Latest Shenmue video looks at Ryo’s love of forklift trucks, backalley brawls and duck-racing

Welcome to the Fantasy Zone

Sega has released a third video in their ongoing What is Shenmue? series, which attempts to explain the appeal and lasting i🎐nspiration that the classic Dreamcast (and later the Xb♈ox) RPGs brought to♔ the party.

This new video – narrated by Ryo Hazuki’s voice actor, Corey Marshall – looks at two particular aspects of Shenmue I & II, namely combat and mini-games. Shenmue is well-known for Ryo’s kung-fu brawls with surly types. Although these fights were pretty stylish, thanks to the use of real-life martial arts maneuvers, they were pretty clunky, switching between QTE commands and rudimentary real-time combat akin to the Virtua Fighter games.

When not stomping skulls into the tarmac, Ryo could chill out with various side-attractions, these included visiting the arcade, where players could play fully-emulated versions of Sega classics such as Space Harrier and Hang-On, chilling out with a beverage, or even… erm… racing ducks down the high street. With this blend of both fun and bizarre mini-games and gang-based brawling, you can see the influence Shenmue would have on Sega’s excellent Yakuza series.

Shenmue I & II launches August 21 on PS4, PC and Xbox One.