The relevance of Shenmue.

Gaming is an industry that's forever evolving. Gamer's across the globe now look forward to advanced graphics, with little story-line. But what about games in the past? I'm thinking about one game in particular. 

We are going to travel back to 1999. An era where free-roam gaming was just becoming significant. It was an advanced idea, way ahead of its time.

The Dreamcast was a console released by SEGA, the console that currently is SEGA's last. And the game, well. 

That game is Shenmue. This game has been an obsession since I first played it. And I'm not the only one it has controlled.

We begin in a Japanese village called Yamonose, with Ryo Hazuki, the main protagonist, seeking revenge after we first witness the murder of his father, Iwao. Sounds cliche? The game is literally an experience.

Shenmue centralises around finding the murderers of Ryo's father. Lan Di (as pictured below and to the right) and his fellow black suited associates are still in Japan, so the search is on. Lan Di, as we later learn, belongs to the Chi You Men. They are a Chinese cartel, lead by other leaders (including Lan Di) who Ryo will  meet throughout the Saga.

Lan Di top, Chai left, Terry far left, Dou Niu right, Yuan far 

right, Iwao centre, Nozomi centre left, Joy far centre left,

 Shenhua centre right, Xiuying far centre right, Ryo bottom 

centre, Ren bottom left and Guizhang bottom right. 

 

During the game, you interact with the towns people, such as bar owners, shop keepers, sailors, drunken men in the street and a loads more. 

Ryo discovers Lan Di stole a Dragon mirror, and meets Master Chen who instructs him to find the second one, a Phoenix mirror, that his father also possessed. The Phoenix mirror plays a vital part throughout Shenmue, as when combined with the Dragon mirror, "the gates of heaven and earth will open. And Chiyou will resurrect itself on Earth." Shenmue 2 is where we learn more about these mirrors.

And also there's an arcade. You Arcade, where you can play Yu Suziki's,the creator of Shenmue, classics. Hang on, Space Harrier, Darts, QTE games such as boxing and ExciteQTE. This was one of the places where I wasted so much game play.

QTE Boxing at YOU arcade.

QTE's were a new-ish thing when this game was first released. QTE means Quick Time Event. It's basically when a combination of buttons come on the screen and you have to perform the combination to continue. It's quite a common thing in gaming now...

Oh, and one more thing. Ryo has practiced Jujitsu his whole life, well after all he does live in a dojo and his father was a sensei, so fighting is a key element within Shenmue, it's not just a beat 'em up though. You can purchase new moves from the Antique store as well as learn new ones as the game continues. 

In order to progress you have to do things at certain times, which is what makes the free roam aspect so fantastic in Shenmue. Other characters are living their own lives as you move throughout the game.

The last part of the game, when we finally see Ryo leave for Hong Kong, leads us to Yokosuka Harbour. Ryo gets a job as a fork lift truck driver. He earns money per crate moved from warehouse to warehouse. Throughout the working days, the storyline with The Mad Angels (harbour gang connected to The Chi You Men) as well as all the harbour workers, Master Chen, Guizhang and so on. Its my favourite part of the game. 

Eventually, Ryo departs, after defeating Chai, a crazy man that resembles Gollum from Lord of the rings who is attempting to steal the Phoenix Mirror, once again so he can take it back to Lan Di. 

This is not the whole game summed up. This is just the basics of the game, as years have gone on, more theories have surfaced and so have more fans. At just 11 years old, this game engrossed me. It still does. I'm new to blogging, but I'm an avid gamer. And if it wasn't for this game, and games like Zelda, Broken Sword, Syberia etc, I wouldn't be the type of gamer I am today. But games like Shenmue do not exist anymore. 

This leads to me the fans. There is such a vast community that want to see HD versions of Shenmue and then maybe, maybe Shenmue 3. We've been waiting over a decade to see this saga completed. 

www.facebook.com/groups/Shenmue500k

Shenmue500k is a community on Facebook and Twitter where Shenmue fans from all over the globe discuss and try to promote this game. We have a monthly twitterthon thats been very successful and has been for years, its on the 3rd and we tweet to #saveshenmue. Voice actor Corey Marshall who voices Ryo has even showed his support for what the fans are trying to achieve. 

As this is my first blog post, I thought I would blog about a huge aspect in my life. Shenmue will always be a huge influence in my life, and like I've said previously, I'm not the only one.

Ironically, its been fourteen years to the day that Shenmue was first released to Europe and North America. One day, we will #SaveShenmue. 

HevzyB :)