On November 11th 2000 Shenmue finally reached American stores in English, closely followed by a European (or British, at least) release on 1st December 2000, too. You won't be playing it however without it going through some changes - some minor, some major. Characters names have changed, the Japanese voices are gone, and the story is now understandable to any average, English-speaking person. I'll now take you through some of the changes for the English version now, so that my guide or anything else that has the original Japanese terms and names won't leave you scratching your head.
Although the main character Ryo's name is unchanged, as well as a few others, here is a complete list of all the major English names:
| Japanese Name | English Name |
|---|---|
| Ryo Hazuki | Ryo Hazuki |
| Shenhua Rei | Ling Sha Hua |
| Iwao Hazuki | Iwao Hazuki |
| Souryu | Lan Di |
| Nozomi Harasaki | Nozomi Harasaki |
| Ine Hayata | Ine Hayata |
| Masayuki Fukuhara | Masayuki Fukuhara |
| Tomu-san (Tom) | Tom |
| Chai | Chai |
| Mark Kimberly | Mark Kimberly |
As you can see, the only major name changes are Souryu's and Shenhua Rei's, but I think the new names aren't as good as the originals. Those with the Japanese original will probably feel the same way, but buyers of the US version probably won't care either way.
The best thing about having Shenmue in your native language is understanding the backbone of the game - the plot. Even with a rudimentary understanding of Japanese (like mine) you could pick up the odd bit of information, but you couldn't get it all, could you? For example, when you first climb through that back window at the docks, who was Ryo listening to? And what were they talking about? See what I mean?
Anyway, here's a basic plot summary (NO SPOILERS) that is taken from Shenmue.com:
"The main character Ryo Hazuki, a boy who was born and raised in Yokosuka, learning martial arts from his father Iwao Hazuki, a master in Hazuki Jujitsu, grew up to be rather reckless, but with a strong sense of justice. One day when Ryo comes home, he finds a stranger forcing his father to give information on where the "Mirror" is. Though being a master in martial arts, his father was killed before Ryo's eyes, for rejecting the stranger's demand. Why did Iwao have to die, what is this "Mirror", who is this stranger......? Ryo sets off on a journey to find the answers."
There you have it, straight from Sega's mouth...
One of the things that many people couldn't work out about how Shenmue will work in English is how signs in Japanese will be read without losing the great Japanese atmosphere in the game. The way that this will work will be that if you look at a Japanese sign the English translation will appear as a subtitle. This is probably the best way for this to work.
There you have it. Shenmue is in English, so now we've all got Shenmue II to look forward to. Check back in December...
