Shenhua's Home Renovations - What Changed in Shenmue III

It has been a while since our earlier post on the blog in which we looked at changes in appearance to the exterior of Shenhua's house and the surrounding landscape from Shenmue II compared to Shenmue III. In this post, we'll turn our attention to the house's interior to cover what changes have been made within.

House Footprint

One notable difference seen from external observation, even before Ryo steps inside, is that Shenhua's house in Shenmue III has a difference in shape compared to Shenmue II.

Originally, the house's footprint was previously a simple "L" shape:

Shenhua's house, Shenmue II

However in the later game, the right-hand side of the house has been extended with a new wing:

Shenhua's house, Shenmue III

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Weekly AM2 Vol. 7: Interview with Shenmue Planning Director, Eigo Kasahara | 25th Jan 2000

In this series we translate Shenmue content from Weekly AM2, the official online magazine published by Sega's AM2 development team back in the day. News and information about the Shenmue series could be found regularly within these pages from the end of 1999 through to 2001 with the release of Shenmue II.

Vol. 7 contains an interview with Shenmue Planning Director, Eigo Kasahara (who also returned to manage the localization for Shenmue I & II many years later). There is also an announcement of the prizes for the Network Ranking competition, as well as another Shenmue digital wallpaper.

-Switch

 

Vol.6: 2000.1.25

Have you cleared Shenmue? I'm Takuan.

Are you all participating in the Network Rankings? The Shenmue Passport makes Shenmue even more fun!

This week's contents:

• Notice of Yu Suzuki's talk
• Interview with Shenmue's Planning Director, Eigo Kasahara
• Announcement of Network Rankings Prizes
• Shenmue Wallpaper Download Service, Round 2

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Forklift No. 5

Spotted in the wild... a genuine Forklift No. 5.

Ready for the morning race.

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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)

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Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for February 2023

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 accumulated votes from previous months), the winning topic that has been voted this time is:

"The Significance of the Big Dipper in Shenmue"

The Big Dipper is what is known as an asterism, which is a recognizable pattern of stars that is not a formal constellation in itself, but can often be part of one. In the case of the Big Dipper, it is part of the constellation Ursa Major (the Great Bear). In Chinese culture, the Big Dipper is often associated with the mythical creature the Dragon.

The stars and their constellations are a recurring topic encountered throughout the Shenmue games, and are woven into the story. For example:

• Ancient beliefs: in Shenmue I: the Russiya antique shop in Dobuita, where the owner, Xiuyu Xia, explains the significance that people in China attach to the Big Dipper and other nearby stars.

• Celestial harbinger: Ryo notices a book about constellations when visiting Shenhua's house for the first time. When Ryo asks about it, she recounts that while observing the Big Dipper the night before, the behavior of a neighboring star gave her an uneasy feeling that something bad had happened.

• Symbolism: the Sword of Seven Stars that has been left at the Stone Pit by Shenhua's father is inscribed with the same seven-star pattern of the Big Dipper.

Another aspect we will touch on is the extent to which the symbolism and importance of the Big Dipper and other star formations that has been hinted at throughout the first two games, carries through to the third game in the series.

Watch for this article in an upcoming post! Early access will be available for blog patrons.

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12 Riveting Shenmue Development Revelations | Morio Ashizuka

Morio Ashizuka is the Twitter handle of a former senior developer who was deeply involved with development of the first two Shenmue games, in particular character animations and motion design. He tweets prolifically about video games, SEGA and other topics - along with occasional fascinating insights and anecdotes from the day.

Some of the amazing details from Morio Ashizuka's tweets that we have highlighted in the past here on the blog include:

• The revelation that the character of Izumi Takano was once a candidate for Ryo's love interest
• The reason Ryo's bicycle was dropped from the first Shenmue game
• Suzuki's comment about Takumi Hagiwara's motion capture as Ren
• What had been planned for the bicycle event by which Ryo travels to Miao Village
• A character model of Yu Suzuki was created during the development of Shenmue II

Cover of one of the "The Legend of Akira" script books (Chapter Four: Guilin) tweeted by Ashizuka. Source tweet

In this post we have selected 12 tweets that give revelations into Shenmue's development, which were tweeted by Morio Ashizuka between 2017 and 2019 (plus a final bonus entry!).

