Shenmue: A Lost Legacy
- Posted November 28th, 2007 at 11:52 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 23 Comments
In the seven years since its debut on Western shores, Shenmue has become something of a forgotten gem; a relic, a promise of lofty ambitions that never quite met up to expectations going by the severe lashings it received from the gaming press at the time. Yet for some, the USD 70 million epic (dubbed by its creators as “F.R.E.E” – Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment) inaugurated a new era in videogame interactivity and storytelling, with its Hollywood-esque production values, gripping narrative and sheer volume of characters and environments in which to converse with and explore.
Despite following on with an inevitable sequel in 2001, the franchise on a whole has been suspended on a seemingly indefinite hiatus ever since, kept alive only by frequent speculation and conjecture emanating from what could only be described as a tenaciously loyal fanbase. Indeed, the elusive Shenmue III soon became something of an urban legend in itself, frequently neglected to monthly rumour columns in various magazines and websites in the post-Shenmue II years. Sega’s only endeavour to keep the series afloat – the ambitious Shenmue Online – collapsed after three years of development, prompting many to question whether the series had any future at all, let alone in the form of a physical sequel.
^ And thus the saga, begins...
And so, with the future of Yu Suzuki’s epic hanging in the balance, PSU takes the opportunity to look back at the series and explore just what made the original so significant for its time, and speculate on the possibilities (some more realistic than others) to what Sega could take with a final instalment utilizing the latest hardware with Sony’s PlayStation 3.
Released at the tail end of 1999 in Japan and a year later in the west, the original Shenmue kicks off in November 1986, focusing on the journey of a young martial artist named Ryo Hazuki, who resides in the peaceful Japanese community of Sakuragaoka, Yokosuka After returning home one cold November evening, the 18-year old Hazuki’s life is soon thrown into turmoil, after witnessing the brutal murder of his father, Iwoa, at the hands of a mysterious individual named Lan Di; a practitioner of a particularly deadly and elusive marital art. After slaying Hazuki-san and crippling the young Ryo in the process, Lan Di makes his escape, taking a family treasure, the Dragon Mirror with him. And thus, as the game appropriately states, the saga begins.
What follows is quite clearly a straightforward revenge saga, as gamers control the determined, if slightly brash Hazuki on his quest to obtain clues to the mystery surrounding his father’s death. Inexorably lead by this thirst for revenge, Hazuki bumps into all manner of brutes, thugs and low life criminals on his path, and must thwart a number of obstacles if he is to track down the elusive Lan Di. It may seem overally clichéd, but ultimately, its execution as a videogame was unlike no other its time. Indeed, Shenmue feels like the precursor to the Yakuza’s and Oblivion’s of today, from its sheer number of characters on display, to the level of detail put into each and every location available.
^ Shenmue kicks off when Iwoa Hazuki (pictured left) is killed by the mysterious Lan Di (pictured right)
For the first time, gamers were able to immerse themselves in a bustling town, converse with literally hundreds of individual NPC’s (some more distinguishable than others) and interact with dozens of key characters. Though hardly comparable to the prestigious ‘Radiant AI’ of Bethesda’s The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, characters maintained a somewhat primitive daily schedule, going about their business such as opening up shop for the day, browsing stores, chatting among themselves and returning to their apartment once the day is up, creating the illusion that you were part of a living, breathing community.
Other innovative uses of the Dreamcast’s hardware allowed for the developers to incorporate what is known as the Magic Weather System, which allowed players to experience real-time weather change as game hours ticked by, along with a number of other high profile graphical accomplishments, such as realistic facial expressions and real-time shadows.
As mentioned, the level of interactivity at the time of Shenmue’s release was unprecedented. Players ... (continued on next page)
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chelseapaul
- 7:06am EST - November 28th, 2007
- 2
omg thats wierd, i was thinking about shemnue yesterday, started thinking about the possibilities on ps3. they really are endless.
really hope this game gets made, if they utilize the ps3 tech and blu-ray capacity it really will be massive.
heres hopin :)
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njc3190
- 8:23am EST - November 28th, 2007
- 4
It's a massive shame they can't afford to bring this game to a next gen console, especially the PS3. I'm too attached to the first 2 games to not ever play the 3rd! im sure the day will come... I hope it will be a PS3 exclusive, i doubt it though.
Top class article :)
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Mike_Harradence
- 8:49am EST - November 28th, 2007
- 5
Glad to see that there are still some people out there who like Shenmue. Cheers for the comments so far guys. I don't expect everyone to like this to be honest, as I know the series had alot of haters, so I appreciate the warm reception! :)
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Stickemup
- 8:58am EST - November 28th, 2007
- 6
I know man, I remember just starring at the screenshots for this game in class back in like 2000 (Dreamcast Mag) and just day dreaming of how many things I was gonna do in this virtual world. Then I got my hands on it and had a blast. To tell you guys the truth I don't remember much about the game, just that it was such a new/cool experience. I have given thought to buying a used XBOX just to play the second one. But then I see how hideous it is and forget about it. One thing the Dreamcast had over the PS2 for me is that it came out first and when you saw games like Shenmue your mouth just dropped. By the time the PS2 came out the graphics were great but they no longer made you turn your head. Long live the DC!!!
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Dave-The-Rave
- 10:42am EST - November 28th, 2007
- 9
^^ Sonic 2 = greatest sonic ever..
Also I was so annoyed..they stopeed selling dreamcast games before I could ever get my hand on a copy of I or II !! And to add insult to injury for some strange reason they only re-released them on XBOX !! WTF ?? That also tells us that if there is a III it'll likely be on the 360 !!
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gamerzus
- 10:56am EST - November 28th, 2007
- 10
SEGA! needs to Wake the Fuuk UP!!!NOW.
