The Real Shenmue Arcade

If you were like me back when the Japanese Dreamcast was out you picked up the Japanese Shenmue game. I couldn’t read Japanese so you spent a fair amount of time knocking on doors hoping that you’d find the right person to progress the story.

As you travelled down the street you came across a building call “You Arcade“. The doors slid open and you could here familiar arcade noises from games like Space Harrier, Hang On and OutRun.
I personally spent a lot of my Shenmue time in the arcade, it was a Yu Suzuki fans dream.

As fan of all of these games my ultimate dream would be to one day own these machine in a games room just like the You Arcade.

Some wonderful SEGA fans are already turning there dreams into a reality and the results are amazing.

Here’s a one that I’ve come across in recent months …..

This place below was put together by a SEGA fan in Japan who goes by the name on Twitter as @SHlove766 (SpaceHarrierLove)
Over many, many months he’s been restoring Space Harrier and OutRun and building an awesome surrounding to these games and more. Here some photos of his amazing room.

I will post some more next week, in the mean time Follow @SHlove766 on Twitter to see the progress of his arcade.

Click on the link here to see more great examples >> The Real Shenmue Arcade Page

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Yu Suzuki GameWorks Vol.1

Gameworks volume 1 is a glossy Japanese released hard back book focusing on Yu Suzuki’s game history.

Release during the SEGA Dreamcast era it featured a GD-ROM with 5 of Yu’s classics sprite scalers including a version of OutRun with an unfortunately modified Ferrari.

The book is totally in Japanese so if your not familiar with Japanese the only thing you will get out of it is the game disk and the gorgeous photos and archive pictures.

So let’s take a look at some of the OutRun specific content.

Below – The book featured a first time release of a drawing of the Standard sit down arcade.

This was then accurately presented at the 1986 Jamma Show in Japan (Below)

As you can see below The original drawing seen in the book varies to the production cabinet. The production version dropped the OutRun writing from the base.

There’s also a nice concept drawing of the what the Deluxe cabinet may of turned out like (Below)

Think I prefer the final production design.

There are some nice photos of the machines too and they are in perfect condition.

I picked up this japanese book when it was first released for £70 from a Video Games Importer in the UK.
You can still pick it up now from Specialist import shops or eBay.
The price hasn’t changed too much over the years, you can still grab it from £70 – £100.

Added to the Flyers,Magazines,Books and Promo’s Page.

Close your eyes Yu Suzuki

There are fewer OutRun machines out there year by year and skilled arcade enthusiasts spend time restoring machines, searching for parts to keep OutRun alive………then there are people who think its ok to just destroy arcade history.
You can make up your own mind but this would give Yu Suzuki nightmares and I would of loved to have that cabinet 😦
I’m glad this 100% disliked on YouTube!

Yu Suzuki signed merchandise

Below are a few items ive found signed by the legendary Yu Suzuki

[Above– A print of OutRun ‘Coast to Coast‘ this was part of a charity auction on eBay by SEGA, I believe the winner actually let SEGA keep it to get more money for the charity]

[Above– One lucky Japanese fan had this signed by Yu Suzuki and the words ‘OutRun‘ written on it. He also has Yuji Naka and many other gaming gods signatures]

Follow the link below at OutRun.org to see other related signed merchandise.
OutRun.org

Yu Suzuki talks Game Masters

Yu Suzuki talks about being part of the exhibition ‘Game Masters’

Yu Suzuki interview for Game Masters ACMI

Happy 54th Birthday Yu Suzuki 🎂

Congrats to Yu Suzuki on hitting 54 years old.
Yu Suzuki now runs http://www.YS.net focusing currently on the VF series.

Updated Blog with Yu Suzuki page

Work in progress, plan to add further games produced/developed by Yu Suzuki

Yu Suzuki

D.O.B 1958/06/10

Accolades include;

Academy of Interactive Arts and Sciences’ Hall of Fame (2003)

#9 in their Top 100 Game Creators of All Time list (IGN Awards)

Pioneer Award (Game developers choice awards (2011) [ seen below ]

Yu Suzuki joined Sega Enterprises in 1983 as a programmer.
He joined Sega’s development studio AM2 and began working on a motorbike arcade game called Hang-On (Released in 1985)

After Hang-on came the 3D fantasy zone third-person shooter called Space Harrier

In 1986 Suzuki then released OutRun to the arcades creating the feeling of cruising in your Ferrari Testarossa across beautiful driving routes with your blonde (but nagging) babe.
The deluxe motorized cabinet gives the greatest OutRun experience as it tilts and rocks to simulate the driving experience.

After Burner was released in Japanese arcades in 1987.
There were several different arcade cabinets for this game, for me the best experience was to play the deluxe motorized cockpit version.