Examining Shenmue II Storyboards | Design Documents

In the Spring of 2022, a promotional event was held on location in Yokosuka to celebrate the anime adaptation of Shenmue, Shenmue The Animation, which was organized by Yokosuka City in collaboration with SEGA and IGN Japan. Various pieces of concept artwork were exhibited at a number of shops in the area, some being from the anime while others were sketches and illustrations from the time of development of the first two games.

Among the artwork were reproductions of certain storyboards from the game, detailing the camera shots and spoken lines to guide creation of cut scenes in the game. 

The three storyboards exhibited at the event which we will cover in this post are from Shenmue II and are entitled:

1. "Encounter with Joy"
2. "Xiuying's Tears"
3. "Encounter with Shenhua"

We will be looking at these in more detail and translating any written notes and characters' lines, noting differences of interest between the storyboards and the final implementation of the cut scenes in the game.

Become a Patron!

Band-Aids at the Tomato Convenience Store - Early Design Document | Translation

In this post we examine and translate an early Shenmue design document which gives some interesting insight into some design changes made before the game's release.

The document is an illustration that details the contents of the shelves at the Tomato Convenience store in Dobuita, as shown below:

Early design document of the shelves at the Tomato Convenience Store

The appearance and layout of these shelves match very closely with the shelves at the Dobuita branch of the Tomato Convenience Store in the first game:

Shelves at the Tomato Convenience Store in Dobuita (release version)

Become a Patron!

Ryo's Band-Aids Found at Tomato Mart: Shenmue Cut Content | Dragon & Phoenix Project Discoveries

Another new discovery by LemonHaze reveals that a special item of merchandise had once been planned for inclusion among the stock at the Tomato Convenience Store, one that is a key component of Ryo's visual identity: a packet of band-aids.

Ryo stops in at the Tomato Convenience Store to buy a quick item on his way home. (Mock-up)

Let's look at exactly where this extraordinary finding was made.

Tomato Convenience Store: Poo Magazine & More

The Tomato Convenience Store is packed with a range of useful everyday items, from snacks such as Shenmue-branded chocolate through to the gripping content of Poo magazine.

Poo magazine. (The origin of the magazine's title is unknown. It has been suggested that it might refer to the Japanese expression "Pooh-Taro", describing someone who lazes around all day long).

An importance difference between the type of merchandise that can be found is that some items can be picked up and purchased by Ryo, such as the snacks, while others like magazines are purely scenery and stay fixed in place at at all times.

It turns out that there is a special text file that the game uses to help define all the objects in the store that can move, and this is where the new discovery is contained.

Become a Patron!

Choubu Inn Floor Plans | Translation & Commentary

In this post, Phantom River Stone examines Shenmue III design documents for an inn in Choubu.

Going back three years to the very start of the official Shenmue III project, soon after its successful funding on Kickstarter, Yu Suzuki tweeted out several images of concept art and design documents. Among these were floor plans of a building in the town of Choubu.

Building floor plans tweeted by Yu Suzuki in 2015 (tweet #1, tweet #2)

There were clues scattered through-out the plans in the form of labels (in Japanese), but Yu did take the precaution of releasing the images in low resolution making the text extremely blurry and difficult to distinguish. In this post we will scrutinize every inch of the image and attempt to translate as much as possible into English.

This topic was selected from the blog's candidate topics via a poll of Phantom River Stone's patrons for June 2018.

The Town of Choubu

As described in the Kickstarter Stretch Goal introductory video, Choubu is a town on the Li River that Ryo will be travelling to during his adventure.

Choubu is the second main area Ryo will visit in Shenmue III

Become a Patron!

Shenmue 1 Start of Game Flowchart | Early Design Document Translation

Introduction & Related Posts

Several snippets of actual early design documents from the making of the first two games are contained in the 1998 Shenmue art book, in a section entitled "Making of Shenmue".

Previously on the blog we have investigated flowcharts covering the first part of play in Shenmue II, after Ryo arrives in Hong Kong:

• Ryo's Arrival in Hong Kong | Shenmue II Design Document Translation
• Earning Money to Meet Ren | Shenmue 2 Flowchart #2 Translation

Today we tackle another flowchart, which is from the opening gameplay of the first game. Some interesting differences can be noted compared to the release version of the game.

The Shenmue 1 Flowchart Snippet

In the Shenmue art book, portions of several different design diagrams have been overlaid on a single page for artistic effect, making deciphering them a challenge, although at least each is printed in a different color. The flowchart relating to Shenmue 1 is reproduced at an angle on the page in a magenta shade, in the area highlighted below.

The Shenmue 1 flowchart is the magenta-colored diagram inside the highlighted area on this page of the Shenmue art book.
Image credit: David De Ville.

Become a Patron!

The Old Red TV | Chinese Restaurants in Shenmue

Following our recent post translating an early Shenmue design document for Hong Kong diners, I decided to collect together shots of the familiar old red TV that can often be found sitting up in the corner of such restaurants in the game, part of the game's careful design.

The old red TV in Shenmue 1 and 2.

Do you know of any other locations?

Become a Patron!

