Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for November 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:

“Interview with Shenmue Director Keiji Okayasu (Dec 1999)”

In this interview, Okayasu discusses his role in the development of Shenmue and how the game evolved from a more conventional RPG during its Saturn days into something quite different.

We'll also be including a contemporary magazine account of an early Saturn prototype shown during an interview with Yu Suzuki.

Coming soon to the blog!

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Shenmue II Pre-Release Interview with the Actors Behind Ryo, Ren and Shenhua | DoriMaga, June 2001

Originally published in the 22 June 2001 issue of the Japanese magazine DoriMaga, this interview features Masaya Matsukaze (Ryo Hazuki), Hazuki Ishigaki (Shenhua), and Takumi Hagiwara (Ren) reflecting on three years of recording, memorable scenes from development, and their expectations just before the release of Shenmue II. The interview also includes recollections from the early Saturn-era development, offering a glimpse into scenes that were ultimately never used.

Shenmue II was released in Japan a few months later on 6 September 2001.

The translation begins below.

Shenmue II finally set for release on Thursday, September 6, 2001!!

From left: Masaya Matsukaze (Ryo Hazuki), Hazuki Ishigaki (Shenhua), and Takumi Hagiwara (Wuying Ren). The three share a variety of stories from recording that spanned two and a half to three years.

With development finally complete, the main cast reunites for this interview!!

At the Sega "Contents Strategy Conference" held on Tuesday, June 5, the release date for Shenmue II was finally announced. It wasn’t only Dreamcast users who had been waiting for this news. The voice actors who brought the characters of Shenmue to life felt the same way.

So to celebrate the confirmed release date, the three lead actors have reunited. They share plenty of memories from over three years of recording, along with highlights to look forward to in Shenmue II. This is a must-read!

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The 11 Chapter Tiles (GDC 2014) - Examination & Theories [Part Two]

In this second part continuing on from Part One, we will be examining the remaining four chapter tiles: 8 (Cangzhou), 9 (Inner Mongolia), 10 (Beijing) and 11 (Xinjiang).

While the first seven tiles broadly align with locations and events seen in the released games, the final four move into largely unexplored territory within the Shenmue narrative.

Below are the map images again showing where each of the tiles is set for reference.

Yu Suzuki’s development map

Cangzhou, Inner Mongolia, Beijing and Xinjiang are located to the north of the earlier chapters.

Analysis of the final tiles is somewhat more challenging, as at the current time high-resolution images are not available.

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The 11 Chapter Tiles (GDC 2014) - Examination & Theories [Part One]

The Chapter Concept Art is a set of 11 illustrated panels representing chapters from an early version of the saga created around 1996, when the project was still known as Virtua Fighter RPG (VFRPG).

They were first released publicly in 2014, during Yu Suzuki’s talk on Shenmue’s development at the Game Developers Conference (GDC 2014). Suzuki casually introduced a slide containing the never-before-seen artwork, noting to the enthralled audience:

“This is the first time I’m showing anyone this stuff.”

Created during a formative planning stage, the artwork was intended to visualize the story as a whole, capturing key characters, locations, and major story developments. Elements seen in them would later appear in recognizable form in the three Shenmue games released so far, while others remain unaccounted for at present.

The set of 11 Chapter Tiles (GDC 2014)

Another slide shown during the same GDC presentation clarifies how these illustrations were developed. Suzuki explained that the story had first been organized into an eleven-chapter novel, with a focus on “world feel and drama,” and that one illustration was then created for each chapter. The chapter tiles therefore correspond to this early novelized structure, serving as visual representations of its narrative progression.

While these illustrations may no longer correspond exactly to how Shenmue’s story ultimately unfolds, they remain an important item of reference and speculation for fans. High-resolution versions are currently available for only the first seven illustrations, but the set as a whole offers a window into the project’s original ambitions and planned events. Taken together, the images appear to outline not only a sequence of locations, but also a broader narrative arc that begins with revenge and gradually evolves toward reflection and renewal.

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at all 11 chapter tiles, identifying familiar faces and settings and drawing connections to material already seen in the released games. As we examine each chapter tile, we’ll also note some of the interpretations and theories that have emerged within the Shenmue community over the years.

Note: At the time these chapter tiles were created, the protagonist was to have been Virtua Fighter's Akira Yuki. For simplicity in this post, however, we'll refer to "Ryo".

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1999 Special Report: "Making of Shenmue" | Dreamcast Magazine

In July 1999, Japanese broadcaster NHK BS2 aired the first episode of its new Network Jungle III documentary series. Each installment explored how digital technology was reshaping Japan’s creative industries at the turn of the millennium. Episode One was called A Vision of the Future - A New Digital Era and focused on Sega’s legendary producer Yu Suzuki and his most ambitious project to date.

The NHK production crew followed Suzuki and the AM2 team inside Sega’s development studios over a period of six months, giving an unprecedented look at game creation on a cinematic scale. Viewers saw programmers tweaking lighting and weather systems, motion-capture artists digitizing martial-arts movements, and an orchestra recording the game’s sweeping score. NHK framed it as a glimpse into a new kind of entertainment: part film, part interactive world. The episode’s closing subtitle put it plainly: “A game that plunges you into a world of another dimension.”

Later that year, and still before Shenmue's eventual end-of-year release, the Japanese gaming magazine Dreamcast Magazine published a special feature about the game's development that was closely based on this broadcast.

The Shenmue special feature appears in Vol. 28 of Dreamcast Magazine (September 1999)

In this post, we’ll be sharing a full English translation of that magazine article, together with stills recaptured from the NHK documentary. Together, this will reveal how Shenmue was presented to Japan, as a milestone in digital culture in 1999.

The article translation begins below.

Note: where feasible screenshots have been re-captured directly from the NHK documentary video and other sources, based on those in the original article.

Shenmue logo

Shenmue Chapter One: Yokosuka

● SEGA

● Scheduled for release on October 28, 1999

● Price: 6,800 yen, 3-disc set (4-disc limited first edition)

● Genre: FREE (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment)

Shenmue Part Two (Working Title)

● SEGA

● Release date undecided

● Price: TBD

● Genre: FREE (Full Reactive Eyes Entertainment)

"May that sense of wonder stay fresh in your heart forever."
(Image courtesy of the Shenmue Dojo: Shenhua 1999 calendar)

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