Beatmap Listing » Takenobu Mitsuyoshi - Memories of Distant Days

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When a game becomes something more.

There are two games that go beyond gaming, the titles are Shenmue, and Shenmue II. These two masterpieces are often overlooked, which is incredibly sad. A few games up until this day has as much detail and heart in them as these two games. In fact, I can't think of anything quite like it.

Yu Suzuki killed Sega's budget when creating Shenmue. He had a vision of something more than just a game. He made the vision come true, and created Shenmue for the Dreamcast. The game was way ahead of its time, with graphics still impressive to this day.

Shenmue is an epic saga about revenge, and every emotion you can possibly think of. There is sadness, joy, anger, jealousy... There is life.

In short terms, Shenmue is about a young man named Ryu Hazuki, who comes home one day while his father is being killed by a man named Lan Di. Ryu is now driven by revenge and rage.
At this point the story was quite simple. Find Lan Di, and find out why he killed Ryu's father.
This was enough to get players hooked. And when the story unfolds around two mysterious mirrors, that when they are put together, they could release a disaster, and about a young woman predicting the future, players could not let the game go.

In the first Shenmue game, every NPC as well as the main characters carried a personality with them. You could follow an NPC during its daily life. The late nights were quiet with only an unstable drunk out. The creators put a lot of effort into making the town seem realistic. They did a good job.

The first Shenmue was just the tip of the iceberg. The whole game on 3 discs played out in a single town and a harbour.
Players were shocked when they realized the story was too great and epic to fit in one game.
The second game was released, and this time Ryu travels to Hong Kong. This time around, there is so much more than a town. We are talking about a huge part of Hong Kong, the poor streets of Kowloon, and my favourite part; the Guilin mountains.

Shenmue 2 took twice as long to beat than its predeccessor, and it has many many more characters and plot twists.
The second game ended. Unfortunately. This was the first and only time I have cried over a videogame. The game ended just when things got extremely interesting. This ending left me with my mouth open. I was shocked. A game can't end like this.

Unfortunately for every gamer who has had a taste of this masterpiece, there is NO SHENMUE 3! This is making me rage.The fans NEED and DEMAND a conclusion to the franchise. While SEGA is squeezing out their mediocre Sonic games and Monkey Balls, they could at least hint that a 3rd game is under development.
Until then, I will think back to the memories I have had of Shenmue. From when I gave catfood and milk to the abandoned kitten, to when I fought that fat man on the roof of a tall, abandoned building in Kowloon, to the most fantastic mountain ever seen in a videogame.

Everyone who has not played this game, I recommend getting it ASAP. Get both for Dreamcast, if you can. The first game is dubbed in English, but the second one has the original japanese speech, with English subtitles. The japanese voiceactors are so much better than the american. Unfortunately, Shenmue 2 with English subtitles was only released in Europe, so getting a copy will be difficult. It's a rarity. If you don't have a Dreamcast, get Shenmue 2 for the XBOX, sure the voiceacting is bad, but you will experience the time of your life -- as a gamer.



Skin by: ImTheOne
Comboburst by: Starrodkirby86

Edit #1: Easy slidertick +1
Edit #2: Letterbox removed from Fuku-san and Gui Zhang. Nozomi already had it removed.
Edit #3: Aoitenshi suggestions regarding breaks added.
Edit #4: Dual modding by v2b and ignorethis
Edit #5: Minor suggestion by Lisbeth.
Edit #6: Offset +4
Edit #7: minor skinfix as suggested by Larto
Edit #8: timing tweak according to Starrodkirby86. The map has reached perfection.