Shenmue Dojo

Just as long as the keep the weird back pack glitch, I remember the first time I ran into it well.

I also hope they keep the Map Walls/Loading sections Bypass exploit from 2. I sure love to abuse it sometimes on replays.

i was wondering, should we as fans be persuading first timers (online/ on other forums) to play sHD in japanese first?


unfortunately the english dub hasn't aged well..so overall i think new gamers would respond better to the full japanese experience. = more interest in s3.

redline wrote:i was wondering, should we as fans be persuading first timers (online/ on other forums) to play sHD in japanese first?


unfortunately the english dub hasn't aged well..so overall i think new gamers would respond better to the full japanese experience. = more interest in s3.

I'm not worried about this. I can imagine that newcomers will understand the inclusion of both English and Japanese as a subtle way to tell the player 'Psst. You can switch voices if you don't like the dub'. At least, that's what goes on in my head when I'm presented with the option in other games. Plus, I think new players of Shenmue HD (likely, people already interested in Japanese games) will already be aware of dubbing's reputation, but may still prefer it to reading subtitles. If the HD ports were releasing with only the English voice-acting, then I'd be a little more concerned.

What I've noticed from watching people playing these games for the first time in these last few years, is that the cheesy charm of the dub can win them over and be enjoyed either earnestly, or ironically in a sort of post modern way.

I'll always maintain Shenmue II's story is carried better in Japanese though.

- I hope SEGA will bundle HD and III together at a discount, eventually.
- Hopefully the release date for III will be revealed when HD is released.

redline wrote: i was wondering, should we as fans be persuading first timers (online/ on other forums) to play sHD in japanese first?


unfortunately the english dub hasn't aged well..so overall i think new gamers would respond better to the full japanese experience. = more interest in s3.

Maybe SEGA could include the JPN audio as the default to steer newcomers in that direction but i honestly feel anyone with a problem with the dub will have the common sense to change it.


I could see a lot of newcomers that are yakuza fans which is a series that only has Jpn audio go with subs so it will be interesting. I will definitely hop on twitch and youtube gaming and see how many people choose one or the other.

Here's hoping S3 has dual audio as well since last time i checked it wasn't fully confirmed. Would be a shame to have S1&2HD with both and not 3.

Spaghetti wrote: What I've noticed from watching people playing these games for the first time in these last few years, is that the cheesy charm of the dub can win them over and be enjoyed either earnestly, or ironically in a sort of post modern way.

I'll always maintain Shenmue II's story is carried better in Japanese though.

I haven't tried the S2 English dub before. I'm curious how its worse, so I'll try it for my first re-release playthrough.

staplepuffs27 wrote:I haven't tried the S2 English dub before. I'm curious how its worse, so I'll try it for my first re-release playthrough.

Unlike the first game it's not as charming as it is just... bad. It's not unbearable by any means, but it's clear that the English dub was an afterthought.

I can't remember for sure so don't quote me on this, but if I recall correctly it was actually handled by Microsoft who rushed it so that there would be an English dub in time for the Xbox release in the US. That's probably the reason why it's so poor.

staplepuffs27 wrote:I haven't tried the S2 English dub before. I'm curious how its worse, so I'll try it for my first re-release playthrough.

My main problem is a lot of flat delivery in scenes where they're much more emotionally charged in Japanese.

My random Shebmue HD thought is the capsule toy “boobie” prizes of the controller buttons. These were altered for the Xbox version of Shenmue 2, but I wonder wether they will bother changing the ABXY & their respective colours to PS4, Xbox One & Steam controller inputs or just remove them entirely from the gotcha gotcha vending machines.

Scribe86 wrote: My random Shebmue HD thought is the capsule toy “boobie” prizes of the controller buttons. These were altered for the Xbox version of Shenmue 2, but I wonder wether they will bother changing the ABXY & their respective colours to PS4, Xbox One & Steam controller inputs or just remove them entirely from the gotcha gotcha vending machines.

I've wondered this too. Will be interesting to see if we get Playstation symbol buttons on PS4, or if they'll just be generic ABXY buttons across all platforms.

Scribe86 wrote: My random Shebmue HD thought is the capsule toy “boobie” prizes of the controller buttons. These were altered for the Xbox version of Shenmue 2, but I wonder wether they will bother changing the ABXY & their respective colours to PS4, Xbox One & Steam controller inputs or just remove them entirely from the gotcha gotcha vending machines.

That's a hell of a good point.

Jibby wrote:I can't remember for sure so don't quote me on this, but if I recall correctly it was actually handled by Microsoft who rushed it so that there would be an English dub in time for the Xbox release in the US. That's probably the reason why it's so poor.

Wasn't there an interview years ago with one of the voice actors who, speaking anonymously, said that there was a very strong direction to deliver some of the lines in ways which wouldn't be natural-sounding (to put it mildly) to Westerners? They said that the actors told the director this but the director insisted. It wasn't made clear who the director was, however.

Yeah, for whatever reason, the Shenmue 2 English dub is undoubtably far worse than it was the first game. I honestly don't even mind the English voice acting in the first game, for the most part. It was charming, as Jibby mentioned. The English voice over in Shenmue 2 was just flat out abysmal though.