Yeah, this probably seems like a comic 12 years too late. “Classic Video Game Theater” is something I’m excited about, though, as I intend to delve into my game collection to make comics of what we were playing years ago (as a firm believer that games don’t stop existing once its hardware generation dies), especially since I wasn’t doing comics, oh, 5 years ago. I’m probably going to shoot myself in the foot dusting off well known best-sellers like Psi-Ops: The Mindgate Conspiracy or Stubbs The Zombie, but I’m gonna be having fun all the way to the poorhouse. Just to let you know I’ll be doing that thing here every once in a while.

I love Shenmue. I specifically adore Shenmue II. They are games I dread the idea of playing, but that I can’t help to enjoy when actually playing. They are slow, looong time sinks (especially the first game), but the Shenmue world oozes atmosphere and its mechanics are polished and great fun. If anything, it’s the detective work that drags, but I’m now convinced that the story advances so slowly so you get to explore and take in the rich environments, the music, the living world around you. The purpose of the Shenmue games is to make you stop and look at how impossibly complex and beautiful the world is, and it had a real impact on me and how I observed my surroundings. At some point I found myself walking while looking in different directions, aware now of so many little things around me!

I really hope the third game gets made some day. It’s a bit sad that many people won’t get this comic, since not that many people even had a Dreamcast. Shenmue II is playable on the Xbox 360, and while I can’t recommend it freely to everyone (some people might get turned off by its pace), I can tell you it’s still one of my favorite games ever.

Cheers!

–Pedro Arizpe