What a hugely ambitious game! Tech has obviously marched forward, but it shows how little we've advanced conceptually in 22 years, or how ahead of its time it was.
My experience as an early teen playing Shenmue was quite life changing. There's so much in this video which I didn't know before. Thank you for also playing some classic Shenmue tunes in the background :D
@@freddiejohnson6137 I respectfully disagree but your points are valid. If Shenmue came out in 1998 on the Saturn it could have definitely saved the Saturn ONLY IF it released before Metal Gear Solid. MGS was and is a groundbreaking game for its time, however Saturn Shenmue would've definitely stole some of its thunder as Shenmue on the Saturn was a much better looking game than MGS1 and even FFVII.
@@freddiejohnson6137 Can't do nothing but agree with you there man. By late 97 the Saturn was all but dead here in North America. Like PDS, Shenmue would've gotten ignored had it came out due to Sega's earlier mishaps with the Saturn and 32X. I do think however of they had Shenmue looking like that on the Saturn in 1996. They could have showcased it and built the hype for it early and could have won over some fence sitters. I guess my main point is there was no game like Shenmue before its time, and in some ways even today. Had they revealed this game and the technology behind it early, it could have had a butterfly effect on the Saturn that could have drastically changed its course.
Nice video regarding the importance of Shenmue and how it was groundbreaking... but there are actual movies on original Shenmue disks, where is shown its prototype version. It wouldn't be a stretch for any player to guess that was the game in works as earlier as the saturn life cycle, no need to wait Yu Suzuki spill any beans in 2014.
Wow. Thanks to Sega for keeping the funds flowing; I would have told Suzuki that he would have to cut the game back so that he could complete it with a staff of just 100. There is just too much detail in this game, and I never completed it because I kept losing track of what I needed to do to advance the plot. At that point, it's just easier to watch the movie (i.e. "walk-through video.").😥 On the plus side, missing a Saturn ship date was good fortune and NOT evidence of an over-reaching maniac!😁
Not me at the time- but the next few years later I certainly would of needed it. By then I had moved on.... It truly is a game that left a massive impact on me....
I split up with my first girlfriend and fell ill at the same time...my friend gave me his Dreamcast and all his games as he'd just copped a OG Xbox. I spent two weeks slowly playing through both games. Genuinely, Shenmue helped 17 year old me get through that shit. Shenmue will always have little place in my heart.
I got shenmue when it came out I was like 11 or 12 and thought it was the most amazing game I've played. I'm 33 now and still feel the same about it. It's my all time favorite game and is a masterpiece. I knew it was supposed to be on Saturn that's why there's a Saturn under the tv in his house but I'm so glad it was on Dreamcast instead
Couldn't agree more. I'm the same age and nothing will ever top that feeling of awe playing that game from beginning to end. It took me months to beat it because I just loved the exploration and activities the game offered.
Congratulations. You've managed to demonstrate how groundbreaking and ahead of its time this game was. It was truly underrated in its day. Excellent video!
Without a shadow of a doubt, Shenmue is my favorite game of all time. It’s development is certainly a unique story like no other. It appealed to all of my interests: Virtua Fighter, martial arts, Japan, and so on. I feel that Shenmue was made just for me. I’ll admit it also changed my life. It inspired me to pursue more about Japan, study Japanese, and move there. Since I’ve moved to Yokohama, I’ve been to Yokosuka numerous times now. It’s amazing how much the actual Yokosuka and the Yokosuka in the game look so much alike (unfortunately, no more You Arcade or any arcades in general). My wife lived in China during her twenties and has been to Guilin and Hong Kong. She told me that what’s portrayed in Shenmue is largely accurate to what you see in real life. However, Kowloon was torn down in 1997 and is now a park. As for Shenmue in the Saturn, all fans knew this prior to 2014. With Shenmue 2, there was a bonus video of Shenmue for Saturn. I felt if it was a Saturn game, it’d highly probable it’d be Japan only like a large number of great Saturn titles. As for The Old Man and the Peach Tree. It was just a concept, not a game that was meant to be released. And how Sega loses source codes is not unusual with them. When they made the Sonic Collection, they had to make Sonic 1 from scratch because they lost the source code (and they added his spin attack, which is not in the original Sonic 1). And sadly, it’s why we haven’t gotten a re-release of Panzer Dragoon RPG. As for why some open world games haven’t achieved what Shenmue does, I just feel that most games don’t bother trying to. Those games are trying to tell their own stories and appeal to their own audiences, so what works for them, works for them. What the first Yakuza game came out, I hated it for all the wrong reasons. Like many, I was expecting Yakuza to be a “Shenmue successor.” However, most fans were anticipating it to be a “successor” for the right reasons. Those foundational reasons mostly being it’s a Sega game that was open world and takes place in Japan. Of course there’s more. In addition, I was expecting talking to ALL NPCs, a magic weather system (which it kind of has), a time/date system, explore objects, visit everywhere, a more technical fighting system (nothing wrong with Yakuza’s, just way too simple, but I understand better now), etc. When I played Yakuza, I thought it had a good story, but because of my Shenmue expectations, I was disappointed as I said. When I played the sequel at the Tokyo Game Show in 2006, I started to appreciate it as its own thing and I came to terms that not many games will ever live up to Shenmue. I feel very little open world games can do what Shenmue does. I forgot who said it, but a lot of open world games these days feel more like a “playground” and not a world like Shenmue. The way I compare Shenmue and modern and most popular open world games is this. I feel a lot of modern open world games are as vast as the ocean, but as shallow as a swimmable lake. With Shenmue, its world may be the size of the lake, but is deep as an ocean.
