How Many Times Have You Completed the Shenmue Games since 1999?

Lol the game existed in 1999.
Have to agree. Just because a game was not out in the west until a later point it does not mean that the game did not exist.

And it is not impossible that some people from the west imported the game from japan and played it then.

i played Shenmue 1 about 10 times (original and hd remasters included)
Shenmue 2 dito.

Shenmue 3 2 and a half times. I am in my third playthrought now .
 
Lol the game existed in 1999.
Amazing, isen it? There was also hands soap and water, believe it or not.

Shenmue wasn't out until 2000 in the west. Amazing in 2023 people think just because it was out in 1999 in Japan, it means it applies to all countries
😙 Many imported the japanese release and played through it even without knowing the language. Not my case though, I played the pal release like the most. I thought the game was sorcery.
 
I mean, the question could be "How many times have you completed the Shenmue games since 1612" and nobody's answers would be any different 🤔
 
Shenmue 1 - About 4-5 Times
Shenmue 2 - 2-3 Times
Shenmue 3 - Once, I haven't even played the DLC yet.

I don't want to dive into Shenmue TOO much, I have other stuff to play in an extending backlog. Sometimes I do pop on a save file, midway through and just wander around the locations. If official news does surface of Shenmue IV, a playthrough of 1-3 will be in order!
 
I think I've completed shenmue 1 about 15 times and shenmue 2 about 10 times. I've completed shenmue 3 only once.
 
You guys are still arguing over the 1999 statement? That's funny. Technically the game still existed in 1999 and I do not know how it was in your country @jimcrawford but it was quite common for hardcore gamers to import games. At least it was the case in the Germing-speaking world. Many gaming magazines even tested imported games. Before the big wigs in the gaming industry wanted to prevent importing games many game shops in Germany (unfortunately we had not had such shops here in Austria) sold imported games from the US and Japan.

Shenmue was heavily promoted by the gaming press back then so at least from the European point of view it is not out of the realm of possibility that some gamers already played the game in late 1999.
 
You guys are still arguing over the 1999 statement? That's funny. Technically the game still existed in 1999 and I do not know how it was in your country @jimcrawford but it was quite common for hardcore gamers to import games. At least it was the case in the Germing-speaking world. Many gaming magazines even tested imported games. Before the big wigs in the gaming industry wanted to prevent importing games many game shops in Germany (unfortunately we had not had such shops here in Austria) sold imported games from the US and Japan.

Shenmue was heavily promoted by the gaming press back then so at least from the European point of view it is not out of the realm of possibility that some gamers already played the game in late 1999.

.
 
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Your point does not make any sense though. A game exists from the moment it was released. Just because there is no localized version does not mean that the game did not exist in the West. it was in the game's media many times. So it was in the perception of the Western gamer.

What is your take on Metal Gear Solid in that regard btw? Is it a 1998 game or a 1999 game? Japan and the US got it in 1998 we Europeans had to wait until February 99 we got it. The most common perception in that regard is that it's a 1998 game that came out later in Europe.

I use the same logic with Shenmue. A 1999 game that came out later in the West.

But that's splitting hairs admittedly. Just agree to not agree. No real reason to argue about that. I just found your perception of the topic interesting. No hard feelings. Did not mean any harm.
 
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Your point does not make any sense though. A game exists from the moment it was released. Just because there is no localized version does not mean that the game did not exist in the West. it was in the game's media many times. So it was in the perception of the Western gamer.

I use the same logic with Shenmue. A 1999 game that came out later in the West.
Just because the game was released first in JP back in 99 doesn't mean it was an initial release for EU/NA yet.

Yes in "perception" because they were promoting it for us EU gamers in gaming mags, who had to wait in late 2000 to buy it, they were giving us the heads up.
 
I'd say that is a philosophical question that has not only one right answer. For me, a product exists from the day I learned about it and the day it came out. For you, the product is only born the day it can be purchased.

Different school of though. Like I said just agree to not agree. It was an interesting conversation.
 
I'd say that is a philosophical question that has not only one right answer. For me, a product exists from the day I learned about it and the day it came out. For you, the product is only born the day it can be purchased.

Different school of though. Like I said just agree to not agree. It was an interesting conversation.
Oh, if that's your way of thinking then fair enough... I didn't realise it, my bad.

I've always used the EU release dates in terms of gaming for me...
 
It also seems the way the mainstream thinks as well. If you google Shenmue 1999 many sites state Shenmue as a 1999 game. Your way of thinking is interesting though and not wrong. Did not expect that. I thought that might be just my Austrian way of thinking and the English-speaking world might see it differently. But some online sources also consider Shenmue as a 1999 game.

ps: No need to apologize. You got a point. I was just an avid gaming magazine reader back then so I was more informed than other people. As soon a read about a game it existed for me. And was also with my head on the future and always looking forward to the next big thing. In 2000 I was with my head already in the then future of 2001 and 2002 game-wise.
 
Yeah, I've always went by what was released specifically in Europe, moreso the UK because we were always late in terms of release dates for games, films, even anime etc. I've never went by what was out in a different region first and then follow that. If that makes sense.

I'm now just discovering PS1 games that wasn't even known in the UK like Parasite Eve.😂
 
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Parasite Eve is worth checking out of you like the classic Final Fantasy and RE Games. I can recommend it.

We missed indeed many good games back then in Pal-Land which was unfortunate.
 
To answer the OPs question, I've only completed about 5 times max... The game can be mentally draining as hell LOL from 00 onwards.

Shenmue 2? 20 times max, my favourite game throughout the series easily.

Shenmue 3? Never played it, but I've heard 50/50 opinions about it
 
We missed indeed many good games back then in Pal-Land which was unfortunate.
I've was told by a collector once at the ol'assembler that PSX and specially PS2 game libraries were huge in Japan. Of course, just a tiny portio of those crossed the ocean. For PS2, I remember the numbers 50k games released in Japan (I don't remember well). That includes visual novels, cheap rpgs, the Simple budget series... but also little gems that somebody labeled "not adecuate" for west release. Its kind of frustrating knowing that there's no lifetime enough to check on all.
 
Yeah there are so many games out there we never got and will probably never be able to play them. I am quite into importing Japanese ps1, ps2, Saturn and Dreamcast games but it is not that easy. The prices are rising and deu to the language barrier it is quite had to play some of the story driven games. I still see it as nice hobby and looking forward to my next Tokyo visit. I will then visit Akibahara again and check out if I can find some nice stuff to bring home.

I was quite "sucessful" during my first 3 Tokyo visits.
 
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