Tonight we discuss Shenmue, AKA the greatest game of all time. Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration but I personally love the game.
Now, I have a feeling Kris is yet again going to bring up the Yakuza is better than Shenmue argument. That means I need you, our listeners, to post some arguments for Shenmue in the comments. I suppose you can argue for Yakuza if you want but that wouldn’t be very nice.
Of course, we also need your listener questions so please leave those in the comments below!
I think its wrong to favor one over the other, fans of Shenmue should be happy that Yakuza came in to fill the void that Shenmue left, its the only game I can think of that is similar in structure.
Though I guess you could then argue that as their both Sega, the budget for the whole Yakuza series could have been spent on making Shenmue 3 😀
I agree. I like both franchises and I think it’s more a problem of Kris’s having to always one up everyone. I should have kicked him off the podcast a long time ago.
Who’s your favorite NPC in Shenmue?
Be honest…did you ever forget about the cat?
Shenmue sort of incorporated the monotony of every day life as a gameplay element. You have to go back home to sleep every night, grab your allowance and then make the hike into the city every day. Sandbox games now play by way less rules today, streamlining the experience. Do you miss Shenmue’s bold attempts at life simulation?
Ryu has a SEGA Saturn, yet he can only play a few 16-bit arcade games on it. In a perfect world, what Saturn game would he actually own?
And what’s your favorite toy collectible in the game?
With it’s faults (it’s not a perfect game, obviously) Shenmue is my favourite game ever made.
Yakuza is not better, it’s different. Yakuza is more action oriented, and, well, one could argue it’s the ‘cooler’ one while Shenmue is about the immersion; Shenmue is about an emotional journey, about the details.
Yakuza is an inspired gangster movie. Shenmue is a beautifull and epic chinese/oriental poem. As it were.
Yeah, how lame can I be, right?
Q and A time:
Do you agree Shenmue is the most ambitious project Sega ever made?
Do you believe Shenmue changed how people, both gamers and devs, look at videogames as a whole?
Also, what’s your favourite part of both Shenmue and Shenmue II?
What new toy capsules should be incorporated in a new, full scale Shenmue game?
What arcade games should feature in the mini game section of Shenmue III (Fighting Vipers forward!)?
What locations would you like to visit in the next chapters of the game?
Now I’m going to treat me with some VF 5 and imagine how good Shenmue III would look if this AM2 made a new Shenmue in a current gen console.
I can’t seem to verify sales numbers for Shenmue 1. I have seen everything from 400,000 to 1,200,000. Do you guys know?
Also one can’t help but wonder that if Shenmue hurt Sega so much financially, could it have contributed to them pulling out of the console space?
Also, how awesome is the term Fully Reactive Eyes Entertainment?