@HajimeNoJMo Kowloon is still there by the way, that's just the name of a district on the mainland - it's the walled city that was torn down, it was an untouchable area during the British rule because it was legally an area governed by Beijing, despite being on the other side of the border. Essentially, neither government were able to administer it so it became its own entity. It was a really fascinating place.
I really wish they wouldn't have given up on the Saturn so soon. If they had finished and released this first game on the Saturn, it may have sold a lot more consoles. It may not have made a big difference in North America, but it was worth a shot. Those graphics were WAY beyond what anyone would have thought possible on the Saturn, and it could have suddenly garnered the Saturn some much needed attention late in it's life. Perhaps it could have done something similar to what Pokemon did for the very aging Game Boy. I understand that it probably wouldn't have been as large or been able to achieve all of the things the Dreamcast version did, but that's what sequels are for.
You mention the novelty of the game being set in the 80's. I thought it was also an interesting choice to set it in Yokosuka, rather than one of the more widely known cites of Japan like Tokyo or Osaka.
Suzuki said he chose Yokosuka due to its American presence and how it perfectly symbolized Japan changing around that time. But yeah, eventually, Yakuza would portray those cities.
I've been meaning to play it but never rlly got into it, now I HAVE TO play it, they were doing so many groundbreaking things for a single project, I'm impressed omg, And as usual, great video documenting all this !!
Open world games have gotten bigger and put more emphasis on driving vehicles around to get from place to place, but Shenmue is accidentally one of those open world games that gets the balance of space and detail just right, most likely due to the limitations of its day. It's an acquired taste but with the right mindset, it's a beautiful and mesmerising experience.
Yes I didn't get to play it until a couple of years ago. One of the greatest games I have ever played since the days Atari 2600 came out to this very day.
It is weird how the 1986 setting for Shenmue felt so far away in Nov. 2000 when the game released.. It was only 14 years difference, and 14 years ago from now it was 2008 - not necessarily a 'retro' period of time, but the technological leaps from the mid 80's to 2000 made 15 years feel like 30... Time literally passed like dog years from the 80's to the 90's into the 2000's. If you got Super Mario World for SNES in 1991, it felt like ancient history a mere 5 years later when Mario 64 released while nobody would consider Mario Odyssey to be ancient history after being released 5 years ago in 2017....
I would imagine if funding ever does come to fruition they will.... Shenmue 3 again still isn't complete. Plus they missed a massive opportunity- i watched a UA-cam vid on the critique of the story of it and they should of had ryu just at least make lan-di 'stumble' with the move they keep getting you to learn over and over instead of him once again out right kicking his ass.... Idea being lan-di learns hes starting to grow and will become a threat. Oh well....wish I knew name of vid as its very interesting and yu should of done it this way for sure.
An awesome game launched on an amazing platform which sadly died way before its time. I absolutely loved this game on my Dreamcast and was blown away by it. Such an absorbing plot which was rendered in an amazing world. The Sega Saturn version is also mightily impressive. It just goes to show the 3D capabilities of this 32-bit beauty when put in the right hands - and of course a budget to back them up with. A shame it never made it to release but at least the game didn't die there and made its debut on the Dreamcast and I'm sure we are all grateful for that.
I imagine if Shenmue had been on Saturn it would contain 6 or 7 discs to hold the entire game and probably rival Panzer Dragoon Saga as Saturn's most expensive game today. .
I had Shenmue on my Dreamcast around launch time. Was blown away by the graphics but never knew what to do next in the game. Didn’t get very far in it. I remember finding a key in a drawer at his home?
Try emulation. Shenmue has some great characters, especially the ones integral to the main story. You’ll want to hunt down Lan Di and exact revenge despite several characters advice.
8 bits - 16 bits Millennial, still don't care 1 bit for the Saturn, but I've got to admit the Dreamcast is the last retro-console worth looking into, because it powered the Naomi arcade system : - Ferrari F355 Challenge by Yu Suzuki - Both Sonic Adventures - Virtua Tennis - NHL 2K - Crazy Taxi - Skies of Arcadia - Samba de Amigo - Sega Bass Fishing - The House of the Dead 2 - Rez - Ikaruga - Capcom's Power Stone 2 - Namco's SoulCalibur - Puyo Puyo Fever - Chuchu Rocket - Shenmue
@@j.goggels9115 I agree, the Dreamcast has such an arcade vibe and that's something that draws me to the system more now than it did then. It reminds me of when we had a little Sega Park in the town that I live in.
