How long have you been a Shenmue fan?

[johnvivant]

Just curious. Has anybody only discovered Shenmue and became a fan since the Kickstarter?

personally I've been following Shenmue from the beginning, anticipating the games release from magazine previews ect. and I bought it on the day of its European release and have been an ardent fan ever since.

[ShenGCH]

First time the game came into my consciousness was a trailer on a demo disc (remember those?) that came with Official Dreamcast Magazine back in 2000. Everything about the trailer blew my mind, but the sense of intrigue topped it all; I distinctly remember thinking 'What is this?...', in the greatest of respects, as I simply couldn't comprehend what it was. My brother bought the game shortly after it was released over here, and I fell in love with it almost immediately.

[Rikitatsu]

Same here, I've read the magazine features on Shenmue over and over and over again, and I bought it as soon as it was available. Been a fan since.

I bought Shenmue 2 when it came out, but I returned it immediately when I heard the Japanese voices... I wanted the English dub so bad, for the sake of continuity... I bought it again, then returned it again... In the end, I forced myself to wait for the English dub and thankfully it came out eventually... I bought an Xbox just to play it.

[ShenGCH]

Same here, I've read the magazine features on Shenmue over and over and over again, and I bought it as soon as it was available. Been a fan since.

I bought Shenmue 2 when it came out, but I returned it immediately when I heard the Japanese voices... I wanted the English dub so bad, for the sake of continuity... I bought it again, then returned it again... In the end, I forced myself to wait for the English dub and thankfully it came out eventually... I bought an Xbox just to play it.

I honestly thought there was something wrong with my copy of Shenmue II when I heard the Japanese dub and couldn't find any settings to change it to English

Not to mention, one of the jewel cases had a Sonic Adventure 2 back sleeve despite being a sealed copy, so that made things even sketchier!

[delvec19]

Was browsing a blockbuster in 2000 or maybe the end of 99? Then I remember reading about Shenmue, saw it sitting there, and the rest is history. Took it to my dads house, played all freaking night on his projection TV. Fell in love.

[celsowm]

I remember when I read in Brazilian magazine an article about Virtua Fighter RPG and I was very exciting about it.

When I finally bought a Dreamcast I went to very infamous place in Duque de Caxias and bought piracy (unfortunately) copy of Shenmue 1:
It was an amazing, an Indescribable experience !

And I also remember this very magazine about Shenmue: http://sebogamers.blogspot.com.br/2011/ ... enmue.html

[Spaghetti]

I think a lot of us here are going to be fans from the early days, but anecdotally I've seen new players on GAF spring up who tried the game post-Kickstarter. There's definitely a lot of interest to try the series but the barrier to entry seems to be a lack of a remaster on modern platforms at the moment.

[Peter]

Since Friday 29th October 1999, around 3.45pm.

[celsowm]

Since Friday 29th October 1999, around 3.45pm

Do you remember the exact date? Wow !!!

[Yokosuka]

1995 or something around.

Shenmue in 1999 was only the exact materialization of what I always dream to see & play in a videogame, and it was made by the guy who shaped my vision of gaming in early 90's. I couldn't be happier.

[Cyberman]

Since 2000.

[drunkensailor]

I ordered shenmue 2 for dreamcast somehow. didn't play shenmue 1 but was all of a sudden so hyped for shenmue 2. I had a close friend who was a huge shenmue fan already. in fact they sold out twice through their pre-orders in the shop I ordered and I had to wait a few weeks and in the meantime I played my friends copy, who had already advanced to the third cd. eventually I got my copy and we played the 4th disc together. it didn't dawn on me until the 4th disc that this was by far the best thing I had ever played. until that point it was like one big dream where I couldn't stop playing. needless to say I bought shenmue 1 immediately after I finished 2.

no game has come close ever since. I also got a few people into shenmue. my girlfriend and before that another (female) friend. it always seemed so normal that this is actually in many ways the perfect videogame for girls so it was easy to get them into it.

[JohnBlack]

I bought a Dreamcast in 2001(pretty late huh), and got SI and SII for christmas 2002.

[mjq jazz bar]

Since the day it came out in the States, but I was eagerly awaiting it the moment I first heard about it. I checked out The Magic Box (does it still exist?) daily for snippets of news and signs of the first reviews of the Japanese version.

[Kiske]

Since Friday 29th October 1999, around 3.45pm.

Was it the day the snow turned into rain? Did you see a black car?