Around the year 2000, I was about five years old. My parents are a bit older so I always had siblings that were a decade or so older than me. My mom was the original gamer in my family. She would play Pacman/Ms. Pacman religiously, every chance she could get. My dad was more into the point and shoot games at the arcade. My older brother and sister loved JRPGs and other story-based games. The first person to ask for a console in my family was my eldest sister (to be clear, I have three sisters and one brother). I believe she asked for an NES and that's how it all started.
Fast forward about 15 years and word of a new game on the latest SEGA console was heard. I remember the game having a funny sounding name that I didn't recognize as English, probably because it wasn't. My brother and sister eagerly popped the game into the Dreamcast. It booted up and it was like something I'd never seen before. Sure, I played Super Mario 64 but I was a smart enough kid to know that wasn't real. This game though, it was like watching a movie. I remember how scared I was when Ryo's (whom I referred to as Ryu at the time) father was killed by Lan Di.
The game I'm talking about is of course Shenmue. It's crazy to see after all those years I'll be able to relive it again. Don't get me wrong, I saw what happen to Mighty No. 9. I'm not blindly excited about the crowdfunded third installment. However, I am quite excited to relive my childhood wonder as an adult. I was too young to play Shenmue for myself at the time but now I've been granted the chance to actually experience it first hand.
P.S.: I plan to follow up this post with a Now vs. Then review of the game as well as the sequel, which I did play on Xbox upon release.
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