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Copyright 2001, 2002
Julian McKenzie
News Archive

September 2002
August 2002
July 2002
June 2002
May 2002
April 2002
March 2002
January 2002
December 2001
November 2001
October 2001
September 2001
August 2001
July 2001
June 2001


20 September 2002:
Ok, I said I wouldn't be here, but I am leaving tomorrow and have something to add. But this definitely will be the last update for a while, although once I have settled down and get a new computer, things should start picking up again. Anyway, read on...
  • Shenmue Legend staff member Gavin Campbell has started to create a PC game based on the Shenmue world. It is called Shenmue: The Boat and is being made in RPG Maker. It is still under construction but is looking quite promising. He is also looking for help in making the game. To view the Shenmue: The Boat website, click here!
    18 September 2002:
    Well, this isn't news or updates. I am changing computer soon, so there won't be any updates for a while, until I get my new computer fully sorted out.
    As a reminder, here's the current release dates for Shenmue II on the Xbox:
  • America: 6 November
  • Europe: 6 December
    13 September 2002:
    The redesign is up!
    Woohoo, lots of hard work was put into this, so I hope you enjoy it. There are some slight updates as well:
  • There is a new poll as well now. The question is "What are you most excited about the Xbox release?". Check it out on the right column.
  • Another Shenmue I guide book has been added.
    There are probably some more small updates I made whilst changing the site as well, but never mind.
    I have more updates planned, so when I get time, look out for more. You will notice that there is a new Artwork section, but it is empty. This is under construction and will hopefully be the most complete archive of Shenmue artwork, both handdrawn and computer generated, on the web.
    1 September 2002:
    The Niao Sun page has been updated, although maybe she should be called Chonghua now. The credits pic featuring her from Shenmue II has been added as has an image of her for Japanese mobile phones.
    Regarding the site redesign, well, I haven't progressed. The site will be split into more sections to make navigation easier, there is far too much under "General" right now. When the redesign is up, there will be a new poll as well. I'm also working on compiling the biggest collection of official Shenmue artwork to display on this site as well which I will start putting up once it has been compiled. A few other new pages will be added after the site is redesigned.
    30 August 2002:
    Well, there's updates and big site news. I'll guess I'll do the site news first. I'm redesigning the site, so it looks much nicer. A test page is up now, click here to see the test. Tell me what you think of the design of the test page by emailing me or by signing the guestbook. Now onto the updates:
  • Firstly, two plot analysis of the Shenmue series are up on the Fan Creation page. Go check them out, they are very interesting, if very long, reads.
  • Secondly, there is a new review of Shenmue II up. The old one contained lots of spoilers so this should solve that issue. Click here to read the review.
    28 August 2002:
    I've updated the Shenmue II notebook with more notes from disc 1 and at the end.
    27 August 2002:
    The Music section has been updated as follows.
  • First of, following the exclusive sheet music we have for the Shenmue theme, we now have the sheet music for the other main song, the Sha Hua theme. So if you can play piano or read music be sure to check these out. They are both available by clicking here.
  • Secondly, a new midi has been added to the selection already avaliable. It is a remix of the Shenmue theme made by myself. I actually made it months ago but forgot to upload it. You can hear the new midi and the old by loading the midi player by clicking on the button to your right. You can also now download the midis in a zip file by going to the Fan Creation page.
  • If you have any stories/music/artwork or anything else that you have made yourself, please feel free to contribute to our Fan Creation section by emailing me your creation.
    20 August 2002:
    It has been confirmed by Microsoft that Shenmue II will be released on the 6th November for the Xbox.
    Also, Microsoft has said that the game will include the Shenmue: The Movie DVD, which is the same as the current Japanese DVD, with both English and Japanese voices.
    The Xbox site has the press release and new movies promos for the game and the movie
    10 August 2002:
    NEWS, news and news, oh, it's about the Xbox version.
  • Shenmue II on the Xbox has now been confirmed for release in both Europe and Japan as well as America. The European release date is currently set at 6th December 2002.
  • No American release date has been announced, but several large retailers state a 5th November date. No word on the Japanese date yet though.
  • The Prima strategy guide for Shenmue II will come out on the 1st November, just before the game is set to hit stores. Here is the front cover.

