2 New Additions to the Shenmue Community | Shenmue Blog & Shenmue Lounge

The Shenmue community has gained two awesome new Shenmue services, set up by fans for everyone's enjoyment.

One is a newly-launched blog from community member BlueMue, and the other is a new media channel featuring live-streams of Shenmue news & gameplay hosted by Peter Campbell, launching at the start of next week.

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Evolution of the Shenmue Undub Part 2: The Kogami Release

This is the second part in our series about the Shenmue Undub versions. Last time we covered the original Undub release by Sm1th, and this time we will be looking at a version by Kogami.

• Related article: Evolution of the Shenmue Undub Part 1: The Sm1th Release

The Sm1th version provided Japanese audio together with English subtitles almost perfectly for the cinematic scenes, but with some issues for the free conversation sections of the game.

It turned out that mixing the audio files from the Japanese Shenmue directly with the subtitle files from an English version would lead to issues since internally their structures did not correspond exactly.

These problems were resolved just a few months later in a separate Undub version that was put together using a similar but extended technique.

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Evolution of the Shenmue Undub Part 1: The Sm1th Release

When Shenmue 1 was released, the spoken audio for the game outside of Japan came only in English. For international fans wishing to play with the original Japanese voices, there was no real solution for many years; even importing the Japan release was not much help unless you had a good understanding of the language, as this did not come with English subtitles.

Fans soon became interested in creating their own version of the game that would couple the original Japanese voice-acting with subtitles in English - in other words, an "undub" version of the game.

However this proved to be no easy task, and the situation did not change for more than 13 years after Shenmue's release.

Then, in late 2013, the break-through many had been waiting for materialized at last - the appearance of the Shenmue 1 Undub.

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Shenmue Art Book Discount | Retro Import Gamer

If you have been considering adding the Shenmue Art Book to your collection, here is a chance to pick it up at a discount!

The 1998 Shenmue Art Book is a rarely-seen piece of original merchandise that contains a wealth of glossy photos, design diagrams and text (some of which we have shared here on the blog).

Our friends at Retro Import Gamer are currently listing the Shenmue Art Book with a Buy It Now price of just £184.99 - this represents a very reasonable level for this item, which also includes free postage within the UK.

And especially for Phantom River Stone blog readers, we have arranged with Retro Import Gamer a £10 discount on this item.

To qualify for the discount, simply contact them via Ebay with the answer to the following Shenmue trivia question:

• Complete the password: "Father's Heaven" -> ?

Click here for the Shenmue Art Book listing on Ebay:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/322815658499

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Earning Money to Meet Ren | Shenmue 2 Flowchart #2 Translation

Introduction & Related Post

The "Making of Shenmue" section of the 1998 Shenmue art book contains snippets of actual design documents from the making of the first two games. We will be examining each of these in today's and future posts to see what information they reveal.

We previously investigated a flowchart covering the first part of play in Shenmue II, after Ryo arrives in Hong Kong:

• Ryo's Arrival in Hong Kong | Shenmue II Design Document Translation

The Second Flowchart Snippet

Today's flowchart snippet is found on the same page as the first, and as with the first it is partially obscured by various other overlapping diagrams and photographs. The section in question is highlighted in red:

The second flowchart snippet from the Shenmue Art book (enclosed in red). It's quite a jumble!
Image credit: David De Ville.

The context of the flowchart appears to be soon (but not directly) after the first, with Ryo having visited Man Mo temple and become acquainted with Xiuying.

Minor Spoilers
Plot elements relating to some of the initial events in Shenmue II will be discussed.

Click on each image to enlarge.

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Shenmue 2 Concept Sketch: "Wharf Near Langhuishan" | Comparison with Released Game

In an interview last year, Yu Suzuki brought along with him copies of several design documents and concept sketches that had been created for Shenmue I and II. Images of these documents were included with the article text but weren't mentioned in the interview itself.

• Related post: translation of interview with Yu Suzuki & Tekken producer Katsuhiro Harada.

The document we'll be looking at in this post is concept art showing Langhuishan in Guilin, where Ryo heads after leaving Hong Kong towards the end of Shenmue II.

Langhuishan

Ryo arrives at Langhuishan (Shenmue II cutscene).

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