Shenmue: The Dreamcast Epic

In 2000, I started a Journey, a quest for justice; I still await the End

This is My Journey; this is SHENMUE

SHENMUE

The Experience is F.R.E.E.

If I had to choose a video game that summed up the Martial Way, then the mighty Shenmue would be the one.

Created by legendary Game creator Yu Suzuki from Sega's AM2 department, it was the first video game that immersed you in to a real-life world where you had to go to sleep at night, travel to places, find jobs, and generally pass the time. Hence Yu Suzuki's label for it as F.R.E.E., which stood for“Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment,” giving Shenmue its own genre, one that has never been approached the same way again, though Sega's own Yakuza series on PlayStation 2 and 3 are similar in style and story-driven progression.

Shenmue was originally benchmarked for the Saturn console, under the working title of Project Berkeley, but when the Saturn failed to stand up against the might of Sony's PlayStation with its dedicated 3D chip on heavy games, it was decided that the Saturn best be put to rest.

Yu Suzuki, who had been working on the title, was not too troubled by this, as he knew of Sega's work on the new KATANA console (renamed Dreamcast for launch);,he was sure it would be easy to transfer the idea to Katana ( he was probably pleased, as even he said Saturn was a bugger to program for), with the ease of Katana's programming techniques and the fact it used a Windows CE operating system made life easier too.

Now for you Dreamcast (Katana) owners, two dates are important to you; the first is ''November 29th 1986'', the next date varies to where in the World you are.

So if you’re in the region of Japan, it would be ''December 29th 1999''

if your in North America, then it would be '' November 6th 2000''

And if in Europe, then the date would be '' November 24th 2000''.

Yes, the first date is the date when you start the game Shenmue; the second date is, of course, the release date for the game in various regions. If only they waited another 5 days in Europe, how cool would that be?

Now, with nearly a year between the Japanese, American, and European releases, Dreamcast owners in the latter regions were on tenterhooks for months. Unless, of course, you could understand Japanese, then you could import the game and make your friends jealous.

Of course, the translation of the game into English took a while ( if they had subtitled it like Part 2, it may have been sooner).

Everyone knew of this game, but by the time the game arrived in the West, it looked like Sega was spewing money from every orifice. But at that time, the Dreamcast was starting to gain respect and selling consoles, partly due to Sony's failure to deliver enough PlayStation 2s for the Christmas 2000 rush.

I, for one, remember waiting for the date in Europe and picking up my copy on the day of release. Nothing could prepare me for the experience that the Dreamcast would unleash on me that day in November 2000.

But it was not just me that got swept away in a story that would literally take over my life for weeks ( I was thinking of changing my name to RYO by de-pole at one point); I had spoken to others, and the story was the same; in fact, I was part of a band of people whose lives were

disturbed by real-life events like having to go to work, wash, eat, sleep, or anything else you actually need to do- why? Because in my mind, I was already doing this in SHENMUE.

SHENMUE had arrived, and the fine line between gaming and real life was never the same again.

So what is it about this game?

Shenmue takes place in a Harbour town called Yokosuka; within the town is the Hazuki Dojo, where Young Ryo Hazuki lives with his Father. The game starts with a cinematic event in the life of young Ryo Hazuki.

Ryo returns home to find his father, Iwao Hazuki in confrontation with a man by the name of Lan Di. The man, who is tall and dark, wears a Green Kung-Fu suit. He demands from Iwao an item by the name of the Dragon Mirror.

Iwao refuses, but when Ryo acts on impulse and attacks Lan Di he gets put down by this ominous man. With Ryo's life in the balance, Iwao reveals the location of the mirror to save his son.

With the mirror recovered by Lan Di, Lan Di tells Iwao of a man by the name of Zhao Sunming, a man allegedly killed by Iwao Hazuki.

The two engage in battle once again; Lan Di lands a deft blow to Iwao, leaving him for dead. With his final moments in Ryo’s arms, Iwao dies, leaving young Ryo in despair and hot for revenge.

By now I was hooked, like some Kung Fu movie. I had been taken in and had to know the truth, but this time it was really up to me, for I had become Ryo Hazuki and I wanted revenge …..

Now Ryo needs to find out why his father was killed for a mirror and who Lan Di is. His only clue is that the neighbours saw a black car speeding away on the day of the incident.

It's here my investigation will begin (told you I was Ryo Hazuki). By talking to the townsfolk and venturing into the shopping area of town, Ryo will meet various characters who may or may not help him.

Some characters just want to chat, and others give vital clues to help you along. Ryo must do his investigation by day and get home by 11 pm to sleep ( if you fail to get back home your automatically taken there to continue your quest the next day).

Ryo can also get food and drink from stores and Vending machines, though these are not vital to survive in the game. But it's a fun way to pass the time. There's also a local games arcade where you can play Space Harrier and Hang On ( yes, Yu Suzuki arcade games – awesome), your find yourself frequenting the arcade for long periods; sometimes that's all you want to do.

