Japanese social game Shenmue City only lasted about a year. Series creator Yu Suzuki directed the free-to-play mobile title, and it was slated to come to web browsers, but the Shenmue curse strikes again. The game shut down on December 26. Andriasang says that the game's website was updated with a message from developer YsNet thanking players.
Maybe Yu Suzuki should clean it up and release it internationally for smartphones. I think it might do alright.
By the way, if there ever was a real Shenmue City, I would so totally move there.
Let's all remember this fine title and franchise by listening to the "Tomato Convenience Store" theme, found after the jump.
Dale North is Destructoid's Editor-In-Chief, a founding editor, and specialist in Japanese gaming. An accomplished musician, Dale was reporting from Japan during the earthquakes of 2011. Luckily, he got the fuck out alive and is home in America now with his wife and beloved corgi, Einstein. Dale is also a co-founder of Destructoid's sister anime site Japanator. Likes Corgis, Sega Saturn, PSP, iPhone, Photographic tools.
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After a long hiatus from posting any comments, this has prompted me to return from my long slumber. Shen Mue is my favorite series of all time. There I said it. I need 3.
Just finish the goddamn series Suzuki! At this point, they have to have tons of assets from prior games to be able to do this. The story is done, and it'd be easy to come up with some retardedly monotonous job minigame as per the usual.
Just don't make another fucking engine from the ground up.
Also, my phone wanted to put groins instead of ground. I should have left it.
It's been so long and the series is so out of the general counciousness that I feel that an Shenmue 3 would just suffer the same fate as the second one.
...and this is coming from someone who never played the games, because the story was never finished.
So, Sega, this is what you do:
Give Yu Suzuki a nice budget, and tell him to re-create the entire series from scratch, making just one, big new game that includes all the chapters so far as well as the ones left to make, and is built around all the latest and greatest advancements of the game industry in both gameplay and storytelling.
When I first saw the LA Noire tech, notably MotionScan, my mind immediately wandered to Yokosuka. If only Sega could get around to developing Shenmue 3 with the same technology, and also take more than a few hints from LA Noire while mixing in the brawling of Yakuza (along with some innovative features of its own), I can see a lot of gamers buying the finale to Ryo's saga. After all, Shenmue was the LA Noire of its time (detective mystery, breathtaking graphics, visual recreation of a city in a certain time period, deep adventure title, etc.) and Sega's other 'open-world' series takes some cues from it also. Oh, and if it was on the next generation of gaming consoles, it would be a must-buy. Well, at least if it removed the undeniable drudgery that part of the game was, and also featured believable voice acting. On, and a decent writer.
I still remember playing Shenmue for the first time back in 2008. I bought a Dreamcast and a CD book of Dreamcast games for $15 from a yard sale one sunny summer day and I rushed home on my bike tugging along a television, the console, and its games in a wagon. The first title I popped into the disc tray was Shenmue. I was immediately wowed by the intricately rendered Japanese temple. The dramatic martial arts choreography and the untimely death of Ryo's father cemented my fascination. The opening might look simple today with its somewhat stiff animation, the blurry textures, and the clearly visible angles but it was a visually arresting spectacle I'm sure in 1999 or 2000 when the game came out.
It seems the graphics blinded reviewers at the time who mostly overlooked the gaping oversights in the game like the horrid narrative and writing, bucket loads of fetch quests, laughable voice acting, and jarred pacing. In short, the game definitely does not live up to modern standards. But it had heart. It had its charms. In the right (per se) set of mind, the game could be deeply engrossing (insert immersive). I recall fondly right now staying up early in the morning, hooking the system up to a small white television, putting on earphones, and taking in a game that I generously forgave (in hindsight) and enjoying it thoroughly as an experience. I probably should write a blog post about this. My blog (read my profile on Destructiod) is about as empty as the Sahara as it stands right now.
I love Shamoo! It was a great Dreamcast whale simulator! It's Xbox sequel was even better! Spoiler Alert: You break out of Sea World and go to China... or something.
Damn I never even knew Shenmue City existed. I would have been all over that shit.
Shenmue Is my all time favorite game,and I still play that,and Shenmue 2 on my DC occasionally.
*Cough* Yu Suzuki Please Release Shenmue 3 *Cough*
At least it got a year. Shenmue Online didn't get anything, although that was probably a good thing because it looked awful.
