Shenmue received generally high scores and maintains an 89 % average on Game Rankings but sharply divided critics ; many hailed it to be a masterpiece, while others found it self-indulgent and uninspiring.

Gameplay in Shenmue is diverse ; while most of the game is spent walking around the Japanese locations in a third-person ' chase cam ' mode ( talking to people, searching for things, and so forth ), it is interspersed with many ' mini-games ', including forklift and motorcycle races, bar fights, chases down crowded alleys, full versions of Sega arcade games Space Harrier and Hang-On ( both originally programmed by Shenmue creator and director, Yu Suzuki ), dart games, and fighting sequences.

During the majority of Shenmue, the player will explore the Yokosuka area usually for any leads to progress the narrative.

Initially, Shenmue was planned as a killer application for the beleaguered Sega Saturn.

Shenmue was one of the first video games to incorporate development techniques that had previously been primarily used for film.

The voice acting in Shenmue was especially ground-breaking as it was one of the first large scale games to include real voices for every single non-playable character in the game world and not just resorting to text transcriptions, as was common in video games at the time.

Gaming Target, who gave the game a perfect 10 / 10 score, described Shenmue < nowiki ></ nowiki >' s visuals as " The greatest in-game graphics that have ever been seen for a console.

The Sega Saturn version included the plot of both the first and second games at the very least, and although the full extent may never be known, a significant portion of the budget quoted for Shenmue was used on resources for future chapters, and the characters, plot and environments / gameplay of at least the entire second game existed in rough form before the first game was released.

At the Game Developer's Conference in 2011 Yu Suzuki stated that the $ 70 million cost for the development of Shenmue was actually an embellishment and that it only cost $ 47 million to develop and market.

Shenmue is regarded as a major step forward for 3D open-world gameplay, and considered the originator of the " open city " subgenre later popularized by Grand Theft Auto III in 2001.

Shenmue also introduced the quick time event mechanic in its modern form and coined a name for it, " QTE ".

In 2010, 1UP. com ranked Shenmue at # 2 in its list of " 15 Games Ahead of Their Time ," citing its " ambition and scope ," various " forward-thinking " mechanics such as real-time weather effects, " day and night cycles, and massive playable environments ," its quick-time event mechanic, and for giving players a " living " world to explore, concluding that it " was ahead of its time in nearly every aspect of its design.

Often referred to as Sega's answer to Shigeru Miyamoto, he has been responsible for the creation of many of Sega's most important arcade games, including Hang-On, Space Harrier, Out Run, After Burner, and pioneering 3D games such as Virtua Racing, Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA, and Virtua Cop, as well as the Shenmue series of open world adventure games for the Dreamcast.

Suzuki's Shenmue for the Dreamcast gave rise to a new style of adventure games, bending it away from the typical mold most games of its nature seem to fit into, with Suzuki's own concept denoted as " FREE " ( Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment ).

Shenmue was a major step forward for 3D open world, nonlinear gameplay, touted as offering an unparalleled level of player freedom, giving them full reign to explore an expansive sandbox city with its own day-night cycles, changing weather, and fully voiced non-player characters going about their daily routines.

However, it was revealed that fall that a new game in the Shenmue Series titled Shenmue City was being developed by Sunsoft & YS Net ( Yu Suzuki's new studio ) for Yahoo Games.

The term Omake has use also in video games ; the Sega game Shenmue II for the Dreamcast had a hidden folder on the game disc labelled " Omake ", found by placing the disc into a computer, containing exclusive wallpapers and conception art.

In the video game " Shenmue 2 " gang leader Wuying Ren carries a double-sided coin in each pocket, asking for a head or tail call before pulling the coin out and flipping the coin.

Dawn was not the first computerized demo of a realistic human character, as such demos have been created in the past for game consoles ( such as the Dreamcast title Shenmue ) and also some video cards.

In the SEGA game Shenmue II for the Dreamcast and Xbox there is a poster advertising Flicky in the Pine Game Arcade.

Mitsuyoshi would be responsible for the soundtrack to Virtua Fighter, Daytona USA and the two installments of Shenmue and Matsumae would be involved in Sega Rally and Virtua Fighter 3.

It saw the release of many new game series which have been considered creative and innovative, such as Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio, and Shenmue, which was the most expensive game produced at the time .< ref >

The game was followed by a 2001 sequel, Shenmue II, with at least one more planned as a Dreamcast series.

Shenmue took an interesting look at the culture of Yokosuka at the time which was dealing with Japanese traditionalism that was changing with the growing American influence in the area.

Shenmue is consistently listed as one of several key Dreamcast titles ( most of them Sega productions ) that ensured the console enjoyed solid sales during the Christmas season of 2000.

There was a soundtrack released called Shenmue OST ~ Chapter 1: Yokosuka ~ on March 23, 2000.

Shenmue takes place within Yokosuka, Japan.

" was a special premier disc in Japan given to those who pre-ordered Shenmue, additionally another edition of the disc was given away in Famitsu, a Japanese gaming magazine.

Due to a delay in releasing Shenmue in Japan, anyone who pre-ordered it was given this on the date it was intended to be released on.

Moreover, another soundtrack named Shenmue Jukebox released with the special editions of the first Shenmue game in Japan.

The movie was only released in Japan initially but with the arrival of Shenmue II on the Xbox saw the addition of the movie with the game.

In Dreamcast's Shenmue in 1999, Coca-Cola was featured in the Japanese-only version, in which the main character Ryo Hazuki finds vending machines on the street corners in the video game, and actual cans that were sold in Japan in 1986, the setting of the video game.

In the Shenmue series of games there are several instances of games within the main game.

In Shenmue 2, playable arcade machines featuring other Sega titles are scattered throughout the game world.

Shenmue borrows gameplay elements from several different genres, but largely consists of open-world adventure segments with real-time 3D battles interspersed throughout.

The story of Shenmue begins on November 29, 1986, in the perspective of the protagonist Ryo Hazuki ( 芭月 涼 Hazuki Ryō ) returning home to his family dojo to witness his father, Iwao Hazuki, battling with a tall, ominous man dressed in a green silk Kung-Fu suit known as Lan Di.

Concluding the first chapter of Shenmue, Ryo boards a boat and travels to Hong Kong in pursuit of Lan Di.

In Shenmue, Ryo Hazuki is the main protagonist, and the only playable character.

Shenmue takes place within the span of a few months, from November 1986 until ( depending upon the player's speed in completing the game ) as late as April 1987.

Various martial arts disciplines play an integral role in both the storyline and the gameplay of Shenmue, and aspects of Japanese and Chinese culture related to martial arts are prevalent.

In the original Japanese edition of Shenmue, the trademarked Coca Cola logo is seen in various locations and Ryo can drink cans bought in vending machines.

The Shenmue tree resides in the same small village ( Bailu, which is located in Guilin ) that spawned both Shenhua and the game's stone mirrors.

Items collected and martial arts skills leveled up in the first game could be imported into Shenmue II after completing the game.

Shenmue incorporates a system to produce the game's in-universe weather conditions.

On all versions of Shenmue, accessible on a fourth disc, Passport is a supporting application of sorts that enhances the Shenmue experience.

In addition, the Information section allows new players to learn more about the various aspects of Shenmue gameplay.

Several of the game's main characters talk through a variety of elements from Shenmue including mini-games, magic weather system and free battle.

The Shenmue World feature contained highly detailed information regarding all aspects of the Shenmue world ( i. e. locations and characters ), and it also hosted an online manual.