Shenmue Documentary: New Trailer at the Golden Joystick Awards

A fantastic new trailer for the Shenmue documentary "A Gamer's Journey: The Definitive History of Shenmue" has been released at the recent Golden Joystick Awards.

Interview clips in this trailer from representative figures who have been involved with the game in various ways including Peter Moore (former president at Sega of America), video game producer / director Ryan Payton, former and current Shenmue developers, YouTube personalities and of course Yu Suzuki himself.

Interleaved with the interview slips is footage of real-life locations, arcade game cabinets created by Yu Suzuki, game events with special significance, and even a visit to the YS Net development studio.

• Related link: Shenmue Documentary Filming in Yokosuka | Photo Report

View the latest trailer:

Regarding the release date, documentary creator Adam Sipione commented as follows on the Shenmue 500K Facebook that a fixed release date has not yet been set:

"Right now we are fine tuning the edit, plus we have to shoot some more b roll segments, create the motion graphics, titles, audio mix, etc. Still some work to be done but as you can tell we have come a long way and the end is in sight."

It sounds like great progress has been made, and we will post further updates regarding the documentary as they are made available.

Link to the official Kickstarter Update

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Shenmue 3 Launch Trailer & Screenshot Comparisons

The official Shenmue 3 launch trailer is out! It is around two and a half minutes in length, with both English-voiced and Japanese-voiced versions. It is focused on character interactions, and gives a great overview of some of the various characters Ryo will meet or interact with in the game.

The trailer starts with a sequence in black-and-white showing Ryo and Shenhua exploring the cave where we left them 18 years ago, before color infuses the video together with the words: "A moment in motion, a story renewed."

The trailer includes footage of the character of the shrine maiden ("You've got the wrong guy!" exclaims Ryo as she launches herself toward him, armed with a broom), a brief interaction with Ren, Niao Sun laughing in a villain-like way, and a fight with Mr Muscles high above Niaowu.

Sprinkled throughout the trailer are scenes of dialog between Ryo and Shenhua, hinting at the depth of their conversations and the way their relationship will build during the game, and the trailer also ends with Shenhua addressing Ryo.

Watch the English-voiced trailer:

Watch the Japanese-voiced trailer:

Comparisons

Certain scenes and situations can be recognized from earlier trailers and screenshots, often much earlier in the development cycle. Just for fun, here are a few selected visual comparisons.

Ryo and Shenhua Running Toward Each Other

From "The First Teaser" at Gamescom 2017:

Launch trailer:

It seems Ryo has gained some height over Shenhua! Shenmue tree petals can be seen falling in both, but they are much more subtle in the final version.

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MAGIC Kyoto 2019 Travel Report

Held on November 6th, the MAGIC Kyoto event that took place in the Kansai region of Japan is one of the last major events to feature Shenmue 3 prior to its release on the 19th. I traveled down to Kyoto to attend the Shenmue 3 conference live (would there perhaps be a new trailer?) and meet with a number of other Shenmue fans both from within Japan and overseas.

In this post I'll share some photos of the trip and event (a mix of those taken by myself and by others).

The venue was located a short bus ride from Kyoto station.

Kyoto tower: the first thing to greet you on exiting the train station.

The MAGIC Kyoto venue location: the Rohm Theater.

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Mini-Interview with Yu Suzuki at MAGIC Kyoto 2019

We are now just over a week until the release of Shenmue III on November 19th, and to keep the hype building we have something special to share in this post - a brand new interview with Yu Suzuki.

In recent weeks, it was announced that Yu Suzuki would be present at the MAGIC Kyoto event, appearing on stage to talk about the game as well as meeting fans at an autograph signing session. I thought that this could be the last opportunity to speak to the legendary creator prior to its release.

Although no media interviews were officially planned, thanks to the kind arrangements and permission from Shibuya Productions, Koch Media and YS Net I was able to snatch some of Yu Suzuki's precious time at the event.

The interview transcript begins below, translated into English.

• A Spanish version of the interview is now also available from our friends at SEGA Saturno.

Yu's Feeling with the Approaching Release

Phantom River Stone: Thank you for your time today. Please tell us how you feel now that you have finished making Shenmue 3?

Yu Suzuki: I can't wait to release it. There are about two weeks to go now, aren't there. I'm a little nervous thinking about how it will go. However, there's no use feeling nervous. I just want it to be released already! [laughs] I'd like it to be in everyone's hands as soon as possible.

PRS: People's reactions to the Shenmue 3 backer demo have been really positive.

YS: I'm glad to hear that.

