shenmue i & ii – Trekking with Dennis

Shenmue IV Will Have to Be the Saga’s Finale

Spoiler Warning: Beware of *minor* spoilers for Shenmue I-III and Shenmue: The Anime.

Before you get excited: there has been no announcement of a fourth game in the Shenmue saga! Sorry if the title of this piece tripped you up; that wasn’t my intention at all. Having just celebrated the twenty-fifth anniversary of Shenmue II a short while back, this epic video game series has been on my mind once again, and I wanted to take a moment to lay out my thoughts on a potential fourth game… and why it would *absolutely need* to bring the saga to a belated end.

Before we get into all of that, though, I have a couple of important caveats. Firstly, all of this is just one person’s *subjective, not objective* opinion. If our views on the Shenmue series don’t align… that’s okay. I trust that there’s room within the fan community for polite discussion and differences of opinion. Secondly, while I was a huge fan of Shenmue and of Shenmue II back in the Dreamcast era… I didn’t buy Shenmue III at launch, and while I did eventually pick it up when it went on sale, I haven’t played it. And I also haven’t watched the Shenmue anime adaptation yet, either – though I plan to get around to it eventually!

Still frame from Shenmue: The Anime showing Ryo in a fighting stance — Ryo as he appears in the anime.

I’ll briefly recap why I didn’t buy or play Shenmue III – because I think it adds a lot of context to what we’re going to talk about today. However, if you think that ruins my claim to being a “true fan,” or somehow invalidates my take… no hard feelings. Consider this an opportunity to jump ship if you aren’t interested in reading any further!

The tl;dr is this: it was patently obvious to me, even as far back as 2015, that if Shenmue III didn’t finish the story and wrap things up, the chances of Ryo *ever* getting an ending were slim to nonexistent. And… am I wrong? Look at the sales figures for Shenmue I & II – the port of the first two games. Look at sales figures for Shenmue III, which barely registered on the lower reaches of the Japanese sales charts before disappearing entirely. And look at the low viewing figures for the anime – and the lack of attention the single season brought to the games before it, too, was cancelled.

Promo/dev screenshot from Shenmue III showing Shenhua and Ryo in a cave with torches — Shenhua and Ryo.

Yu Suzuki and YSNet refusing to take the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity that was literally gifted to them by fans reaching into their own pockets and finally bringing Ryo’s story to an end is, in my view, incomprehensibly idiotic. If Yu Suzuki couldn’t find it in his heart to make cuts to the bloated gameplay and storytelling of the final chapters of the Shenmue saga, someone else should’ve been brought in to do it for him. I can’t speak for *every* Shenmue fan out there, but the one thing I expected from Shenmue III – the *only* thing I expected from it, to be blunt – was that it would bring the saga to an end.

There was no realistic possibility, in my view, for Shenmue III to suddenly open up this incredible saga to legions of new players. That ship had long since sailed, and as disappointing as it may be, Shenmue fans must accept that this is a very niche product. It might not have been, had things been radically different for Sega and the Dreamcast around the turn of the millennium… but that’s the way it shook out. Shenmue III was only ever going to appeal to a small number of folks – many of whom backed the crowd-funding project and so wouldn’t need to buy a copy of the game at release. There was never a snowball’s chance in hell that Shenmue III would do what the first game couldn’t and bring in huge numbers of new players.

Promo screenshot of Sonic/Sega All-Stars Racing showing Ryo on a bike — Ryo as he appeared in *Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing*.

If I’d been writing here on the website back in 2015, I’d have said exactly that. I’d have made my voice heard – in whatever small way I could – and tried to let Yu Suzuki and YSNet know that Shenmue III should be the final conclusion to the series.

Though, now I come to think of it, that request seemed *so* blindingly obvious back then that I don’t know if I’d have even felt a need to write it down! The shock that hit me when I found out that Shenmue III wasn’t going to be the end, and would just move the story along was… even a decade later, it’s almost indescribable how utterly *stupid* I found it to be.

And to be clear… everything that’s happened in the years since has only reinforced my belief that I was, very sadly, right. Shenmue III didn’t take off and bring in tons of new players. The port didn’t sell well and didn’t even make a blip on the sales charts. And even the anime – which took Shenmue to a new medium – failed to move the needle. Can you look me in the eye and tell me that my approach to Shenmue III was wrong?

Photo of the Shenmue III dev team/YSNet — Part of the *Shenmue III* development team in the 2010s.

I’m of the opinion, unfortunately, that Shenmue III will eventually come to be seen as the saga’s final chance. Even if Shenmue III Enhanced does better than the original incarnation of that game – which I doubt, but I guess we’ll see – I just don’t see where the money comes from to create a fourth entry in the series. Crowd-funding is out of the question; YSNet burned a lot of bridges with the Shenmue fan community over the course of its first crowd-funding campaign, and with the overall decline of crowd-funding in general, a second attempt probably wouldn’t even raise half of the almost $7 million that came in last time.

So… where else is YSNet gonna get the money from? Its crappy mobile games – Steel Paws and whatever the other one was called – aren’t ten-plus-million-dollar earners. ININ Games, Shenmue III Enhanced’s new publisher, doesn’t have the resources to put into a game like this… and on current form, they seem to be struggling with just an upgraded version of Shenmue III. And how can YSNet go to any publisher, or any investor at all, with cap in hand and say: “can we have all of this money to make the fourth part of a game series when parts one through three, and an anime adaptation, all failed?”