  • Microsoft recently held an event in New York called X02. Shenmue II was featured and there was a playable demo of some bits from the start of Shenmue II, with cut-scenes, a QTE and a free battle. More information has been released about the "snapshots" feature of the game. You can take pictures in-game whenever you want which will be saved to the hard-drive. Various filters such as black and white and sepia can be used for these snapshots, or apparantely for the whole game itself. Also, the game is set to only feature the English voices, not the Japanese ones as well. The game is set to be contained only on a single Xbox DVD-rom. Click here to view Gamespots hands on coverage of the game, including hands-on coverage from the X02 event, new movies of the playable demo from the event and many new screenshots.
    6 August 2002:
    First update in weeks. I've got loads to add and lots of design changes here and there. If I get my act together it will get done soon. Onto the updates.
  • The Trivia page has been added to.
  • The CD Cards in the merchandise page have been added to and they have turned out to be screensavers. If anyone out there has any Shenmue merchandise and can tell us more info about it, then please email me.
  • There is also a new poll on the right, the question is "If the Shenmue games ended, how would you like the series to continue?". Last time, most of you said you would prefer a pre-Shenmue FREE style game.
    23 July 2002:
    This site finally has a poll! It can be viewed in the right column, under the Midi Player and random quotes. The poll will be changed every week or so. The first question is, "what Shenmue spin-off game would you like to see?"
    22 July 2002:
    Ever since this site was launched, there have been people asking me for the piano music for the Shenmue theme. Finally, the Shenmue Legend can bring you the sheet music. It contains only the tune and the chords, not the actual piano part played in any of the versions of the song. It was simply worked out and written down by me. Click here to view the music for the Shenmue theme.
    20 July 2002:
    The merchandise page has had a long awaited huge update. A quick list of what's been added: telephone cards, pens, straps, CD cases, stamps/clocks, postcards, clear files, CD cards, and mouse pads.
    19 July 2002:
    The first of the promised updates! Hurrah. Well, this page has been mostly completed for almost 6 weeks now, so I finally got around to finishing it. You may remember that I made, a couple of months ago, a page displaying all the covers for the games. This has been scrapped and in its place is a Shenmue Releases page. This page has a quick gallery of the cover of every single official Shenmue release on disc so far. Unbelievably, there are 17 items featured from all 3 regions and ranging from games to soundtracks to DVDs. The page gives information about the release date and contents for the products as well as a few images of the products themselves. Even if you think you are a Shenmue fan, there may be one or two products in there which you might not of heard about. Enjoy.
    19 July 2002:
    It's been awhile, so I thought a quick news update wouldn't go amiss. I have updates planned, hopefully I'll get enough time to be able to make them.
  • The Official Xbox Shenmue site now has a preview movie available for streaming for high and low bandwidth users. The site also contains some new information and screenshots. According to the site, Shenmue II will contain chapters 2 through 6, although I don't know how accurate this is. Click here to go to the site.
  • Shenmue.com has had a small feature showing game screenshots that were cut out of Shenmue II, they seem quite interesting, although they are only in Japanese. Click here to go to it.
    9 June 2002:
    It seems yesterday I made a minor error in the code, leaving out a character, meaning that the Midi Player wouldn't load. I have now fixed it and it should work. Just click the large button on the right and the midi player should load allowing you to listen to 5 fan created versions of Shenmue music.
    9 June 2002:
    Well, the design of the main page has been shuffled around a bit as you can see. The reason for this is because the Shenmue Legend has a brand new feature! We now have a midi player. This opens in it's own little window and can play 5 different midi versions of Shenmue songs. Click the button on the right to load it. Also, a random quote generator has been added to the column on the right. Each time you load up the main page, it shows a different quote from Shenmue: Chapter One. To make the right column less empty, a few nice images have been added. The first two are links which take you to their corresponding sections, the Manga page and the Niao Sun page. The final one is a nice little site logo.
    7 June 2002:
    Another couple of pages in the merchandise section have been updated:
  • The Shenmue Watch page has been added with more images and a different Shenmue watch.
  • The Mugs/Cups page has been updated with pictures of all four different cups.
    6 June 2002:
    I've updated a couple of the pages in the merchandise section:
  • Firstly, a page about a Ren Doll has been added.
  • The t-shirt page has been updated with a picture of the front of the t-shirt.
  • Yesterday, when I added the translation of the Official Manga I left out the last page. It is only a couple of lines but that has now been added.
    5 June 2002:
    I said there would be updates, and now there are.
  • The Official Manga has now been translated so you can see what happens with Xiuying, Ximing, Fangmei, Niao Sun and Chai in official side-stories. This is a very interesting manga as it helps fill in gaps in the story that the games didn't cover but simply mentioned.
  • A page showing some American and Japanese magazine adverts for both games has been added. Click here to go to the magazine adverts page.
  • A page showing all the covers for all the available versions of the games and demos. Click here to go to the covers page.
    4 June 2002:
