I don't often play video games any more, but half way through last year, I felt compelled to play Oddworld (in my opinion, a game superior to Shenmue).
The first games are 2D puzzle games, and are centred around a slave who escapes from a meat processing plant and attempts to save the indigenous wildlife from extinction before returning to free his brothers from the factory (and later, mines, mill and brewery).
The games emerged at a similar time to Shenmue, so maybe some of you picked them up around that period. How do you feel about them?