Quick Look: Throwback: Shenmue

I am a bit ashamed to say that I have never played any Shenmue games despite owning a Dreamcast. But this quicklook was very insightful.

Holy ASS! Loving all the throwback quicklooks, ESPECIALLY this one!

Calling this an "adventure game" is interesting, actually. I guess if you're looking for an equivalent, it would be Quest for Glory since that was mostly an adventure game, but it had some combat as well.

6.8

I'm one of those people who still love Shenmue, warts and all.  The first game may be slooooww, but the Euro Dreamcast version of Shenmue 2 is one of my all time favorites.  The dirty backstreets of Hong Kong are more exciting, there's a ton of new Kung Fu masters to learn from, and there's a sexy motorcycle chick to hang around with for no particular reason.  The dialogue is cringe-free when it stays in Japanese with English subtitles. 
 
Maybe this is delusional, but I think now would be a great time for Yu Suzuki to finish the Shenmue saga on iPhone.  The overhead of using the same engine and assets with digital distribution should be very low.  Ryu must have his revenge!

mmm i keep tring to play this game but i hate it for some reason..... mabey ill try again!

Wow, the face models look better than unreal engine faces.

shenmue 2 is a work of art. Its a crime that they haven't put out a third.

MYSTERIOUS FOX CAMEO

I also would love a Shenmue or Shenmue II Endurance Run. It is a game you have to invest a lot of time in but it really is epic, especially Shenmue II. They are my favorite games of all time and there is actually still quite a large cult demand for Shenmue 3 as you can see from this petition:

My favourite game. Ungggggggggggh awesome.

Oh THAT man!

All Brad has done through these is bitch about how old everything is from graphics to button colors jesus man grow up its a fucking retro quick look about a 10 year old console. Also how does a game journalist not play Shenmue which was ridiculously hyped at the time just to check it out. 

THAILORTHS!

Oh Shenmue. I'm one of those people who really liked this and I think Ryan is right in saying that although at the time you realised there were a lot of rough edges, it was oddly compelling despite the mundane nature of the things you and other people were doing. 
 
Shenmue 2 was released on the Dreamcast at least in Europe, because I own it! It didn't have English voices at all though, so at least you didn't have to comprehend so much how plodding the voice-work was. Helped me get started on studying Japanese too. 
 
Speaking of the voice work, I too noticed how everyone very deliberately pronounces Ryo's name correctly... or at least tries to. There are a few Dyos in there... Good on the voice director at least for that aspect, if nothing else.

I want a Shenmue Endurance Run!

I could not play this game. It's so slow and the people talk soooooooooooooooooooooooo sloooooooooooooow. I'd rip my hair out playing it.

I'm one of those people who really loved Shenmue back in the day and I still feel compelled to play it again now that I've seen this. There still is no game that have managed to get even close to the scope of this game. It was basically as close as you could get to a virtual reality world and in many ways still is. Shenmue may have been Yu Suzuki's and SEGA's Stalingrad, with more ambition than good game design, but you have to admire Suzuki san for trying to make something like Shenmue. I definitely think that people will look back at this game decades from now and realize that it was way ahead of it's time. The closest thing I can compare it with would be Da Vinci's attempt to make a flying machine hundreds of years before they became reality. Not that I think Shenmue is anywhere near as important as that in the grand scope of things, but for video games and interactive media in general it will very much have the same place in history.´The grand undertaking that failed simply because it was before it's time.

Come on Shenmue Endurance Run!

whoever wrote the description for this game is such a fanboy

I'd heard about Shenmue but had never really seen it in action before this Quick Look. I have to say I find it strangely compelling. It seems to have a very slow pacing though, something you need to be relaxed and have a lot of free time to really get into. 
 
Sorta makes me wish I had known about it back in the day, and would have been able to play it. That way I could've looked back at it nostalgically now.

That was awesome, especially Brad's reactions to everything. That said, I still find the game to be compelling/great in a lot of ways, even with all it's 'flaws'. THE KID JUST WANTS TO PLAY BASEBALL RYAN! COME ON!
 
I'm all for a Shenmue ER with Ryan and Vinny and sometimes Brad. Just do it!

Anchorman Wooly Doug interviews Saviour for a Special Report on Shenmue.  

I would pay serious money for a Shenmue endurance run.

Shenmue Endurance Run. I'm all for it!!!

god this game was boring. 
don't believe any of the fan boy hype to this game. 

Hey, do you guys know anything about... sailors?
I have to say, I'm like Ryan when it comes to this game.  i beat this and the second one, and I never particularly found myself really enjoying myself playing it... but I felt compelled to keep going.  An odd game, to be sure.

Classic game. Loved it. Like AlKusanagi I also played Shenmue 2, DC version in Japanese. Got the Xbox version later.

YES!!!!!!!!

Ha, I really like the ending of that quick look, "hey mister, lets play baseball"

Useless knowledge about Shenmue - Yokosuke, where the game takes place, it's also where Mark Hamill grew up, as it's a port town and from what I heard, his father, who was in the Navy, was stationed.

Shenmue is the best dreamcast game, i wish they gave me an ending.............

i only played the 2nd one without playing the first and i thought the 2nd was great

Ah I adore this. My favorite game ever for so long as I have lived.

I've never played it either but it looks sooooooo slow. And the story doesn't even seem too interesting. But that probably has to do more with seeing it 10 years too late. But christ, let's pick it up here! Also, watching the guy drink that soda....Holy shit....
 
Though I do know all about Mega 64's Shenmue video! What can you tell me about the four woo doo? I'm looking for some sailors.

" whoever wrote the description for this game is such a fanboy "

So stating the truth is now viewed as fanboyism. Lovely.

For its time, Shenmue really was revolutionary. And yes, it is still regarded as a masterpiece by pretty much everyone who played it. You obviously didn't, hence the ignorant comment.

It sucks that I missed this one.

the town is pretty huge ryan.
 
and the fighting is a serious component.
 
i think your memory is staining you on the greatness of this game.

I miss these games so much. :(

So stating the truth is now viewed as fanboyism. Lovely.

For its time, Shenmue really was revolutionary. And yes, it is still regarded as a masterpiece by pretty much everyone who played it. You obviously didn't, hence the ignorant comment.

"

20 hours is nothing ryan.
 
you could knock this game out in a month.
 
DO AN ENDURANCE RUN!
you and dave, or you and brad/vinny!
 
i love jeff, but i think a ryan jeff combo would not work for this game.
 
THE PEOPLE WANT IT. "You should do it, people would buy it"

Now we'll never know if that kid got to play baseball...

I love this game so much!!!!

...wow... that's pretty deep...

oh?......that man? 

Brads very quick to judge, Shenmue was great to play, but yeah not much fun to watch.

Shenmue was a great game, but it's an adventure game.  Not for everyone.
 
If you don't like Monkey Island, you don't like Maniac Mansion.  You're not hyped for Heavy Rain?  Shenmue wasn't for you.

please make this the new endurance run, I beg you GiantBomb staff