Shenmue Dojo Xmas Bonanza Giveaway!

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My fondest Shenmue memory is from last year, when I opened a box to find that the, "gift," my wife had been preparing and carefully crafting for me (FROM SCRATCH, by hand), was in fact a clay replica of the Phoneix Mirror (my favourite videogame symbol/item/macguffin, ever), that she also painted by hand (she is an incredible painter).

Tears streamed from my eyes immediately (hell, they are now as I type it lol) and it is far and away, one of the three best gifts I have ever received for Christmas; I love my wife!

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It looks much better in-person than it does in-photo :)

Before that would probably be making light of Santa Maeno's hilarious dialogue XD.
 
Great memories from all. Much respect.

So for me: Back in the day I was a teenager and had no social skills. Was desperate to meet a nice girl (Or anyone really at that time lol) - Figured no one was interested because I was a geek/loved video games. Was shy too so low self esteem and all the cliches.

Irrespective of this I was enjoy games and was quite happy with that side of my life. Played Shen 1 and was always frustrated for Ryo/Nozomi and the relationship they had. Was hoping for a classic conclusion to this. But always felt that feelings were never truly expressed. The park scene where Ryo had other things on his mind was 'classic me' in terms of how I acted around girls I liked or new people generally. The frustration through the whole Mad Angels arc and the motorbike scene was so palpable for me. I had to do something otherwise I was going to be a lonely jacket wearing Sega obsessed gatcha collector for the rest of my life.

I built up courage and always used my memories of Shenmue to help remind me of my goals and the fact I never wanted to be lonely or full of self doubt.

Shenmue inspired me to be a more social person and more confident in myself.

I told my wife about all this craziness. She thought I was a nut job lol.

When my wife bought me S3 and handed it to me she said that she hoped that I would make happy joyous memories that we could share in later life. I lost it a bit, just a bit tearful lol...
 
The story of gamesbloke reminded of me... kind of as I'm still a lonely jacket wearing Sega obsessed gatcha collector. :p

I unfortunately had pretty low self-esteem due to bullying in middle school, I changed schools and in high school I got to actually enjoy being at school for once, but anyway it would take a long time for my self-esteem to heal. Anyway, I never got the courage to ask someone for a date even though looking back I was pretty normal and ok looking, but my past self couldn't see that so I carried this over to college.

In college I got to go on an internship program to the US midwest, and being a foreigner I found it very easy to make friends with exchange students. There was one girl from Japan who always invited me to stuff, so we were pretty good friends. Long story short, she reminded me a lot of Ryo/Nozomi and I ended up working the courage to ask her to go to a local bar (I didn't call it a date though, but it was pretty obvious since it was the two of us, at night, at a friggin bar), and I failed...

Here's the real Shenmue XMAS story though: in retrospect I actually failed spectacularly but for the wrong reasons! It turns out she was just shy and I misread her badly, because she did continue our friendship and gave me plenty of hints, which I promptly ignored Hazuki style. During Christmas it was snowing pretty badly and with all the students out of the dorms except the exchange students it was basically just me and her again in the building, with snow outside blocking some doors. She invited me to cook some stuff we had bought at the kitchen for christmas dinner and I basically went there, cooked, ate, watched the celebrations on TV with her and went to sleep in my dorm. I wanted to try again but didn't have the courage and acted like the previous rejection was set in stone.

Later on I'd learn that a friend's family invited her for christmas but she chose not to go for "mysterious reasons". Also a bit of trivia, Christmas in Japan is actually treated as a romantic event for couples and is basically Valentine's Day but cooler. Oh well, at least she hugged me pretty tightly with tears when it was time to say goodbye and I took a cab for the train station, doing my best Ryo Hazuki impression and again not saying anything with faux stoicism. Merry Christmas!

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Incoming wall of text!