Photograph of Shenmue series creator Yu Suzuki. — Shenmue’s creator, Yu Suzuki.
*Photo: YSNet*

Shenmue is kind of notorious in the industry, too, as “the game that killed the Dreamcast.” That title isn’t entirely fair… but it isn’t entirely undeserved, either. In short, any investor or publisher who knows *anything* about gaming is going to take one look at Shenmue IV and turn it down hard. Why invest ten-plus million dollars into a project that won’t earn its money back? Under the best possible circumstances, Shenmue IV might break even. But that’s not exactly a great pitch to investors, is it?

In any case, all of this was meant to be the preamble to my *main* point; the topic of this article. If, by some absolute miracle, the stars align for Yu Suzuki and Shenmue IV is able to enter development… it simply must bring the saga to an end.

Promo image of Limited Run's Shenmue cat plush — Limited Run’s *Shenmue* cat plush. Yes, I bought one!

What’s the key thing that YSNet – and Shenmue fans – have learned from the crowd-funding campaign, from the port of Shenmue I & II, from Shenmue III, and from the anime? Most people, as sad and disappointing as this may be, don’t care about Shenmue, won’t show up for Shenmue, and won’t spend a penny on Shenmue.

Under those circumstances, there is less than a microscopic chance that Shenmue IV does what none of those other projects was able to do. There’s a reasonably high chance that the game doesn’t even make its money back. So the fourth game *needs* to be the end.

None of us are getting any younger. Yu Suzuki is pushing 70 years old, and time catches up to all of us in the end. Shenmue III has been kicking around for seven years, at this point, and we’re still no closer to a sequel. A fourth game would be in the exact same situation – and many of us just don’t have fifteen or twenty more years to wait. If we follow a similar timeframe to Shenmue III, and pretend that Shenmue IV will be announced tomorrow… that means it’ll be ready for release in late 2030 or early 2031, and if it takes seven-plus years after *that* before a potential fifth game could be greenlit… well, Yu Suzuki would be 83 or 84 before Shenmue V would be ready. Continuing the saga at that pace seems completely unrealistic to me.

Promo image of Shenmue III Enhanced and its editions — We’re still waiting on *Shenmue III Enhanced*…

And I have a stake in this, too.

I’m on the wrong side of forty myself, and in the 2010s I was diagnosed with arthritis. Arthritis is already affecting my hands and fingers, limiting my ability to play games – especially for long periods of time or with demanding multi-button combos and time-sensitive button presses. I might make it to the 2030s and still be able to play, all being well, but if we start talking about a potential fifth game that might not launch till the 2040s? If I’m even still alive by that point – which, given my other health issues, is sadly not a guarantee – I really don’t know how well I’d be able to hold a game control pad or interact with brand-new games.

So this isn’t just me saying “what if Yu Suzuki retires;” this is me saying… I want to see this story come to an end, and if it’s going to be in video game form, I want to still be well enough and healthy enough to play that game. I don’t have another ten or fifteen years to wait before, to be realistic, that may no longer be possible for me.

Screenshot of Shenmue II showing Worker's Pier — Ryo exploring Hong Kong in *Shenmue II*.

So this piece is really a plea to Yu Suzuki and YSNet.

If you’re able to get the funding together to make Shenmue IV – and, despite everything we’ve discussed, I really hope that you are – then please, *please* take the opportunity that you missed in the 2010s and find a pathway to the end of Ryo’s story that can fit within the confines of a single game. Don’t make the same mistake again of assuming a new game will bring in untold legions of brand-new players, because I can promise you now that *it will not*. Shenmue is a niche saga with a small but devoted fanbase. If you have a chance to make a game, make it for us.

I want to clarify what I’m really asking for and what I mean when I say that the gameplay and story can and should be cut down, for the avoidance of any confusion.

Photo of the Shenmue booth/pavilion at the 1999 Tokyo Game Show — *Shenmue* at the 1999 Tokyo Game Show.

Cutting down the story doesn’t mean we need to skip entire chapters of the game – skipping, say, all of chapters nine through thirteen. What it means is finding the most important narrative points for Ryo’s journey and building the game around them. Look at what Shenmue II did – there was a whole sub-story that took place on the boat to Hong Kong that was never adapted and didn’t make it into the final game. Why was that content cut? Because it was ultimately not necessary to Ryo’s story of revenge against Lan Di and the mysteries of the mirrors.

I still haven’t played Shenmue III, so I can’t say for *certain* that things like turtle-racing mini-games or the wood-cutting side-job are totally unnecessary to the story. But… it seems to me like *those* are where I’d start cutting if I were the one in charge of swinging the narrative and gameplay axes. There will be similar things in the planned continuation of the saga – places where cuts could be made to move things along at a way more reasonable pace.

Screenshot of Shenmue III showing the wood-chopping mini-game — Did this need to be part of *Shenmue III*? Did its inclusion make the game better?

There are many, many ways to cut down a game to save money on development *and* to ensure a complex story can fit in the confines of a single title. Use of generative A.I. tools is a controversial topic among some players, but given YSNet’s size and resources, a smaller indie studio – in my opinion, anyway – gets a bit more leeway and more of a free pass when it comes to their use. Generative A.I. has so many uses in the game development space, but one place where I could see it being incredibly useful for a cut-down Shenmue IV would be in cut-scenes. Shenmue already has its anime spin-off, so why not make cut-scenes that take place in between different areas or levels using that art style? Those sequences could convey key story points that weren’t able to be part of the game.

