Shenmue 1 & 2 HD Collection Review! Still a MASTERPIECE?! (Ps4/Xbox One)

From the bottom of my heart, thank YOU for watching this video. I truly believe this may be one of the best reviews I've ever made so you seeing it really means the world to me. Much love! :D

I just purchased Part 1 and 2 Remastered versions as a bundle pack discounted for $4.49 in the Playstation Store on my Playstation 5. I already own Part 3, but it's also currently discounted for $2.99 their discounts will end on 3/16/23. They might be discounted on other systems, but I can't confirm that, sorry.

If you don't already own them, now is the best time to make your purchase!

I want this game i wanted it on the xbox og but maybe it might be better to pick up the 1 in 2 or should i just get the 2nd on the xbox og..

Shenmue 1 and 2 are so awesome! Shame about Shenmue 3

That asking characters more than once to get info is bull shit, u do it once with Tom and then u have to talk to nazomi who tells u he had an argument, then u go call him out, then he tells you, u made it sound much worse then it is

Very good and well explained review💯👍

i finally picked these 2 up on sale..it has been 20 years since i played shenmue 1! the nostalgia is over flowing

You don’t choose to set your alarm to get up early for the forklift race. You have no choice about it.

I wish there was an option to map moving the camera to the left stick like it was in the original. Yeah it makes it easier to have that on the second stick but to me it was a big part of the experience in the originals

My first playthrough of Shenmue,the game that came with my Dreamcast back in 1999(I think) was the greatest & most revolutionary gaming experience I’ve EVER had!

So good...That we sold our collective dreamcast copies to buy more games and this PS4 copy.

I finished 1 and liked it. Didn't love it, but liked it. It had some things that made me mental like in training you can't train throw moves and in battles most of the moves wouldn't work causing me to just use punch and kick. In that regard it reminded me of Super Metroid where you'd do the space jump and then at random it would just decide not to work, just because. Another thing is the darts. I can play darts. I know the physics of darts. I don't think the people who made this game ever played a game of darts in their life because where your hand location is and where the dart ends up at times makes zero sense. And the Motorcycle part at the end almost made me quit. I beat it eventually with literally 1 second left, which seems to be most people's experience as well.
Shenmue 2 I'm playing currently and I'm already not sure if I want to continue. The airing out books quick time events is making me want to rage quit. When it gives 2 actions it's so fast my eyes cannot see it. If not for the sound effect I wouldn't even know it happened in the first place. It's way, way too fast.

Great review!

During the whole Corona virus stuff going I’ve been looking at some games to grab and this one is now and PS plus has this on sale for 13.50 right now , would this be worth the buy! I’m leaning towards this or The Witcher 3 which is only 15 dollars

Still a masterpiece of glitches

enjoy it.

“Taking turns beating him?!” Nobody but Lan Di gives Iwao Hazuki a beatdown. Anyway, this is an amazing franchise.

There’s some misinformation here about what the remaster changes. The original games were never HD, they run in 480p/480i on the Dreamcast, EDTV and SDTV, not HD. The remaster just makes the game run in 1080p, which is HD. The textures are unmodified, as with the models, it doesn’t even use the improved textures and models included for some things on the Xbox release of Shenmue II. And the game always runs in 16:9, but during cutscenes black bars are added over the sides, returning the cutscenes to 4:3, as the cutscene locations and camera angles were designed around 4:3.

I disagree with you on Shenmue’s Quick Time Events. I’m 2/3rds of the way through Shenmue I, and I’ve ended up going through several quick time events so far, and every single time I’ve failed them, the game has just given me a failure cutscene and then reloaded to the beginning of the cutscene and let me have another go.

I just want to say thank you for introducing new people Japanese games.
Starting to play Shenmue for the first time in 2019, it looks fantastic!
You helped me discover some Super Nintendo games and I am just blown away!

So I'm applying for a job at a place called Nagai. .... yeah.

"Hey mister,Wanna wrestle"

Can i beat up random people on the street?

I purchased the HD collection...and let me say this. It's the same game. It looks a little nicer, loads a little faster...the problem is...the finicky stuff that was in there in the first place - the combat system being a little imprecise at times (while I admire its complexity) and that really shows after playing games of a similar style that have come out since - Sleeping Dogs comes to mind. I was playing the game and when the combat scenarios eventually came around, the multiple opponent fights...lets just say I encountered more difficulty than I did on the DC. This won't wreck a game experience...but some new players might think "what is this shit?"...Another pitfall is the passage of time...now I understand in some cases this is to time events...but there is a LOT of time spent waiting around. Objectives and places are also something that bothered me with the lack of specificity. Often it feels more like you stumble into the right scenario by accident. See...these things were always there...but like I said when you have played more refined games that have built upon what Shenmue started, and you've already finished 1&2 back in the day...to be honest it feels like a grind to me. I've stopped playing #1 after the docks scenario when you get into your first "big" fights. It's just...the little things? The things I wanted go get through to see how the great martial arts movie storyline would end up? It was just too much "Fuck...I don't need this...again". I remember the second one being better and a little faster than the first...I might turn it on but to be honest? I'm here because I'm looking for complete playthroughs so I don't have to face the grind of playing it again. It was revolutionary at the time, it IS a good story, everything that was good about it is still all there, but so is the bad...this one could have used a remake over a remaster. Of course I'll be getting #3, here's hoping they make it "feel" a little newer.

