!!Video Game:
* AcclaimedFlop: It was hugely popular and considered a masterpiece by several gaming outlets upon its release (89.34% on [=GameRankings=]), and it won the Excellence Prize for Interactive Art at the 2000 Japan Media Arts Festival. Unfortunately, despite the quite impressive feats of selling 1.2 million copies and being the fourth best-selling game for the Dreamcast, the sales numbers were ultimately too weak to cover development costs (not ''entirely'' surprising as ''Shenmue'' was the most expensive game of all time at the time of its release, with a budget of ''$47 million'', equivalent to about '''$70 million''' in 2018).
* ActingForTwo: Given the large cast in both games, many of the voice actors for both dubs ended up voicing two or even three characters in a single game. Perhaps the most goes to actress Claire O'Connor, who voiced five characters in the first game's English dub alone.
* CutSong: Over the years, fans have uncovered a multitude of unused songs and music hidden within the files for both games. Among them was "Let's Go Away" from ''VideoGame/DaytonaUSA''!
* CreatorsFavorite: Yu Suzuki has stated that Shenhua Ling is his favorite character, which probably explains why she appears the most in the series' promotional material.
* CrossRegionalVoiceActing: For the English release, Ryo Hazuki (Corey Marshall) and Shenhua Ling (Debora Rabbai) were voiced by New York City-based actors, while the rest of the cast were English-speaking actors from the Tokyo area.
* {{Defictionalization}}: Finding one that's perfectly accurate to the in-game version is fairly tricky, but replicas of Ryo's bomber jacket are widely available online.
* KillerApp: Of the Platform/{{Sega Dreamcast}}. In fact it was the 4th best selling game in the white console, just after ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', ''VideoGame/SoulCalibur'', and ''VideoGame/CrazyTaxi''. Back in the day, playing ''Shenmue'' was one of the reasons alone to go and buy a Platform/{{Sega Dreamcast}}. It does, however, also hold the dubious distinction of being an example of a Killer App that despite very good sales, ultimately ended up as AcclaimedFlop and contributing to the sinking of the console it was meant to help keep afloat.
* MagnumOpusDissonance: This was slated to be Yu Suzuki's -- and in general SEGA-[=AM2=]'s -- best, but unfortunately, it ended up being an AcclaimedFlop at best. This changed with the ''Shenmue III'' Kickstarter though, which met its goal in ''less than half a day.''
* MovedToTheNextConsole: From the Platform/SegaSaturn to the Platform/SegaDreamcast.
* ReferencedBy: In ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'', the first episode of the [=SegWaves=] radio show has the hosts talk about an encounter with a kid who was going around asking about sailors.
* SavedFromDevelopmentHell: After failing to make its release on the Platform/SegaSaturn due to a really difficult development on the project, which itself was started in 1996, ''Shenmue'' saw the light of day through the Platform/{{Sega Dreamcast}} in December 1999.
* {{Vaporware}}: The [[MassivelyMultiplayerOnlineRolePlayingGame MMORPG]] ''Shenmue Online'' that was hyped after the release of ''Shenmue II'', where players would be allowed to join three clans, led by Shenhua, Ren and Xiuying. The game suffered from DevelopmentHell as it switched developers over the years, and was never released. Yu Suzuki attempted to relaunch the series years later with the social RPG ''Shenmue City'', announced in 2010 for cell phones and [=PCs=], but only a cell phone version was released which was discontinued the following year.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen:
** Building upon the prototype for ''The Old Man and the Peach Tree'', the game was conceptualized to be a ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'' RPG that would have starred the game's protagonist, Akira Yuki, and be set in China to tell his story. However, it was later decided to go into a more original direction, although the influence is clearly evident. Based on images from the ''Shenmue III'' Kickstarter, an early script is shown titled "The Legend of Akira".
** As noted on the main page, the game was originally planned to be released for the Platform/SegaSaturn, but its time in development caused the project to be shifted over to the Platform/SegaDreamcast.
** In the first game, it was planned for Ryo to gain access to a bicycle to navigate through the town streets more quickly. Between the foot traffic, the multiple paths into town, and the main street of Dobuita not being big enough to warrant it, the bicycle didn't make the cut.
** In early footage, Mark Kimberly was among the American sailors that would bully and harass Ryo, and would also be beaten like the others. His role was changed in the final game to be Ryo's friendly co-worker who was bullied by the Mad Angels, [[http://www.shenmuedojo.net/gallery/displayimage.php?album=9&pos=6 although this explains an official wallpaper where he appears among Ryo's American enemies]].
** An especially painful example for fans is the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yg42r2lvMiY planned graphical overhaul/remake]] of the original games, which was axed for budgetary reasons in favor of the 2018 HD re-release.
** According to a [[https://twitter.com/ashizuca/status/1081930144598523904 former employee]] of Sega, Izumi Takano was originally a rejected character design for Nozomi Harazaki. While a character with Izumi's design appeared in the ''What's Shenmue'' demo, she became a full-fledged character in the second game after one of the developers pushed for her design to be used in the sequel.
* WorkingTitle: At GDC 2014, Suzuki revealed the game began as an early prototype titled ''The Old Man and the Peach Tree''. The prototype would have the main character named Taro approaching a peach-obsessed old man asking about a Kung Fu master named Ryu. The prototype ends with the old man skipping stones across the river to hurt fish leading to believe that the old man was Ryu all along.
** When the game began development as a ''Virtua Fighter'' title, the game was codenamed ''Guppy''. It was later changed into the ever familiar ''Project Berkley''.

!!Anime:
* TheOtherDarrin:
** Due to the 2022 anime's English dub being recorded in Houston instead of Tokyo for the first two games and Los Angeles for the third game, every role was inevitably recast. For example, Ryo Hazuki, voiced in the video games by Corey Marshall, is now voiced by Creator/AustinTindle.
** Ditto for everyone except for Ryo, Lan Di, Shenhua and Ren in the Japanese version as noted below.
* DenialOfDigitalDistribution: The dubbed version becoming unavailable on digital platforms as a result of the rights being vaulted by Crunchyroll.
* KeepCirculatingTheTapes: While the Japanese version is currently available on Crunchyroll, the English dub was removed from Adult Swim's website in September 2022 as a result of the series being vaulted by Warner Bros Discovery, rendering the dub unavailable for streaming.
* PromotedFanboy: Haruka Fushimi, who plays Nozomi in the anime, had played the original game and was a fan of it.
* RoleReprise: In the Japanese version, Creator/MasayaMatsukaze and Creator/TakahiroSakurai reprise their roles as Ryo and Lan Di respectively from the original games. Creator/HarukaTerui and Osamu Taira, who took over the roles of Shenhua and Ren respectively in ''VideoGame/ShenmueIII'', reprise their roles here as well.
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