Then there’s combining different storylines. Instead of Ryo racing to another new location to track down a missing person, why not have that person be present in the town where Ryo already is? The boss battle from one area could be relocated to fit in a different one, and instead of having two towns for Ryo to travel between, why not stick with the same one? When I think back to Shenmue II, just as an example, it would’ve been possible to cut basically all of the Kowloon section of the game and have the Dou Niu/Yuanda Zhu arc take place in either the existing map or a much smaller side-area. That’s the kind of thing I mean.

Screenshot from Shenmue I showing Ryo passing the vending machine and Nagai Industries — A rainy day in Dobuita…

And narratively… at this point, we’ve seen Ryo embark on this quest, encounter setbacks, and then seem to spin his wheels a bit. A tighter, more focused narrative would probably have to cut back on secondary characters, keeping Ryo and his quest front-and-centre. I don’t know what the ending is meant to look like, so I can only speculate about what kind of cuts would need to be made to the story. But there has *got* to be a way to get Ryo to his conclusion within the runtime of a single title.

Then we come to other ideas. Returning to a Dreamcast-esque visual style would probably cut down on development costs in some ways; the more complicated the tech, the more expensive it is to work with, as a general rule. Instead of having larger, expansive areas to explore, Shenmue IV could be much more linear, with smaller levels and a lot of exploration cut out.

Maybe that wouldn’t be “perfect,” nor true to the original style of the games… but if it’s this or nothing, what would you rather have?

Still frame from Shenmue: The Animation showing Ryo meeting Xiuying at the temple — Ryo meets Xiuying in the anime adaptation.

That was the question that no one asked Yu Suzuki in 2015. If the choice is either cutting out a bunch of superfluous content or never making it to the end of the story, what should you choose? I know what I’d want to see – but that’s exactly the same red line I had back in the 2010s, and apparently everyone involved with the project went the other way.

I’ve said this before, but I don’t want to let “perfect” be the enemy of “good enough,” to butcher an old saying. If the choice is a cut-down, smaller version of Shenmue IV that brings Ryo’s story to an end, or the desperate hope that the fourth game will *finally* be the moment where the series clicks for audiences, bringing in tons of players and cash to make a fifth or even sixth instalment… I know what I’d want YSNet to choose. I know what I’d want to see the fan community argue for, too. But I still feel, even seven years on from Shenmue III’s very real failure to do any of that, that Yu Suzuki still doesn’t agree. He has a vision of what the saga should look like, how many chapters it should encompass, how it should play, and how the story should unfold… and he doggedly refuses to deviate from that. You could call that admirable. Or you could call it idiotic to the point of being delusional.

Screenshot of Shenmue III showing Shenhua and a tree — Shenhua.

In my view, Shenmue III should’ve been the end of the story… but it wasn’t. And if its failure hasn’t completely killed the saga, and if Ryo is granted a reprieve that – from a financial and a business standpoint – he simply has not earned… then that task will fall on the shoulders of Shenmue IV. That game, if it ever makes it to production, needs to bring the saga to a belated end.

If Yu Suzuki and YSNet can’t see that reality, then the series will *never* be finished.

I’ve chosen to write this now partly to get my thoughts in order, partly as a way to air some of the feelings I had a decade ago that I didn’t get to share… and partly as a last-ditch plea to anyone reading who might have some sway over YSNet or the future production of a fourth Shenmue game. For all of the reasons we’ve discussed… Shenmue IV must be the final chapter. If you’re lucky enough to get one last chance to conclude a story that I first got invested in more than a quarter of a century ago, please don’t repeat the mistakes of the past. Please be realistic about what this series is capable of and what it isn’t. And please, please… let us belatedly see the final chapter and bring Ryo’s quest to its conclusion. That’s all I want.

Screenshot from Shenmue III showing the notebook — Ryo’s notebook.

Thank you for reading. I realise this isn’t a *fun* topic, exactly, but I think this plea needed to be made and some of these things needed to be said. As much as I admire some folks in the fan community for being cheerleaders for Shenmue and doing what they can to draw attention to it, I think “toxic positivity” can creep in, sometimes – and some fans just have completely unrealistic expectations or ideas about how and where the saga should proceed. This criticism of Shenmue III and my plea for Shenmue IV to bring the story to an end genuinely come from a place of love, and from my desire to finally see Ryo get the conclusion that I’ve been waiting for since the turn of the millennium.

If you missed it, I recently talked about Shenmue II to mark its twenty-fifth anniversary. You can find that article by clicking or tapping here. And back in January, I talked about the hoax Shenmue IV trailer. You can find that piece by clicking or tapping here – though there’s some overlap with this article, so be warned! All of my other pieces about Shenmue can be found on my dedicated Shenmue page – click or tap here to head over there.

Thanks again for joining me. Hopefully, one day, if the stars align… we can all have one more adventure with Ryo. As sceptical as I am, I’m crossing my fingers and hoping for some good news.

Shenmue I & II and Shenmue III are out now for PC and PlayStation 4/5. Shenmue III Enhanced is coming soon for PC, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series, and Nintendo Switch 2. The Shenmue saga – including all properties discussed above – is the copyright of YSNet, ININ Games, and/or Sega. Some images, screenshots, and artwork courtesy of Sega, YSNet, Shenmue Dojo, and Wandering Through Shenmue on YouTube. Some photos may have been upscaled using A.I. tools. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

My Favourite Places in Shenmue

Thu 09.01.25Dennis

A Shenmue-themed spoiler warning graphic.

Spoiler Warning: There are spoilers ahead for Shenmue.

