BAFTA’s recent public poll has crowned Yu Suzuki’s Shenmue as The Most Influential Video Game of All Time. This surprising result has ignited a fervent discussion, with fans and detractors alike debating the game’s enduring legacy.
A Dreamcast Classic Redefined
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Shenmue was praised for its innovative open-world approach, detailed settings, and narrative complexity that set new standards for interactive storytelling. Yu Suzuki’s vision of Yokosuka is celebrated as an astonishingly vivid portrayal of real-life Japan, influencing countless developers in the years since.
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Shenmue was also notable for introducing Quick Time Events (QTEs), a mechanic that has since become ubiquitous across various genres of video games.
The Top 21 List Unveiled
Joining Shenmue at the top of BAFTA’s countdown were classics like:
- Doom - Pioneering 3D shooter and genre-defining work
- Super Mario Bros. - Establishing a blueprint for modern platformers
- Half-Life - Innovations in narrative integration, a hallmark of first-person shooters
- The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - One of the most revered games ever made for its gameplay and storytelling
A Mixed Reception Amongst Fans
While many consider Shenmue an epochal achievement, some critique it for its awkward controls and clunky dialogue. However, over time, these aspects have often been viewed as part of the game’s charm rather than hindrances.
What do you make of the BAFTA’s choice? Is Shenmue truly the most influential video game ever created? What game would you put at the top of the list?
Shenmue was insanely cool when it came out in 1999. To consider Ocarina of Time came out the year before, open world games were a brand new thing. Shenmue paired that with an epic action life-sim. It was just so unexpected; so many minigame-like mechanics for doing things around the world. It was incredibly immersive and ahead of its time.
I don’t think it has as big an impact on players as it had on developers.
The Yakuza series sticks out as greatly inspired by Shenmue / spiritual successor, as with Persona series. Also games like Lake, Fahrenheit / The Indigo Prophecy, GTA/RedDead, FFVII Remake, all owe a little to Shenmue.
In 2001, at 16 years old, I snagged a brand new Dreamcast with five or six games for dirt cheap from a local game store. The DC had already been discontinued at that point, the PS2 was about to launch or just did, and retailers were just offloading the Dreamcast merch. Shenmue was one of those games, and was the game I ended up spending the most time with. There really just wasn’t anything like it, it was this epic action story of loss and revenge with this sprawling open world with all kinds of sidequests, mini-games and interesting NPCs to explore. The most painful thing for me at the time was the damn cliffhanger at the end, and I never ended up getting a chance to play Shenmue 2 (I think it only made it’s way stateside on Xbox). It was definitely a memorable, once-in-a-lifetime experience. There were flaws, to be sure, but they were easily overlooked due to the expansive, ambitious nature of the game.
As a Japanese kid growing up in Canada, Shenmue felt like I was visiting my grandparents from the comfort of my basement. It was so insanely new but also nostalgic at the same time. I was so sure the Dreamcast would dominate lol. How naive of me.
Dreamcast was the best console of the sixth generation. If Sega hadn’t spun up MegaCD, 32x, and Saturn in such a short time, I think developers would have embraced the Dreamcast more rather than be weary Sega would abandon it for another system a couple of years later.
I think that’s a good way of explaining it. Shenmue can be a love/hate kind of game and with the Dreamcast’s short lifespan too it isunderstandable that mainstream gamers have never played it.