Shenmue has a very, very special place in my heart. I'm glad it released on the Dreamcast because I never had a Saturn! For me, it was one of those games that was so visually stunning, I swore there really wasn't anything that looked better at the time! I remember wanting to play it after seeing it in a magazine, it was either GamePro or Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM). Either way, the game was an absolute experience. The soundtrack is amazing, too! Glad to have stumbled upon this video, I love seeing an appreciation for such an amazing, underrated game.
I would come home from work to play Shenmue and go to work in the game, magical. I would then come home from work in the game and call off in the arcade or shops to spend my days earnings on outrun,hang on, darts and I absolutely loved the bubblegum machines to get the toys. It is one of my all time favourite games.
I remember Shenmue and it felt very good having myself when based over in HK I lived for six months in Aberdeen and it really captured Hong Kong superbly. I also remember the promised Saturn release that ended up being shuffled forward to the Dreamcast which was OK as I enjoyed the more adult games esp Resident Evil Code Veronica just about the best DC game out there.
Lady Decade, this episode was so entertaining and so well done that a really hope you follow this up by perhaps covering the sequels in the same way you did here with the original game. This series really deserves all of the attention it can get, as it is quite possibly the most innovative and interesting game series ever made. There is no other game like them that I know of (although I'm sure that a copycat or two may be out there somewhere.)
Great video--there was quite a few pieces of information I didn't know about, specifically that Suzuki didn't like how in traditional RPGs you had to be right in front of a NPC to talk to them. That was one thing I always appreciated about Shenmue--the socially appropriate distance you could talk and how the camera would differ depending on that length. It was subtle, but natural.
SHEN MUE ZERO is all about Lan Di... he's my absolute favorite villain 🥇 If yall can remember Ryo has a Sega Saturn in 86'😁 My story is about how Lan Di came to his home and murdered his father for the blueprints...Land Di runs the underworld of racing and Ryo eventually becomes a popular racer but not good enough to take down Lan Di's 4 DIVAS... please chk out my saga if you can, I do it for the love of gaming 🙏
@8:03 Ah, Virtua Fighter was a Model1 title. Lockheed Martin wouldn't get involved until Virtua Fighter 2 in the Model2 generation of arcade hardware...
People keep getting the budget wrong… the budget was 70 million for Shenmue 1 and 2 + Marketing… Yu Suzuki said it more times than are Shenmue games.. Ps: and that budget counts since the beginning of the project, on the Saturn.
I remember having mixed feelings about Shenmue because whilst the game was incredible that whole era was marred by Sega crashing out of the hardware business for good and their overall powers diminished. Sometimes the best games aren’t always on the most successful consoles, Ocarina of Time another example.
I know it was an accident, but you absolutely butchered the pronunciation of the name: Yokosuka. This is a common mistake with English speakers and this cities name…
I have to say I'm new to this channel but in just a couple of videos you have actually shown me and taught me something I never knew about before and something that all the other creators I follow never talked about. That's a pretty hard thing to do show me something new so good job with that and you def have a well deserved sub from me!
I love shenmue still got one and two on sega Dreamcast and the Dreamcast to play them on also got one and two on PlayStation 4 and two on original Xbox and the original Xbox to play it on and got shenmue 3 collector’s edition with everything in it 😃🦊👍
I bought Shenmue when it came out! There was nothing like it at the time! It was very immersive, had a great story. Having to wait til a certain time of day for someone you were going to talk to added to the realism. I bought an import European copy of Shenmue 2, and I thought it was even better! Sure it let you skip having to wait until a certain time of day for events to happen, but it packed in more content, story, action,and even better characters. I was so sad it ended with 2, well, until recently 3 came out, and yeah I haven't played it. Not sure if I should from what I heard.
Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time is the first 3d immersive open world game where you can interact with characters and do things that`s not a apart of the main mission like go fishing, play games for currency, ride your horse etc... It predates Shenmue by one year. Mario 64 is the first 3d open world game.
@@fakebluedarknt2577 Mario 64 is a platforner but still a open world game. Zelda TooT interactions supposedly being basic in comparison to Shenmue does not nullify the fact that its a open world game that predates Shenmue by a little over a year.
LadyDecade, you are brilliant and so are your videos. This is an important game and you do an amazing job at painting the history of gaming like Picasso with a brush. Thank you for sharing this with us. As far as gaming history I’d love a video about, Halo Combat Evolved comes to mind. It went through so many transitions and was as big of a product departure as Nintendo axing Sony or Square axing Nintendo. It literally made the Xbox a must have system and changed the landscape of gaming forever. Just a suggestion.
When back in the day you got this game for X-mas. Then you saw the Black guy in the game ! And then in real life your Asian homies lil brother says thats you 🤣 !!! 💙🖤👨🏾🦱 Priceless Memory !!!