This year is all about Shenmue’s 25th anniversary! A little while ago, I wrote up my reflections of the game to mark the anniversary of its launch in Japan, but I find myself with more to say about this landmark, transformative game. So today I thought it could be a bit of fun to explore Shenmue’s game world together and visit a few of my favourite locations.

Shenmue was the first game I played that gave me a profound sense of freedom. The game’s world was open and explorable – and many buildings could be entered and investigated, too, including those that had nothing to do with the main quest. That was revolutionary twenty-five years ago, and went a long way to making Shenmue into the incredibly immersive title that it was. It wouldn’t be overstating it to say that Shenmue showed me what the future of gaming could look like in the 21st Century – and kept me playing at a time when I might’ve otherwise drifted away from the hobby.

Concept art for Shenmue (1999) showing Ryo Hazuki. — Concept art of Ryo Hazuki.

That’s really just a summary, though, so if you want to read more about my recollections of playing Shenmue, you can find the full article by clicking or tapping here.

A couple of caveats before we go any further! Firstly, all of this is just the subjective opinion of one player. If I highlight places and locales you hate, ignore somewhere you think is important, or you just don’t like what I have to say… that’s okay. There’s a lot to love about Shenmue, and there ought to be room in the fan community for differences of opinion and polite discussion.

A Sega Dreamcast console and control pad (USA/Japan edition) on an orange and blue background. — *Shenmue* was released in December 1999 for the Dreamcast.
(2000 in North America and Europe)

Secondly, I’m only going to be looking at locations from the first Shenmue on this occasion. When Shenmue II celebrates its 25th anniversary in September next year, I’m planning to do a similar write-up of the game… and possibly another piece like this one (assuming I’m still around and assuming I remember!) So don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about Shenmue II… but it isn’t the focus of this piece today.

Phew! With all of that out of the way, let’s get started.

Location #1:
Hazuki Residence: The Kitchen

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing the Hazuki kitchen, with Ine-san.

Let’s start at home: which for Ryo is the Hazuki residence and dojo in Yamanose. There are plenty of iconic places around here – but an underrated one has to be the kitchen. In a normal house, the kitchen is usually a hub of activity; it’s where we cook, where we sit and eat, and a room we generally spend a large amount of time in. But in Shenmue – and many other similar games, to be fair – the kitchen is just… set decoration. It exists because without it, Ryo’s house would feel incomplete. But there’s not really much of a reason to spend time here, and aside from a couple of cut-scenes, the game’s story largely passes this room by.

And I think that’s what makes this room (and several of the other places on this list) so interesting to me. It’s a space where nothing happens, but it’s important for the immersion and world-building that a game like Shenmue needs. There are also a few interesting little things in the kitchen; Ryo can find a can of tuna for the kitten, for example. Cupboards and the fridge can be opened and examined, which is something that felt really immersive in 1999/2000. And it’s possible to chat with Ryo’s house-keeper/surrogate mother, Ine-san, too, as she spends a fair amount of her time in the kitchen.

Location #2:
The Harbour: Fishing Spot Behind the Lounge

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing Ryo walking at the harbour.

The harbour is one of my favourite places in Shenmue; it’s just so atmospheric. And for someone who grew up near a working harbour, it’s also the location in the game that probably feels the most familiar – at least in some ways. Directly behind the lounge, past the steps where the homeless man sits, is one of my favourite spots in the harbour. This is an area you’ve definitely walked through and driven through, but probably haven’t spent a lot of time in! There are occasionally fishermen here, as well as an NPC with a sketchbook, but other than that, Ryo has no reason to ever stop here; it’s a connection point between other, more densely-packed or story-rich areas.

I find something peaceful and serene about this area, though – especially after dark. The view across the water shows the far side of the bay, and there’s a large warship or other vessel in the distance. But this part of the harbour doesn’t see much action – aside from the odd pedestrian or forklift during daylight hours, you’re on your own. And that makes it a peaceful, easily-overlooked spot. The world of Shenmue – which feels so rich and deep thanks to its numerous NPCs with their own schedules – simply rolls along, passing you by as you take in the sights and sounds of the harbour.

Location #3:
Dobuita: Game You Arcade

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing the interior of Game You Arcade.

I grew up in a rural area, and where I lived there weren’t any video game arcades. I visited one a few times as a kid, when we’d visit a bigger city, but I never really had the arcade experience that many folks my age did – and I think it’s for that reason that I fell in love with Shenmue’s arcade. I’d played Hang On – or a motorcycle game similar to it, at any rate – at least once before, but Space Harrier was brand-new to me. I spent hours in the Game You arcade playing those titles, as well as the darts mini-game which was also surprisingly fun.

The arcade is compact, but beautifully detailed. The room is lit by old fluorescent lights, and the cabinets seem to glow, even from a distance. The whole thing has a very artificial feel – which, ironically, perfectly recreates this kind of environment. The arcade always has at least one other person present, yet it can feel empty and almost like a “liminal space;” the room exists to guide you to the mini-games, yet it’s a beautiful rendition of an ’80s video game arcade in its own right. It’s a very atmospheric space.

Location #4:
Yamanose: Down the Stairs

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing Ryo descending the stairs in Yamanose.

In Ryo’s hometown of Yamanose, there’s a flight of stairs that you’ll have passed by countless times on your adventures. But did you ever once descend those stairs to see the houses below? There’s only one reason to visit this area, and it’s easily overlooked: if you feed and pet Megumi’s kitten at the shrine, eventually it gets better and wanders off – and you can find it by one of the homes down these steps. But that side-quest is very much optional – so many players will have missed it.