    E3 Summary: Look at that, a month to the day since the last update. Well, now that E3 is over, I decided I should sum up the news. Shenmue II X-Box has smoother graphics than the Dreamcast version and lighting and shading effects are better although the improvement isn't huge and the game is reportedly not up to scratch on other X-Box games. I haven't brought you screenshots as they are basically the same as the Dreamcast version. QTE and Free Battle events were playable at the show. Yu Suzuki said there would be no online features although they are utilising some special features of the X-Box. Players can take photos in-game and store them on the hard disc. You can add various filters to these photos. The cut-scenes will have full Dolby 5.1 surround sound. The game has full English voices about the same standard as Shenmue1, that is people think they are poor. Yu said that if Shenmue II succeeds then he'll make Shenmue 3. Lots of rumours abound though. Some include that the X-Box release of Shenmue II will feature the Japanese voices and Shenmue 1 depending on space and time. Also, there are rumours that Shenmue 3 is already in production.
    Hopefully over the upcoming days there will be some updates. I have a rough translation of the Shenmue manga to post and lots of merchandise. Time is tight for me though due to exams. So sorry about the lack of updates.
    4 May 2002:
    NEWS: Shenmue II for XBox has been confirmed for E3. It will be shown at the Microsoft stand. It is also confirmed that the game will be dubbed in English. It think it uses the same voice actors, the official site shows pictures of Corey Marshall who does the voice for Ryo in English.
    29 April 2002:
    I have come across an official Shenmue manga. It is called "Shenmue: Side Story" and I have seen volumes 3 and 4. I do not know how many volumes there are in total. The ones I have deal with Ximing, Niao Sun, the yin-yang pendant, Chai, and what happened on the ship. You can view the mangas and a short summary by clicking here.
    14 April 2002:
    Two new pages, and some interesting news.
  • First up, we have the Shenmue Trivia page. Containing all other various pieces of Shenmue information that you should know that doesn't fit anywhere else in the site. Check it out.
  • Gavin Campbell has done a Shenmue II Character Overview page. It shows pics and a little bit about seven of the main characters.
  • Also, the History has been updated with the DVD info.
  • Now the news: Sega, at the recent GameJam event, announced a new Virtua Fighter RPG game. This is being developed by AM2 and Yu Suzuki. What is interesting is that Shenmue was originally rumoured to be a "Virtua Fighter RPG" but this widespread rumour was turned down by Yu Suzuki. Now it looks as if that game is coming to fruition. Available for Nintendo's GameCube in 2003, the game is known as "Virtua Fighter 10th Anniversary Special Project." Yu Suzuki has described it as an action-adventure rpg game, hmm, seems similar to Shenmue again. All that has been announced is that the A button is kick and their is a power gauge (again like Shenmue) and that every single Virtua Fighter character is in the game.
    4 April 2002:
    Woohoo, new content:
  • Firstly, Gavin Campbell has written a review for Shenmue II. It if full of spoilers so if you haven't played the game through to disc 4 yet then don't read if you want the story to remain a surprise. I warn you, this could spoil things. Click here to read the review.
  • Next, the Niao Sun article has been updated with a very possible new speculation, that has real basis in truth.
  • Finally, Chris Duthie has submitted to me this wallpaper/fanart piece. Click here to see it.
    28 March 2002:
    Horrendous wait since last update, but finally got round to giving you some news. If your lucky, there might be some real updates next week.
  • The Shenmue I passport disc's online functions are SHUTTING DOWN from the 2nd April. So make sure you view it before then before it is closed down forever. This is the worldwide closing down date of the servers. Sorry I gave you so little warning, but Sega themselves have announced this ages ago. If you want to help restore the passport or learn of the work being done, head over to the GameFaqs Shenmue boards.
  • Little news of Shenmue II on Xbox, but there are some big industry shows soon where things may be announced. If anything is, I'll inform you.
  • However, it has been announced that a selection of old MegaDrive (Genesis), Saturn, and Dreamcast games are going to be released on Xbox by Sega and Cool Net Entertainment. They could start coming out as soon as this summer. It is strongly rumoured that the original Shenmue will be getting a release. This makes sense considering the sequal.
  • Since Prima Games did not release their Shenmue II guidebook for Dreamcast after it was cancelled in America, they have instead now set a preliminary release date for the guidebook to be released for the Xbox version. This date is the 11th November 2002. Is this any indication of when Shenmue II will be getting its Xbox release?
  • Also, the Shenmue: The Movie DVD has been available for a long time, and features trailers and a feature showing the voice actors for Ryo and Ren running around Hong Kong. This is available at www.cdjapan.co.jp. However, many pirated copies have sprung up on the internet. These usually have Chinese subtitles and are without the trailers or bonus features. A pirated copy is also available on VideoCD, although it is extremely shoddy quality. As well as this, some pirating company has put together its own Shenmue II Movie by sticking together all the cutscenes from the second game. I recommend you steer clear of these pirates as they are bad quality and the original is far better. Pirate DVDs are usually noted for by their lack of region code. The real Shenmue DVD should be Region 2. One popular pirating site which you should not be tricked by is www.yesasia.com.
  • I have also updated the Import Guide for Shenmue II with a link to a US-UK Save Conversion FAQ which lets you use your American save on the European copy of Shenmue II.
    22 January 2002:
    I have updated the Shenmue II Notebook page with a text file version of the notebook as promised.
    18 January 2002:
    Long time no update. Well, I've finally finished the Shenmue II Notebook. It is now available for download in zip format as it is a word document. The file size is extremely small. Soon a text file version will also be made available. Click here to go to the page.
    6 January 2002:
    I have updated the Niao Sun page with three more pictures and some new information on her out of Shenmue II.
    I know this update is much smaller than the last two, but I can't do too much at once. However, I have started work on the Shenmue II notebook, similar to the one I have for Shenmue I. I am currently just under half way through it and will post it up as soon as I have it for the whole game, although it will be missing many notes.
    3 January 2002:
    Happy New Year!

