New Song "Winter Sunset" by Shenmue Composer Ryuji Iuchi

Shenmue composer Ryuji Iuchi recently announced via Twitter that he has composed a new track in memory of a fan of Shenmue, the late Rodger Swan.

His tweet reads as follows (my translation):

"When I was looking up this and that late at night, I learned that a fan of the game passed away from illness several years ago. I felt compelled to do something, and worked through to morning on a composition. I hope this melody may be to his liking. R.I.P."

The new song, and others that he has created over the past year, are embedded later in this post.

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"You should have come yesterday" | Translation Analysis

It's time to look at another phrase plucked from the English version of Shenmue and see what lies behind its translation.

The location is at the Abe Store down the road from Ryo's house, which has been serving toys and snacks to the children in Sakuragaoka for years.

The friendly store owner, Setsu Abe, often teases Ryo with various nicknames (which we'll devote a post to in the future), which he doesn't really like but it's a handy place to try for some rare prizes with the Shenmue Raffle.

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Rotary Phones & Milk Delivery | Shenmue Realism

In previous posts we looked at some of the details in Shenmue that reflected life in 1980s Japan, such as the washing machines sitting outside the apartments and the heating arrangements during winter.

Today we check out some more typical items from Japan during the '80s, that Ryo encounters as he wanders through the suburbs near his home... starting with telephones.

Phones of Many Colors

There are a few different styles of phones that Ryo can interact with in Shenmue, all of which would have been commonly seen in Japan during the time in which Shenmue was set.

The first telephone the player encounters is the domestic-use one at Ryo's home. In addition there are a couple of different types of public phone in Ryo's neighborhood.

Public phones in Japan generally have an easily-distinguishable color, which helps identify the features a phone offers (as technology advanced models were released that offered international calling, push-button "dialing", accepted phone cards as well as coins and so on). Of course, with the ubiquity of mobile phones, public phones are harder to find in Japan these days.

Let's see how their in-game appearance stacks up compared to images of the real thing.

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How to View the Passenger Plane and Fighter Jet Cutscenes | Shenmue II

Those who have played Shenmue II will recall the brief cutscene that occurs as Ryo strolls through Wan Chai, where he looks up at the sky to see a passenger airplane pass above him.

But were you aware of how to trigger the similar, but not-so-common, scene that has a formation of fighter jets flying overhead instead? If not, then read on.

In this post we'll cover how to view both of these cutscenes in the game.

Acknowledgement: Thank you to Kiyuu of the Shenmue Dojo for the tip from her old forum post which served as the basis for this recap.

Passenger Plane Flyover Cutscene

The view of the passenger jet is quite impressive due to the plane's proximity as it soars overhead with a roar, its landing gear extended, flaps down and landing lights twinkling.

The scene has even more impact at night.

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Iwao Hazuki's China Visit | Diagram of Relationships & Timeline

During Ryo's travels in Shenmue and Shenmue II, he gradually pieces together clues and information about the mysterious Dragon & Phoenix mirrors and how his father came to possess them.

With Shenmue III in the works, now is the perfect time to consider afresh the circumstances surrounding his father's visit to China by reviewing some of the clues Ryo has comes across.

At the end of the post, we'll attempt to consolidate this information onto a diagram showing the inter-relationships and timelines.

A snippet of the final diagram.

Let's start with a name that is introduced at the very start of Shenmue, in the opening cinematic: Sunming Zhao.

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Yu Suzuki & Katsuhiro Harada Interview | Part 3 | DenFamiNicoGamer [26 Dec, 2016]

	Here is Part Three of our multi-part translation of an interview with Yu Suzuki and Katsushiro Harada from Japanese gaming site DenFamiNicoGamer.jp. I hope you have enjoyed the interview so far. You can find the previous parts to date here: Part One: click here. Part Two: click here.

Part Three

Part Three covers the following discussion topics:

• AI and interactivity in games.
• The timing for choosing to start developing Shenmue III.
• Advice from Yu Suzuki to the younger generation.

The interview translation starts below.

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"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.

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Ryo & Ren Comedy Video with English Captions (2001)

The Japanese voice/mocap actors that played as Ryo and Ren, Masaya Matsukaze and Takumi Hagiwara, created a slapstick video of themselves filming in the city of Shanghai - dressed as their characters - for the promotion of the upcoming Shenmue II.

Although this video has been around on the net for several years, being in Japanese it has not been been very accessible to non-Japanese fans. So now I have added English captions to allow it to be appreciated by a wider audience.

(The captioned video can be viewed directly a little further down in this post.)

Background

The concept of the 15-minute video is ostensibly the filming of a new TV commercial for Shenmue II, which in reality is just a pretext for humorous interaction between the pair. The video was originally screened at the 2001 AM2 Summer Festival event (which you can read about in the previous post), and it was also later included as bonus content on the Japanese DVD of "Shenmue: The Movie".

A youthful Matsukaze takes on the role of director and drags Hagiwara around various parts of Shanghai in his quest for a suitable filming location. They have a great rapport and they are clearly enjoying themselves.

Hagiwara (Ren) is chided by Director Matsukaze (Ryo) for his unsatisfactory acting performance.

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