This topic was selected as the Patrons' Choice topic for May.
Shenmue was released for the Dreamcast in Japan at the end of 1999, the same year in which another AM2-developed game called F355 Challenge, a racing game, was brought out in the arcades. Yu Suzuki both created the concept and produced the game.
As its name suggests, this game features the Ferrari F355 Challenge model of sports car, which Yu Suzuki himself owned at the time. It was created to model the handling characteristics of a F355 as realistically as possible, to the extent that Yu Suzuki said in a recent interview that he views it as a simulation rather than a game.
As well as the arcade version, a Dreamcast version followed in August 2000.
A number of signs of this close relationship between Shenmue and F355 Challenge can be found within Shenmue, which we will cover in the following sections.
Ryo's Ride to the Harbor
In a well-known sequence towards the end of Shenmue, Ryo borrows his friend Naoyuki's motorbike and makes a dash to New Yokosuka harbor within a time limit. The music that plays upon his arrival in Amihama, is in fact a remake of a heavy-metal style music track that plays during racing in F355 Challenge. The name of the track is "Scarlatto."
The following video contains clips with the music from both games.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/xSVfZxhaeQM?feature=player_embedded&start=245
Speed Gauges
Both Ryo's motorbike ride mentioned above as well as the daily forklift races he participates in at the harbor involve a speed gauge being displayed on screen. If we compare the gauges to the ones in F355 Challenge, we can see that while they are not identical, the similarities in the color and style suggest influence on the Shenmue gauges from the ones in the Ferrari racing game.
Driving Data Analysis (Shenmue Passport Japanese version)
The most significant connection between the games is a feature that was built in to the Japanese version of the Shenmue Passport disc that allows you to inspect your past driving performance from the F355 Challenge game if you had saved your driving data to a VMU.
Driving data could be saved at the end of a game not only on the Dreamcast console version, but also from the arcade game itself - cabinets in Japan came equipped with a special VMU slot for that purpose.
F355 Challenege driving data save screen (Dreamcast version)
F355 Challenge arcade cabinets in Japan came equipped with a "Visual Memory Socket" like this, which allowed players to save their driving performance data at the end of a game.
Once you had saved your driving data to a VMU, you then would boot up the (Japanese) Shenmue Passport disc. If your VMU is found to contain save data from F355 Challenge, then in the place of the usual Information icon (which leads to tutorial videos by Shenmue characters) in the main menu screen, a new icon is shown.
The description reads "F355 Challenge: Analyze play data saved to the VMU from an F355 Challenge arcade machine".
The icon rotating between a stylized "F" and a F355 Challenge car is a nice touch:
Selecting this new option takes you to a title screen with the heading "VM operator" which is the gateway to a new menu screen specifically for examining the F355 Challenge data.
F355 Challenge (Shenmue Passport Manual Translation)
Here is a translation of the available functions in the analysis menu, as described in the Japanese-language version of the Shenmue Passport manual.
The arcade game F355 Challenge comes from the hand of Yu Suzuki, the same producer as for Shenmue. View your driving data using a memory card (VMU). By linking to the arcade game, the world of this realistic racing simulator will expand even further.
To use this, a memory card on which F355 Challenge play data is saved is required. The icon for this option will be displayed in the main menu only when the memory card is connected.
Insert a memory card with your main data in expansion socket 1.
If you have reference data, insert a memory card in expansion socket 2.
1. Course Selection
Select a course to be displayed:
Motegi, Suzuka (Short Configuration), Monza, Sugo, Suzuka, Long Beach.
2. Driving Data
For your selected course, the driving line and graphics showing your speed, engine revs, and shift changes will be displayed. The driving line for the main data will be shown in red, and the driving line for the reference data will be shown in yellow.
Controls:
Analog stick / D-pad & A-button: scroll graph
R / L trigger: zoom in / zoom out
X button: switch graph size
Y button: switch track display width
3. Replay
The F355 Challenge car will drive following the displayed driving line. A red F355 Challenge car will drive according to the main data, and a yellow F355 Challenge car will drive to the reference data. Four views are available: driver's view, front view, top view and rear view.
Controls:
Analog stick / D-pad left: rewind, right: fast-forward
R / L trigger: zoom in / zoom out
A button: switch viewpoint
X button: switch between expansion slots 1 and 2
4. Player Data
The following data can be viewed:
3-letter "score name", player name, participating region, total number of plays, distance traveled, best lap per course
5. Gallery
View promotional images and other original images. Images can be unlocked on fulfilling certain conditions.
Gallery screen (left) and a sample image (right). Further images can be unlocked by completing certain circuits within specified times.
6. Theater
Treasured images of the development team. Can be unlocked on fulfilling certain conditions.
7. Network Connection
Access the official F355 Challenge home page.
Video
I am preparing video footage of the F355 Challenge analysis feature of the Japanese Shenmue Passport disc and will add a link to it once ready.