PRS: What are you most looking forward to after Shenmue 3's release?

YS: The thing I'm most looking forward to after the release is hearing everyone's impressions, and watching videos uploaded to the web where players comment as they play through.

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Yu Suzuki Introduces Shenmue 3: Extra Features | Video & Summary

A fourth promotional video has been released, in which Yu Suzuki introduces another aspect of Shenmue III. This time the theme is the activities and mini-games in Shenmue III. The release date of Shenmue 3 is coming up fast on 19th November!

The previous three Shenmue III promo videos in this interview series can be found here:

• #1: Yu Suzuki Introduces Shenmue 3: the Story
• #2: Yu Suzuki Introduces Shenmue 3's World: Video & Screenshots
• #3: Yu Suzuki Introduces Shenmue 3's Training

Here is the new video. It has official English subs, so remember to turn these on!

Text Summary

Below is a summary of the points Yu talks about in the video (based on the Japanese).

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Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for November 2019

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 for November was...

"Dobuita's motorcycle shop Knocking in real life - where is it now?"

With its under-repair motorcycles scattered about outside, motorcycle shop "Knocking" is an easy-to-find landmark in Shenmue's Dobuita.

Knocking Motorcycle Shop in Shenmue

The Knocking motorcycle shop in Shenmue was based on an actual shop that existed in Dobuita at the time, and it had a very similar name: "Knock"!

Although no such motorcycle shop can be found on real-life Dobuita Street today, online research suggests that the shop may still actually be in business elsewhere in Yokosuka.

We have made it our mission to try to track down its new location and bring back photographic evidence if it is still operating.

Watch for this article on the blog in the near future.

Get early access to this and other articles by becoming a Patreon supporter!

Visit Phantom River Stone on Patreon.

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Nagoshi's Involvement with Shenmue's Release | Anecdote from Sega Management [4Gamer]

This topic was selected by the Phantom River Stone blog patrons via our monthly poll. Check out our page on Patreon!

At the end of 2018, Sega's current Chief Creative Officer Toshihiro Nagoshi talked to GamesRadar about his involvement in getting the first Shenmue game ready for release, in particular how he was enlisted by upper management to get the project wrapped up, which he stated he was able to do within a 6-month timeframe.

Not a lot has been reported on this topic in general, so here we share another angle, this time from the point of view of Sega management at the time.

An article published by 4Gamer earlier this year describes a 2012 interview with Hisashi Suzuki who was a senior director at Sega at the time and had formerly been managing Yu Suzuki prior to the Shenmue project. Hisashi Suzuki is the director whose anecdote about Virtua Racing we also translated recently:

• Related article: Virtua Fighter's Connection to Virtua Racing's Pit Crew | Anecdote

The translated excerpt begins below.

According to the testimony of Sega managing director Hisashi Suzuki, the photo below led to the start of a certain big project.

It was taken when top members of the development teams surround a special guest from the US. I'm sure some people will know immediately who it is, but the special guest is Steven Spielberg. Also there was (CEO) Nakayama, although he isn't in the photo, along with Hisashi Suzuki and Yu Suzuki.

Photo description: At the far left, watching the gameplay from over the partition, is Hisashi Suzuki, with Yu Suzuki beside him. Back right is Steven Spielberg, and on his left is Hisao Oguchi. Playing the game are Mie Kumagai and Spielberg's son. At the front right is Mark Cerny, who was formerly worked on Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and is also known for being the lead system architect for the PS4. Cerny was not working for Sega at this time, but is likely to have accompanied Spielberg here due to his involvement in one of Spielberg's projects.

Hisashi Suzuki relates:

 "Spielberg did a tour of Sega, I believe when he was in Japan to promote a movie. He himself owned a game company called GameWorks, you see. Nakayama led the way as they walked around the development offices.

"When he showed Virtua Fighter RPG to Spielberg, he was like, 'That's wonderful!' And that pleased Nakayama so much that he gave the direction to start development on it in earnest."

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Yu Suzuki Introduces Shenmue 3's Training | Video & Text Summary

A third new promotional video has been released, again featuring Yu Suzuki introducing aspects of Shenmue III. This time the theme is Shenmue III's martial arts training. The release date of Shenmue 3 is coming up fast on 19th November!

There previous two Shenmue III promo videos in this interview series can be found here:

• #1: Yu Suzuki Introduces Shenmue 3: the Story
• #2: Yu Suzuki Introduces Shenmue 3's World: Video & Screenshots

Here is the new video (now with official English subs added):

Text Summary

Below is a summary of the points Yu talks about in the video.

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