For me, these houses just have a vibe to them that’s hard to put into words. They’re traditional Japanese houses, which I guess is part of it. But they help make Shenmue’s world feel lived-in and real; the people inside seem to have lives of their own, like everyone else in the game world. It would’ve been really easy for Shenmue’s developers to make this area inaccessible; set dressing for Yamanose. But you can explore this area, knock on doors, and even see the clotheslines, wheelbarrows, bicycles, and other little pieces of these people’s lives. Little details like that are what made Shenmue stand out to me when I first played it – and I always like taking a little detour to this uninteresting little corner of Yamanose.

Location #5:
Dobuita: Nagai Industries (The Yakuza Den)

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing the way into Nagai Industries.

Have you ever walked into a room and instantly known you weren’t supposed to be there? That’s the feeling I get when Ryo enters Nagai Industries in Dobuita, which is a Yakuza den masquerading as a legitimate business. That feeling is really hard to pull off in any form of media, and Shenmue absolutely nails it here. Ryo can be directed to Nagai Industries as part of his quest to find “men with tattoos,” but it isn’t an essential part of the story and it can be accessed at other times, too.

The conversation Ryo can have with the obviously shady man inside made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up the first time I accidentally triggered it – it’s so well-written. Even if you do find yourself going here as part of Ryo’s quest, you won’t spend long in the building – yet it’s a unique space in the game’s world. Ryo does get mixed up with a gang later on in the story… but it isn’t this gang. These criminals are just doing their own thing, and Ryo can wander into their office almost at random. It’s a strange interaction – and a fun place to visit.

Location #6:
The Harbour: Harbour Lounge

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing the harbour lounge while it's empty.

There’s a strange kind of beauty in urban decay… at least, sometimes there is. The harbour lounge feels like a well-used space that’s in need of a new coat of paint and a bit of TLC, and that’s exactly the kind of vibe that the developers wanted to convey. The paint on the walls is chipped and peeling, the leather seats have seen better days, and I just get the sense that the lounge is a heavily-trafficked space, probably bustling with sailors, harbour workers, ferry passengers, and the like. The soundscape for this area has inaudible conversation chatter playing, too.

Which makes it all the more eerie that the harbour lounge is usually all but deserted. Aside from the small shop counter in one corner, which is always staffed, the harbour lounge is usually empty. At most, you might encounter one or two people in here. Again, it’s giving me “liminal space” vibes; there’s an almost otherworldly feel to a place that should be packed with people – and has all the evidence of being well-used – yet is often empty.

Location #7:
Dobuita: Yamaji Soba Noodles

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing the inside of Yamaji Soba Noodles, including the owner.

The owners of Yamaji Soba Noodles clearly know Ryo, and one of the people Ryo needs to speak to on his quest is a regular patron. But there’s no reason to set foot in this noodle parlour… other than for the fun of exploring Dobuita and Shenmue’s game world. In 1999, no one knew what the term “open world” would come to mean, but to me, a shop like Yamaji Soba Noodles in Shenmue perfectly encapsulates the open world idea. It’s the kind of place that needs to exist in a real town; the denizens of Dobuita need places to eat. But from a gameplay perspective, it doesn’t have a purpose. It’s the kind of place that was created for the sole purpose of adding depth to Shenmue’s world… and I really admire that.

The noodle shop itself is compact with a bar area for patrons to sit, and behind the counter the owner can be seen working away. A member of the restaurant’s staff can be encountered out in Dobuita, and you can even find his apartment elsewhere on Dobuita Street. You can’t go inside… but again, this adds so much depth to the game world and makes these NPCs feel real in a way some open world games struggle with even today.

Location #8:
Dobuita: Car Park

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing Ryo entering the parking lot.

The car park near the end of Dobuita Street has an in-game function: it’s one of only a few places where Ryo can practice his moves in between fights. But I think it’s also worth acknowledging the area on its own merit – it’s more than just an empty arena to throw kicks and punches around! There are no cars on Dobuita Street – but there are plenty on the main road just beyond. The car park is, therefore, a space for both residents and visitors to leave their vehicles before venturing out on foot.

I’d never paid any attention to a car park in a video game before. I’m sure titles like Grand Theft Auto had car parks in their game worlds, but because of how rich and detailed Shenmue was, I felt compelled to explore this space more than I ever had before. The way it was integrated into the game, too, worked really well – and it quickly became my favourite place to practice Ryo’s martial arts moves.

Location #9:
The Harbour: Old Warehouse #8

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing the interior of Warehouse #8.

Nobody likes mandatory stealth sections in games… especially mandatory stealth sections in old games with janky controls and awkward AI. But once you get past the “sneaking in” portion, Old Warehouse #8 – home of Master Chen and Guizhang – is a really interesting place to be. Most of the time you’ll spend here comes in cut-scene form, but if you take a break from the story and just visit the warehouse, there’s a lot to see. It has a quiet, understated feel that contrasts with the bustling harbour outside.

I like antiques, and the warehouse isn’t the only place in Shenmue to find old and interesting artefacts! But there’s something special about walking around the warehouse, looking at some of the items on display. It’s an interesting place to spend a little time, and one that’s easily overlooked.

Location #10:
Sakuragaoka: The Taxi Cab

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing Ryo approaching a parked taxi.

At the end of the road in Sakuragaoka, past the park, you can find a taxi cab. Ryo can’t take a taxi anywhere, and because it’s located beyond both the park and any houses in Sakuragaoka that you might want to visit… there’s really no need to come here. But the taxi is interesting; it feels like more than just set dressing. There’s a man – Nomura-san – who Ryo can speak to who drives the taxi, and he clearly knows Ryo and will tell him a little about his life. Nomura-san can also be encountered in Dobuita, as well as seen tending to his taxi.