    The second update of the relaunch and again it is a big one. First though we have news:
  • The online features of the Shenmue Passport disc, aka disc 4 of Shenmue 1, will shut down in March this year. This was inevitable as Sega could no longer run the servers for a dead system. They have given us three months warning so use it as much as possible until then. It was a great thing the online features, although most of it should have been made available offline, and easily could have, and now we wont see those parts again.
    In related news, European Dreamcast users can now view those said online features more cheaply. Sega Europe is finally releasing the much delayed Dreamkey 3 software which will allow you to choose your own ISP to connect the Dreamcast to the internet. To get this disc for free, simply log on to DreamArena by logging on to the internet via your Dreamcast after 7th January. Then us Europeans will be able to view the online passport disc functions cheaply for a short while.
  • Also, I forgot to mention, due to the relaunch, but Shenmue: The Movie DVD has been released in Japan. You can import it from many stores but a lot of the time you will find pirated multi-region DVDs and also video CDs. The DVD is 90 minutes long and contains Shenmue: The Movie, which is compiled from in-game footage of the first chapter. Click here to see the poster for the movie.

    Secondly, we have updates. Two new additions have been made to the Articles section of the site.
  • The first is what I had prepared long ago before my old hosting service failed me. It is a small collection of pictures showing Shenmue Christmas and Winter. Click here to see it. Sorry it is a bit late, I intended to show you these before Christmas came.
  • The second is a large collection of pictures from the Autumn 1999 Tokyo Games Show in which Shenmue had its own large stand. The pictures are interesting because they show off character busts, a real forklift and motorbike, identical to that of the game, and voice actors, amongst more including merchandise. Click here to goto the article.
    The Niao Sun article has also been updated with a second picture I found of her, this one was part of the game in development.

    Thirdly, I bring three small interesting things, which I think you'll like to know.
  • In development, Shenmue chapter one was originally going to have Ryo riding a bike for faster transport around town. I have found an old picture, courtesy of videogames.com that shows Ryo riding his bike through Dobuita. Click here to see the pic.
  • A little bit of trivia here: The song that plays in chapter one when Ryo is riding the motorbike to the harbour to rescue Nozomi is also used in one of Yu Suzuki's other games, F355 Challenge. In F355 Challenge it appears complete with vocals which weren't in Shenmue.
  • The third little tidbit is a picture of the Shenmue Exhibition held in Tokyo in May 1999. Click here to see the picture.

    Hmm, that was a big update, two new pages, two pieces of news, and two miscellaneous little things. Have fun Shenmue fans and well, invite your friends and spread the word of Shenmue please.
    30 December 2001:
    Happy Christmas Shenmue Fans!

    Welcome to the new site location and redesign!

    This has taken longer than expected but finally it is up. Remember to update your bookmarks, the new URL is http://shenmuelegend.users.btopenworld.com
    I also have a new email address, shenmuelegend@btopenworld.com, the old one will still work though
    I updated lots of stuff around the site for this relaunch but most are small details. The two main additions are:
  • Shenmue II Secrets section! Helping you see the bits only the dedicated get to see. More secrets still to come.
  • Shenmue: Dragons Forever Chapter 5! Rising Tiger has completed all the way up to and including Chapter 5 of his popular piece of fan fiction.

    I hope you enjoy the new site, and please remember the new address and tell your friends. Remember to sign the guestbook as well, and check out our great content.
    10 December 2001:
    My webhoster has changed the details of my account so I have not been able to access it fully and update. After many problems, I have decided to move to a different hosting service. This means the URL of the site will change soon, I will let you know on this site. The content will stay the same and at the launch of the new site, I should hopefully have added more things. So, hopefully, soon I will have sorted out the new hosting service, and the site will be active again. Thanks for coming.
    3 December 2001:
    Well, hope you've been enjoying Shenmue II, I have, and have got very far, completing disc three, and I have to say it is utterly amazing!
    Just a little reminder here to the Shenmue II coverage we have on this site. In our Shenmue II section, we have a walkthrough to the game, by Olly Dean of the ShenmueFanSite and a detailed look at the game in my first impressions, as well as a guide for Americans wishing to import the game, which I recommend you do so you don't have to wait till next Christmas. Next weekend I should have completed the game and will start writing features on it similar to the ones currently on the site for Shenmue I. Look forward to character profiles, free battle guides, notebook, secrets and more when I get the time.

