8 Ways That Shenmue Led to the Creation of Yakuza

As the year 1999 wore down and the new millennium was upon us, the video game industry was entering one of its coolest, most experimental times. New genres were being created, and every year seemed to have some kind of unique, innovative game. It didn't seem possible for it to get any better.

That is, until December 29, 1999, when Sega and developer AM2 finally released Shenmue for the Dreamcast. If any game was fit to close out that magical year, it was Shenmue. In the decades that followed, Shenmue's complex development history and the people that worked on it would see one series fade away, while another rose from the ashes.

In the aftermath of Shenmue II, a game that had its own unique troubles, the series went on hiatus for almost two decades. From the ashes of Shenmue, however, the ideas and concepts that it innovated would be revitalized by Yakuza in the following years. Over time, Yakuza easily eclipsed Shenmue, but the two games share a lot of common DNA that can be traced back all the way to the winter of 1999.

8 Legendary Co-Workers

Two Titans on One Team

During Shenmue's development period, it was worked on by a few important people. Yu Suzuki joined Sega in 1983, where he would work on some of the company's most iconic arcade games. In the 1990s, Suzuki wanted to craft a game that combined arcade-level visuals with an RPG, and development started on Virtua Fighter RPG: Akira's Story, in 1996.

Akira's Story would later become Shenmue, but alongside Mr. Suzuki, Toshihiro Nagoshi was also a major part of the game's development. As time went on, Shenmue suffered from production delays, which resulted in Nagoshi leaving the project to form his own team. Six months later, Sega brought him back to help get the game over the finish line.

Seeing the potential in the concept, however, Nagoshi would utilize everything he learned from working on Shenmue to power his own vision of the game. Six years later, Nagoshi would make good on that by releasing Yakuza, the franchise that defined his career for almost twenty years.

7 Picking up the Pace

You Got to Move It, Move It

Shenmue's most polarizing aspect was its pace. It was methodical, with each aspect of the game designed to emulate an honest, living world that may feel similar to your own. That worked for some people, myself included, but Yakuza took that in an entirely different direction.

In its own way, Yakuza is paced similarly, with a deliberate structure to how the game unfolds. If you look past the surface, however, you'll find a game that operates at a blazing speed compared to Shenmue.

Yakuza's emphasis on combat and action is where it differs the most in that regard, as Shenmue's fights were prolonged, almost cinematic encounters. With Yakuza, the game is nearly always in some sort of physical motion, which can sometimes feel jarring if you go from one to the other.

6 Side Hustle

How About a Game of Lucky Hit?

As you progress through Shenmue, you may find yourself endlessly distracted by how many optional side activities there are to get into. You can visit arcades, speak with the locals or just explore. Revenge can wait when you've got a high score to beat in Space Harrier.

Not one to be upstaged, Nagoshi took that concept for Yakuza and pumped it all the way up to eleven. In Yakuza, there are a seemingly unlimited number of side quests, optional stories and quests to get lost in. It's absolutely wild.

In all honesty, some of the side stories have proven to be some of Yakuza's most compelling adventures. The writing style of Yakuza also makes sure that no two stories are the same, as they range from comedy to action, with a few that are genuinely heartfelt and touching.

5 Money Troubles

We Need More Money, Arthur!

Perhaps the biggest reason that Shenmue faded away in the early 2000s was due to its inflated budgets. Exact numbers differ, but the estimated budget for the first Shenmue game has ranged from 50 million to 70 million depending on who you ask.

Nagoshi's ability to get Shenmue over the finish line endeared him to Sega, which is likely why they gave him so much freedom on Yakuza. He paid them back in kind, as the Yakuza games have consistently avoided ballooning budgets and production issues.

Yakuza has been able to continue that trend even in the aftermath of Nagoshi's departure in 2021, as Sega learned from every mistake made with Shenmue. By reusing assets and creating a production pipeline that emphasizes quality over quantity, Yakuza has become the multipart saga that Shenmue was attempting to innovate.

4 Perfecting Perfection

I Have Become the Master

The formula of Shenmue was a rather simple one, as it sought to create a sort of living world that one could explore and experience a cinematic story in. Shenmue's approach was brilliant, and it has continued to influence developers even today, but Yakuza found a way to refine that formula.

A key way it did that was replacing Shenmue's reliance on a revenge plot, instead focusing on the ongoing saga of one character through multiple stages of his life. Not only that, but while Shenmue had its fair share of unintentional humor, Yakuza is not afraid of being absolutely unhinged at a moment's notice.

I think the key part of the Yakuza cocktail is its ability to switch between multiple modes of storytelling at once, something that Shenmue had a bit of an issue with. Yakuza deftly combines comedy, action and melodrama in a way that few gaming franchises can, and it's a testament to what Nagoshi learned on Shenmue that he was able to find that balance.

3 The Big Details of a Small Location

Small World, Big Details

In Shenmue, the world of Yokosuka is one that is minuscule compared to other open-world games. Even its contemporaries had larger worlds in some cases, but Shenmue had something they didn't: It felt less like a bloated open world, and more like your neighborhood.

With Yakuza, Nagoshi felt it pertinent to replicate that same feeling, but with a different outcome. Instead of Yakuza's Kamurocho feeling like your neighborhood, it feels like a city, only one that has the most ridiculous, brilliant level of detail you've ever seen.

In comparison to other games of its ilk, Yakuza's world is decidedly smaller, but incredibly dense and packed. There are so many micro details in the NPCs, the signage, the buildings, and everything just looks and feels real. It's as close as one can get to going to Japan without actually going to Japan.

2 Cutting-Edge Tech

The Raw Power of the Dreamcast

The Dreamcast's architecture and technology was based heavily on the NAOMI, Sega's cutting-edge arcade board that they first released in 1998. A successor to the equally impressive Model 3, the NAOMI was a marvel of innovation, which in turn led to the Dreamcast being able to output the visuals it did.

It's how Shenmue looks as good as it does, as the way a character's eyes feel like they have genuine life to them is a big part of what made the story so compelling. Similarly, Yakuza would benefit from Sega's continuing grip on new, impressive graphics hardware and technology.

The creation of the Dragon Engine felt like the culmination of this, as it has created some of the most beautiful games that Sega has ever produced. Shenmue's chase of high-end, top-level visuals paid major dividends for Nagoshi and the Yakuza team.

1 A Slice of Life

Ine-san is a Mood

For as much as Shenmue is touted for its simplistic revenge plot, the true allure of Shenmue has always been the stuff outside that. It's the quiet moments, and the sort of slice of life storytelling, that makes it so endearing. Something as simple as talking to a little girl about a cat, or learning that your family member is having a hard time, makes all the difference in the world.

With Yakuza, Nagoshi and his team created a world that lent itself very well to that same modality. From an outside perspective, the first Yakuza game may seem like a straightforward action story, but the real emotion comes from its intimate moments between the characters.

As time went on, Yakuza developed one of the most gripping, emotionally resonant ongoing stories in video games. Following Kazuma's journey is a big commitment, but doing so is one of the most rewarding things you can ever experience. His relationships, struggles and victories all feel like the best moments of Shenmue coming together as one.

Shenmue Action-Adventure Systems Released December 29, 1999 ESRB t Developer(s) Sega Publisher(s) Sega Franchise Shenmue Genre(s) Action-Adventure Platform(s) PC, PS4, Sega Dreamcast, Xbox One