On a November day when the snow turned to rain, Ryu Hazuki arrives home just in time to see his father killed by Lan Di, a man Ryu's father obviously knew very well. Ryu attempts to stop Lan Di, but is effortlessly beaten to within an inch of his life. After recovering from his injuries Ryu sets out to track down his father's murderer, as well as uncover his family's secrets and the mystery of the Phoenix and Dragon mirrors that Lan Di seeks.

Shenmue is a hybrid game that incorporates elements of adventure and fighting with light role-playing. The game is set in a 3D environment that can be freely explored by the player. Much of the gameplay involves talking to Ryu's friends and the various people around town, hoping to find hints or clues that lead to the next step in the story. Any details Ryu learns are written down in his notebook for future review. Ryu can buy items from stores or try his luck with capsule toy machines, but most items that can be bought have no purpose outside of filling his inventory. Ryu can also visit an arcade and play accurate versions of Hang-On and Space Harrier, as well as games like darts and pool.

Ryu is a trained martial artist, and while a true martial artist knows it is better to avoid a fight, sometimes it is still necessary. Ryu can train his moves, either by repeatedly doing them while training, or by sparring with his friend Fuku-san, which constitutes the role-playing element of the game. Fighting system is similar to that of Virtua Fighter, although with toned-down air juggling. Ryu's training also gives him heightened reflexes, and sometimes during a cutscene the player will have only a moment to press a button (displayed onscreen) to get Ryu out of danger. Failing an input prompt is not always fatal, but whether Ryu survives or not depends on the danger he was in.

Included with the game is the Shenmue Passport disc. On this disc players can receive tutorials about various aspects of the game like mini-games or the battle system, watch cutscenes they've already seen in the game, and listen to music from the game. This disc also includes the option to go online to a special site where players can review world-wide mini-game rankings, get hints for the game from Nozomi, review game maps of Yokosuka, trade uncommon items found in the game for even rarer items only available on the passport, and visit the official homepage. This service went offline along with the rest of SegaNet, and all online features are currently impossible to access.

Overall 9.8    Graphics 7.7    Sound 9.3    Addictive 9.7    Story 9.7    Depth 10    Difficulty 6.3

The best RPG of all time   acewars
Difficulty 3/10 The game play can be difficult at first, controlling Ryo around the house can be a ...
  Graphics 10   Sound 8   Addictive 9   Story 9   Depth 10   Difficulty 3
      Review Rating: 4.5/5     Submitted: 01-19-16     Review Replies: 2

Free Roaming RPG?   DeathsElixir
Sega introduced Shenmue as the first free roaming RPG. At first I would agree that I'll try a new ge...
  Graphics 10   Sound 10   Addictive 10   Story 10   Depth 10   Difficulty 8
      Review Rating: 3.8/5     Submitted: 04-30-12     Review Replies: 0

The greatest game ever   Mason97
I used to play this game constantly on my fathers dream cast, and it is undoubtedly the gr...
  Graphics 3   Sound 10   Addictive 10   Story 10   Depth 10   Difficulty 8
      Review Rating: 3.7/5     Submitted: 10-26-13     Review Replies: 2

cheats:

http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/198621-shenmue/cheats

walkthroughs:
http://www.gamefaqs.com/dreamcast/198621-shenmue/faqs

There are no submitted threads for this Game

jonathanzygorodi 12-02-16 - 10:06 PM
 when is the hd version comes out on ps4 and xbox one
yoshirulez! 12-02-16 - 04:48 PM
 This is basically Final Fantasy XV to an extent
flick11110 02-11-16 - 03:48 PM
 WARNING: Do not PLay space Harrier (the in-game game at the arcade) You will get a black screen and wont be able to continue, if you do just pray you saved
SteGould 02-06-16 - 12:32 PM
 Unable load nullAica_Win32.dll plugin , errorlevel=-104.
yoshirulez! 12-02-15 - 07:15 PM
 Good but controls are kinda confusing and my VMU keeps corrupting my save. Was worth the 3 discs I burned though.
Davideo7 08-14-15 - 02:31 AM
 I wish more users would check this game out.
evilcon09 07-19-15 - 05:04 PM
 i noticed some grahpic pop ups withn the dreamcast games
MeatAndPotatoes 06-04-15 - 02:49 AM
 I slid around and kicked folks for fun, back then. In an RPG, it was odd and fun.
nakina 03-23-15 - 06:04 PM
 @Davideo7, whenever you play space harrier in shenmue in the emulator it crashes. Hang on works though.
Davideo7 02-25-15 - 12:57 PM
 What's wrong with Space Harrier? I love Space Harrier.
Vanelan 02-23-15 - 12:26 AM
 Don't try playing Space Harrier >.
DJ2536 02-19-15 - 05:35 PM
 Weird, every time I try to play it says there is an error.
nakina 02-17-15 - 02:12 AM
 The disc change issue has been resolved for me, this is the directory to look in, in case someone else has the same issue: C:ProgramDataVizzedVizzedRgrPluginRomsShenmue (v1.003)(2000)(Sega)(NTSC)(US)
yoshirulez! 02-17-15 - 02:03 AM
 How many discs was this on, lol
nakina 02-16-15 - 10:51 PM
 I've run into a problem, when I try switching to disc 2 it says the image must be valid
nakina 02-16-15 - 08:50 PM
 This is probably my favorite dreamcast game, the voice acting may be cheesy but to me, that just adds to the charm.
Davideo7 02-16-15 - 02:33 PM
 One of the greatest games of all time!
sonicbros 08-08-14 - 06:48 AM
 This game was way ahead of it's time,i used to be up all night playing this one,the Dreamcast was so underrated
HelloPortland 07-31-12 - 08:00 PM
 I hope this is available soon...!!!!
themojogamer75 05-03-12 - 04:53 PM
 Ahh Shenmue, how i want to play you!
Toxic Demon 04-01-12 - 09:48 PM
 First comment! When can I play?