Shenmue Development Timeline (May 1998 - Dec 1999)

Most Shenmue fans already know the broad story of the game’s development: the early demos, the ever-extending release date, and the rumors in games magazines suggesting that SEGA was aiming for something far bigger than anything it had attempted before.

Below is a timeline translated from the Shenmue Complete Guide book, which was published in Japan not long after the first game’s release. It reflects how Shenmue’s development was being presented and discussed at the time, before years of retrospectives and post-mortems filled in the gaps. Much of this information will be familiar to longtime fans, but it still serves as a handy snapshot of those busy Dreamcast years and how key milestones slotted into place.

I’ve also inserted relevant videos at a few points along the way where they help capture what players were seeing at the time as Shenmue gradually took shape.

21 May '98

DC Demo: "Tower of Babel"

At SEGA’s Dreamcast unveiling event, one of the demo videos shown was Tower of Babel, created by Yu Suzuki in just 10 days. In retrospect, this can be seen as a precursor to Shenmue.

• Tower of Babel Demo Video:

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Metron Stamp Rally '99: Shenmue Journey | Tokyo Metro, Japan

Today we welcome back contributor James Brown (visit his channel SkillJim on YouTube) with another guest post on a fascinating topic, this time talking about the Shenmue promotional stamp rally that was held in Japan back in 1999. Not only that, but he has obtained an actual rally book that is packed with stamps and information, and scanned its pages to share with everyone. Over to  James!

Back in 1999, prior to the release of Shenmue on the Dreamcast, Sega of Japan really went full force with various marketing campaigns to advertise Yu Suzuki's open-world epic. Along with events such as the Shenmue Premiere, tie-in's with brands like Timex and even convenience stores such as Lawson's was another event that took place that has never really been well-documented - at least not in English.

An article in Dreamcast magazine (July 1999) detailed the upcoming event

This event was known as the Metron Stamp Rally '99: Shenmue Journey, and was based around the Eidan subway network (which we'll refer to here as Tokyo Metro, to which it was renamed in 2004).

Events like these are quite common in Japan, and collecting ink prints made by rubber stamps is still quite a big thing today - you can find stamp and ink stations at many of the locations and tourist spots around Japan. These stamps are usually themed on the location in which they are found, and you can stamp your book, or sometimes with the provided paper, as a memento of your visit.

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