Shenmue was a fascinating concept, and story. It was ahead of its time. Even though we have open world games, they are more cinematic, involving online play, losing the part of the single playing journey. The real time system was fun, plus in game time had a flow, that had a learning curve. So much to see and do. Plus if you went to the arcade, your ranking will be there. The Shenmue Passport was a fun feature. Character guide, tips, weather reports, updates with the kitty, soundtracks & music you have unlocked, plus cinematics from your playthrough. None of this was dlc, buy completely accessible on the disc. Optional to be online, to update on weather, and other features. So true, if Shenmue never happened, we would not have the open world system we have now.
@@Tippotipo shame about the Steam port. You would assume everything integral to the experience could be included. The Passport was a fun part of the experience, plus unlocking music, not just the in game music, but the music you found along the way too
@@junkyard4999 Bro I will take whatever Shenmue action that is going :D I'd really love to see the original format realised, the online persistent world where other players are milling about but it's still single player with bells and whistles. I reckon eventually Microsoft will end up with the IP and do something mental with it :) Hope so!
I was one of the few who had both a Saturn and Dreamcast. Shenmue was my favorite game and the game that physically hurt me the most lol. I had no clue they made it for the Saturn as well as Dreamcast.
Gotta love the way she "nashes" her teeth enthusiastic like to certain phrases ...such as "im lady decade". Once you see it.... you can't unsee it. Don't worry- not a negative. Simps would call this adorable. Great vid. Shenmue was a big part of my life. And you did it justice- along with the seaman. At 8:54 - I haven't laughed that hard in ages....I hope you are not hinting at personal li...... Too far. Best wishes.
Who's that handsome chap in uniform then? Thanks so much for inviting me to join you on this project. Its been a blast. And it's turned out great!
Would be a perfect cameo for a Seaman game too haha. Great stuff.
What is your rank? I’m an American so I don’t have any experience with modern RN rank and insignia.
@@bombfog1 Petty Officer. Equivalent to PO 1st class in the USN.
@@RetroRespawn Much appreciated.
Absolutely loved this video. Nice work! Glad to see Shenmue Saturn get more love on youtube!
What a hugely ambitious game! Tech has obviously marched forward, but it shows how little we've advanced conceptually in 22 years, or how ahead of its time it was.
My experience as an early teen playing Shenmue was quite life changing. There's so much in this video which I didn't know before. Thank you for also playing some classic Shenmue tunes in the background :D
“Everybody who watches this channel seems to love seamen.” 🤣🤣🤣
Before watching this video I assumed this quote was about that *other* Dreamcast game...
First time I've been here but that quote demands a subscribe.
@@supersat now there's an idea...
Its seaman!
As long as I don't have to love Seaman.
Subscribed! I really enjoyed learning about the early development! :)
This could have definitely been game changing for The SEGA Saturn & SEGA in general.
@@freddiejohnson6137 I agree. There's a reason, why Panzer Dragoon Saga didn't lead to massive increase of Saturn sales, despite being a masterpiece.
@@freddiejohnson6137 I respectfully disagree but your points are valid. If Shenmue came out in 1998 on the Saturn it could have definitely saved the Saturn ONLY IF it released before Metal Gear Solid. MGS was and is a groundbreaking game for its time, however Saturn Shenmue would've definitely stole some of its thunder as Shenmue on the Saturn was a much better looking game than MGS1 and even FFVII.
@@freddiejohnson6137 Can't do nothing but agree with you there man. By late 97 the Saturn was all but dead here in North America. Like PDS, Shenmue would've gotten ignored had it came out due to Sega's earlier mishaps with the Saturn and 32X. I do think however of they had Shenmue looking like that on the Saturn in 1996. They could have showcased it and built the hype for it early and could have won over some fence sitters.
I guess my main point is there was no game like Shenmue before its time, and in some ways even today. Had they revealed this game and the technology behind it early, it could have had a butterfly effect on the Saturn that could have drastically changed its course.
When it comes to the history of videogaming & gaming obscura you shall find no one more knowledgeable than Lady Decade
& Big daddy Top Hat
Wow... Just wow. You definitely deserve more subs, sister!
Awesome indepth video Collab Lady Decade 😁
I love this channel, great topics and very informative and plesant host!
You got a like when I heard the sound effect after ‘Ree-oo’!
The Dreamcast had the best graphics for its time. Really set the bar high
I remember the end of Shenmue. Ryu drives a forklift across America and end up on the moon with a gun-arm fighting his own father.
It would have become the equivalent of Metal Gear Solid to Saturn, at least, regarding the technology and cinematic story-telling style
I would loooove to play the saturn prototype one day, but i believe they don't have the data anymore
Nice video regarding the importance of Shenmue and how it was groundbreaking... but there are actual movies on original Shenmue disks, where is shown its prototype version. It wouldn't be a stretch for any player to guess that was the game in works as earlier as the saturn life cycle, no need to wait Yu Suzuki spill any beans in 2014.
I been known about the Saturn version
Wow. Thanks to Sega for keeping the funds flowing; I would have told Suzuki that he would have to cut the game back so that he could complete it with a staff of just 100. There is just too much detail in this game, and I never completed it because I kept losing track of what I needed to do to advance the plot. At that point, it's just easier to watch the movie (i.e. "walk-through video.").😥
On the plus side, missing a Saturn ship date was good fortune and NOT evidence of an over-reaching maniac!😁
I know this version
Shenmue got me through some hard times in my life
Not me at the time- but the next few years later I certainly would of needed it. By then I had moved on....