    Shenmue: Dragons Forever story. It is a long chapter in which Ryo finally reaches Hong Kong. Be sure to check out our other Fan Creations and if you have anything to submit, please email me.
    Also, don't forgot to sign the guestbook to let me know your opinions on the site, and what you want added to it.
    25 November 2001:
    Shenmue II is OUT NOW!
    Most people managed to get their copies on Friday, but some managed to get it on Thursday. The rest of you head down the shops and hope they haven't run out. A lot of shops had sold out completely on Thursday or Friday.
    I've been playing the game lots, and have basically finished disc two. It is completely amazing. To see a detailed look at the game without ruining any story elements, please view my Shenmue II First Impressions page.
    22 November 2001:
    SHENMUE II PAL VERSION OUT TOMORROW!!!!!!!!! Some people have even got it today but most stores will sell it tomorrow. If you haven't pre-ordered you should be fast or phone shops in advance because many have warned that they will sell out of their copies quickly.
    21 November 2001:
  • For those who just need some form of Shenmue before Friday, you're in luck! The Shenmue Legend brings you a new chapter of RisingTiger187s Shenmue: Dragons Forever. Chapter 4 has been written and currently contains Acts I and II
    As always, we'll keep you informs for any actual ShenmueII news that breaks out before the release, and hopefully we'll bring you our first impressions on Friday or Saturday.
    20 November 2001:
    Well, the word going around stores now is that the game HAS been brought forward to THIS FRIDAY!!! This should mean that everyone who pre-ordered in the UK will be able to get their copy THIS WEEK!! YEAH!!!!
    19 November 2001:
  • It is possible that Shenmue II's release may have been brought forward a week to the 23rd November, which is this Friday!!! I don't know if this is true or not. Olly Dean of the Shenmue Fansite has brought the VideoGameStore into attention which says that the game has been brought forward to this Friday. The official UK Electronics Boutique site also quotes the release date as being 23rd November, however when I phoned up my local EB, they said they hadn't heard of any news and by Thursday they will let me know if it's been brought forward. More news as soon as I can find any.
  • Shenmue: Dragons Forever, the popular story by RisingTiger187 has recieved an update. Acts II and III of Chapter 3 have been added. They should tide you over in your Shenmue II excitement for a while.
    10 November 2001:
  • There is a new Pic of the Week. This is a now-outdated advert for Shenmue II in the USA.
  • Also, on the Sega-AM2 website, it confirms that work has been started on Shenmue III. It fails to mention a system, but there is a picture of the Shenmue Planning Director sitting behind some development artwork for Shenmue III. Click here to see the pic. Unfortunately, they blurred out the details of the actual artwork.
    8 November 2001:
  • The Shenmue II Info Sheet has been updated with some more info on the features of Shenmue II. This tells you more about the game without ruining the story.
  • Another Shenmue I English guide has been added to the Guide Books section of the Merchandise page.
    7 November 2001:
    Rising Tiger 187 has written the first act in the third chapter of his popular story, Shenmue: Dragons Forever. Click here to read it.
    6 November 2001:
    There is a new Pic of the Week. This week it is an old pic which is of a 2001 Shenmue Calender cover, featuring Ryo and Joy on her motorbike. The calender is signed by Yu Suzuki.
  • In other news, Peter Moore, head of Sega America, has publicly apologised to American Dreamcast owners for the cancellation of Shenmue II, stating that it is in the "best long-term interests of Sega".
    27 October 2001:
    News on a NEW release! Shenmue: The Movie is getting a release on DVD. However, this is a Japanese release, meaning that the disc will be a Region 2 NTSC DVD. It is all set for release on 21st December. No bonus features have yet been announced.
    27 October 2001:
  • The Shenmue Legend walks into a new era, with a new staff member! We now have Tsunaike Freeman on the team.
    You may know of him already for his previous works in the Shenmue community such as an extensive Shenmue II walkthrough/guide and also, a Slot Machine FAQ for the original game.

    Tsunaike's first contribution to the site grants you access to the bonus PC CD-Rom features that are available on the Japanese Shenmue II game discs:
  • Disc 1 is entitled "Shenmue Goodies 2" and contains gif animations similar to the VMU animations of characters similar to the VMU animations available in the first game on the passport disc. This is 111KB in size.
  • Disc 2 is entitled "Shenmue Characters" and contains nine character artworks. It is 1184KB big.
  • Disc 3 is entitled "Shenmue CG Illustrations" and contains ten wallpapers. It is 906KB is size.
    It is unknown yet whether these files will on the European release of the game, because for the first Shenmue, the "Omake" files were only available on the Japanese release.
    26 October 2001:
  • Another big update, well big for me as you can see, I redesigned the site! There is now an intro page leading to the brand new no frames site. This was done because many people, especially Netscape users, said they couldn't view the site with frames, so now, the menu bar is shown on each and every page without the use of frames.
  • Also, Pic of the Week has returned! I know there were only three previous pics, but due to popular demand it is back. This week is a nice pic of Sha Hua which includes some poetic style writings done by her. Very interesting as the writings are similar to the prologue poem in topic.
  • I have good word that the English release of Shenmue II will include a 60Hz feature, meaning that you Americans can play it through your TV. Check out the updated Import Guide.
    25 October 2001:
    Sorry for the long delay in updates. I've been really slack, but fear not, there are loads of updates this time, and there should be regular ones in the future. On to the updates!
  • For the Americans who now will not have Shenmue II released in their country on Dreamcast, I have written a guide to help you to import the European release of the game, which has full English subtitles, as the American release was going to. The English release is on 30th November this year, so go read the guide and import the English version to be able to play Shenmue II.
  • Rising Tiger 187, author of the brilliant Shenmue: Dragons Forever story, has started work on a brand new story about the history of Lan Di. It is called Chang Long: Tale of the Fallen Dragon. Click here to read it.
  • The notebook has been updated with a few new notes near the beginning of the game.
  • The history page has been updated with the latest Microsoft news.
  • Finally, the merchandise page has been updated with two new Shenmue II guides.
    12 October 2001:
    SHENMUE II IS CANCELLED ON DREAMCAST IN AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!
    Yes, the latest news from the Tokyo Game Show is that Shenmue 2 will no longer be released in America. However, it instead is going to be released on the X-Box in Fall 2002.
    EURO GAMERS: don't panic! Sega stated that Shenmue 2 will still be released over here on Dreamcast, it is only in America where it has been cancelled.
    This decision seems to me to be extremely odd as it implies work on Shenmue 2 English subtitling is complete and Sega Europe are converting the game to the PAL format used in Europe. I personally think that Microsoft have Sega America in some X-Box exclusivity deal. Sega promise more than a straight port to the X-Box release.
    I guess that now all you excited US gamers will have to turn to your importers now and I recommend that you import the European release, because it will be in English. However, you will need a boot disc to be able to play imports.
    11 October 2001:
    We have a brand new story in the Fan Creation section. It is called Shenmue: The Dark Dragon and is written by Joe Barnum. It is the story of Lan Di. It currently contains chapters 1 through 3. As with all the other stories, look for more to be added soon.
    9 October 2001:
    For those following Rising Tiger 187's excellent Shenmue: Dragons Forever story, he has written the third act in it's second chapter. Click here to read it.
    8 October 2001:
    Two exciting new additions to the site, one long overdue:
  • Firstly, to satisfy all those with Shenmue II already, we now have a Shenmue II Moves FAQ written by Wallid Jallid available in the Free Battle section.
  • Secondly and most importantly, we have the most long awaited section of the site so far. It was announced in the upcoming contents list on the day of the opening of this site. It is...
    The History of Shenmue page. It traces the entire history of the series from its humble beginnings as Virtua Fighter RPG, through the demos and the many shows, through the release, to the movie, and finally to Shenmue II. Please, take a look at it.
    3 October 2001:
    It's been a long time since the last update. Sorry, I've been very busy.
  • Rising Tiger 187 has written the next act of his story.
  • Some site news: it appears the Pic Of The Week is now defunct as it was never regular and didn't appear to be too popular.
  • Shenmue.com has pictures and information about some old Shenmue merchandise in the Goods section of the Japanese branch.
  • Just a little reminder about release dates for Shenmue II:
    Japan: Out Now
    Europe: 30 November 2001
    America: 4 December 2001
    21 September 2001: First things first, the Fan Creation section has been updated with new chapters from both Rising Tiger 187 and Paul Forest.
  • The Official Shenmue site has updated it's Japanese section with lots of new info and maps.
  • There is a copy of a Shenmue Saturn Version movie up on the internet. Click here to get it. Talking about the Saturn version, more pictures are available on Segaweb.com here.
  • Shenmue II charted in it's first week in Japan at number 2 selling 92,917 copies. By comparison, Sonic Adventure 2 reached the same position, however PSOv2 charted at number 1.
    20 September 2001: The Fan Creation section has been updated with the third and latest act in Rising Tiger 187's "Shenmue: Dragons Forever" story. Click here to read it.
  • You may or may not already know that when you complete Shenmue II you unlock a video showing early development shots of Shenmue running on the Sega Saturn. Well, now, swirlvision.com has got some screenshots of this video. Click here to go to the pics on the Swirlvision site.
    18 Septmeber 2001: Big update. First of all, we are now hosting the only Shenmue II FAQ/Walkthrough on the internet (although many other sites also host it, and it is not made by me). Check the Shenmue II section to see it.

