History VideoGame / ShenmueII

The game had a troubled release, with the Dreamcast's NA version cancelled barely more than a month before the scheduled release date due to the console being discontinued and the subsequent deal with Microsoft, which had interest in bringing the game to their console. As a result, even national chains such as [=GameStop=] carried imported PAL versions of the game. It was eventually released for the original UsefulNotes/Xbox in 2002 with an English dub. Due to development costs and disappointing sales, Sega expressed no plans in producing any further games in the series, and as years passed by with no sign of a third entry going forward, many fans lost hope that a sequel would ever come into fruition.

* BonusBoss: A sidequest in Wan Chai allows Ryo to participate in a fighting contest where he can challenge fellow martial artist Eileen Edelweiss, and defeating her allows a special match against a surprise opponent. These opponents are not to be underestimated.

* ShoutOut: The street fighters [[AfroAsskicker Rod Stunt]], [[ProWrestlingIsReal Greg More]], [[BloodSport Chunyan Xu]] and [[NobleDemon Master Baihu]] share the same moveset of ''VideoGame/VirtuaFighter'' characters Jeffry, Wolf, Sarah and Lau respectively. A BonusBoss also shares Sarah's moveset. Doubles as a MythologyGag since ''Shenmue'' began development as a spinoff of ''Virtua Fighter''.

Released on the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast toward the end of its life and then ported to the Microsoft UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} the following year, the game follows Ryo Hazuki as he arrives in UsefulNotes/HongKong to find Lan Di and avenge his father's death. But first, he must seek out Lishao Tao, the martial arts master who can help him discover the whereabouts of Yuanda Zhu, the man who sent Ryo's father the letter warning him that Lan Di was coming for him. However, Ryo quickly discovers the dangers that lie within Hong Kong, and not everyone is willing to give him the answers he seeks. Will he find Lan Di and avenge his father's death, or will his desire for vengeance lead him down a dark path that will ultimately destroy him?

* CameraScrew:
** In Beverly Hills Wharf, the fights suddenly take place in first-person perspective. Some of the street fights in Kowloon are also in first person.
** Some of the QTE sequences in the [=Xbox=] version are accompanied with a shaky camera, along with MotionBlur.

* WretchedHive: Subverted with Kowloon. Several characters warn Ryo how dangerous it is before he goes there. When he does, several buildings are shown to be falling apart, fighting contests and gambling are rampant, and the whole place is run by the Yellow Head gang. In spite of that, the city is shown to be filled with several hardworking people trying to get by and make a living, which sounds remarkably similar to its RealLife description on [[WretchedHive/RealLife this very site]].

* NamesTheSame: InUniverse: The Mann Mo Temple is (rather inconveniently) surrounded by several businesses with "Mann Mo" in the title.

** It's easy to miss as he doesn't appear at all times, but in the Yan Tin Apartments, Ryo can stumble upon Guangyan Wang, who happens to be the twin brother of Guangji Wang from the Ajiichi Restaurant in Yokosuka. If you're playing the [=XBox=] version or the 2018 port, you'll need his picture to unlock a comic.

* MotionBlur: Used extensively in the [=XBox=] version during fights and some QTE sequences. It was removed in the 2018 re-release.

The game had a troubled release, with the Dreamcast's NA version cancelled barely more than a month before the scheduled release date due to the console being discontinued and the subsequent deal with Microsoft, which had interest in bringing the game to their console. As a result, even national chains such as [=GameStop=] carried imported PAL versions of the game. It was eventually released for the original UsefulNotes/XBox in 2002 with an English dub. Due to development costs and disappointing sales, Sega expressed no plans in producing any further games in the series, and as years passed by with no sign of a third entry going forward, many fans lost hope that a sequel would ever come into fruition.

