The Shenmue Thread - Now with an anime adaptation

[sasazuka]

^ Yeah, that's the thing, I could easily do a honest personal top 10 Sega game list that doesn't include a single Sonic the Hedgehog game. Leaving Sonic out of a top 20 Sega list would be pushing it for me but a Sonic-free top 10 would be doable. But Sonic dominates what Sega nostalgia there is with non-Sega fans and the backlash against 1990s "with attitude" marketing of which Sonic was emblematic means that the 90% of Sega games that have nothing to do with Sonic somehow get tainted by association.

 

[Red Hood]

It's easy to forget we almost got a Vectorman reboot for the PS2. Oh, what might have been.

 

[Nazi vegeta]

it's sad that sega was never that good at promoting their IPs.

wonderful games such as revenge of shinobi and shinobi 3, never get the recognition they deserve.
for example, It's always about ninja gaiden on the nes, when it comes to nostalgia of ninja games.

it's fucking sad.

 

[Duncan Hills Coffee]

I totally get this decision. Gamers today entering their 20s probably don't know what Shenmue is unless they happened to have both a Dreamcast and Shenmue at a really early age. And making HD ports is one of the best ways to reintroduce the series to the current audience. I've always wanted to play Shenmue but I've never owned a Dreamcast and I'm not big on emulation or piracy, so I will definitely get this collection.

That said, it is really weird how we haven't heard anything about Shenmue III even though it was officially announced some time ago.

 

[aqua sama]

I totally get this decision. Gamers today entering their 20s probably don't know what Shenmue is unless they happened to have both a Dreamcast and Shenmue at a really early age. And making HD ports is one of the best ways to reintroduce the series to the current audience. I've always wanted to play Shenmue but I've never owned a Dreamcast and I'm not big on emulation or piracy, so I will definitely get this collection.

That said, it is really weird how we haven't heard anything about Shenmue III even though it was officially announced some time ago.

they have shown something. It's just that it does not get promoted very much, since there's no sony/microsoft or nintendo marketing machine, behind it.

 

[XYZpdq]

I also recall getting very frustrated trying to move the guy around the house that had a Saturn which discouraged me from enjoying that I could make him open a drawer and look at socks.

 

[TrippinKahlua]

This is wonderful. I've always wanted to play it but never had a Dreamcast. I consider myself an "80s Historian" and so I've always wanted to see this take on 1980s Asia.

 

[The Great Citracett]

Going to be a day one purchase for me. Got Shenmue 2 for Xbox not long after it came out. Never had a Dreamcast so I went in totally clueless except for the "movie" it came with and was amazed.

Not long after that I bought a Dreamcast+Shenmue for like $30. Two of my favorite games ever, and I'm always trying to explain them to people. I was actually meaning to play them again soon so it looks like I'll just wait for this and encourage others to grab it too.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

Still a great game. If you have trouble getting into it I implore you to keep playing and go at your own pace.

Shenmue is a very slowly moving game but in a good way.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Still a great game. If you have trouble getting into it I implore you to keep playing and go at your own pace.

Shenmue is a very slowly moving game but in a good way.

A walking simulator 15 years ahead of its time, think of it like that and a lot of the game makes more sense, also the modern progenitor of QTEs.

 

[Sir Wesley Tailpipe]

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?

Oh, Shenmue has aged like milk. Even two years after release it was just about unplayable.

 

[The Great Citracett]

The remasters are great because they fixed the control scheme. The originals had such a weird setup. Had to use the D-pad to move, the left stick was just to look around. Left trigger was zoom, right trigger was run. Xbox had two sticks, but the right one was used for absolutely nothing.

The controls being updated is a massive improvement.

 

[Marissa Moira]

The remasters are great because they fixed the control scheme. The originals had such a weird setup. Had to use the D-pad to move, the left stick was just to look around. Left trigger was zoom, right trigger was run. Xbox had two sticks, but the right one was used for absolutely nothing.

The controls being updated is a massive improvement.

It still controls clunky as all hell despite the update.

I got stuck on corners in close quarter spaces. Martial arts also have some weirdness for some moves. I did everything in both games this time around, collected all the martal arts moves, collected all the gatchapon toys, every possible and feasible inventory item was accounted for. Did all the trophy/achievement requirements too.

I liked 2 much better than 1, 1 felt like an elongated tutorial section and the lack of time skip feature did hurt it in many places because I was waiting for more than 15 minutes in some instances.

Also you can change the date to spring in 1 so you can see the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

 

[Sir Wesley Tailpipe]

The remasters are great because they fixed the control scheme. The originals had such a weird setup. Had to use the D-pad to move, the left stick was just to look around. Left trigger was zoom, right trigger was run. Xbox had two sticks, but the right one was used for absolutely nothing.

