When Shenmue first reared its head in my life, I was at Shane Bettenhausen’s house here in Lexington watching an imported version of the game on his Sega Dreamcast. Shane was the only one that understood Japanese, so it was rather unspectacular for the time, at least in terms of storytelling, but the world of Shenmue was quite magnificent in other ways. First and foremost, it should be understood that Yu Suzuki and Keiji Okayasu’s ambitious masterpiece contained elements of a genre not really seen in the console world, which made it instantly different. These elements are commonplace now, which is why some people may not ‘get’ the majesty of Shenmue’s gameplay construction, but back in 1999, and in the sequel’s 2002 release on the Xbox, this was new and groundbreaking.
Before we get too much into that, let’s talk briefly about the story. In Shenmue I, You play as Ryo Hazuki circa 1986, whose father was killed by a Chinese man named Lan Di. The motivation of Lan Di falls on the acquisition of a family heirloom called the Dragon Mirror, which doesn’t immediately show its importance until the main body of the story begins to unfold. The rest of the game has Ryo seeking revenge on Lan Di while finding out the significance of the Dragon Mirror, as well as its mirror brother the Phoenix Mirror. Shenmue II has Ryo continuing his search for Lan Di in Hong Kong, and the mirrors, to finish out what he began. For those not wanting spoilers, I won’t go beyond this at all. The story is a major driving point for the series’ longevity. I’ve always said that stories are what keep a game memorable, and Shenmue I & II have some damn memorable stories.
My rambling aside, the milestone achievements of the Shenmue series shouldn’t be undersold. While younger gamers might snub their nose at the game that is nearly 20 years old, the achievements that the series accomplished should be celebrated. The first Shenmue title brought to us an open world on a console. Exploration was an enormous selling factor for the release in 1999 and it still maintains that aspect of gameplay. Ryo has the ability to go multiple routes during his exploration for explanation of his father’s death. This is a structure that has since been replicated by Sega’s other big open world Yakuza series that is ongoing. Anyway, the open world aspect of the game is what really drives the whole process. You have the ability to do things like get Ryo a job to earn money, something that becomes a choice in the second game. That job, which starts with forklifts (and racing) earns dough for Ryo to continue his journey.
The games also feature the ability to waste a tremendous amount of time and money. Believe me when I say that this game promotes both abilities. The games feature stores to purchase knick-knacks, mostly Sega sponsored knick-knacks. For example, in Shenmue I, there is an arcade in Ryo’s district that you can play Sega’s Hang On and/or Space Harrier. These are actually replicas of the arcade experiences, so you’re getting a perfect translation. Those games might seem worthless nowadays, but playing them in the late 1990s meant you were getting arcade experiences for free. You can also play some QTE-based games, which is enormously meta considering one of the biggest complaints from the original release was the QTEs all over the action. Beyond the QTE machines, there is also a great dartboard game. If you succeed in the games, you get small trophies for your effort (actual trophies, not just PSN trophies).
If playing arcade games ain’t your thing, and I would question why you’re playing a game, if arcade games hold no interest to you, you can also purchase knick-knacks, as mentioned above. I wasted 30-minutes of gameplay time going to toy machines outside of stores and continually putting in yen to acquire Sega toys. My children even questioned my sanity, as I kept putting in money for these things. After a while, it was just relaxing. I do admit that 30-minutes straight of doing this was an enormous waste of time, but it was relaxing and fun, not to mention a great example of what you can do I Shenmue if you so choose to go that route. Eventually, you will run out of money in the game, but the fact that you can do this is a reason why this series is so epic.
Nostalgia aside, while the gameplay certainly was revolutionary for its time, Sega did almost nothing to the controls to make this re-release a bit tighter. I’m unsure if that was a respectable decision for Suzuki’s masterpiece or a budgetary constraint that kept them from updating the title, but the controls for this new re-release are the exact same as they were on the Dreamcast, and that’s honestly not a good thing. The controls were designed for specific hardware and the PlayStation 4 was not that specific hardware.
Back in the day, the Dreamcast’s left analog thumbstick was amazing and its usage ahead of its time. Granted the initial design of the controller was brought into play on Sega Saturn’s Nights into Dreams game, so that shouldn’t be lost on video game historians, but its common use was not a ‘thing’ until after the Dreamcast launched. The Dreamcast did a smashing job with instituting the thumbstick with Shenmue’s gameplay, as it was a smooth and natural piece of hardware to move around Ryo. Not many developers were truly using their thumbstick options at this point in time, which included Sony’s PlayStation developers, which featured two thumbsticks that were more pomp than circumstance. Sony developers really didn’t discover their usefulness until the emergence of the PlayStation 2, and even then it was somewhat of a hard sell.
Getting back on topic, what was once cool and new, now feels loose and uninspired. Shenmue I (and even into Shenmue II) simply doesn’t feel good when trying to control Ryo’s movements. At best, it feels very messy and old. Half the time while I was controlling Ryo, you swore that guy had one too many saki shots, as walking straight in the game was little short of a miracle. Running was completely out of the question if you want to have any sort of control over Ryo. To help gum things up, the camera control felt a bit wild with the right thumbstick, while navigating Ryo felt like an unaligned vehicle. He simply was all over the place. Maybe that was fine because Sega felt the need to keep the game in its original form, but it honestly doesn’t translate well to the PlayStation 4 control scheme. Fighting with controls during gameplay is never a fun gig, as it becomes more of a distraction to the actual gameplay that players should be focusing on.
As for quick time events (QTE) and actual fighting, it was fine. The groundwork is laid in Shenmue I and Shenmue II in this category so that games like Yakuza can succeed. Both borrow elements from Virtua Fighter, of course, so the translation from one game to another offers up a progressive benefit in terms of actual control of the characters. Ultimately, the controlling during fights is going to feel natural. The QTE moments in both Shenmues offer up some impressiveness of their own, as the dictate progression in the story depending on QTE outcome. The latter there is neat, and you’ll find QTE to be a staple in the series.
Controls aside, the graphical improvement to the games weren’t too far off the originals. In fact, you’re not really getting a graphical improvement at all. You’re getting something that fits into the 1080p space resolution, but beyond that, the game is in its original visual form, even in the cutscenes. What that means is that you will get flat textures, awkward face movements, and very bland items. Again, they are original visuals, which is respectful of the original vision of the games. Had I wished the games would have improved in these areas? Absolutely, especially since the third looks to be a considerable visual upgrade, which will be awkward when compared to the others, but the re-releases are the games most of us know and love. I’m a huge stickler for maintaining original content, but certainly not opposed to improving things. Shenmue I and Shenmue II don’t really improve visuals at all, other than resolution.
If you can excuse the controls and visuals, then you’re in for a treat with the two games, as they are true to their original releases. Both are girth-y and groundbreaking for the time they were released, as well as trendsetters for titles like Oblivion and Skyrim, and how much a gamer can take when playing in an open world environment. Spending hours and hours doing other things while the main quest is standing still waiting for your participation was unheard of back in the late 90s, so thank both Shenmue for their contributions to such gameplay design.
Overall, the hours you want to spend in Shenmue I and Shenmue II will be there. The amount of patience you have with the controls and visuals will depend on your expectations of these releases. For me, it was nice seeing the games in full form on a modern system. I just wish there had been improvements to make it feel like a current generation release. As it stands, you get classics, and a hopeful outlook there is more to come in the third installment of the series.
