– Original Shenmue Development
Artwork Documents –
PLEASE NOTE:
THE FOLLOWING CONTENT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE FUTURE OF THE SERIES, VIEWER DISRECTION IS ADVISED.
Background
Back in 1996, SEGA’s AM2 team, led by Yu Suzuki and renowned for their groundbreaking arcade releases, most notably the Virtua Fighter series, began working on a title that would go on to revolutionise gaming. Originally intended to be known as Virtua Fighter RPG, the game first entered development on SEGA Saturn hardware.
As the years passed and SEGA began phasing out the Saturn in favor of its next-generation powerhouse, the Dreamcast, development on the title had progressed significantly. This was later evidenced by early SEGA Saturn footage, which was unlockable in Shenmue II on both the Dreamcast and Microsoft’s original Xbox. The footage offered fans a fascinating glimpse into the Saturn version’s development, showcasing not only early Shenmue I content but even scenes extending to the end of Shenmue II. At this stage, both games were initially envisioned as a single title before being split and further expanded for the Dreamcast.
WHere did these files come from?
Back in January 2025, three auctions appeared on a popular Japanese auction website. Determined to win all three in order to preserve their contents, Shenmue Dojo embarked on a mission, forming a team of five trusted community members. Dojo’s own James and Matt, along with Chao (Shenmue Photos), David Deville (Shenmue Master), and Nathan (24Nathan), joined forces to finance the purchase. With the assistance of Switch (PhantomRiverStone.com), a Japanese resident who helped to facilitate the transaction, the team successfully secured these invaluable pieces of Shenmue history. A huge thank you to everyone involved in this acquisition!
It soon became clear that these documents had once belonged to one or both of Hideki Kawabata and Takashi Itoh, both credited for 3D character design on the original Shenmue titles. This discovery also led us to recently uncover additional incredible character and environment renders, hiding in plain sight, on Hideki Kawabata’s own portfolio website.
ACCESS THE ARTWORK
This is a release of around 400+ original artworks that the Shenmue development team created whilst working on Virtua Fighter RPG, and ultimately Shenmue for both the SEGA Saturn / Dreamcast.
We really hope you enjoy looking through the mountains of hand drawn character art, illustrations, 3D renders, and design documents!
The following artwork and documents provide a unique insight into the evolution of Virtua Fighter RPG into Shenmue I & II. As you explore these unearthed files, you’ll discover a wealth of high-quality content, including hand-drawn sketches, black-and-white and color artwork, character renders and profiles, environment designs, and stunning promotional artwork. And as a bonus, there are even some Virtua Fighter files included!
Potential Shenmue 4 Spoilers
For a full listing of the entire artwork haul, please view the individual categories below:
Promotional CG Artwork
Shenhua 2D Artwork
Shenhua 3D Renders
Xiuying Hong
Niao Sun
Yuanda Zhu’s “Triplets”
Nozomi Harasaki
NPC Artwork / Renders / Profiles
Cliff Temple
Design Artwork
Other 3D Renders
Uncategorised Artwork
Virtua Fighter 4 Artwork
Bonus Artwork
Early Character Renders
Hideki Kawabata Collection
Early Area Renders
Hideki Kawabata Collection
All of the files included in this release can be downloaded from the following Google Drive link: DOWNLOAD
Additionally, we have the Early Character Renders and Area’s for Download here:
CREDITS
Thanks so much to everyone involved in the release of this project:
And many thanks to Switch of PhantomRiverStone.com for painstakingly providing a description for every artwork, whilst also translating all of the character profiles and all of the various Japanese text found across many artworks!