The controls being updated is a massive improvement.

The weird controls were due to SEGA’s questionable decision to only put one analog stick on the Dreamcast pad, just one of the bad choices they made with the DC hardware, and the Xbox port of Shenmue 2 being a quickie low-budget port.

The first game tended to err on the side of realism as opposed to being an enjoyable game, so things like not having any option other than to wait hours for things to happen, not having any signs in English or translations for family names on houses and little things like that just made it a chore to play. I bought it for the DC eagerly wanting to see what it was like, and was disappointed by how many rough edges just removed the fun from it.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

The weird controls were due to SEGA’s questionable decision to only put one analog stick on the Dreamcast pad, just one of the bad choices they made with the DC hardware, and the Xbox port of Shenmue 2 being a quickie low-budget port.

The first game tended to err on the side of realism as opposed to being an enjoyable game, so things like not having any option other than to wait hours for things to happen, not having any signs in English or translations for family names on houses and little things like that just made it a chore to play. I bought it for the DC eagerly wanting to see what it was like, and was disappointed by how many rough edges just removed the fun from it.

Oh god, the realism aspect! Yu Suzuki, allegedly, spent a lot of money trying to cast voice actors on qualities such as if they looked like the characters to give them an authentic voice or some bullshit.
Everything had to be recorded in Japan as well and that includes recording in English. That costs money.

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

Oh god, the realism aspect! Yu Suzuki, allegedly, spent a lot of money trying to cast voice actors on qualities such as if they looked like the characters to give them an authentic voice or some bullshit.
Everything had to be recorded in Japan as well and that includes recording in English. That costs money.

Is THAT how we got a soft spoken daddy type to play Ryu? (Okay back then he wasn't but now he is)

I will say Lisele Wilkerson was clearly having the time of her life recording for the series.

 

[Smaug's Smokey Hole]

Is THAT how we got a soft spoken daddy type to play Ryu? (Okay back then he wasn't but now he is)

More or less, he's obviously not asian so they had to find other qualities that embodies Ryu: Booker did martial arts and Ryu is a martial artist and that's how the english speaking voice got cast.

Things like that explains why the voice acting is a bit... strange. But it wasn't just when casting voices Suzuki had ideas that simultaneously exists in the area of dumb, absurd and ambitious, it extended through the whole game and the development of it. That's why it was so fucking expensive and, allegedly, everyone that's ever been someone at SEGA was at some point working on something for Shenmue.

Look at the end credits, it's 9 minutes of names scrolling by.

Shenmue: End Credits

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/ Shenmue: End Credits

www.youtube.com

 

[Scarlett Johansson]

More or less, he's obviously not asian so they had to find other qualities that embodies Ryu: Booker did martial arts and Ryu is a martial artist and that's how the english speaking voice got cast.

Things like that explains why the voice acting is a bit... strange. But it wasn't just when casting voices Suzuki had ideas that simultaneously exists in the area of dumb, absurd and ambitious, it extended through the whole game and the development of it. That's why it was so fucking expensive and, allegedly, everyone that's ever been someone at SEGA was at some point working on something for Shenmue.

Look at the end credits, it's 9 minutes of names scrolling by.

Shenmue: End Credits

http://www.shenmuedojo.net/ Shenmue: End Credits

www.youtube.com

I do appreciate Corey's enthusiasm for the role. His voice is like a soothing stream especially in the remaster trailer lol. (No seriously its this quiet meditative type voice)

Here he is with Lisele having fun at E3

I can't @ the jacket

I'm going to sound weird but honestly the voice acting in the games isn't that bad nor is it a victim of that mid 90s piss poor dubbing trend. Especially compared to other English language games in Japan like Arc Rise Fantasia and Resident Evil

 

[Sir Wesley Tailpipe]

I'm going to sound weird but honestly the voice acting in the games isn't that bad nor is it a victim of that mid 90s piss poor dubbing trend. Especially compared to other English language games in Japan like Arc Rise Fantasia and Resident Evil

Resident Evil’s voice acting was intentionally done that way to make the game feel more like the cheap Italian horror movies that inspired it.

Arc Rise Fantasia doesn’t have that excuse.

 

[TheTriggerin']

I do appreciate Corey's enthusiasm for the role. His voice is like a soothing stream especially in the remaster trailer lol. (No seriously its this quiet meditative type voice)

Here he is with Lisele having fun at E3

I can't @ the jacket

I'm going to sound weird but honestly the voice acting in the games isn't that bad nor is it a victim of that mid 90s piss poor dubbing trend. Especially compared to other English language games in Japan like Arc Rise Fantasia and Resident Evil

Lisele hasn't aged well, at all. Damn.