Phantom River Stone's Interview with Yu Suzuki on Shenmue 3 | Tokyo Game Show 2019

While Yu Suzuki gave many interviews to the press and media at Tokyo Game Show, I had the honor of interviewing Yu Suzuki as a representative of the Shenmue fan community. Within the strictly-regulated time slot of 20 minutes, my goal was to hopefully uncover one or two little facts or anecdotes about the game that may not have been covered in other interviews, and especially to communicate to Yu-san the appreciation we have as fans for the very fact that the game has been brought into existence.

• If you have not yet seen it, here's my account of playing the Shenmue III demo.

And now, onto the interview!

Phantom River Stone: Thank you for your time today. To start with, could you please update us on where the development is at now? I believe you have mentioned play testing, for example.

Yu Suzuki: Right now we're working on tuning, brush-ups and bug fixes. That's the focus at the moment. We're doing that while play testing as well as tuning parameters.

PRS: Could you talk about the background of the rather unique owner of the hotel in Niaowu?

The rather distinctive Niaowu hotel owner introduced in Kickstarter Update #69

YS: In Shenmue 3 I've created these kind of characters "as is" with those kind of personalities. They don't have the kind of detailed backgrounds that we made in Shenmue 1.

PRS: I see. How would you describe her in terms of her personality?

YS: She's quite blunt. Not exactly rough, but not subtle. However she's a good person at heart. It's just that her actions are a bit crazy.

PRS: I look forward to seeing Ryo's reaction!

YS: Ryo's a bit taken aback by her. [smiles]

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[4Gamer] Interview with Yu Suzuki at TGS2019 | Translation

Japanese gaming website 4Gamer interviewed Yu Suzuki about Shenmue III at this year's Tokyo Game Show on 12th September 2019, and their article has been fully translated and made available thanks to blog contributor Daniel Mann.

About Daniel 

Daniel has been studying Japanese for a little over 5 years and since, has been occasionally flexing his new found muscle with various translations and scanlations. 

Daniel is also an avid Shenmue fan and has been following the series since the game first released on the Dreamcast back in the year 2000. A long time lurker of the Shenmue Dojo forums, he finally registered an account in 2018 (under the handle danielmann861).

These days, you can find him posting regularly. Feel free to say “hello.” He won’t bite (hard). We guarantee it!

The translation begins from here.

During the opening day of Tokyo Games Show 2019, a stage event for Shenmue III (PS4/PC) was held at the SEGA booth. Creator and Director of Shenmue, Yu Suzuki, took center stage where he proudly proclaimed: “At long last, we will finally release Shenmue III!”

4Gamer had a chance to sit down and chat with Yu Suzuki after the event…

4Gamer: Thank you for your time today. We had the opportunity to play the trial version of Shenmue III earlier, but found the considerably strict 45 minute time limit to be a little irritating…

Yu Suzuki: Really, was it that short? (Laughs) At this time, it is a trial version and it picks up just a little bit after the opening of the game. Beforehand, there will be a couple of tutorials and spots to help guide players to understand the course of events from Shenmue II, so I think it will be a little easier for players to pick up and play in the final retail version.

4Gamer: The game is just under 2 months away from release. We would imagine it’s a busy time for you with various promotional events and the like, but has the development cycle considerably settled down?

Yu Suzuki: You could say that. Our team is still hard at work continuing to polish the game. We are also further balancing parameters and currently bug fixing. We also have numerous QA testers checking for major game breaking bugs.

4Gamer: It has been four years since the announcement of the Kickstarter at E3 2015. Looking back on the past four years, can you name one moment in particular that stands out the most?

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Hands-On Play of the Shenmue III Demo at TGS 2019

Through good fortune, and with the invaluable assistance of certain people behind the scenes for the arrangements, I was granted the chance to try out the demo for Shenmue III at the Tokyo Game Show. It's a game so many have been waiting for: one which represents years of hopes, disappointments and above all an undying belief from the fans that this game would one day come to fruition. And unbelievably, here I was about to guide Ryo around inside the world of Shenmue once again. This is a brief account of my experience.

Spoiler warning: this post describes some of the places and things that are encountered during the Shenmue III demo.


"PRESS ANY BUTTON".

The Shenmue III logo was there on the screen with an image of Ryo and Shenhua standing together with the background of the cave. And these words were my invitation to enter the newly-realized world of Shenmue again, closing a gap of almost 20 years.

It was hard to believe I was there, in a room at the top floor of a hotel near the 2019 Tokyo Game Show event center, seated in front of one of four PCs in the room that were loaded up with the Shenmue III demo.

The set-up at my table consisted of a PC, screen, Xbox 360 style controller, headphones and a full-color guide booklet for Shenmue III of around 30 pages. Standing against a wall nearby there was also a large vertical banner summarizing the most useful actions (photography of this was not permitted).

I was informed that play time had been set to a 45-minute limit (the same as at the recent Gamescom), and without further instruction I was left to begin. I placed the headphones on my head, took up the controller and felt immediately at home as the notes of a piano playing the Shenmue theme over an orchestral accompaniment flooded into my ears.

The adventure is about to begin

And then I pressed a button and the screen faded out. The demo play had begun!

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Shenmue 3 Merchandise Online at the SEGA Store

Two new items of Shenmue 3 merchandise were announced recently by SEGA Japan for the Tokyo Game Show 2019, and these are now also available on their online store.

The T-shirt is 3000 yen (sizes: M/L/XL) and the forklift keychain is 900 yen.

• Estimated delivery is the end of September.
• Overseas shipping is not available from the online store, so a forwarding company may be needed.

Link to Store: Go to the store page (Shenmue items)

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Shenmue III on the SEGA Stage: TGS 2019 Schedule

SEGA has published their stage event schedule for the Tokyo Game Show next week, and Shenmue III is included!

Shenmue III Stage Presentation

The Shenmue III presentation will take place at TGS 2019 on:

Thursday September 12th at 11:45 am JST
Thursday September 12th at  3:45 am BST
Wednesday September 11th at 10:45 pm EST

for a 30-minute slot. This is the first Business Day of the event, however although it won't be open to the general public, it will be live-streamed at the links below.

Live-stream Links

Live-stream links for the SEGA stage on September 12th:

• YouTube
• NicoNico
• Periscope

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Shenmue III Merchandise from SEGA at TGS 2019

SEGA Japan has just revealed their merchandise line-up for the Tokyo Game Show 2019, and it includes no less than two Shenmue III items for fans!

Shenmue III T-Shirt

The first item is a black T-shirt which has the Shenmue III logo on the front and an illustration of - what else - Ryo driving a forklift truck. The merchandise page does not indicate if there is anything else on the rear of the shirt.

Sizes available: M, L, XL

Price: 3000 yen (incl tax)

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