Beat this game when I was 11 bro lol I played the Sega Saturn almost more then shenmue its self 😆 nah but it was in dreamcast version as well I just bought remastered version I'm hoping it's as good as the day I played it on dreamcast

I remember buying Shenmue from ToysRus and years later seeing Shenmue 2 on Xbox. Playing Shenmue again just bought back memories and it felt new again as I haven't played this game since 2003. I beat it last night and loved every moment of it. Started Shenmue 2 and it's new to me again after last playing it on the original Xbox. I can't wait for Shenmue 3 next year.

I remember buying Shenmue at ToysRus and fell in love with this game. Shenmue 2 was great on Xbox. I haven't played either of these games in years since I don't have a Dreamcast nor Xbox no more. Plan on getting this to revist these classic games before Shenmue 3 hits next year. Awesome review Dreamcast Guy.

shenmue 3 isn't the last shenmue game. there will be 1 or 2 after this.

After playing this game for a month, it sucks. Especially when you get a job at the harbor, then the game becomes slow and mundane. Workign at the harbor makes flying through the rings in Superman 64 seem exciting. I haven’t played the second game yet, the first one is bad enough. If they hadn’t included the harbor job section, this game would be more exciting.

Man...this and the Mass Effect trilogy are my favorite games! Just got this today and can't wait to get started bro! I'm hella excited that they are bringing this back..hopefully they finish the story man I really wanna see what happens..thanks for the great Review!

loool

I will never understand why anybody would play Shenmue over any of the games from the Yakuza series, lol.

Millennials would rip this apart !

Dont worry at all,these games more then hold there own in modern era.

Tip to beat Chai (Shenmue Gollum) in the arcade:

USE KICKS! The straight and lower kicks work well against him.

Had to order this for PS4. I actually own a copy of the original Shenmue for the DC and Shenmue 2 (unopened) for Xbox, but I don't wanna hook them up and use those terrible controllers. So glad this got a re-release!

As good as people remember these games the truth is they play horrible and very sluggish

Thank You SEGA

They may look dated.... But...

They ARE OLD

The Fighting Mechanics are Virtue Fighter...plus..

It would be cool if new versions (Shenmue 3 or updates to the 1&2) had PvP online

Not a game for everyone. You'll either fall madly in love with it, or think it's a snoozefest.

When I got this collection a few days ago it was my first time playing shenmue 1 and actually playing it instead of watching the movie that came with the Xbox version of 2 made me appreciate the story more and now I think I have slightly better understanding of everybody's emotions back in 2015 when the shenmue 3 kickstarter was announced

Must get this soon. The first shenmue defined part of my teens

Ryo is no Murderer.
I think we all know this.

While I enjoy your reviews for the most part, this one definitely was running on nostalgia more than it should have been. Let me preface this by saying Shenmue is on my top ten favorite games of all time, even after playing through this re-release. That being said, you failed to acknowledge some of the issues that came with these versions.

I don't think you mentioned even a single technical issue that came along with the new versions. And if you played through them both fully, there's an absolute 0% you didn't encounter them. Sound effects cut out frequently or don't play at all, cutscenes occasionally glitch out and show static textures, Excite QTE is completely broken and unplayable in this current update, bloom lighting will re-trigger even if turned off when certain criteria happen, etc.

I'm not saying it's bad you enjoyed these ports, I did too. But failing to acknowledge even minor problems like the sounds cutting out is masking them as issues. It's your job as a reviewer to make sure this is all known.

It would be awkward to see a guy with a leather jacket walking around in a forest

As a fan of the series, I am very happy for the launched of this game. After 20 years, SEGA decided to revive this masterpiece. However, the multiple bugs and glitches leave much to be desired. I expected more from a company and its final product. I consider a lack of respect to tell people that everything is fixed with patches downloaded. When this game is not even made to play online. I think it's a lack of respect that after so many years they take out a product expected by thousands and it is not up to what the original experience should be.

but, i don't read japanese :(

This is what gta lacked for me the newest one. All these small details like food shops, clothes shops etc..