Shenmue 3 Campaign Pitch : Crying over Consoles

Grown men moved to tears by a computer game that hasn’t even been made yet? It sounds pathetic at first hearing, even more pathetic than “Game of Thrones” viewers getting upset at fictional events depicted by actors (hold on...) or sports fans whose happiness is made or broken by a man kicking piece of leather around. Hmm, I think I better stop with these examples. My point is that although I did not cry at the announcement of Shenmue 3’s Kickstarter campaign at Sony’s E3 conference this week,I saw videos of people I know who did shed a tear or ten. And I get it.

To understand what makes Shenmue more than just a video game in the eyes of its fans – and for me to have a snowball in Hell’s chance of getting you to pledge – it’s important to understand a tiny bit of video-gaming history. Shenmue was released on the Sega Dreamcast, the most underrated games console of all time. There was something truly different about this game compared to other games of the era or even of today. Shenmue was 'open world' before such a thing even really existed. Protagonist  Ryo Hazuki wanders around back streets of Dobuita, down a moderate high street and, ahem, a warehouse area, hunting for information on the man whom he witnesses killing his father at the start of the game.

The premise may not sound awe-inspiring but Shenmue’s quality lies not just in its magnificent graphical scope – though it was surely the greatest of its time – but also in its depth and design. Characters were designed to display facial features and expressions that captured  human emotion in a way never seen before. Conversations with the inhabitants of  Yamanose, Dobuita or Yokosaka may be exciting, threatening, peaceful, useful or just irrelevant, but each one would be conveyed in the eyes of the speaker.

It’s not just the characters themselves that are painstakingly detailed, either. The areas of Yokoska that Hazuki explores are not random layouts from some battlefield engine or random DTP sequence, they are diligent renditions of actual areas of which the similarity between the game scenery – set in the eighties -  and the same locations still shine through today. Imagine the kind of brain-hurt that must have gone into that recreation, then factor in the next step introduced by designer Yu-Suzki: creating each inhabitant of the place and giving them a unique name, routine and dialogue.

Yes that’s right, Shenmue features a whole simulated section of a town that's so ridiculously deep it's hard to explain, Here's my best shot: today, fourteen years after the game’s release, you can visit a youtube page playing the theme music of a pizza shop in the high street. The comments on the page will reveal the shop, its owner and the dialogue that occurs within to be meaningless to the plot, yet years later, it’s still discussed. Therein lies part of Shenmue’s fascination: the attention to detail that somehow grew out of control and made the game the masterpiece it was. Sadly, it also made it a financial liability. Like so many magnum opuses of the world, its greatness was its downfall. 

All this epic scale only escalates in Shenmue 2, set in Hong Kong. Although the areas of HK are nothing like the same areas as I have visited so many times in person, they are still works of art that somehow juxtapose brilliantly with the many colourful, varied and highly entertaining characters that inhabit them. Again, such is the difficulty of implying the scale of this game – released well over ten years before the likes of Mass Effect or GTA V – that I haven’t yet even discussed much of the plot thus far. In (criminally) short:  from assassins to hot dog sellers, hot biker gals to elderly barbers, Hazuki will encounter deep, beautifully drawn, inspiring and gratifying characters from whom he will usually gain something to take him forward in his journey.

And what a journey it is. Across three countries (and counting) from warehouses to shopping malls to tiny Chinese villages, the teenage protagonist hunts his father’s killer and learns about life, relationships, martial arts, anger, forgiveness and justice as he moves along. It’s important to realise this is not another brawler interspaced with cut scenes or superficial posing that work as excuses for another fight  (though the fighting system is there, and superbly done). In fact, Shenmue is not really an action game. Ryo can spend as much time time hunting a lost cat, driving  forklift trucks or watching a deer as he does entering paid fights, chasing thieves or hunting mafia bosses. Each act has a meaning, even if it’s just kindness, admiration or patience for its own sake. It’s part of the journey, it’s part of Ryo’s development which in turn, is part of a gripping, emotional and visually beautiful quest with an unbelievable soundtrack to match. Even its few faults are somehow endearing. The English voice-over for one character has become legendary and just google "Shenmue sailors" to enjoy plenty of laughs.

You have probably already noticed that I struggle to explain what Shenmue is. There's a reason why: not to compare them, but imagine trying to describe a work of Pascal or the sound of FVO Dives and Lazarus without selling either hopelessly short. It's the same battle for me here, for Shenmue is indeed a great work of art. In age when most – but by no means all – games are about watching brains splatter or driving fast cars -  Shenmue offers something different. It’s immersive, it’s emotionally compelling and it’s breathtaking in ambition and scope. It also has the soundtrack to match all those adjectives. It’s…it’s art. And there, finally, I can pinpoint the reason the announcement of  a new chapter in the Shenmue drew some grown men to tears. 

Imagine being shown a masterful creation: a great painting, a song that somehow captured ten emotions inside you at the same time or a few pages of the greatest story you’ve ever heard. Now, imagine that halfway through experiencing that masterpiece, you were stopped. You couldn't finish the moving, gripping and powerful experience you'd undertaken. That’s how Shenmue fans felt when the third part in the series was canned for financial reasons all those years ago.

But some of them never gave up. They campaigned, lobbied and shouted for a follow–up ever since. Over the last fourteen years,  they’ve been ignored, hoaxed, mocked, mislead and just told they would never get what they were asking for so they may as well give up. A lot of them never believed it would happen but they kept fighting out of a tiny shred of hope. This week at E3, that hope was finally rewarded.

But here’s the rub: the financial history of Shenmue means that this time around, creator Yu-Suzuki is looking to raise funds via Kickstarter to cover development (Sony will cover marketing costs). The initial 2 million goal was smashed in a record-breaking nine hours – if you thought I was exaggerating the anticipation, I hope that answers you – but to deliver a game as great as its predecessors, the stretch goals need to be met by the dozen. We're aiming high.

And that’s why I’m writing this post.  I’ve never been any good at sales, and I’ve probably just written the worst attempt I've ever made at describing something. But if anything I've said snags your curiosity, if  you’re a young gamer looking for something incredible and different or someone just curious to try an immersive experience that in parts defies the very concept of computer gaming, then please, please do two things.

First get up to speed on Shenmue. I can't tell you to download Null Dc emulator (perfectly legal) and making a google search for online .iso files of the old games because technically, that would be illegal,  like downloading copyrighted music. However, you can experience the game by buying a Dreamcast/Xbox and the games on ebay, joining the Dojo, joining the hugely popular Facebook group of the game, and enjoying "Let's play Shenmue" on youtube.

Then, more importantly, get to the Kickstarter page and please, please, pledge! Remember, it's not a charity and you're not donating.  You get rewards including a copy of the game when it’s finally released.  You need a credit card. If you don't have one, try entropay.com. (And yes, if anyone wants to bargain, I'm here to help with proof reading, editing, lesson plans and anything else a teacher can offer.)

For now though, go discover what Shenmue is.You'll still have John Snow and your local sports team to cry over later. I know I will.