Walking beyond the “edge” of a game world can often feel empty; the world stops where the developers say it stops. But Shenmue has content beyond the edge of where its story takes place – there’s no reason to come here or talk to the taxi driver other than “because they’re there,” and I really love that about the game. Standing here, at the end of the street, doesn’t feel like the edge of a video game level with an invisible wall… it feels like a road with a taxi parked on it.

So that’s it.

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing Ryo at the end of the game. — Ryo is headed for Hong Kong!

We’ve taken a look at some of my favourite places in Shenmue… places that, maybe, you wouldn’t have expected to see on a list like this!

I wanted to convey just how immersive and interesting Shenmue’s world was twenty-five years ago… and still is today. Even in the smaller places, and areas with no storylines or quests, there are still interesting things to see, NPCs to talk to, and ways to soak in the atmosphere of this incredible game. Shenmue pioneered open-world designs and features that titles today are still striving for – and many modern games either miss out or don’t get right. It really is a landmark title, and one that I wish more people had paid attention to back in the day!

Screenshot of Shenmue (1999/2000) showing Ryo with Santa Claus. — I know Christmas is over… but it’s Ryo and Santa!

So I hope this has been something a bit different. I was inspired by a couple of YouTube channels: Wandering Through Shenmue, whose channel I encountered while looking for screenshots of specific locations in the game world when writing a couple of my other articles about Shenmue, and Any Austin, whose video essays on video game levels and designs are genuinely interesting. I hope you’ll check out both of those channels if you have time.

If you missed my piece celebrating Shenmue’s twenty-fifth anniversary, you can find it by clicking or tapping here. And if you want to check out my thoughts on whether the Shenmue saga might have a future in light of some recent news, you can find that by clicking or tapping here.

I honestly can’t believe that it’s been twenty-five years – a quarter of a century – since Shenmue launched. At any rate, I hope revisiting some of these locations with me was a bit of fun!

Shenmue I & II and Shenmue III are available now for PlayStation 4 and PC. Some images, promo artwork, and screenshots courtesy of Wandering Through Shenmue on YouTube and Shenmue Dojo. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.

Does Shenmue Have A Future?

Sun 24.11.24Dennis

One of the first subjects I wrote about here on Trekking with Dennis almost five years ago was the Shenmue saga – Shenmue III specifically. With 2024 being the fifth anniversary of Shenmue III and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the first Shenmue… I thought it could be interesting to look at what – if anything – may lie ahead for the series.

For context, I played and loved both Shenmue and Shenmue II when I owned a Dreamcast just after the turn of the millennium. I was left disappointed by Sega and Yu Suzuki’s inability to conclude the story, as I found it incredibly fun and engaging. As I’ve said more than once here on the website, Shenmue was the first game I played that felt truly cinematic; as if its story would be right at home on the big screen. The combination of its open level design, realistic NPCs who seemed to have lives of their own, the modern-day setting, and engrossing narrative all came together to make it one of the best games I’ve ever played – and its sequel was just as good.

Screenshot of Shenmue I showing Ryo in Dobuita. — *Shenmue’*s world was unlike any I’d ever experienced in a video game before.

But here’s the thing: Shenmue was a failure. While critically acclaimed and spawning a vocal fan community that persists to this day, by every other metric the Shenmue saga completely failed. The incredibly expensive undertaking never came close to making its money back for Sega, and the failure of the Dreamcast meant that there was no way to recoup most of the two games’ development costs. Even a release of Shenmue II on Xbox didn’t help things. As bitterly upset as I may have been, I came to accept that this ahead-of-its-time masterpiece was underappreciated and would remain unfinished.

When Yu Suzuki and his independent development studio YSNet were able to buy the rights to Shenmue from Sega, it seemed as if things might be looking up. A Kickstarter campaign came along at just the right moment – when interest in crowd-funding was close to its peak – and the latent Shenmue fan community stumped up an astonishing $7 million with the hopes of concluding the saga. Backed up by additional investment from Sony, Epic Games, and others, it seemed as if the failed series was about to get one last chance.

Shenmue III was developed by YSNet.

A re-release of Shenmue I & II came to PC and PlayStation 4 consoles a couple of years ahead of Shenmue III’s launch. For the first time in well over a decade (since I put my Dreamcast and most of its games in a box in the attic) I re-played the games – and I had a blast all over again. But then came what I considered to be devastating news from YSNet.

The Shenmue saga was always planned as a multi-game story. Shenmue and Shenmue II told the first chapters, but there were several chapters still to tell. For reasons that, years later, I still find pig-headed and incomprehensibly stupid, YSNet was unwilling to adapt the planned story to make Shenmue III the saga’s finale. Instead, it would simply move the story along… presumably with the expectation of high sales or another crowd-funding campaign to keep Shenmue going. That always seemed completely impossible to me – and as much as I hate to say it, I was right about that. I didn’t even bother to buy Shenmue III in 2019, because what was the point? The game had, in my opinion, one job: to finish the Shenmue story. Yu Suzuki and his studio had been given a once-in-a-lifetime chance to do that by a dedicated group of fans… and they blew it.

