Shenmue

[Discoalucard]

OK, this is all kinds of "not done", but I need some opinions:

www.hardcoregaming101.net/shenmue/shenmue.htm

So what I want to do is add a "remarkable moments" section highlighting the best (and worst) segments of both games. For the first game, I wanted to put the "looking for sailors" bit, the forklifting crap, and maybe a bit about the arcade. For the second game, I wanted to put the awesome part where you go to the barber and are told to "not move" despite a QTE coming up. Also, the part where Ryo and Ren are handcuffed together, and the book carrying segments.

So what else should be added? For those of you that are fans, what really made you love the game? I'm still working on that segment myself. I love it because it's about as close as you can get to exploring a Japanese suburb without actually leaving your house. Hong Kong is a bit different, because the HK in Shenmue II is COMPLETELY different from HK in real life, but it's still a fantastic world.

[Haz]

Let's start with the american Boxart.

[Discoalucard]

The American and Japanese versions of the first game use the same art, so I just used a wallpaper image. I used both the Japanese DC (same as European) and the American Xbox covers for Shenmue II.

[The bag of sand]

I know its still being worked on but I found a typo.

IDon Niu
The leader of the Yellowheads. Hefs a very big, very ugly guy. Not only is he looking for Yuanda Zhu, but he has a vendetta gainst Ren too. He's the final boss in Shenmue II.

I would put some input on the first one but its been ages since I played it. Never got around to the second one though. I need to pick it up soon. Other than that though it looks good.

[Shellshock]

This is, to me, the only game worth getting a Dreamcast for back in the days. Unfortunately the console's horrible pads, short-circuiting pad slots and its lens' short lifespan when playing bootlegs made me skip it. I wish they had come out for PS2.
Great work guys!

[vnisanian2001]

Thank you so much, Kurt, for finally doing an article about the awesome underrated Shenmue.

But just out of curiosity, will it also mention the future of the series as well (like Shenmue Online, and the possibility of Sega bringing the series to a conclusion)?

[personman]

Ah, I was hoping this series would be covered, I liked what I played of the second one quite a bit.... for some reason. Need to start that over sometime on my 360.

Also, you might want to consider looking into the supposed MMO for the series Shenmue Online. I know next to nothing about it, and there has been no new news for it since July of last year so I have no idea of it's status but it looks like it WAS in development. IGN has some media here: pc.ign.com/objects/695/695840.html

[Discoalucard]

Oh, the author wrote up a whole bit about Shenmue Online, I just haven't put it in yet.

Another other suggestions?

[Deleted]

Hmmmmmmmm... from the sounds of it, the second game is better than the first. Though, I should probably actually go and try to find the time to beat the first game. I played it for a bit, but all I really did was go down to the arcade and fiddle around with Space Harrier. Heh... and I'm not sure I've touched it since. Still, for the atmosphere, Shenmue seems quite awesome. I can't really say if it's over or under-rated, simply because I just haven't touched it much. But I'll get around to it someday.

[evilsamurai]

what about yakuza which is the spiritual successor to shemue?

[ninjarygar]

Might be a good idea if you can get a screenshot or two of what the Saturn game looked like from the pre-release video you mention. For the curious.

I can think of so many things worth mentioning....
1) I remember taking care of that cat in the box. Another extremely pointless thing to do in the game, and shows just how many ideas they wanted to include.
2) Remember the ride home with your girlfriend after you rescued her, and the music that played? There's something about that scene that just feels..... embarassing for anybody whose playing. Like you said, the girl was useless... and it looks like that cutscene was intedned to invoke some sort of emotion from the player, but ended up just being humilating to watch.
3) Remember how they'd teach you a new move at the end of the game and you didn't even get to use it? How annoying was that?! Yeah... that pissed me off more than anything.

You did a great job focusing on what made Shenmue different and ambitious.... but also pointing out that the whole thing was very anticlimatic and the first game made you feel like you really wasted your time while you were watching the end credits. I really feel for the creator.... I can tell he really wanted to make something that was more than just a videogame... but I don't think it ended up the way he wanted. Shenmue is definately a game that will be remembered.

[Discoalucard]

ninjarygar said:

1) I remember taking care of that cat in the box. Another extremely pointless thing to do in the game, and shows just how many ideas they wanted to include.
2) Remember the ride home with your girlfriend after you rescued her, and the music that played? There's something about that scene that just feels..... embarassing for anybody whose playing. Like you said, the girl was useless... and it looks like that cutscene was intedned to invoke some sort of emotion from the player, but ended up just being humilating to watch.

Ah yes! Thanks for the reminders, both definitely worth addressing.

Anyway, I've updated the page with a "key events" section. The actual body text still needs heavy revising so it isn't as redundant.

[crithit5000]

I wanted to put the "looking for sailors" bit

I registered just to beg for this goofy video to be added to the article. Also, the artist in question.

[necromaniac]

Tribute at Mega64.
You should also mention how Ryo enjoys his soda.+
Man I love that game...

[mainpatr]

personman said:

Ah, I was hoping this series would be covered, I liked what I played of the second one quite a bit.... for some reason. Need to start that over sometime on my 360.

Also, you might want to consider looking into the supposed MMO for the series Shenmue Online. I know next to nothing about it, and there has been no new news for it since July of last year so I have no idea of it's status but it looks like it WAS in development. IGN has some media here: pc.ign.com/objects/695/695840.html

I was looking for more information about Shenmue Online using Chinese Google translator and found this.

64.233.179.104/translate_c?hl=en&langpair=zh|en&u=http://newgame.17173.com/content/2006-06-24/20060624195051122.shtml#menu

Copy link, and look at the title bar on your browser.

This is what the word Shenmue comes out as in Chinese.