First exposure to Shenmue...?

[ManoTemple]

I remember seeing it in the Official Dreamcast Magazine issue #2, titled "Shenmue Shines" (thought that's what it was actually called). I specifically bought the magazine, though, because the realistic screenshots mesmerized me. I guess you can say I was a graphics whore at age 9.

 

[RetroLord120]

I have no clue, I think I had always heard of it here and there. But 3 years ago I decided heck I might aswell try out this game. And then... Shenmue became my addiction

 

[DJMH]

I had seen a few screenshots but I wasn't until I attended a video game event in Leicester Square, London that I witnessed shenmue for the first time.

Somehow I managed to actually find a link that reviewed this event. Thought it would be quite hard to find.

ECTS 2000: The Great Sega Premiere - IGN

You know you have a strong software lineup when you don't even try to…

www.google.com

Basically at this even you sat in the cinema and watched upcoming trailers as well as play future releases once the trailers had been shown. To be honest I only really remember the sega games but according to the link it was a multiplatform event.

I was 15 at the time.

Shenmue was towards the end of the trailers and what was shown blew my mind. Seeing the detail of the snow, the rain, people going about their daily lives and just the general atmosphere of dobuita was astonishing. It felt like this game was genuinely taking gaming to a whole new level! To be honest the sheer beauty of it made me cry and no other game had done that before.

Iater that year I remember buying the official Dreamcast magazine which had a demo disk with a shenmue trailer. I promised I wouldn't get as emotional this time round but ended up feeling overwhelmed when I watched the trailer on the disk for the first time.

Replaying the games this year I noticed how amazing the use of sound and cinematography is in these games. They really are a beautiful piece of art!

 

[SledgeNE]

In fun generation, a former german games magazine, i found Project Berkley. This Project-Name was interesting to me and i began to follow the news on different magazines for this game.

 

[ShenmueTree]

Game magazine. Forget which one. I used to sit in the middle of the isle and read them in the store, lol. I didnt have a Dreamcast until much later. Like 2005.

 

[BruceWayne911]

My 13th birthday it was a gift from one of my friends. Never heard of Shenmue and when I asked him what it was, all he would says is, " Trust me you'll like it." He was right?

 

[Revan]

My brother-in-law gifted me a copy of Shenmue to go along with my new Dreamcast in the early 2000s. He had no idea what it was, just thought it looked interesting and hoped I'd find some enjoyment out of it before moving onto something else.

What he didn't realise is that at that moment, he created a monster.

 

[B-Man]

Outside of reading information about Virtua Fighter RPG, my earliest memory of it is this article from the March 1999 issue of Next Generation magazine. I vividly remember looking at those screenshots on the left side of the page and assuming that they were shots from pre-rendered CG cutscenes. Then I read the caption which says "Shenmue has no rendered cutscenes -- everything you see here is realtime." My mind was blown. This was the future of video games. Although looking back now, the top screenshot may actually be a pre-rendered promotional image.

I also remember seeing the screenshots of Ryo holding a tape and using the tape recorder from Ren's hideout, and I thought it looked and sounded so cool that you could manipulate objects in realtime. Then I read the whole article and the game just sounded incredible. Seriously, read that whole page and imagine being a 15 year old kid in 1999. Shenmue truly was a game ahead of its time. I already had become a big Sega and Virtua Fighter fan from owning a Saturn and had fully intended on buying a Dreamcast when it launched in September. Seeing this sure as hell didn't change my mind!

 

[xatruio]

Although I was excited for Dreamcast back in '99 and mesmerized by the announcement Sega Japan show in May (?) '98 covered by Tips n Tricks Magazine; I was only really concerned with Sonic Adventure, NHL and Crazy Taxi. Didn't hear about Shenmue until early 2001 on the old official Sega.com forums when it was getting super hyped a few months after being released here in the US.

Found it in the Sears video game department, but my older brother decided on Tony Hawk 2 instead. Not long after I got a pre-owned copy at Funcoland for myself and the rest is history.

 

[9dragons]

It was this article in the Video Games Mag twice. The first time I read about it in early 2000 and I was intrigued I really though this game is going to be something special.

Unfortunately in at the time game game was released I was trapped in the PS2 hype and in puberty so I never thougt About my Dreamcast again and also forgot about Shenmue.

In early 2018 I read through my old mag collections again and Shenmue cought my eye again. This time I tried it and became a instant fan.

 

[Toua77]

Years ago we bought a Dreamcast, and one of my dad's friends gave us a pile of games to play. In that pile was Shenmue. At first me and me cousin couldn't stop laughing being the immature kids we were. "What the fuck is a Shenmue " (I had to be about 11 or 12 and my cousin is 3 years older than me). We played all the other games first, and in the end we were like "What the heck pop it in".

We were instantly hooked from the start of it, we had never seen anything like it at the time. When we were done with the session even as kids we looked at each other and just knew we were being pretentious idiots. After beating the game I just remember us doing the 70 man battle over and over and just yearning for more at the end of that cliffhanger. Some years passed and the title fell off my mind. It was my cousin that brought attention to the fact that Shenmue 2 was ported on Xbox. I didn't even believe him at first.
"Shenmue 2 what?"
"Yeah Shenmue 2 is on Xbox bro"
"You're lying"
"I SWEAR TO GOD".

He let me borrow Shenmue 2 and a decade + later we're finally here. I'm so appreciative that my dad's friend let us borrow that masterpiece. No way would I have let some stupid kids borrow that game lol. I probably wouldn't have played it until that awful Ps4 port if that wasn't the case(If ever).

Thank you Yu Suzuki.

 

[VukBZ2005]

IIRC, it was in late 1997 I was exposed to Shenmue. Specifically, it was in an in-depth interview a video game magazine did with Mr. Suzuki.

In it, he detailed how he came up with the idea for the game. He also gave a deep insight into the direction he wanted to go with it.

That inspired me deeply. It also made me want to get the Dreamcast when, in early 1999, I got the news it was coming out in the United States later that year.

Also, I didn't get Shenmue I the day it was released. Interestingly, though, I ended up getting it a few months later at a used items sale one of the churches in the area I lived held.

I haven't looked back since then. Oh, yeah, and thanks, Mr. Suzuki.