World Guidance Guidebook: Shenmue Developers Survey (May 2000) - Part Two

In Part One, we began our translation of an extensive survey of 57 Shenmue developers published in the World Guidance guidebook in May 2000, shortly after the game’s original release. Having heard from members of the Sound & Music and Graphics Design teams, we now continue with responses from the Game Development and Planning teams.

Keiji Okayasu

Role: Game Director

Keiji Okayasu with Yu Suzuki in 2000

Q. What do you like about Shenmue?
A. The variety and depth of the mini-games.

Q. Who is your favorite character, and why?
A. The Santa who appears at Christmas. His lines are simply funny, and he’s a limited-time character on top of that.

Santa Maeno

Q. What scene left the deepest impression on you?
A. The Jimmy chase scene. During the QTE, there’s a moment where Ryo spins around someone to dodge them. The first time I saw that, I thought, “Whoa, that’s cool!”

QTE: chasing Jimmy through Dobuita

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World Guidance Guidebook: Shenmue Developers Survey (May 2000) - Part One

Shenmue Chapter One Yokosuka: World Guidance

Published shortly after Shenmue I’s original release in Japan, the World Guidance guidebook contains some of the most detailed and comprehensive information about the first game found in any of the guidebooks released at the time.

At the end of the book is an exclusive survey of 57 developers who worked on Shenmue.

The survey is introduced in the guidebook as follows:

Survey of 57 Shenmue Project Members!

The massive development team poured their collective effort into creating Shenmue: Chapter One ~ Yokosuka . To close out this book, we present the real, unfiltered comments from the staff themselves. Of course, this is only a portion of their voices, but it gives you a glimpse into both the hardships and joys of game development. Please read through with anticipation for what’s to come in the next installment. 

Survey Questions

1. What do you like about Shenmue?

2. Who is your favorite character, and why?

3. What scene left the deepest impression on you during the game?

4. Are there any hidden “tricks” you secretly included in the game?

5. Do you have any interesting episodes you can share from development?

6. Shout out one thing you'd like to say!

7. Please give a short message for the players.

During development, the Shenmue project was divided into a number of teams, including the Sound Team, Planning Team and Events Team. The survey responses are grouped according to these teams.

Our translation of the survey responses begins below! Note: images and additional notes have been added for extra context. Based on the initials provided, we have also attempted to identify each respondent where possible.

In this first part, we present the responses from the Sound & Music and Graphics Design teams, with the remaining teams to follow in Part Two.

★ Sound & Music Team

S.H. [Sound Effects Supervisor Seiichi Hamada]

Role: Sound Effects

Seiichi Hamada [screengrab from the Making of Shenmue NHK Special]

1. What do you like about Shenmue?

The battles, and the variety of different events.

2. Who is your favorite character, and why?

Ryo: the way he calmly carries on without showing his emotions.

3. What scene left the deepest impression on you during the game?

The scene with Chai at the arcade.

Seiichi Hamada's most memorable scene

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Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for August 2026

Every month, Phantom River Stone holds a poll among our patrons to choose a topic for the blog in the coming month. After tallying the votes (including those carried over from previous months), the winning topic this time is:

“The real-life inspiration for the warehouse crane at the harbor”

The large iron structure that extends into the waters of the New Yokosuka Harbor in front of the Alpha Trading Company is a readily recognizable harbor landmark in Shenmue. It also later serves as the setting for a scene in which Eri convinces Ryo to have his photo taken together with Nozomi to remember each other by. 

Ryo and Nozomi stand under the gantry crane

And like many of the locations and details found throughout the game, it has a counterpart in the real world, one that is even noted on the Shenmue Sacred Spot Map produced by Yokosuka City.

In this Patrons' Choice article, we'll take a closer look at the crane that inspired its in-game appearance, and explore a little of its history and connection with the harbor seen in Shenmue.

Coming soon to the blog!

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