It truly is a game that left a massive impact on me....
I split up with my first girlfriend and fell ill at the same time...my friend gave me his Dreamcast and all his games as he'd just copped a OG Xbox.
I spent two weeks slowly playing through both games. Genuinely, Shenmue helped 17 year old me get through that shit. Shenmue will always have little place in my heart.
I got shenmue when it came out I was like 11 or 12 and thought it was the most amazing game I've played. I'm 33 now and still feel the same about it. It's my all time favorite game and is a masterpiece. I knew it was supposed to be on Saturn that's why there's a Saturn under the tv in his house but I'm so glad it was on Dreamcast instead
Couldn't agree more. I'm the same age and nothing will ever top that feeling of awe playing that game from beginning to end. It took me months to beat it because I just loved the exploration and activities the game offered.
Congratulations. You've managed to demonstrate how groundbreaking and ahead of its time this game was. It was truly underrated in its day. Excellent video!
bundas,carnaval
Still my favourite game series till this day. Shenmue was not just a game, it was a lifechanger😅
Without a shadow of a doubt, Shenmue is my favorite game of all time. It’s development is certainly a unique story like no other. It appealed to all of my interests: Virtua Fighter, martial arts, Japan, and so on. I feel that Shenmue was made just for me. I’ll admit it also changed my life. It inspired me to pursue more about Japan, study Japanese, and move there. Since I’ve moved to Yokohama, I’ve been to Yokosuka numerous times now. It’s amazing how much the actual Yokosuka and the Yokosuka in the game look so much alike (unfortunately, no more You Arcade or any arcades in general). My wife lived in China during her twenties and has been to Guilin and Hong Kong. She told me that what’s portrayed in Shenmue is largely accurate to what you see in real life. However, Kowloon was torn down in 1997 and is now a park.
As for Shenmue in the Saturn, all fans knew this prior to 2014. With Shenmue 2, there was a bonus video of Shenmue for Saturn. I felt if it was a Saturn game, it’d highly probable it’d be Japan only like a large number of great Saturn titles.
As for The Old Man and the Peach Tree. It was just a concept, not a game that was meant to be released. And how Sega loses source codes is not unusual with them. When they made the Sonic Collection, they had to make Sonic 1 from scratch because they lost the source code (and they added his spin attack, which is not in the original Sonic 1). And sadly, it’s why we haven’t gotten a re-release of Panzer Dragoon RPG.
As for why some open world games haven’t achieved what Shenmue does, I just feel that most games don’t bother trying to. Those games are trying to tell their own stories and appeal to their own audiences, so what works for them, works for them. What the first Yakuza game came out, I hated it for all the wrong reasons. Like many, I was expecting Yakuza to be a “Shenmue successor.” However, most fans were anticipating it to be a “successor” for the right reasons. Those foundational reasons mostly being it’s a Sega game that was open world and takes place in Japan. Of course there’s more. In addition, I was expecting talking to ALL NPCs, a magic weather system (which it kind of has), a time/date system, explore objects, visit everywhere, a more technical fighting system (nothing wrong with Yakuza’s, just way too simple, but I understand better now), etc.
When I played Yakuza, I thought it had a good story, but because of my Shenmue expectations, I was disappointed as I said. When I played the sequel at the Tokyo Game Show in 2006, I started to appreciate it as its own thing and I came to terms that not many games will ever live up to Shenmue.
I feel very little open world games can do what Shenmue does. I forgot who said it, but a lot of open world games these days feel more like a “playground” and not a world like Shenmue. The way I compare Shenmue and modern and most popular open world games is this. I feel a lot of modern open world games are as vast as the ocean, but as shallow as a swimmable lake. With Shenmue, its world may be the size of the lake, but is deep as an ocean.
@HajimeNoJMo Kowloon is still there by the way, that's just the name of a district on the mainland - it's the walled city that was torn down, it was an untouchable area during the British rule because it was legally an area governed by Beijing, despite being on the other side of the border. Essentially, neither government were able to administer it so it became its own entity. It was a really fascinating place.
It’s amazing what they were able to achieve on the Saturn hardware
I really wish they wouldn't have given up on the Saturn so soon. If they had finished and released this first game on the Saturn, it may have sold a lot more consoles. It may not have made a big difference in North America, but it was worth a shot. Those graphics were WAY beyond what anyone would have thought possible on the Saturn, and it could have suddenly garnered the Saturn some much needed attention late in it's life. Perhaps it could have done something similar to what Pokemon did for the very aging Game Boy. I understand that it probably wouldn't have been as large or been able to achieve all of the things the Dreamcast version did, but that's what sequels are for.
This game is more advanced than Cyberpunk 2077
Yea..
Id actually agree with that. Especially for the hardware.
Certainly less bugs lol
A potato clock is currently more advanced than CP77, that game is a mess!
That's some dedication right there. Props to the developers for making such an ambitious game.