Photograph of Yu Suzuki. — Yu Suzuki, creator of the Shenmue series.
*Photo Credit: YSNet; ysnet.games*

The re-release of Shenmue I & II (and no, I don’t consider it a “remaster” or anything close; it’s a port) didn’t sell particularly well on PC and PlayStation – which was an ominous warning sign for Shenmue III. When Shenmue III finally launched amidst controversy over its Epic Games exclusivity on PC, it also didn’t sell very well. It seemed to me as if most of the people who might’ve conceivably been interested in buying it had already backed the Kickstarter project – one of the benefits of which was a copy of the game upon release. In its first week, Shenmue III grazed the lower reaches of the PlayStation sales charts in Japan… but didn’t even register anywhere else.

I did eventually buy Shenmue III when it was on sale on Steam. I haven’t played it yet, despite owning it for a while, and I have no real plans to. But when it was on sale for £15 or so, it seemed like a reasonable purchase. And if there’s ever news of a fourth game… maybe I’ll get around to checking it out.

I did belatedly purchase Shenmue III… but I have no plans to play it right now.

The way I see it, lacklustre sales for both the re-release of Shenmue I & II and Shenmue III demonstrate pretty clearly that this series has no mainstream appeal. Shenmue III was the last opportunity to change that – but again, the game failed to do so. So at this point, the remaining fans of the series are pretty much shouting into a void; tweet-a-thons that garner a few thousand posts at the very most feel like the last wriggles of a series in its death throes.

Shenmue’s anime adaptation also failed to bring renewed interest to the saga. I don’t have the numbers to hand, but Shenmue: The Animation ran for a single season back in 2022, and during that time, sales of the re-release and Shenmue III barely moved.

Still frame from Shenmue: The Animation showing Ryo and a female character. — There was an anime adaptation of *Shenmue* a couple of years ago.

Shenmue: The Animation was itself cancelled after just one season. Having adapted the story of the first two games, there was scope for a second season to dip into Shenmue III or perhaps even go beyond that… but the audience just wasn’t there either in Japan or in the west.

There was finally some Shenmue news just a few days ago, though. A new publisher – ININ Games, a company with a focus on older, retro titles – picked up the publishing rights to Shenmue III, and there’s been talk of potential ports to the Nintendo Switch and other platforms. This is by far the biggest news for Shenmue since Shenmue III’s launch back in 2019… and while I don’t expect it to really go anywhere, it’s at least noteworthy that someone, somewhere, thinks Shenmue is worth spending a little money on.

Promo image for Shenmue II showing Ryo in Hong Kong. — Ryo in Hong Kong.

At this point, twenty-five years on from the first game and five years after Shenmue III failed to light up the board, I really don’t see Shenmue IV ever getting off the ground. YSNet burned a lot of its bridges with members of the fan community with their first Kickstarter campaign, and with the decline of crowd-funding in general, raising millions of dollars that way seems like it’s off the table. With a clear and demonstrable lack of success with both the re-released titles and Shenmue III, getting significant outside investment also feels pretty unlikely.

However, the new publishing deal for Shenmue III and talk of a potential port of the game to a new platform has raised some hopes in the fan community. So let’s think about what Shenmue IV could and should look like.

Screenshot of Shenmue I showing Ryo and Santa Claus in Dobuita. — Meeting Santa Claus in Dobuita.

For me, the bottom line is this: Shenmue IV needs to be the end. I don’t care how many chapters Yu Suzuki originally planned in the ’90s. I don’t care how much of the story would need to be slimmed down or skipped in order to get to the end. At this point, if the stars align and through some absolutely miraculous good fortune Shenmue IV is able to get off the ground, it simply must bring the story to an end. That was what Shenmue III was supposed to do – and having failed again, there may not be another chance.

Shenmue IV won’t bring in new fans – not in any significant numbers, anyway. The re-release didn’t do that and neither did Shenmue III, so as much as I wish the games were held in higher esteem and celebrated more widely, it’s time to acknowledge that Shenmue is and always has been a niche product with a small audience. But that could be a positive thing! Without needing to worry about making a game with broader appeal, YSNet could tailor Shenmue IV to the built-in audience it already has, keeping things simpler for the team.

Promo image for Shenmue III showing Ryo driving a forklift. — A promo image for *Shenmue III*.

And there are ways to tell other chapters of the story if Yu Suzuki is still insistent on doing so. A book, graphic novel, or even a series of cheaply-animated YouTube shorts could cover whatever gaps may emerge from condensing two or three games’ worth of story into a single title. Shenmue IV wouldn’t need to cut out one massive chunk of narrative, either: it could pick up different pieces of the story with in-game cut-scenes covering the basics of the rest. In short, there are ways around this stumbling block – as there were in the 2010s when Shenmue III was being developed. Unlike last time, however, someone needs to come in and make cuts to the bloated story and gameplay – and if Yu Suzuki and his team can’t or won’t do it, then it needs to be an outsider.

I haven’t played Shenmue III and I’ve managed to avoid major spoilers since it launched. But clips of the game that I’ve seen have included things like mini-games, a stamina system that limited how far Ryo could run, and other such bloat. Cutting some of this stuff out to focus on the core narrative – that of Ryo’s quest to track down the murderous Lan Di – would go a long way to helping a hypothetical next title move along at a much more reasonable pace.

Screenshot of Shenmue III showing a tortoise race. — Cutting back on things like mini-games could help a future Shenmue game stick to what matters: the story.