I'm pretty convinced there will be no Shenmue 3 now, but I'm okay with it. The old SEGA is dead to me, there's very little creativity coming out of them these days like there was during the Dreamcast- early third party era. The Yakuza series bears some resemblance to Shenmue, but it lacks the heart Shenmue had.
I wonder how much of Shenmue 3 they could have made with the budget Sega allocated to the dozen or so Sonic shovelwares they pushed out in the last decade before they realized they actually had to start *trying* again.
Shenmue's graphics really hold up a lot stronger than most games that were made ten years ago. Last time I played it was on a emulator with a widescreen hack and uprezed so it kinda gave me an idea of what a HD collection would be like. Controlling Ryu however does not hold up as nicely.
At this point 1&2 need to be completely remade and packaged with the missing chapters. I have been playing Yakuza 3 lately but its not the same. When you get lost in that game you gotta fuck around with the map but in shenmue you could stop and talk to anyone and interrogate lots of different info out of em and maybe even have them take you directly to your location. As robust as the industry is today we are really lacking in developers that take bold risks.
Such a shame. Even now though I wish I could atleast play Shenmue again, sadly no DC anymore =(
Gogo Shenmue HD? That'd probably garner some cash for Shenmue 3!
Actually Yu Suzuki already stated that the mobile phone version was ending and a smart phone version would start soon http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=8W1K6RaT_tw#t=589s. Also here is a great interview from the French Shenmue fansite Shenmue master, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o4MHjEdYpQ
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Contest:
1:00 PM on 01.03.2012 | 
Just don't make another fucking engine from the ground up.
Also, my phone wanted to put groins instead of ground. I should have left it.
...and this is coming from someone who never played the games, because the story was never finished.
So, Sega, this is what you do:
Give Yu Suzuki a nice budget, and tell him to re-create the entire series from scratch, making just one, big new game that includes all the chapters so far as well as the ones left to make, and is built around all the latest and greatest advancements of the game industry in both gameplay and storytelling.
Call it ShenMue; just ShenMue.
Market it well.
Make money.
I still remember playing Shenmue for the first time back in 2008. I bought a Dreamcast and a CD book of Dreamcast games for $15 from a yard sale one sunny summer day and I rushed home on my bike tugging along a television, the console, and its games in a wagon. The first title I popped into the disc tray was Shenmue. I was immediately wowed by the intricately rendered Japanese temple. The dramatic martial arts choreography and the untimely death of Ryo's father cemented my fascination. The opening might look simple today with its somewhat stiff animation, the blurry textures, and the clearly visible angles but it was a visually arresting spectacle I'm sure in 1999 or 2000 when the game came out.
It seems the graphics blinded reviewers at the time who mostly overlooked the gaping oversights in the game like the horrid narrative and writing, bucket loads of fetch quests, laughable voice acting, and jarred pacing. In short, the game definitely does not live up to modern standards. But it had heart. It had its charms. In the right (per se) set of mind, the game could be deeply engrossing (insert immersive). I recall fondly right now staying up early in the morning, hooking the system up to a small white television, putting on earphones, and taking in a game that I generously forgave (in hindsight) and enjoying it thoroughly as an experience. I probably should write a blog post about this. My blog (read my profile on Destructiod) is about as empty as the Sahara as it stands right now.
Sorry the coughing folks!
Shenmue Is my all time favorite game,and I still play that,and Shenmue 2 on my DC occasionally.
*Cough* Yu Suzuki Please Release Shenmue 3 *Cough*
I'm pretty convinced there will be no Shenmue 3 now, but I'm okay with it. The old SEGA is dead to me, there's very little creativity coming out of them these days like there was during the Dreamcast- early third party era. The Yakuza series bears some resemblance to Shenmue, but it lacks the heart Shenmue had.
How about a game of lucky hit?
At this point 1&2 need to be completely remade and packaged with the missing chapters. I have been playing Yakuza 3 lately but its not the same. When you get lost in that game you gotta fuck around with the map but in shenmue you could stop and talk to anyone and interrogate lots of different info out of em and maybe even have them take you directly to your location. As robust as the industry is today we are really lacking in developers that take bold risks.
SO COME ON SEGA
Why dont you try a game of lucky hit?
Gogo Shenmue HD? That'd probably garner some cash for Shenmue 3!