You mention the novelty of the game being set in the 80's. I thought it was also an interesting choice to set it in Yokosuka, rather than one of the more widely known cites of Japan like Tokyo or Osaka.
Suzuki said he chose Yokosuka due to its American presence and how it perfectly symbolized Japan changing around that time. But yeah, eventually, Yakuza would portray those cities.
I've been meaning to play it but never rlly got into it, now I HAVE TO play it, they were doing so many groundbreaking things for a single project, I'm impressed omg, And as usual, great video documenting all this !!
Open world games have gotten bigger and put more emphasis on driving vehicles around to get from place to place, but Shenmue is accidentally one of those open world games that gets the balance of space and detail just right, most likely due to the limitations of its day. It's an acquired taste but with the right mindset, it's a beautiful and mesmerising experience.
That is partially it, but when it comes to the nature of the locations you explore, cars aren’t exactly necessary in Shenmue.
Still love me a good forklift race. :)
I love Shenmue, I played the game for the first time 2 months ago
the Game its great
When I found out shenmue was in the ps4 I was so excited and replayed the first shenmue after playing it 20 years ago it took me back
Yes I didn't get to play it until a couple of years ago. One of the greatest games I have ever played since the days Atari 2600 came out to this very day.
I never played shenmue but shenmue 2 on Xbox was epic played it meny times
It is weird how the 1986 setting for Shenmue felt so far away in Nov. 2000 when the game released.. It was only 14 years difference, and 14 years ago from now it was 2008 - not necessarily a 'retro' period of time, but the technological leaps from the mid 80's to 2000 made 15 years feel like 30... Time literally passed like dog years from the 80's to the 90's into the 2000's. If you got Super Mario World for SNES in 1991, it felt like ancient history a mere 5 years later when Mario 64 released while nobody would consider Mario Odyssey to be ancient history after being released 5 years ago in 2017....
Awesome video! Happy to see Shenmue get more love on youtube!
This game is 👌 i hope they make a 4th one
I would imagine if funding ever does come to fruition they will....
Shenmue 3 again still isn't complete.
Plus they missed a massive opportunity- i watched a UA-cam vid on the critique of the story of it and they should of had ryu just at least make lan-di 'stumble' with the move they keep getting you to learn over and over instead of him once again out right kicking his ass....
Idea being lan-di learns hes starting to grow and will become a threat.
Oh well....wish I knew name of vid as its very interesting and yu should of done it this way for sure.
@@orderofmagnitude-TPATP yeah the creator of Shenmue said that the 3rd game was for the fans but he'll make a 4th for everyone...but let's see..
An awesome game launched on an amazing platform which sadly died way before its time. I absolutely loved this game on my Dreamcast and was blown away by it. Such an absorbing plot which was rendered in an amazing world.
The Sega Saturn version is also mightily impressive. It just goes to show the 3D capabilities of this 32-bit beauty when put in the right hands - and of course a budget to back them up with. A shame it never made it to release but at least the game didn't die there and made its debut on the Dreamcast and I'm sure we are all grateful for that.
I imagine if Shenmue had been on Saturn it would contain 6 or 7 discs to hold the entire game and probably rival Panzer Dragoon Saga as Saturn's most expensive game today. .
I had Shenmue on my Dreamcast around launch time. Was blown away by the graphics but never knew what to do next in the game. Didn’t get very far in it. I remember finding a key in a drawer at his home?
My gaming days are long gone and never really played a Dreamcast but Shenmue is a title that sometimes tempts me to change both of those things.
Its such a great game
Try emulation. Shenmue has some great characters, especially the ones integral to the main story. You’ll want to hunt down Lan Di and exact revenge despite several characters advice.
8 bits - 16 bits Millennial, still don't care 1 bit for the Saturn, but I've got to admit the Dreamcast is the last retro-console worth looking into, because it powered the Naomi arcade system :
- Ferrari F355 Challenge by Yu Suzuki
- Both Sonic Adventures
- Virtua Tennis
- NHL 2K
- Crazy Taxi
- Skies of Arcadia
- Samba de Amigo
- Sega Bass Fishing
- The House of the Dead 2
- Rez
- Ikaruga
- Capcom's Power Stone 2
- Namco's SoulCalibur
- Puyo Puyo Fever
- Chuchu Rocket
- Shenmue
@@j.goggels9115 I agree, the Dreamcast has such an arcade vibe and that's something that draws me to the system more now than it did then. It reminds me of when we had a little Sega Park in the town that I live in.
Shenmue is still one my favorite games. This video came at a cool time, I’ve just started playing through it again.
I wish there was more information about the saturn version.
Blew me away when I unlocked the Saturn footage on Shenmue 2. Such a cool peak behind the curtain
I wish they added the bicycle option. That was an idea they wanted to add to the game
You can ride the bicycle in what's shenmue on dreamcast through the town
@@drunkensailor112 what location?