    A whole new section has been added to the site. It is called Fan Creations and basically will host stories, images, humour or anything else that anyone has made that is related to Shenmue. The section has got off to a good start with two stories:
  • The first is by Rising Tiger 187 and is called "Shenmue: Dragons Forever". It currently has two acts of the first chapter.
  • The second is entitled "Possible Shenmue II Outcome" and is by Paul Forest. It starts at the end of the first game and currently contains three chapters.

    If you would like to contribute anything at all to this section, please email me at julio@shenmuelegend.4t.com with your your creation.
    16 September 2001: Proper content updates. A couple of updates to the merchandise section:
  • A new page showing the guide books available for the first and second games.
  • The t-shirts page updated with designs for the new Shenmue t-shirts released on shenmue.com.
    14 September 2001: News on release dates. According to the UK Dreamcast distributor, the Shenmue II European release date is now the 30th November 2001. Wow, that is even before the slated American release date of 4th December. Again, I hope to have more frequent updates and some fresh content soon. Sorry everyone for the lack of updates.
    10 Septmeber 2001: Sorry for the lack of updates, its due to my over-excitement about Shenmue II. Whenever I go on the computer I have an urge to go and find out more and talk about it so haven't updated. As I said before, I will not spoil anything, so instead have updated the Shenmue II Info Sheet with some of the added info I have gained which is not story related. I still haven't compiled some pictures for it or for the Pic of the Week.
  • A couple of Shenmue I titbits to tide the rest of us over: It appears Ren appears in Yokosuka. On the scoreboard for Hang On in the You Arcade, Ren appears at the top. This is foreshadowing Shenmue II where a previously released screenshot shows Ren watching Ryo play Hang On. Another odd little thing, the "Sunny Day" cut-scene and free battle seems to appear on snowy days as well, which is a little odd considering the title.
    6 September 2001: SHENMUE 2 IS OUT IN JAPAN!!!!!!!!! Don't worry, this site won't spoil anything about the story for you, but we won't give you any walkthroughs or faqs or anything until the English version is released. The reason, I don't have it. However, I am in contact with other people who do have the game and they have some first hand insights which are not story related which you should read.
  • You can now fail QTEs, you don't repeat them until success. This means you will have to seek a different path through the game, a feature orginally mooted for the first game.
  • There is a first person view mode sometimes when indoors.
  • The rumour that not every character has full voices is false.
  • There is still some slowdown and fading in and out of characters, but less than before.