This topic was selected by the Phantom River Stone blog patrons via our monthly poll on the Phantom River Stone Patreon and was available for early access. Thank you for your support!

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Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for January 2023

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 accumulated votes from previous months), the winning topic that has been voted this time is:

"Dreamcast Magazine Dec 1999 Interviews w/ Shenmue development staff: Masanori Oe & Takenobu Mitsuyoshi"

Two short but insightful developer interviews were published in the Japanese Dreamcast magazine as part of a 16-page special feature about Shenmue. The two members of the development team interviewed were Masanori Oe, who is credited as the main designer, and sound director Takenobu Mitsuyoshi.

Main Designer Masanori Oe (left) & Sound Director Takenobu Mitsuyoshi (right)

With the publication of these interviews being just prior to Shenmue's release at the end of December 1999, they would have served to stir up the excitement of the Japanese readers.

"Rather than worrying about whether a Saturn belonged there or not, we were more concerned with whether the Saturn's drive lid opens properly. And so, the Saturn's drive lid does open properly! [laughs]" - Masanori Oe

 "Yu Suzuki kept nagging us: the music during the game mustn't draw attention to itself... but it also has to be there. For people like us who had previously created ordinary game music, creating the right balance was extremely difficult, and gave us a hard time." - Takenobu Mitsuyoshi

Watch for our translation of the interviews in an upcoming post! Early access will be available for blog patrons.

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Yu Suzuki's Responses: 4Gamer's 2022 End-of-Year Survey

Yu Suzuki was one of the 165 prominent games industry figures who were surveyed by Japanese games site 4Gamer.net in their annual feature that was released today.

Here are his responses, translated from the original Japanese text.

Yu Suzuki

Q1: Of all the games released in 2022, which title impressed (or shocked) you the most?

YS: Vampire Survivors, which was officially released on October 21.

Its intricate design, which has clearly been finely tuned over many iterations, and the movements of the enemies are superb.

I'm impressed with the way the game has been made, by not solely relying on graphics but by refining the playability and feel of the game.

Vampire Survivors is an action roguelike game developed and published by indie developer poncle

Q2: Of the entertainment content that was released or announced during 2022, which work left the deepest impression?

YS: The anime Chainsaw Man.

It is a well-executed work that incorporates modern techniques in its scenario, composition, and direction without being a hodgepodge.

It is wonderful how it combines the original [manga] story's audacious premise of parts of the body being chainsaws, with human drama.

Chainsaw Man, released in anime form in 2022

Q3: Which person is (or has been) in your personal spotlight in 2022?

YS: Billiards player Naoyuki Oi.

He is ranked 4th in the WPA world ranking and is the closest male player to [number one in] the world in Japan today.

His intuitive, unique and rapid decision-making that he has refined in the international scene is what sets him apart from other players, and makes his play so appealing.

Billiards player Naoyuki Oi

Q4: What are your ambitions for 2023, and what is your message to 4Gamer readers?

YS: I will be continuing diligently to create games next year.

In 2022, we announced a new shooting game, Air Twister, on Apple Arcade. It is a shooting game with a fun swiping mechanic, so I hope you will enjoy playing it during the year-end and New Year holidays.

Air Twister

Source (Japanese): 4Gamer.net

Related Links

Here are some of our past blog posts detailing Yu Suzuki's end-of-year responses to 4Gamer from recent years:

• 4Gamer End-of-Year Survey: Yu Suzuki's Responses in 2021
• 4Gamer End-of-Year Survey: Yu Suzuki's Responses in 2018
• 4Gamer End-of-Year Survey: Yu Suzuki's Responses in 2017
• 4Gamer End-of-Year Survey: Yu Suzuki's Responses in 2016

See also the recent survey from Famitsu.com: Yu Suzuki's Keyword for 2023: "Light AI"

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