@@whyzyttf6614 throughout dobuita
Shenmue has a very, very special place in my heart. I'm glad it released on the Dreamcast because I never had a Saturn! For me, it was one of those games that was so visually stunning, I swore there really wasn't anything that looked better at the time! I remember wanting to play it after seeing it in a magazine, it was either GamePro or Electronic Gaming Monthly (EGM). Either way, the game was an absolute experience. The soundtrack is amazing, too! Glad to have stumbled upon this video, I love seeing an appreciation for such an amazing, underrated game.
Shenmue is on my list of Top 10 games of all time. To this day, I absolutely love it. Anytime I hear that music, I feel at peace, haha!
I would come home from work to play Shenmue and go to work in the game, magical. I would then come home from work in the game and call off in the arcade or shops to spend my days earnings on outrun,hang on, darts and I absolutely loved the bubblegum machines to get the toys. It is one of my all time favourite games.
I love it, I played it on the X Box. Later on.
I would pay 5000€ to get a demo for the Saturn .
The Saturn is my beloved and this game is what Sony couldn’t create on the ps1
Shemue just proves how awesome the Dreamcast truly is!
I remember Shenmue and it felt very good having myself when based over in HK I lived for six months in Aberdeen and it really captured Hong Kong superbly. I also remember the promised Saturn release that ended up being shuffled forward to the Dreamcast which was OK as I enjoyed the more adult games esp Resident Evil Code Veronica just about the best DC game out there.
Lady Decade, this episode was so entertaining and so well done that a really hope you follow this up by perhaps covering the sequels in the same way you did here with the original game. This series really deserves all of the attention it can get, as it is quite possibly the most innovative and interesting game series ever made. There is no other game like them that I know of (although I'm sure that a copycat or two may be out there somewhere.)
This would have been an amazing launch game if Sega could have pulled it off in time for the Dreamcast but alas, it was not to be.
Fun fact: The weather patterns in the first game at least were based on the real weather records of the region at the time.
wasn't that in the video too?
@@abdelali9279 They mentioned it had a weather system, not specifically it was set to simulate the real weather on those dates.
@@zephyr8072 watch it again ;)
Great video--there was quite a few pieces of information I didn't know about, specifically that Suzuki didn't like how in traditional RPGs you had to be right in front of a NPC to talk to them. That was one thing I always appreciated about Shenmue--the socially appropriate distance you could talk and how the camera would differ depending on that length. It was subtle, but natural.
SHEN MUE ZERO is all about Lan Di... he's my absolute favorite villain 🥇 If yall can remember Ryo has a Sega Saturn in 86'😁 My story is about how Lan Di came to his home and murdered his father for the blueprints...Land Di runs the underworld of racing and Ryo eventually becomes a popular racer but not good enough to take down Lan Di's 4 DIVAS... please chk out my saga if you can, I do it for the love of gaming 🙏
Am I the only one that spent like 2000 hrs on space harrier in shenmue ?
I love Shenmue…you articulated everything I love about it. Glad I found your channel!
...Oh this is awesome! Yu Suzuki rules!
Inviting a seaman on, the American Pie clip, "short burst of fun".
Good stuff haha. Like pralines and dick flavoured icecream.
@8:03 Ah, Virtua Fighter was a Model1 title. Lockheed Martin wouldn't get involved until Virtua Fighter 2 in the Model2 generation of arcade hardware...
People keep getting the budget wrong… the budget was 70 million for Shenmue 1 and 2 + Marketing… Yu Suzuki said it more times than are Shenmue games..
Ps: and that budget counts since the beginning of the project, on the Saturn.
I remember having mixed feelings about Shenmue because whilst the game was incredible that whole era was marred by Sega crashing out of the hardware business for good and their overall powers diminished. Sometimes the best games aren’t always on the most successful consoles, Ocarina
of Time another example.
shenmue did in 1999, what cyberpunk 2077 failed to do in modern times. NPCs living their daily lives
I know it was an accident, but you absolutely butchered the pronunciation of the name: Yokosuka. This is a common mistake with English speakers and this cities name…
Shenmue wasn't just a game for me. It was an experience that has not been matched to this day. I hope the series can be completed some day.
I am glad it came out on Dreamcast still looks great to this day.
Look's like no one remember game omikron the nomad soul, what shame, what shame, poor David bowie
That should be the topic of one of the future vids
I have to say I'm new to this channel but in just a couple of videos you have actually shown me and taught me something I never knew about before and something that all the other creators I follow never talked about. That's a pretty hard thing to do show me something new so good job with that and you def have a well deserved sub from me!
I love shenmue still got one and two on sega Dreamcast and the Dreamcast to play them on also got one and two on PlayStation 4 and two on original Xbox and the original Xbox to play it on and got shenmue 3 collector’s edition with everything in it 😃🦊👍
ive just discovered your channel and so far I am loving it. I wish you much success lady decade!!!!!
I bought Shenmue when it came out! There was nothing like it at the time! It was very immersive, had a great story. Having to wait til a certain time of day for someone you were going to talk to added to the realism. I bought an import European copy of Shenmue 2, and I thought it was even better! Sure it let you skip having to wait until a certain time of day for events to happen, but it packed in more content, story, action,and even better characters. I was so sad it ended with 2, well, until recently 3 came out, and yeah I haven't played it. Not sure if I should from what I heard.