THey are sitting on a goldmine of original TItiles that define Gaming! yet are trapped in the PAST!
SHENMUE was, and is an amazing IP.One of the greatest Epic Master Pieces ever.
Any Sega fan who played Uncharted on PS3,or other next gen games will know that Shenmue did all thoose amazing technological feats and worlds we see now ,years ago, with Dreamcast Power VR, technology!
Yet there tamed since of child gaming needs to grow the Fuuk up and mature already I.e. :an In game Weapons systems some mature violence some action and some very huge explosions!!Some stealth some Shinobi but more next gen!!
Then Sega would be back on top of Software!!!!
WHat the heck happened to Yu Suzuki the Ninja Coder the master of asembly language etc.. Why isn't he on the PS3 doin Shenmue? a mature modern version??Something astonishing.
Sega needs to just get with the times or fade away in SHAME!!!
Lame very lame....
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gamerzus
- 12:54pm EST - November 28th, 2007
- 12
I played Shenmue 1&2 3 times over! with The VGA adapter for the Dreamcast on my HDTV all I can say is WOW
The game still stands up as a brilliant work of technology and art!!
Quick time events and the Facial animations are still untouched and Copied to this day by others!!!!!
Sega we need a 256bit 1GB-ram Gaming system !!!
build it and make Shenmue3 for it!! or just make it on PS3, Stream off Harddrive!!!LOL
Yu and Cell Processor??? can he achive 100 percent?
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bluecapone
- 12:57pm EST - November 28th, 2007
- 13
shenmue is one of my fav franchises sega shoud port 1&2 right over to ps3
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plustheharm
- 1:20pm EST - November 28th, 2007
- 14
Shenmue on the dreamcast a ballin game, I would definitely be into this if it ever came out for muh box.
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DaSaint
- 1:27pm EST - November 28th, 2007
- 15
Wow the nostalgia this article gave me was unbelievable....I am so ashamed of myself ..Shenmue was on of the greatest if the greatest game I played in my life and I never spoke much of it. If anyone wants orginality then this is it. I really need a shenmue 3,
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Alfie-UHE
- 3:54am EST - November 29th, 2007
- 17
sega need to take what they started, make it look better then it already does, add to it but keeping in with the original story and finish the saga, never played shenmue 2 i don't do xboxs but really wanted it to come out on ps2, but i remember back in the day the geezer talking about there being 10 or 12 shemune titles but don't quote me on that cos not sure if i remember hearing that or making it up lol
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sjp4d3hfkyfk
- 1:01pm EST - December 5th, 2007
- 19
One of the best game ever. I had to bitmy tongue and play shenmue2 on the crap box. The only game that will make me retire from the gaming world are shenmue 3 and (remake) FF7. I will die a happy man and will hand the crown to my son and tell him if he ever play xbox 3fixme, he will never be apart of this family again.
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wocyob
- 3:13pm EST - December 5th, 2007
- 20
if sega wants some moneyz then they should remake this game ASAP....only reason why i got a dreamcast was for this game and i loved this game sooo much....there was soo much you can do on such an old system....think about what we can do now with the ps3...they can make the world 50x bigger and lets us pick up any object in the game world....
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FreedomDriven
- 5:13pm EST - January 21st, 2008
- 21
my friend and i were talking about this game the other day! it's a shame that the dreamcast went out the window, but with the possibilities of the ps3 and the psn a new, remade Shenmue would be amazing! or even following the same characters in an alternate story that took place after the other, that would also be awesome! My fingers are crossed and i'm praying that this idea come to fruition!
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Mike2kcool
- 7:04am EST - January 23rd, 2008
- 22
ive bean waitin like 2 or 3 years for shenmue 3 now that the ps3 has come out a more advanced console then DC and with the ps3s power it would look amazing..
again only time will tell .. im still a big fan of this game even my mom is a big fan lol -
chadNashleysDAD
- 5:10am EDT - May 10th, 2010
- 23
as both an owner of all 3 current next-get systems (as well as next-gen handhelds) and a huge shenmue fanboy, i would love nothing more than to see some sort of physical shenmue release. Is it probable that fans will see a shenmue 3? probably not, at least anytime soon....here's why. right now, we live in a world dominated by the shooter. COD, HALO, GEARS...the list goes on. the (shenmue) fan demand is certainly there, but this game needs mainstream attention and demand which it does not, nor did it really have when shenmue 2 was released. So as you can see, SEGA has absolutely no financial security for a sequel now. Here's how they can get there though.... The fan response alone needs to continue, either by writing SEGA, signing petitions and sending them to SEGA, or consistently bug the Q&A people at MICROSOFT or SONY. The best way for Shenmue 3 to be made is for the first game to be released on XBLA or the PSN. SEGA has to be attached to the project obviously, and they need to be financially backed by one or both (ideally) of these juggernauts so no major risks are being taken. When asked the question on whether or not SEGA will touch the shenmue franchise, the response is always that they want to, but basically dont have the money. its up to sega to rejuvinate the series and its up to the fans to motivate the first steps, so by all means KEEP WRITING SEGA. once they game gets put on an xbla type format, the support will be there and the game will sell itself, thus creating a larger, mainstream response for a final sequel and a close to the story. Forget about seeing shenmue 2 being put on any format. if that were too happen, it would only get put on xbla under xbox originals where it would go unnoticed. the original needs to be the revival. imagine playing shenmue on your 36 or on your psp on a plane trip.....such sweet possibilities. SORRY FOR THE HUGE RANT, BUT THIS IS WHAT MUST HAPPEN IN ORDER FOR OUR BELOVED SERIES TO BE REVIVED. REPRESENT
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