** Some of the QTE sequences in the [=XBox=] version are accompanied with a shaky camera, along with MotionBlur.

** The first half, is based mostly in Wan Chai and Aberdeen and resolves around Ryo's training with Master Tao Lishao.

Released on the UsefulNotes/SegaDreamcast toward the ends of its life and then ported to the Microsoft UsefulNotes/{{Xbox}} the following year, the game follows Ryo Hazuki as he arrives in UsefulNotes/HongKong to find Lan Di and avenge his father's death. But first, he must seek out Lishao Tao, the martial arts master who can help him discover the whereabouts of Yuanda Zhu, the man who sent Ryo's father the letter warning him that Lan Di was coming for him. However, Ryo quickly discovers the dangers that lie within Hong Kong, and not everyone is willing to give him the answers he seeks. Will he find Lan Di and avenge his father's death, or will his desire for vengeance lead him down a dark path that will ultimately destroy him?

Developed in conjunction with the first game, as the developers were perhaps clear in the knowledge they wouldn't release as many games as planned, the second game attempted to cram much more of the story in. ''Shenmue II'' covers numerous chapters that take Ryo throughout UsefulNotes/HongKong, including Aberdeen, Wan Chai, and the dangerous walled city of Kowloon, followed by the beautiful mountain forests of Guilin. On Ryo's search he meets Joy, a [[RebelliousPrincess rebellious]] [[BikerBabe biker]] who helps him survive on the streets, beautiful martial arts expert Xiuying, who tries to dissuade him from pursing his quest for revenge, and the charismatic gang leader Ren, all leading up to the destined encounter with the mysterious girl that appears in his dreams.

* HopelessBossFight: Unlike the first game's subversion, the sequel plays it straight when Ryo takes on the entire Heavens gang alone and in the first fight against Dou Niu, where the screen begins to fade after a certain amount of time. Xiuying [[UpToEleven takes this trope to new levels]].

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The Yellow Head Building in Kowloon, located right in the middle of the city, is by far the tallest building around at 40 floors tall, with the top level affording a dominating view of the rest of the city below. Except that back when the real-world Kowloon Walled City was still standing, despite massive expansion of the structures within in the 20th century, no one ever dared to build anything more than 14 storeys tall because of the very real hazard represented by low-flying aircraft either on approach to land on Runway 13, or on their climb-out after taking off from Runway 31 at the nearby Kai Tak Airport, as the entire complex was directly under the flight path for said aircraft.
This meant that much of the skyline's elevation was fairly uniform.

* ArtisticLicenseGeography: The Yellow Head Building in Kowloon, located right in the middle of the city, is by far the tallest building around at 40 floors tall, with the top level affording a dominating view of the rest of the city below. Except that back when the real-world Kowloon Walled City was still standing, despite massive expansion of the structures within in the 20th century, no one ever dared to build anything more than 14 storeys tall because of the very real hazard represented by low-flying airplanes on approach to land at the nearby Kai Tak Airport, which meant that much of the skyline's elevation was fairly uniform.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign / BilingualBonus: In both dubs, when Joy picks up Ryo after his first night at the Come Over Guest House, she asks him something in Chinese which he doesn't understand. The subtitles for this phrase are also in Chinese, leaving many players just as confused. While the subtitles translate roughly as "Have a good dream?", those who know the language claim the phrase being spoken isn't Chinese but likely gibberish.

* ContemptibleCover: [[http://i.imgur.com/7JST0yF.jpg The cover art for the XBox version]], which seemingly tried to capture the look of [[{{retraux}} an old movie poster]]. It was changed from an [[http://i.imgur.com/xRkjMLh.jpg earlier version]] which received a lot of backlash when it was first revealed.

* SamusIsAGirl: Ryo is thrown to discover that the elder kung fu master he came to find is Xiuying Hong, the beautiful young woman whom he'd previously at the Man Mo temple. In his defense, Ryo was expecting a man because he was told to meet with the more masculine-sounding "Lishao Tao", which is her pseudonym used by other masters.

* SamusIsAGirl: Ryo is thrown to discover that the elder kung fu master he came to find is Xiuying Hong, the beautiful young woman whom he'd previously at the Man Mo temple. In his defense, Ryo was expecting a man because he was told to meet with the more masculine-sounding "Lishao Tao", which is her pseudonym to outsiders.