I'm an OG fan of shenmue and thought 3 is a fanstatic thing to play to carry on the saga give it a try!
Shenmue was ahead of its time one of the first 'sandbox' games and one of the first to do quick time events.
Oh yea, I remember hearing about this! Good video! Crazy to think they were originally aiming to have this on Saturn lol
This video is just thinly veiled gushing about how good Shenmue is, and I am OK with that.
Shenmue = Best Game Ever made
Could have sold Shenmue on PS2 also once Dreamcast died to get a larger audience.
Show us your gaming collection, your wall is fucking awesome!
I believe the game that first pioneered 3D open world was driver on the ps1
Zelda: The Ocarina Of Time is the first 3d immersive open world game where you can interact with characters and do things that`s not a apart of the main mission like go fishing, play games for currency, ride your horse etc... It predates Shenmue by one year. Mario 64 is the first 3d open world game.
not really, mario 64 is a platformer and the interactions in zelda ocarina of time are more basic in comparison to shenmue.
@@fakebluedarknt2577 Mario 64 is a platforner but still a open world game. Zelda TooT interactions supposedly being basic in comparison to Shenmue does not nullify the fact that its a open world game that predates Shenmue by a little over a year.
@@PPHDocumentaries not rlly bro, mario is not a open world lmao and shenmue is a action rpg, zelda Oot too
This game is fucking awesome 10/10 even today
Great choice my lady, I am hope you cover the God Hand Video Game
LadyDecade, you are brilliant and so are your videos. This is an important game and you do an amazing job at painting the history of gaming like Picasso with a brush.
Thank you for sharing this with us.
As far as gaming history I’d love a video about, Halo Combat Evolved comes to mind. It went through so many transitions and was as big of a product departure as Nintendo axing Sony or Square axing Nintendo. It literally made the Xbox a must have system and changed the landscape of gaming forever. Just a suggestion.
The furry thing seems to be a bit of a recurring theme here innit?
When back in the day you got this game for X-mas. Then you saw the Black guy in the game ! And then in real life your Asian homies lil brother says thats you 🤣 !!! 💙🖤👨🏾🦱 Priceless Memory !!!
Unbelievable...What a different era it was...
You can't work 24 hours a day for a week. I think you meant the team worked 24/7 on the game. No doubt individuals only slept a few hours a day.
Talk about Virtua Fighter 3 Saturn next!
Shenmue was a fascinating concept, and story. It was ahead of its time. Even though we have open world games, they are more cinematic, involving online play, losing the part of the single playing journey.
The real time system was fun, plus in game time had a flow, that had a learning curve. So much to see and do. Plus if you went to the arcade, your ranking will be there.
The Shenmue Passport was a fun feature. Character guide, tips, weather reports, updates with the kitty, soundtracks & music you have unlocked, plus cinematics from your playthrough.
None of this was dlc, buy completely accessible on the disc. Optional to be online, to update on weather, and other features.
So true, if Shenmue never happened, we would not have the open world system we have now.
Add the Shenmue Passport a data of people and animal Ryo met complete with their bio. Sadly, that feat did not make on Steam version.
@@Tippotipo shame about the Steam port. You would assume everything integral to the experience could be included. The Passport was a fun part of the experience, plus unlocking music, not just the in game music, but the music you found along the way too
So happy to see this video! Thank you!
You're way cooler than your husband, lol
Dreamcast and Shenmue were way ahead of their time. This game had it all and got slept on
It did get a bit boring that at times, all that backtracking and walking about aimlessly. I reckon this title is ripe for the remaster!
@@DailyCorvid Shenmue 4 maybe?
@@junkyard4999 Bro I will take whatever Shenmue action that is going :D
I'd really love to see the original format realised, the online persistent world where other players are milling about but it's still single player with bells and whistles.
I reckon eventually Microsoft will end up with the IP and do something mental with it :) Hope so!
Great video ❤️ Shenmue and the Sega Saturn
I was one of the few who had both a Saturn and Dreamcast. Shenmue was my favorite game and the game that physically hurt me the most lol. I had no clue they made it for the Saturn as well as Dreamcast.
There was no need for that Sally Acorn reference😂😂💀💀😩
Shenmue 2 on Xbox was great
OG Xbox was pretty much the Dreamcast 2, with all the great Sega games released for it.
Shenmue started as a Virtua Fighter Prequel Starring a Young Akira Yuki During Development.
Love love love the thumbnail ❤️❤️
Great video keep up the great work!
Gotta love the way she "nashes" her teeth enthusiastic like to certain phrases ...such as "im lady decade".
Once you see it.... you can't unsee it.
Don't worry- not a negative.
Simps would call this adorable.
Great vid. Shenmue was a big part of my life. And you did it justice- along with the seaman.
At 8:54 - I haven't laughed that hard in ages....I hope you are not hinting at personal li......
Too far.
Best wishes.
"Everybody who watches this channel seems to LOOOOOOVE seamen" Sheeeesh.