Top 10 Shenmue Story Revelations | Shenmue Dojo & Phantom River Stone Interview with Yu Suzuki

Earlier this month saw the release of a brand-new, extensive interview with Yu Suzuki that was held in person by James Brown of the Shenmue Dojo and myself (Switch) for Phantom River Stone at the YS NET office in Japan. 

The full interview can be found at the Shenmue Dojo's website, who have also recorded an in-depth discussion stream but in this post we will focus in on summarizing some of the most surprising story details revealed during the interview, ending with new information regarding the leaders of the Chi You Men!

The Day of the Interview

On the fine Spring morning of the interview, we gathered at a local coffee shop in the vicinity of the YS Net office for a quick run-through of the topics we would be covering, and making sure reference images were at hand and ready. Having been granted such a precious opportunity to spend time with the legendary game creator, we wanted to be sure not a single minute in his company would go to waste due to lack of preparation.

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Yu Suzuki Interview: Reflecting on Shenmue III and Future Plans [IGN Japan] | Translation

IGN Japan has published a fantastic new interview with Yu Suzuki, in which he reflects on Shenmue III and goes on to talk about his ideas and thoughts for a potential Shenmue IV. The interview was held by Esra Krabbe in mid-March at the YS Net offices.

The text below is a full (unofficial) translation into English of the original article on IGN Japan.

Good to See Yu Again

In mid-March, I met with Yu Suzuki for the first time in a while. Four months on from Shenmue III’s release, despite there having being no new announcement, I had wriggled my way into an interview.

On entering the YS Net offices, Yu-san greeted me with a friendly smile.

“It’s been a while.”

Of course, what I really wanted to do was to obtain even a small scrap of information about Shenmue IV. But just seeing Yu-san’s smile somehow made me feel happy.

Shenmue has been a great influence on my life, and the realization of Shenmue III after 18 years was an immeasurably significant event. As a game journalist, I followed its progress through to release, traveling to countries such as Monaco, the U.S. and Germany and interviewing Yu-san numerous times. But after the release, such opportunities had dried up.

Yu-san was just the same as ever. He answered my persistent questioning about Shenmue with an unwavering smile, and his comparisons involving racing cars (which are lost on me as I don’t even hold a driving license) reminded me of old times.

Most of all, however, I somehow felt a sense of relief to see him just as full of passion as ever. It turned out that his heart is set on continuing on with Shenmue to take the series towards completion, and there are also many other games he wants to make.

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Real-life Cliff Temple Location | Video by Shenmue Unofficial

A new video has been released on the Shenmue Unofficial YouTube channel that investigates and identifies a real-life location backed up by evidence that it may feature in an upcoming part of the Shenmue story.

⚠Spoilers!⚠

The video includes a brief recap and discussion about the ending of Shenmue III, along with speculation regarding future chapters (although the information on which it is based was revealed by Yu Suzuki several years ago). If you have yet to complete Shenmue III then you may wish to do so first and come back to watch the video afterwards. 

As always with the Shenmue Unofficial videos, the analysis is thorough and after watching it I'm certainly convinced that the location has indeed been identified!

The video can be viewed below: 

• Check out the Shenmue Unofficial YouTube channel for more Shenmue-related discussion and analysis videos.

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