Classic Game Room - SHENMUE review for Sega Dreamcast

Classic Game Room reviews SHENMUE for Sega Dreamcast from acclaimed game designer, Yu Suzuki, released in 1999. Spanning four discs and one massive adventure, Shenmue is a video game landmark that went on to inspire countless open world, "sandbox" video games.

[HereForAStorm]

Fun fact: This game actually started life in prototype phase on the Sega Saturn and there's footage of it on Youtube. Impressive undertaking for the time period!

[pausebreakreviews]

Fun Fact: For Shenmue to break even financially, every Dreamcast owner in 1999 would have to buy the game.
...Four times.

[TheBeatboxHitmanTwo]

This game has been one of my favorites ever since first getting a dreamcast back in 1999

[wanghao]

Back in 1999, this must had been a mind blowing game.

[TheRetroGodfather.]

Im never giving up hope for a shenmue 4

[randmiller]

I first played Shenmue in 2002 when a friend sold me his Dreamcast and a bunch of games for $100.  It just blew my mind...and as luck would have it, I finished the game right around the time Shenmue 2 was available for import.  Cost me about $75 but it was worth every penny! 

[PeteSkerritt]

Ah! Someone else who spent way too much time in the You Arcade, like I did. Why didn't I have any money to buy the stuff I need? Space Harrier. Who's Lan Di? Who cares? I'm playing Hang-On. I don't care where sailors hang out; I'm playing Darts. 

That said, Shenmue was epic... right down to the Terrible Voice Acting of Legend. There was so much to explore-- so much to see and do. Even the subtle weather changes added to the overall atmosphere of the game. And, yes, the underlying story was very interesting... as long as you bought into it. 

It's a shame that Shenmue's story probably won't ever get resolved. Ryo deserves better. 

[BAR-ctti]

One of the funnest games ive ever played. I'm tempted to go online and buy a Dreamcast just to relive this gem.

[HowToX]

It was way ahead of its time, just like the system it was on.

[Unpetraccable]

Once in a while, people remember Shenmue. One of the best games I've ever played.

[APUGuru]

man, I love the voice acting in these old games. It gives it this B movie feel that just makes it for me.

[BigHugsFromHell]

No review of Shenmue is complete without a mention of just how well it captured that 1980's martial art movie atmosphere, too. I remember how mind-blowing it was to find out they had even recreated the weather accurately, and if it rained in the game, it really rained in that part of Japan on the exact same date in real life. That's the sort of thing people below mean by attention to detail, and even one of its most criticized legacies, the quicktime events, had a place when seen in context -- a test of focus you felt like you mastered more as it went along, where your own actual reaction times seemed to improve just as Ryo's fighting skills improved. Having it make sense is the key, it seems, even if just in a gamey sort of way, which is how it worked in all of its little quirks.

By the end of the final battle, which was about 45 minutes straight in the brawling mode, my thumbs were literally almost bleeding and my brain was reeling from the strain of forced hyper-vigilance. If anything has fallen short by trying to draw mechanical inspiration from Shenmue, it's that the game was a proving ground, and nothing after has seemed like so much of a challenge once mastering/slogging-through the original, plus things are rarely so thematically cohesive as a whole. You don't beat it. You live it.

So yeah, it's the kind of game where even its imperfections somehow fit right... and in beating both it and its sequel, few games have ever left me with such an all-around good feeling.

[satellite]

Most games even today don't have the attention to detail of Shenmue.

[rushnerd]

Biked miles to the video store and bought this at launch. I was just blown away at the time because no game had been made like this before and the graphics were just stunning. You were able to connect with the characters and events a lot and just really able to lose yourself in Ryo's world in Yokohama. 

Still holding out for Shen III!

[Dirk]

I don't care what anybody says but I love the terrible English voice acting for this game and I find it to be a charm for the series and actually made me enjoy the game even more, it makes me feel like I'm watching a low budget Kung Fu movie and personally it can't get any better than that, certainly a cult classic if I do say so myself!

[thomHD]

Playing Shenmue was a mind-blowing experience. It was way ahead of even the most advanced PC titles of the time. If only modern games dared to be so romantic. It is, however, a classic example of Sega failing to think about what would actually SELL in Europe and America. Funnily enough, though, on some level it must be an inherently more interesting game for non-Japanese gamers - seeing as it is basically a "Japan simulator"

[DreamcastGuy]

Still one of my favorite games of all time AND the reason I chose DreamcastGuy for my channel name when starting work on youtube. Filming in Japan later this year, planning on dressing as Ryo and asking people if they want to play some Lucky Hit and chill in the arcades :D

[madzangels]

This game felt ground breaking at the time, the story was compelling, the fact that you could actually ride that bike at the end I was so happy lol

[mcrazza]

About time indeed! Definitely one of the best games from the Dreamcast and of the generation.

Now if only Yu Suzuki could make a third Shenmue. Will it ever happen?

[SEGAPIT]

This game is so fantastic, and if they ever do make a Shenmue 3 it better be on another Sega console, a new console for a new era, all new Sega titles and more, that would be one hell of a dream.