I originally heard about Shenmue from my brother's friend back before it was released. He was a big gamer and was the only person I knew who had a Saturn and a Dreamcast. I must have been about 10 and all I really remember, is that on a couple of occasions he would talk about how revolutionary this new Shenmue game was going to be. I'd seen a few pictures in the Official Dreamcast UK magazine, but I never really paid much attention to it as I was into very different games at the time (Tony Hawk, Ready 2 Rumble, Toy Commander etc).

Fast forward a few weeks/months, I was in town with my mother just before Christmas. Whenever I was in town, I'd make sure to visit CeX (computer exchange - a game store in the UK) as they always had 4 TV's set up with consoles on them where you could play the latest games (this is before CeX was shit lol). We took time out of Christmas shopping to head in there so I could play for a bit. After playing, I headed to the Dreamcast section to see what they had. I used to love just looking at the games and reading the back of the boxes to see what the game was about (something that it kinda lost today as we know so much about every single game before it releases due to the internet etc). My Mom said that I could buy 1 game for Christmas so after a while I decided and picked something up. While waiting in the queue to pay, I remember catching a glimpse of Shenmue on the shelves behind the counter. I had no idea that it had been released, and when we got to the front of the queue, I asked the guy who worked there when it came out. He told me and said that it was their last copy and that it had been reserved for someone else. A few seconds later, he was corrected by another worker who said that the original customer had cancelled their reservation so they could sell it if I wanted it. I instantly put back whatever game I had in my hands, and my Mum bought Shenmue for me instead! (Funny side note, When you reserved stuff back then, they would put this massive sticker with the customer's name on it, so until maybe a year ago, my Shenmue I cardboard sleeve had a sticker with some random dude's name on it. I manage to peel it off before going to Magic Monaco but you can see where it original was - vertically on the left hand side).

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At this time, it must have been 2~3 weeks before Xmas and as it was an present, I was not allowed to play until Christmas Day! I remember being so damn excited that I couldn't wait any longer. When my parents went out of the house, I hunted everywhere looking for the presents (me and my Brother used to do this every Xmas) and after many attempts, finally found them. Now I knew where Shenmue was, I just had to wait for them to go out for a long enough time so that I could play it without them finding out (it sounds evil I know).

I managed to play the game a number of times before Xmas without them knowing! I vividly remember after 1 play session that I was just learning about the location of warehouse number 8 and the story started to really pick up! I was loving it so much, was so immersed in the world and couldn't wait for my parents to go out again so I could continue the story. The next time they left the house I ran upstairs to where they had been keeping the presents and found that they had wrapped them all up!!! I really would have to wait til Xmas this time!!!
The next few weeks were so painful, as I'd just look at the Shenmue shaped box underneath the Christmas tree. I also saw my brother's friend a few times, and distinctly remember him asking me "If I'd killed Lan Di yet?"... which made it even worse. Little did I know that I'd come to find out a few weeks later that he was just telling lies as we'd never get to catch up with Lan Di lol.

I honestly think that this is one of the many reasons that Shenmue is so special to me. I literally knew nothing about the game and went in blind. At the same time, having to wait a few weeks to play the game again after it was wrapped up multiplied my excitement, and made it so that Shenmue was always on the mind. It's a very fond memory of mine that I think about often.
I haven't seen my brother's friend for maybe 15 years, but if I happen to run into him, I'd love to ask him if he's played Shenmue III!
 
I'd been meaning to sign up to these forums. What a nice idea


I purchased Shenmue upon its launch, so any specific Christmas Day memories are lost within the confines of that launch window and the months that followed. I do recall my younger sister and I enjoying the change in scenery and being joyously bewildered at Santa Claus walking down the street.

Oddly and unfortunately, as much as I love Shenmue, it also stands as one of my biggest gaming regrets:

It was a game largely played by both myself and my sister throughout. One day in January, I played it alone. An hour and a half later, Shenmue was complete. My sister walked in just as Ryo's ship was sailing away.

That was the last game experience we shared in. We're still close, but kids grow up fast--you just wish you could hang onto experiences a little longer. I wish I had waited to beat the game with her as my co-player. For all the hours we sunk in the game, she deserved that, too.
 
