Shenmue: Limited Edition for Sega Dreamcast

Released: November 7, 2000
Platform: Dreamcast
Publisher: SEGA
Developer: AM2
Genre: F.R.E.E.

The first time I saw Shenmue was at E3 2000. The Sega booth was a party. Literally, they had Beer kegs. On the walls were Space Channel 5 go-go dancers (hot scantily clad Asian chicks) dancing in cages and on poles. It was exciting. Everyone was standing around the main stage waiting for Yu Suzuki to come out and give a personal demonstration of Shenmue. It was a rock concert atmosphere.

I don't even remember what he said. But what stands out is that when he took control of Ryo, walked into his room and turned on the light switch, the crowd went ballistic. Like Kirk Hammett just busted out an insane guitar solo.

Looking back, obviously the ability to turn off light, open drawers and sleep aren't that impressive. I guess that wasn't so much the point. The point was immersion; for a game to be as immersive as possible without being a "sandbox" game (which also didn't exist yet).

See, the point of Shenmue wasn't to be a go anywhere do anything kind of game that Grand Theft Auto would later come to represent. It was to tell a narrative, like an RPG, but to give the player more free roaming ability and control over action.

Yu Suzuki considered this to be a new game genre that he called "F.R.E.E." or Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment. (Talk about a stretch for an acronym!) Shenmue is not really a totally new genre. It's an adventure game at its core with action elements and QTEs thrown in for good measure. There's even a stealth element that I thought was pretty fun.

Now on to the game...

In the beginning, Ryo Hazuki wittinesses the dramatic murder of his father, Iwao Hazuki, at the hands of Lan Di, an evil Chinese dude. The game picks up a few weeks later as Ryo embarks on a quest so solve the mystery of his father's murder. It's a kung-fu mystery game. Ryo collects clues a by talking to the locals, of which there are many.

At this point the game is often criticized for a lack of distinction between characters, specifically limited dialog and some not-so-great voice acting. The line "Do you know where I can find sailors?" has been the butt of many jokes. But hey, this was nine years ago, and the development began something like 15 years ago, so I don't really hold it against them.

Shenmue is full of atmosphere. I remember, as I played the game in Phoenix, Arizona, where it never snows, it was cold and snowing in Sakuragaoka, Japan. I could smell the crisp air and almost feel the freshness of it on my face.

Ryo had relationships, with several of the locals, with his brother, and most notably with Nazomi. Who can forget that awesome Dreamcast commercial? Probably the best one ever.

The fighting is the move fun to be had in the game. Fortunately, it's a pretty competent fighting system. This is a game developed by AM2, who are also the team behind Virtua Fighter, so they knew what they were doing. Sometimes walking in an empty field to practice was fun in its own.

Perhaps the most criticized aspect of Shenmue was being forced to have a job. Driving the forklift sucked. There's no doubt about it. Also, I sucked at it. All the time I got stuck clipping on walls. I hated it.

In between fighting, working, QTEs, and looking for the next lead in the mystery of you father, there's plenty to do in Shenmue. My favorite was to find an arcade and play Space Harrier orQTE Title. I was awesome at QTE Title. I wasn't the best, though. When I put in the "Shenmue Passport" disc to see my rankings, people always had maxed out numbers. I suspect they were Gamesharked, though.

Aside from games, plenty of people went around buying and selling trinkets, like Sega figures, and music tapes. Special soda cans could even be redeemed for prizes. I never really got into that. The Limited Edition version of Shenmue does come with a music CD that contains the Jukebox music. There was also plenty of gambling to be had.

Remembering Shenmue, this was a pretty damn good game. These days few games even attempt to draw a solitary player in with a story. More and more it's about coop, or online play, or an open sandbox environment. I miss the adventure genre, and Shenmue was a damn good adventure. In fact, I think it's about time that I play through it again.