User:TheJoebro64/drafts/Shenmue

Shenmue is a 1999 action-adventure game developed by Sega AM2 for the Dreamcast. Written, designed, and directed by Yu Suzuki, it follows the teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he sets out in revenge for the murder of his father in 1980s Yokosuka, Japan. The player explores an open world where they fight opponents in brawler battles and encounter quick time events. The persistent world features numerous interactive objects, a day-and-night system, variable weather effects, non-player characters with daily schedules, and minigames.

Sega AM2 began working on what would become Shenmue—a role-playing game spin-off from its Virtua Fighter franchise—for the Sega Saturn in 1996. After developing several successful Sega arcade games, Suzuki wanted to create a longer experience and conceived Shenmue as the first of a multi-part epic. Development moved to the Dreamcast in 1997 and the Virtua Fighter connection was dropped. Sega hoped Shenmue would be the Dreamcast's killer app and granted Suzuki a large budget. It was the most expensive video game ever developed at the time, with an estimated production and marketing cost of $47–70 million, though this also covered some of Shenmue II (2001).

Shenmue was released in Japan in December 1999 and in the West in November 2000 to positive reviews. Critics considered its level of environmental detail unprecedented and praised the graphics, soundtrack, realism, and ambition, but were divided over its slow pace and focus on mundane detail. Shenmue sold 1.2 million copies, making it the fourth-bestselling Dreamcast game, but failed to recoup its development cost and was a major commercial failure that contributed to Sega's exit from the console market in 2001. Although Suzuki planned for the Shenmue story to cover at least four games, further games entered development hell after Shenmue II.

In the years following its release, Shenmue developed a cult following and is credited for pioneering game mechanics such as quick time events and open worlds. Although it has been celebrated as one of the greatest games of all time, retrospective assessments have been mixed, with criticism for its controls, pace, and voice acting. In 2018, Sega released a high-definition port of Shenmue for the PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Following a successful crowdfunding campaign, Suzuki—who left Sega in 2011—developed Shenmue III independently; it was released for the PlayStation 4 and Windows in 2019.

Gameplay

Shenmue is an action-adventure game in which the player controls the teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he investigates his father's murder in Yokosuka in 1986. They must explore the open world, searching for clues, examining objects such drawers, cabinets, and shelves, and talking to non-player characters. Occasionally, Ryo battles opponents in fighting sequences similar to the Virtua Fighter series; outside of combat, players can practice moves to increase their power. In quick time events, the player must press the right button within a time limit to succeed. There are several minigames; in the local arcade, for example, Ryo can throw darts or play Sega's 1985 arcade games Hang-On and Space Harrier.

The gameplay is characterized by a focus on mundanity; Edge described Shenmue as "a game of middle management, often composed of the unglamorous daily grinds—being home for bedtime, wisely spending money earned from a day job, or training combat moves through lonely practice—that other games bypass". The persistent world features shops that open and close, buses that run to timetables, and characters who have individual routines, each in accordance with the in-game clock. Ryo receives a daily allowance which can be spent on items including food, raffle tickets, audio cassettes, and capsule toys. Later in the game, Ryo gets a part-time job at the docks and must ferry crates between warehouses and compete in races using a forklift.

Development

• http://www.polygon.com/2014/3/19/5527120/yu-suzuki-shenmue-gdc-2014-classic-game-postmortem
  • After joining Sega in '83 Suzuki spent most of his time creating arcade games that would last about three minutes
  • After a few years he wanted to make a game that would last much longer and began researching 1980s RPGs for inspiration
  • Built The Old Man and the Peach Tree, a prototype for the Saturn where they tested camera and character controls, a conversation system, and combat. In the prototype players controlled the character Taro who is searching for a kung fu grandmaster named Ryu
  • They used Old Man and the Peach Tree as a basis for a 3D RPG, the aim was to include voice acting, a cinematic approach, and combat with multiple characters. The game was centered on Akira, a character from Virtua Fighter, and used Virtua Fighter's engine and animations
  • Suzuki conceived a four-part story, each with an overarching theme: "sadness", "fight", "departure", and "starting afresh". Akira's dad died, he'd overcome grief and move to China, fight Randi, and set out on another journey with a friend.
  • "Suzuki created an orchestra suite with four dramatic movements, which he played for other writers before asking for assistance developing the story"
  • He hired a screenwriter, playwright, film director, and other writers "for 'borderless development,' a multi-level way of writing the script that wouldn't be solely honed in a gameplay-focused script". They developed an eleven-chapter story
  • In 1997 Suzuki decided to move development to the Dreamcast. Because of the Dreamcast's power, Suzuki wanted 45 hours of gameplay: five of cutscenes, four of fighting, four of searching for items, eight of exploration, four of training, four of dungeons, and four of travels. Since they wanted the game to be lengthy, they opted for an open-world approach
  • Since the Dreamcast wasn't ready, Suzuki based development on what he'd predicted would be the console's specifications
  • In 1998, Sega made the decision to remove the game from the Virtua Fighter universe because they wanted it to be the Dreamcast's killer app. With the characters and themes changed, the title was changed to Shenmue and each chapter would be a separate Dreamcast game
  • Suzuki rethought the design keywords and chose three new ones: "leisurely", "fully", and "gently". He wanted players to chose how they'd play, which influenced the open-world setting. "The interspersed movie scenes would be made in real-time, high-quality 3D in an effort to elicit higher emotional involvement from players. The goal was to switch seamlessly between movie scenes and gameplay scenes."
• http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-03-19-shenmue-once-featured-cats-that-walk-on-two-legs
• http://www.polygon.com/2015/6/20/8818097/shenmue-3-story-11-chapters-kickstarter-yu-suzuki
• https://www.ign.com/articles/1999/07/14/shenmue-the-history
• http://shmuplations.com/shenmue/
• https://www.forbes.com/sites/olliebarder/2015/08/16/classic-shenmue-interview-unearthed/
• https://web.archive.org/web/20151210021137/http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/jb/jb2.htm
• https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/may/02/shenmue-sega-classic-14-years-too-late
• https://www.ign.com/articles/2007/08/08/shenmue-through-the-ages
• https://web.archive.org/web/20020926074032/http://www.sega.com:80/segascream/developers/post_interviews.jhtml?article=int_yusuzuki
• http://www.gamasutra.com/view/news/213553/Yu_Suzuki_recounts_the_making_of_Shenmue.php
• https://www.gamesradar.com/from-shenmue-to-yakuza-toshihiro-nagoshi-looks-back-on-an-illustrious-career-of-japanese-game-development/
• https://www.polygon.com/a/life-in-japan/Yu-Suzuki-kitchen
• https://www.usgamer.net/articles/the-shenmue-story-from-virtua-fighter-rpg-to-kickstarter-success

Release

Sales

would've required every Dreamcast owner to buy the game twice just to break even[1]

Legacy

Retrospective assessments

• http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/shenmue/