My fondest Shenmue Christmas memory was my first, way back in 2000. My parents had bought me a Dreamcast for Christmas and I went out on Boxing Day to spend my Christmas money on a few new games as I only had Sonic Adventure.

I hadn’t heard much about Shenmue at the time, but the pictures on the box were enough to pique my interest and I picked it up at HMV. The game absolutely blew me away and completing it (and later the sequel) soon became part of my Christmas ritual.

Nearly 20 years on and I still try to make time to complete the Shenmue games every year (admittedly there have been a few missed years here and there). Being able to complete all 3 games this December was pretty damn special, but nothing will compare to that very first Shenmue Christmas.
 
The fondest Christmas memory I have from Shenmue would have been in December 2000. This was the same month I actually got my Dreamcast after begging my parents for one. My Dad saw a local advert in the Bargain Pages for a used console which included a bundle of games, so we drove over that evening to pick it up.

Luckily Shenmue was one of the games included in the bundle and it had me captivated right from the opening cutscene with the snow falling and Ryo running towards his home (love that snow crunch sound).

The game is made for Christmas, it had and still has such a special atmosphere that has yet to be replicated in any game. Seeing all the decorations and Santa walking up and down the street were incredible. Not only that but the fact that Toms hotdogs song was in sync with jingle bells that blew my mind!
 
Jrussd said:
The fondest Christmas memory I have from Shenmue would have been in December 2000. This was the same month I actually got my Dreamcast after begging my parents for one. My Dad saw a local advert in the Bargain Pages for a used console which included a bundle of games, so we drove over that evening to pick it up.

Luckily Shenmue was one of the games included in the bundle and it had me captivated right from the opening cutscene with the snow falling and Ryo running towards his home (love that snow crunch sound).

The game is made for Christmas, it had and still has such a special atmosphere that has yet to be replicated in any game. Seeing all the decorations and Santa walking up and down the street were incredible. Not only that but the fact that Toms hotdogs song was in sync with jingle bells that blew my mind!
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A little off topic, but are you the same dude that lives/lived in the Solihull area who collects/collected Dreamcast games?
 
My fondest Christmas Shenmue memory came this year. It wasn't Christmas yet, but it certainly felt like it. My love for the Shenmue franchise and its creator only grew as I experienced the continuation of the story after so many long years. I felt like the game would eventually come despite all the naysayers pessimism. But the way the game came together with support from the community that extended across the globe and seeing it visualized in the game felt spiritual. You can tell how beloved Shemue is and how thankful Yu Suzuki is to be working on his masterpiece once again.

Thank you!
 
tomboz said:
Small world! We traded games a few times about 6 years ago. Hope you completed your collection.
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Ah yes I do remember! I did eventually complete the set, Moho was the last one I actually picked up in Malaga of all places.

Good to see you on the Dojo too!
 
I first saw Shenmue at my mates house, his step dad loved his tech and had most consoles/games but he also had this huge,(for the time) 55 inch beast of a TV. Most importantly he had a Dreamcast and Shenmue, seeing it being played for the first time on that cinema like TV was something truly jaw dropping. Not long after that my birthday was coming up and I was original set on getting an N64 after playing some now classics on that, but it was sold out in Electronics Boutique. The store guy suggested a Dreamcast instead, I remembered how magical it felt seeing Shenmue, just my friends step dad walking around Dobuita late at night was enough. I'm glad I never got an N64 because the magic of the Dreamcast and Shenmue has lived on in me and everyone here. There's a nostalgia to it that you can taste, try not to lose it. I'm not sure what my fondest memory is though, I've had many over the years and lots of laughs on the Dojo. Cheers to many more.
 
Giveaway is now over. I will put everyones name in a hat and draw the winner tomorrow! Keep an eye out on your private messages :)

Thanks for all the fantastic entries, was a joy to read through everyones Shenmue memories!
 
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