Poll Result: Patrons' Choice Topic for February 2025

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:

"Weekly AM2: Translation of Next Issues (Vols. 13 & 14)"

The topic selected this time is a continuation of our translations of the official online magazine published by Sega's AM2 team back in the day, the Weekly AM2. This magazine published content about the Shenmue series from December 1999 through to around the release of Shenmue II in 2001, and a link to issues of the Weekly AM2 thereafter became a regular feature of the Shenmue.com website.

This time we will be translating further editions of the Weekly AM2: Volumes 13 & 14, published online on 7th March and 14th March 2000.

Vol. 13 Preview of Shenmue-related content:

• Shenmue Director Okabayashi to Appear on TV
• Hazuki-chan to Appear on an Internet Program!!

Vol. 14 Preview of Shenmue-related content:

• New Content Now Available on Shenmue Passport
• Wallpaper Download
• Submissions Wanted: Shenmue Illustrations & 4-Panel Manga
• Ringtone #3

These editions will be translated in a future post on the blog.

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Weekly AM2 Volume 12 [29th Feb 2000] - Guizhang Chen's Background

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. These pages regularly featured news and information about the Shenmue series from the end of 1999 through to 2001 with the release of Shenmue II.

Shenmue content in Vol. 12 features a developer interview about the character of Guizhang Chen, providing insight into how his character design came about, and even some of his hobbies!

-Switch

 

Vol. 12: 29th Feb. 2000

Hello, it's Takuan!

Did you attend AOU2000*?

The excitement and the crowd were overwhelming.

I've written a report on it, so please check it out.

We have an article that fans of Guizhang from Shenmue Chapter One: Yokosuka will love.

There are also plenty of other articles that can only be read here, so don't miss this week's Weekly AM2!

Let's get into it!

*Note from Switch: the AOU Show (Amusement machine Operators' Union), was an annual show held in Japan for arcade and amusement machine companies to exhibit their hardware to the public. It  ran from 1986 until 2013. In 2000 it was held at the Makuhari Messe convention center near Tokyo.

This week's contents:

• AOU2000 Report [not translated]
• Insights into the Creation of the Super-Popular Character of Guizhang
• Interview with 18 Wheeler Developer Mr. Goji [not translated]
• Four-Panel Manga Submissions

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