not IGN's, whose top 100 is even more devoid of Sega than Polygon's.

 

[Red Hood]

Maybe it's because Sega lost the nostalgia war to the point where the only Sega-produced game on the Polygon All-time Top 100 games list is an NFL game on the freaking XBox, so even innovative games like Shenmue can get overlooked by Big Nostalgia.

EDIT: I was thinking of Polygon's list, not IGN's, whose top 100 is even more devoid of Sega than Polygon's.

This is accurate. Sega's nostalgia sperging trends strongly towards Sanic, leaving games like Shinobi, Shining Force, and Golden Axe mostly forgotten by the generation that started gaming AFTER Sega left the console market. Shenmue was an expensive investment for Sega that didn't really pay off, but it was an investment in one of their top talents (Yu Suzuki) basically designing his dream game.

It makes a degree of sense that they'd bring out 1 and 2 before the 3rd game launches to drum up some interest in the franchise.