There are other elements to, your meet an old master who will teach you new fighting techniques, and there's also a place where you can train in town. This is vital for you to practice your moves for R.E.A.L. Time fighting; fail to practice, and when you’re up against adversaries, your stamina will suffer.

There's also the Quick Time Event, or QTE;,these come along at certain points in the game. They require to hit a button sequence that flashes up on screen in a certain time frame. Succeed, and you get to move on; fail, and you’re left to try again until you do succeed.

In fact, the QTE events were an ingenious way to accomplish certain events, such a good idea that many game publishers copied the style of gameplay for their titles up until this very day.

The clues don't come so fast in town, and it's only when Ryo receives a letter from a man called Yuanda Zhu; in the letter, it suggests Ryo seek the help of Master Chen. Master Chen can be found at the harbour;,it's here that the story will start to unfold, as Ryo will have to get a job at the harbour so he can investigate further. Also, it's the place where he will come into contact with the Mad Angels, who are a local gang connected to Lan Di.

He will also find out about another mirror, the Phoenix Mirror, which also resides at his home.

Again, the wharf Harbour area has many other elements where you can be sidetracked, such as playing darts in the workers’ café and, of course, doing your job of driving a forklift truck, which is vital to progressing in the game. If you don't get the job by a certain time, then you’ll be left in Shenmue limbo unless you have previously saved a game from an earlier area so you can try again.

But if you manage to do the right things at the right time, Shenmue will reward you with a sense of fantastic achievement.

Nothing is more exciting than having to fight a 70-man battle and, if you have trained well your have little to no trouble getting through. But if you have failed to train your senses or techniques, then chances are you’re fighting the battle time and time again.

At the end of it all, the clues will lead Ryo to have to venture to Hong Kong, and as he sets sail, you can only feel happy that you have succeeded but also sad as your time as Ryo Hazuki has come to an end …

Of course, Ryo will return in Shenmue 2 when he docks in Hong Kong, but that's another story and another game.

SHENMUE the Story

Now, talking Shenmue, each one telling each other where in the game they had got or how many hours they spent in the arcade playing Space Harrier, in the morning that they had not eaten, washed, or relieved themselves...

No wonder I felt so tired ,i was living two lives. I remember listening to my brother telling me how my nephew was going on about getting a job at the harbour; it took him a while to realise he was talking about a video game. Whose fault was it? Well, mine, of course. I had persuaded everyone to have a Dreamcast and then said You have to have Shenmue!

The SHENMUE Addiction

Yu Suzuki originally wanted Ryo to be able to get around town on a Bicycle, but it was implemented but never made it into the final version. Whether this was because the game would have to be bigger or because it was impossible to implement while keeping the game's flow in town, maybe loading screens would have increased.

Ryo always has time for the locals; he helps this young girl with a little kitten she has found.

In terms of buying the game, Shenmue was average think I paid around £37.00 for my package after my in-store discount (hell, some people buy newspapers everyday,i use to buy video games). In terms of the game itself, it is said that it cost in the region of $70'000'000, it was also said that every Dreamcast owner would have to buy the game twice for SEGA to break even.

Truth be told, the game cost around $47'000'000 to make in 1999. Combined with Part 2, it amounted to $70 million, still a lot of money, and at that time SEGA was running at a loss with Dreamcast consoles’ stock piled up as not enough people took the challenge, many waiting to see Sony's new PS2, which included a DVD player ( a big selling point at the time). Even by only subtitling Part 2 and selling it for a very reasonable £29.99, they could not entice more consumers to go the Dreamcast route.

The Cost of SHENMUE

The Look of SHENMUE

.As with many Dreamcast games (that were not simple ports), the graphics were stunning; nothing on any other gaming console looked so wonderful, with Hi-Rez graphics and, in Shenmue, a brilliant weather system where it could be bright sunshine one minute and, as the day went on, rain the next.

The Music of SHENMUE

Shenmue also had a vast musical accompaniment which consisted of 32 tracks, amounting to over two hours of music. The official soundtrack was released on March 23rd, 2000 by Toshiba EMI. It was mainly composed by SEGA'S Japanese video game composer, Takenobu Mitsuyoshi. A further fifteen tracks were composed by Yuzo Koshiro.

Consisting mainly of instrumental tracks, there is, however, one vocal track which is sung in both English and Japanese.

The soundtrack, which was released only in Japan, can fetch good money when it becomes available on sites like eBay and such.

So there you have it, A game that defined modern-day action-adventure. Took over our lives and, in a way, was a tutorial on how to live. With Honour, Respect, to seek out justice and build a more peaceful world.

This is an updated version of the original article I published on the old site.

In the future, we will explore Shenmue 2 and Shenmue 3

This is Sertes Nake, or should I say Ryo Hazuki