  • English rumours: It is claimed official that the English voices were already in the game, but Yu Suzuki removed them due to public pressure. I do no believe this until I see it properly confirmed. Also, now Shenmue II is apparantely on for a release in the Fall.
    5 September 2001: I have it on good word that there are extras on each of the four Shenmue II discs. Here follows: disc one, VM character movies; disc two, nine character pictures; disc three, ten wallpapers; disc four, a special Shenmue movie.
  • One day to the official Japanese release of Shenmue II, and some lucky people have already got it today!
  • There is a lot of speculation flying all over the place that there are no English voices in Shenmue II because the public demanded it and also to keep it more authentic.
    4 September 2001: Even though it is not yet official that there will be no English voices in the US/EU versions of Shenmue II, a petition has already been set up to try and convince Yu Suzuki to include English voices. Please sign the petition here.
  • Exciting happenings this week, Shenmue II is released in Japan in only two days! September 6th will see the Japanese get their hands on a copy of this highly anticipated sequal. So, all of you who can speak Japanese, better head down to an importer and get yourselves a copy. There are two versions which will be available, the Limited Edition, which contains the extra Virtua Fighter 4 disc and the Virtua Fighter soundtrack CD, and the standard 4 disc edition. I, unfortunately, will not be getting the Japanese version of Shenmue II as I won't understand a word of it and it would therefore ruin the English version.
    30 August 2001: Well, I'm off again for another weekend, so don't expect any updates until next Tuesday at the earliest, although school starts again next Wednesday, I will still update during term time. I keep missing Fridays, so I thought it was finally time to update the Pic of the Week. It's a nice promo Ryo and Shenhua poster so go check it out.
  • BAD NEWS: IGN are reporting that the American and European versions of Shenmue II will NOT have English voices. First we haave a delay, then no voices, what is happening? I sure hope things change around, as Yu Suzuki is a big fan of the English voices.
    28 August 2001: I'm back and it seems that there is some bad news and more waiting to do. It appears that Shenmue II will now not be released in America until December 4th, although there is still no official announcement from Sega. However, the English part of the official Shenmue site has been updated, and gives the names of many new characters and a small description of them.
    22 August 2001: Another break from the site: There will be no updates till next Tuesday as I will be away at the Reading Festival, woohoo! So see you then, and just a reminder that the Japanese release date for Shenmue II, 6th September, is rapidly approaching, so all those who want to import better get themselves sorted.
    21 August 2001: I can tell you all like the great music of Shenmue due to the popularity of my music page. Well, here is a little taster of a treat for you. Yes, I have been creating my very own Shenmue remix. It's only a midi song so everyone can go download it. This is only the chorus and is a work in progress, basically I'll only carry on with the whole song if people want it to be completed. Click here to download/hear the song! Any feedback is to be directed here.
    19 August 2001: Well, less updates than last time, but i have collected even more pictures of the real Dobuita. They show the shops in the real Dobuita which are similar to the shops in the game. There are others I haven't got pictures of yet which include a patches shop and a Mahjong parlour. It has also been drawn to my attention that the latest IGN Insider features pictures and a video of the real Yokosuka. I do not have these as you have to pay for IGN Insider, and even if I had it, I would not be able to share the pictures with you. Click here to go to the page.
    17 August 2001: It's Friday, so there is a new Pic of the Week. This time it's an old piece of handdrawn artwork for Sha Hua.
  • A tracklisting page has been added to the music section, listing all the tracklistings including passport disc, jukeboxes, cassettes and the sound track CDs.
  • Also, I found out that those Shenmue Trading Cards are available with the Versus Books Guide and there are others including Mark.
  • Finally, the differences page has been slightly updated.
    14 August 2001: I'm back from my trip and what do I find? No new Shenmue II news. Oh well, at least you can have the immense pleasure of viewing my Shenmue II Info Sheet that I put together. It has yet to feature any pictures but may do in the future. I promised updates to the music page, and they will come hopefully tomorrow in the form of tracklistings from every single Shenmue music source I can find. The notebook page will also get updated as promised but not for quite a while as I am still collecting notes and do not have much time to play Shenmue.
    7 August 2001: Well, no news, no updates, but I'm going away until next Monday, so the site sadly will not get updated until then, but I promise some fresh content then, and updates to the music and notebook pages. In the meantime, why not sign the guestbook or take a look at the recently updated shenmue.com or simply enjoy all the pleasant glories of this site.
    4 August 2001: NEWS: IGN has now reported the news we brought you before from 'Dorimaga', the Japanese Official Dreamcast magazine. What they have done though is scan in pictures, click here to go to IGN and take a look. What these pictures show is that the features previously reported will be available on the standard discs, not a passport disc. Also, Excite QTE 2 and QTE Title make a welcome reappearance, although I don't think there are any new QTE arcade games. They also show Ren watching Ryo playing Hang On, I wonder why? To finish todays news, here is the boxart for Shenmue II.
    3 August 2001: Look, it's a new layout for this main page. On the right should be a search button which lets you search for content throughout this site. If it doesn't work or any part of the site doesn't work, then don't hesistate to email me.
  • Also, a new addition to the site is a 'Pic of the week' feature. Every week a new Shenmue picture will be added at my choice. They can range from any picture to do with Shenmue; screenshots, artwork etc. First of we have a piece of promotional artwork which features five Americans from Shenmue I.