There’s an expression that I think is relevant here: “don’t let ‘perfect’ be the enemy of ‘good.'” In this case, I will happily concede that a cut-down Shenmue IV with some of its QTEs, mini-games, and open-world exploration elements removed wouldn’t be the ideal experience. It wouldn’t be completely true to the Shenmue series, either. But if it finished the story – a story I began almost a quarter of a century ago – it would be worth it. I’ll make that compromise to see the end of Ryo’s story… and that’s what I genuinely expected would happen with Shenmue III. In that sense, I’ve already committed myself to and steeled myself against those kinds of compromises.

Both Yu Suzuki himself and some die-hard Shenmue fans evidently hate this idea. But my question to them is a pretty basic one: if it’s this cut-down game or nothing, what would you rather have? I know that, speaking for myself, I’d rather see the story brought to an end, even if the journey to that end point is shorter and less free-roaming than the first chapters of the story. If you don’t agree… how long are you willing to hang on in the hopes that the “perfect” version of Shenmue IV and Shenmue V that you have in your head will ever make it to release?

Wouldn’t something be better than nothing at all?

Promo wallpaper for Shenmue/Shenmue III showing Ryo raising his fist. — Them’s fightin’ words!

I’m not getting any younger. I’m the wrong side of forty and, as regular readers will know, I’m not in great shape health-wise. There’s a non-zero chance that I won’t be here in ten years’ time, and with arthritis already affecting my hands and fingers, my ability to play games is beginning to wane. In short… I don’t have the time to wait for a mythological Shenmue-loving corporation to step in and fund development. If I was Elon Musk I’d happily do it… but who has that kind of money just lying around?

Shenmue is one of my favourite games of all-time. More than that, it’s the game that showed me what interactive media could be in the new millennium, and at a time in my life where I might’ve begun to drift away from the hobby, it’s a title that kept me engaged and kept me playing. I love Shenmue and Shenmue II. And I would have given anything to see its story continue. But we’re at a point now where repeated failures and some poor decision-making have left the series’ future not so much uncertain as dead. Shenmue is, in my opinion at least, almost certainly not coming back.

Box art/promo art for Shenmue I showing Ryo, Shen Hua, and Lan Di. — I’d love to be wrong, but I don’t see a future for Shenmue right now.

Maybe you’re of the opinion that, even if it takes another quarter of a century, we should let YSNet do its thing and tell the story they want to tell in the way they want to tell it. I’m telling you now: I don’t have that kind of time. If this new publisher is interested in another game – and despite my scepticism, I hope that they are – then my only request is this: make it the final game. Finish the story somehow, even if that means cutting back on the scope of the narrative and/or gameplay. If Ryo is going to get a miraculous third chance that, from a business standpoint, he categorically does not deserve, then have the decency to finish his story and bring the Shenmue saga to a belated conclusion.

But that’s the same red line I had back in the 2010s, and YSNet blew it. Yu Suzuki and his studio squandered the best (and probably the only) chance they had to conclude Ryo’s story, and as much as I’d like to think they’ll get a reprieve… I still struggle to see it. Five years on from Shenmue III and I feel more justified than ever in my stance back then. I said in 2019 that I was unwilling to pick up the threads of that story only to end up disappointed for the second time when it’s yet again left incomplete – and with nothing beyond vague suggestions about what YSNet might like the next game to look like, as well as sales so underwhelming that they’d make any company baulk at the notion of signing on, I get to take a very bitter victory lap… one I really don’t want to take.

Promo image for Shenmue III showing Shen Hua. — *Shenmue III* was the best chance to tell the rest of the story.

If you asked me now, in November 2024, whether we’ll ever see a fourth Shenmue game, my answer would be almost certainly not. I don’t see how the series has a future, despite a new publisher signing on and talk of a potential Shenmue III port to another console. A few thousand remaining fans tweeting into the void isn’t gonna change that, because as loud and vocal as Shenmue fans can be, we’re a tiny and ever-diminishing number.

There are multiple tragedies in the Shenmue saga. The first game was light-years ahead of its time, pioneering a dense, lived-in open world years before anyone else even tried it. The world of those first two games still outpaces many modern titles in terms of depth and complexity. The demise of the Dreamcast and a player base that preferred faster-paced action-packed titles doomed the series… but that isn’t where the tragedy ends.

Screenshot of Shenmue II showing Ryo in Hong Kong. — The harbour in Hong Kong.

YSNet’s failure to recognise that the crowd-funding campaign was lightning in a bottle; a once-in-a-lifetime chance to bring a dead series back to life… that’s the final tragedy of Shenmue. Fans gifted Yu Suzuki a golden opportunity to conclude the story he started more than fifteen years earlier… and he blew it. He allowed “perfect” to become the enemy of “good,” and stubbornly refused to deviate from a planned multi-game series even when it should’ve been clear that there would never be another opportunity to bring Ryo’s story to an end.

I could’ve lived with Shenmue and Shenmue II as a disappointingly incomplete story; a millennial masterpiece that, for reasons beyond anyone’s control, would remain unfinished. But I’ve really struggled to forgive Yu Suzuki and YSNet for taking the incredible opportunity presented to them by the fan community and pissing it away on a frivolous, bloated, still-unfinished third game.

And as to the future? Maybe the jury really is still out. Maybe this ININ Games genuinely sees the potential in Shenmue IV. But until the game’s officially in production and ready to go, I’ll be sceptical. I’m pretty sure that this is where the Shenmue saga ends.

Shenmue I & II and Shenmue III are available now for PC and PlayStation 4. The Shenmue series – including all titles and properties discussed above – may be the copyright of YSNet, ININ Games, Sega, and others. Some images courtesy of Shenmue Dojo and IGDB. This article contains the thoughts and opinions of one person only and is not intended to cause any offence.