Hong Kong Diner | Translated Shenmue II Design Document

A little over a year ago, Yu Suzuki was jointly interviewed with Katsuhiro Harada (of Tekken fame) and during this briefly spoke about a handful of original design documents for the Shenmue games he had brought along with him.

This photo accompanied an interview with Yu Suzuki & Katsuhiro Harada. Yu shows various Shenmue design documents, pointing here at what appears to be a sketch of a Chinese tulou.

We have analyzed some of these design documents in earlier posts on this blog.

Related posts:

• Yu Suzuki & Katsuhiro Harada Interview | Part 1 | DenFamiNicoGamer [26 Dec, 2016]
• Design Document: Tile-breaking Job
• Design Documents: "Gachinko Fishing" & "Washing Place"

Hong Kong Diner Interior

Today, the design document we will be examining is a concept sketch of the interior of a typical Hong Kong casual diner.

The document is headed "VF RPG", indicating that it was produced in the early design period of Shenmue, when the game was still known by its early working name of Virtua Fighter RPG.

It contains a single large illustration with hand-written annotations surrounding it, which I have translated.

Here is the translated design document [click to enlarge]:

Become a Patron!

Earning Money to Meet Ren | Shenmue 2 Flowchart #2 Translation

Introduction & Related Post

The "Making of Shenmue" section of the 1998 Shenmue art book contains snippets of actual design documents from the making of the first two games. We will be examining each of these in today's and future posts to see what information they reveal.

We previously investigated a flowchart covering the first part of play in Shenmue II, after Ryo arrives in Hong Kong:

• Ryo's Arrival in Hong Kong | Shenmue II Design Document Translation

The Second Flowchart Snippet

Today's flowchart snippet is found on the same page as the first, and as with the first it is partially obscured by various other overlapping diagrams and photographs. The section in question is highlighted in red:

The second flowchart snippet from the Shenmue Art book (enclosed in red). It's quite a jumble!
Image credit: David De Ville.

The context of the flowchart appears to be soon (but not directly) after the first, with Ryo having visited Man Mo temple and become acquainted with Xiuying.

Minor Spoilers
Plot elements relating to some of the initial events in Shenmue II will be discussed.

Click on each image to enlarge.

Become a Patron!

Ryo's Arrival in Hong Kong | Shenmue II Design Document Translation

The "Making of Shenmue" section of the 1998 Shenmue art book contains snippets of actual design documents from the making of the first two games. We will be examining each of these in today's and future posts to see what information they reveal.

This is a great opportunity to gain some additional insight into the early stages of the design of the first two games.

The document we will look at in today's post is an early Shenmue II diagram that steps through the initial plot in Shenmue II, starting with Ryo's arrival in Hong Kong through to meeting Xiuying in person.

Minor Spoilers
Plot elements relating to some of the initial events in Shenmue II will be discussed.

Become a Patron!

"Gachinko Fishing" & "Washing Place" | Shenmue Document Translations

Following our look at the Tile Breaking job design document that was revealed by Yu Suzuki in a recent interview, we now turn our attention to two more of the documents he brought along with him, annotated in English: "Ganchinko" Fishing and Washing Place.

Let's take a look at each in turn.

Document 1: "Gachinko" Fishing

Fishing document detail.

Fishing is an activity that Yu Suzuki has confirmed will be part of the upcoming Shenmue III. An obvious hint to this also lay in the in-game fishing rod and bait that were part of one of the Kickstarter reward tiers.

At the 2016 MAGIC Monaco conference. Yu talked about the ability to fish in various places such as Bailu village, He also stated that fishing was something that the development team had wanted to include in Shenmue II, but it had to be left out as there was no room to fit it.

Become a Patron!

Tile-breaking Job | Early Shenmue Document Translation

A few weeks ago in a joint interview with Katushiro Harada, Yu Suzuki shared an early Shenmue project document that had not previously been shown in public.

Ryo... ahem, Akira takes a practice swipe.

The document describes the concept for a Tile Breaking part-time job, with notes in Japanese text. I've translated these notes into English in the version below (click on the image to view in full size).

Become a Patron!

Yu Suzuki & Katsuhiro Harada Interview | Part 1 | DenFamiNicoGamer [26 Dec, 2016]

I've been working over the past few days on the translation of a multi-page interview with Yu Suzuki was recently published online by Japanese gaming site DenFamiNicoGamer.jp.

Interviewed together with Yu is Katsuhiro Harada, of Tekken and Soul Calibur fame. 

Due to its length, I will be posting up the interview as a series.

Today I am pleased to present the first part. (Note that the order in which they are presented differs from that of the original article, as I am prioritizing the Shenmue-related content).

Part One

Today's initial part covers the following content:

• Interviewee profiles
• Article introduction
• Interview / discussion:
• Shenmue's popularity outside Japan
• Shenmue: ahead of its time
• Concept of a cinematic game

Also in today's part: a photo of Yu Suzuki sharing a building design for Shenmue III plus an previously-unseen early Shenmue project document. (I will be looking at the text written on the project documents in a future post!)

The interview translation starts below.

Become a Patron!