    29 July 2001: HUGE SHENMUE II NEWS: all official from the Japanese Official Dreamcast Magazine
  • Shenmue Collection: A special mode which seems likely to be on a passport style disc possibly and is free. It's divided into 3 sections:
    Mini-Games: Play darts, QTE arcade games etc for free.
    Battle Mode: Free battles in which you have to score 3 points before your opponent.
    Y's Games: Yu's arcade games for free; Hang On, Space Harrier, and new to the Shenmue series, Outrun, and Afterburner II.
  • Digest Movie: A 14 minute movie recapping the highlights from Shenmue: Chapter One - Yokosuka.
  • Box Moving: Move boxes to a point instructed by your partner within a set time limit.
    28 July 2001: NEWS: Wow, there is some new Shenmue news finally, straight from www.shenmue.com
  • If you reserve your Japanese Shenmue II game at a proper Japanese shop or Sega's online ordering service, you get a ticket to the AM2 Summer Festival. This takes place at various places at dates between 26th August and the 2nd of September. I don't know what it's about as I can't read Japanese but I gather that Yu Suzuki will be there and the voice actors will put on a little show as usual.
  • Shenmue: The Movie is apparantely getting a nationwide release in Japan now. It opens on Saturday 8th September. If you don't know about it, it is 90 minutes long and comprises of most of Shenmue: Chapter One - Yokosuka and apparantely some unseen footage from Shenmue II. It has the English voices (Ryo - Corey Marshall, Iwao - Robert Jefferson, Nozomi - Ruth Hollyman) with Japanese subtitles. See the poster here.
    21 July 2001: Added a Shenmue T-Shirt available at a Yu Sukuzi signing session to the merchandise page. I actually had this picture a long time ago but forgot to upload it.
    20 July 2001: Here's an update on all the latest rumours about the future of the Shenmue series. First of all, the confirmed release date for Japan is 6 September; the rumoured American release date is 16 October; and according to amazon.co.uk, the UK release is on 2 February, lets hope they're wrong on that one. There has recently been strong rumours that Shenmue III will be on X-Box, and also that Shenmue I and II will be ported to PS2 and X-Box. The Japanese release of Shenmue II will feature a bonus preview disc of Virtua Fighter 4. Hopefully there will be a new passport disc, and rumoured was an extra disc recapping Shenmue I.
    16 July 2001: Finally, I got myself a guestbook. Please sign it.
    15 July 2001: Not an update, but something you may find useful. A few people have been asking me where can you download the Shenmue music. Well, someone gave me this site address: www.rpgamers.net. It apparentely has all the Shenmue CDs on its ftp site. There are also more than 20 mirror ftp sites.
    12 July 2001: Sorry for the lack of updates but I have been very busy. I signed up for a guestbook but it is not working, so I will sign up for a new one soon. Feejay is also very busy so his column may take a while. I'll maybe add a history page tonight.
  • In very old Shenmue promotional material a girl featured heavily but has yet to reappear. Just who is she? Click here to go to a new page dedicated to finding out what role she plays as she appears to play a very important role in the series.
    9 July 2001: A Ren Wuying mug has been added to the merchandise page.
  • The Shenmue Legend is looking for columnists, if you want to be one, email me. We have one new columnist, Feejay Johnson from the ShenmueDojo forums.
  • Upcoming is obviously the new column, and hopefully a guestbook, the long awaited history of Shenmue page and more character profiles.
    5 July 2001: Two new character profiles/analysis added: Chen Gui Zhang and Tom Johnson.
    2 July 2001: Many updates, most small, one large:
  • Training page added to the Free Battles page, giving tips on how to train up Ryo's moves.
  • The differences page updated with bonus features of the Japanese version.
    A few graphical additions.
  • This Friday, US Shenmue gets released in Japan, click here to see the poster.
    30 June 2001: Merchandise page added:
  • The merchandise page currently contains info on the soundtrack CDs, trading cards, Shenmue watch, and the 2001 calendar.
    Much more to be added to the merchandise page, including pictures of every page in the calendar, and other Shenmue memorabilia to be added.
    27 June 2001: Small updates around the site:
  • Links page added
  • Machine information added to Capsule Toys page
  • A small page detailing differences between the English and Japanese language versions.
    More updates, when I have sorted out my computer and internet stuff.
    25 June 2001: Secrets & Tips page added, and Free Battles page tidied up:
  • Think you know all about Shenmue, well, visit our Secrets & Tips page and you are bound to find something within this tomb which is new to you. Almost every little secret in the game exposed.

    Hopefully tomorrow a links page will be up and a few other pages tidied up and added to.
    24 June 2001: Soundtrack music page added:
  • Information on the 4 different CDs available as well as translated lyrics to the Sha Hua song are available on the Soundtrack Music page.
    23 June 2001: Voice actors page added:
  • Pictures and info about the real people behind the characters is available on the voice actors page.
    23 June 2001: This site was officially launched, check out the content as follows:
  • In the characters page, read detailed bio's and analysis of Ryo, Iwao, Lan Di, Sha Hua, Nozomi, Chai, Fuku-san and Ine-san. Expect more to come soon
  • The notebook page contains an almost complete Shenmue Chapter One noteboook, please check it out to see what you missed and remind yourself of the story.
  • The free battles page currently contains a complete move list and how to obtain each move. Info on traning is yet to come.
  • Ever wondered what Yokosuka really looks like? Well the real locations page shows a few pictures of Sakuragaoka and Dobuita.
  • For pictures of all the collectible capsule toys, head over to the capsule toys page.
    Other things to look forward to on The Shenmue Legend: a secrets page; a history of Shenmue page; and a Shenmue merchandise info page, with pics of games, soundtracks, trading cards and more.