Shenmue I, II and III.

FabienO · 4 Jul 2010 at 19:49

Yakuza seems like a decent alternative. But I really enjoyed the more moral route of Shenmue. Earnestly working for money (except when gambling), playing the arcades, practising moves. There wasn't an element in this game I didn't love. Any alternative would need to contain all of the small things that made Shenmue so great in order for it to live up to it.

I think if Shenmue was re-made for the 360/PS3/PC in today's standards and given a better marketing strategy, it would be huge.

Another great DC product was Sonic's little battle monsters. Remember finding an egg? Save it to memory card, hatch and train your little monster, fight against your friends ones. That was huge!

Phatjayunoi · 4 Jul 2010 at 19:59

FabienO said:
Another great DC product was Sonic's little battle monsters. Remember finding an egg? Save it to memory card, hatch and train your little monster, fight against your friends ones. That was huge!

Yeah the Chao minigame. Your own personal Tamagochi type game that drains the memory card's batteries in minutes.

arknor · 4 Jul 2010 at 20:07

I think Shenmue is probably one of the most underrated games of all time

oh most definetly the most underrated game at all time i mean its not if it got rave reviews and massive hype when it was released for the dreamcast......

just Scott · 4 Jul 2010 at 21:33

arknor said:
oh most definetly the most underrated game at all time i mean its not if it got rave reviews and massive hype when it was released for the dreamcast......

I think he meant under appreciated. Which it definitely was, there aren't nearly enough people who know about Shenmue and how amazing it was. The Dreamcast is my favourite console of all time simply because it had Shenmue and Jet Set Radio.

Retromatic · 4 Jul 2010 at 22:31

Phatjayunoi said:
There is supposively one that has been in development for a long time by Taiwanese developers. Google "Shenmue Online" and you will find some results.

I see, yeah aparently nothing heard since about 2006 but Sega haven't said if it's out of developement or not. Small glimmer of hope I suppose.

DooMeR · 5 Jul 2010 at 09:38

It was really a great game and the sort of game you didnt want to end. The first one really amazed me the deatails and stuff. Where you could open draws and pick things up Was the first of its kind i think nothing on pc could match it either.

It was meant to be a long running game series but cause the games cost so much to make they never finshed it.

I wouldnt say the game is underated as many people knew about it and it got good reveiws the problem was not many people actually had a dreamcast.

Who knows maybe sega are saving shenmue 3 for their own console if they ever decide to make another one.

Prof. Cheese · 5 Jul 2010 at 13:09

I was really looking forward to Shenmue. It was probably the most hype I had experienced in the build up to a game ever. Frankly, the game just didn't live up to that expectation. If there hadn't been so much hype then I would have enjoyed it a lot more than I did. The main issue for me was just how short it was. Just as it was going somewhere it ended...:/

Shenmue 2 was a whole lot better. The story began to unfold, and there was a lot more to do. The attention to detail was also knocked up a degree or two and the place just seemed more "alive" than the town in the first one. Was eager for more when it all ended but it's been a long wait now.

There were 17 Shenume titles planned originally. This was impressively ambitious yet also highly unrealistic. A third instalment would seem unlikely. But I wouldn't rule out Sony/Microsoft funding it as an exclusive title for their system. I really hope they do as it would be good to play another Shenmue game and bring the story to a close.

Phatjayunoi · 5 Jul 2010 at 13:40

Prof. Cheese said:
There were 17 Shenume titles planned originally. This was impressively ambitious yet also highly unrealistic. A third instalment would seem unlikely. But I wouldn't rule out Sony/Microsoft funding it as an exclusive title for their system. I really hope they do as it would be good to play another Shenmue game and bring the story to a close.

I think the number is 16, but I highly doubt that Sega wanted seperate individual games for each chapter. That is just crazy talk. Somewhere around 6 games is more realistic.

Prof. Cheese · 5 Jul 2010 at 15:47

You are correct that it was actually 16 but they really did plan each chapter to be a seperate game. I guess the idea was to force people into buying SEGA consoles over a long period to get the full experience. But unfortunately they couldn't compete with Sony in this department and the Dreamcast ended prematurely, along with their plans for any future consoles.