Shenmue | December 29, 1999

 The first installment of the Shenmue series was developed by Sega AM2 under the direction of producer Yu Suzuki, and was released on December 29, 1999, for the Dreamcast. With a massive production budget of 7 billion yen, the game introduced a new genre called F.R.E.E. (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment), which boasted a high level of freedom and detailed maps and elements for its time. However, unlike the GTA series, it leaned more toward a Japanese-style adventure game, and there was no freedom to attack passersby or engage in similar activities.

The game used the Virtua Fighter 3 engine and featured realistic portrayals of towns and streets through extensive motion capture, with a large number of NPCs having full voice acting. All event scenes were rendered in polygons, which was rare at the time. The game also introduced the passage of time, weather, and dates into its 3D adventure gameplay. NPCs and the protagonist led their lives according to a “lifestyle program,” which helped create a unique world that received widespread praise.

Shenmue sold 300,000 copies in Japan and around 1.2 million copies worldwide, making it one of the top-selling Sega games for the Dreamcast. However, after Sega announced its withdrawal from the Dreamcast, the release of Shenmue II was a commercial failure, and the series came to be seen as a "money pit." The primary issue was the enormous production costs, which made it difficult for the game to become a million-seller.

In the end, Sega's investment in the game was far too high, especially for a title with little chance of becoming a mass-market hit. To recover the production costs, every Dreamcast owner would have had to buy two copies of the game. Sega likely expected Dreamcast sales to rise due to the popularity of the game, but Shenmue ended up signaling the beginning of the end for the Dreamcast.