Never Played Shenmue II? Watch Us Super Replay The Whole Thing

by Kyle Hilliard on Jun 05, 2017 at 11:15 AM

Last year, over the course of four months, we played through Shenmue for the Dreamcast in its entirety. It was an experimental video series, with an undefined schedule that allowed us to take in all the feedback for each episode by reading and responding to comments in (almost) real time. The experiment was a success! So we immediately decided (after playing through Dark Souls III, Tex Murphy: Under A Killing Moon, Shadow of the Colossus, and Resident Evil 4) that there was no time like the present to return to Yu Suzuki's masterpiece. For the sequel, we're playing the Xbox version that was published by Microsoft in 2002.

In the first episode we explore the city a little bit, make a friend with a fellow capsule toy collector, and get all our stuff stolen. There's also a lady who forgot to finish getting dressed who really likes her motorcycle. In episode two, we make some progress by giving a hungry guy who loves naps some money, and getting a job that's almost as cool as being a forklift driver. We punch a tree in episode three. In episode four we break a rock with our hand because a homeless porcupine asked us to. In episode five we follow a lady to her apartment in the middle of the day and sleep on her couch. In episode 6 we look for a book. Spoiler alert: we don't find it. In episode seven we calm our revenge nerves by catching some leaves, you know, as one does. In episode eight, we pursue duck races with every ounce of our being. In episode nine, we attend a Fight Club. In episode 10 we achieve something amazing. In episode 11 we punch a tree so hard a duck falls out. In episode 12, we get back to the actual game. I don't remember what we did in episode 13, but I am sure it is entertaining. In episode 14 we fight a caveman for way too long. In episode 15 we spend all the money we spent episode 14 trying to earn. In episode 16, we go to Kowloon and act out that one scene from Once Upon a Time In Mexico. In episode 17, we look through all the drawers in someone's apartment for some reason. In episode 18 we learn that Kowloon apparently has the economy to support 5,978 separate bird stores. In episode 19 we walk on a board instead of using the stairs like a pair of fools. In episode 20 we have to show off our skills to Oddjob, for some reason. In episode 21, we have to make some money, or we don't get to play anymore. So we did. Twice. In episode 22, we meet our favorite character – the butterfly brawler. In episode 23 we complain about complicated elevators and learn where Shiegeru Miyamoto got that whole thumbs-up, thumbs-down thing from. In episode 24 we make a surprising amount of progress and throw a bucket of trash on a mean lady. In episode 25, Kyle gets real upset about sleeves for some reason. In episode 26 we do a whole lot of walking and a whole lot of talking. We do a whole lot of walking and a whole lot of talking in episode 27 and episode 28. In episode 29 we discover a revelation and watch the credits roll!