Unused Inventory Icons Discovered in What's Shenmue

[Switch]

Unused inventory icon graphics discovered by @LemonHaze on the What's Shenmue disc give clues to an earlier version of #Shenmue where...

• The Hazuki handguard fitted the sword
• Ryo's notebook flipped upwards rather than sideways
• Ryo carried a house key, compass... and band aid (potentially! )
• Ryo was able to carry many of the items found in the basement
• A photo could be obtained of two mysterious figures

Blog post:
https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2021/12/unused-inventory-icons-discovered-in.html

 

[supermoe1985]

I remember when I used a hex editor with the What's Shenmue demo to hack the inventory to give myself some of these items like the good luck amulet, though obviously you couldn't do much but inspect the object and rotate the model.

 

[MissingSailor]

Are any of those models in the disc?

 

[Switch]

Are any of those models in the disc?

Some are, but generally speaking not for most of the unused icons.

There is a model for the unused key however, and looking at it today I noticed it has the number "H214" on it, but written in reverse, for some reason. I had thought it might have been Ryo's house key, but perhaps it was going to be the key for a room #214 in an apartment building he was to have visited during the story.

 

[Miles Prower]

Really interesting that all of those items in the basement were originally added to Ryo's inventory as he picked them up. The fact that the only one you can pick up in the final game is the White Leaf (besides the photo and the mirror obviously), would suggest that it will definitely have some importance at a future point in the story, if they decided to keep it as obtainable...(and also for it to still be there in S2 and 3!)
I think @James Brown 's guess about the unused photo is right - its most likely Zhu and Chen, I guess in the end they decided to keep Zhu's appearance a mystery until you actually meet him in S2?

 

[James Brown]

Really interesting that all of those items in the basement were originally added to Ryo's inventory as he picked them up. The fact that the only one you can pick up in the final game is the White Leaf (besides the photo and the mirror obviously), would suggest that it will definitely have some importance at a future point in the story, if they decided to keep it as obtainable...(and also for it to still be there in S2 and 3!)
I think @James Brown 's guess about the unused photo is right - its most likely Zhu and Chen, I guess in the end they decided to keep Zhu's appearance a mystery until you actually meet him in S2?

My thoughts exactly dude! Originally they probably planned Master Chen to give Ryo the photo for his collection to be able to identify Zhu, but like you said, felt better for impact to hide his identity perhaps!

 

[WuyingRen]

Some are, but generally speaking not for most of the unused icons.

There is a model for the unused key however, and looking at it today I noticed it has the number "H214" on it, but written in reverse, for some reason. I had thought it might have been Ryo's house key, but perhaps it was going to be the key for a room #214 in an apartment building he was to have visited during the story.

View attachment 13614

Great job as always, Switch. Really enjoyed this one! Could this have been the key to the tattoo parlor? That’s the only second-floor location I can think of in S1. Alternatively, I guess this could be the motorbike key, though it doesn’t look much like one.

 

[Switch]

Great job as always, Switch. Really enjoyed this one! Could this have been the key to the tattoo parlor? That’s the only second-floor location I can think of in S1. Alternatively, I guess this could be the motorbike key, though it doesn’t look much like one.

The tattoo parlor could be a possibility! Here's the motorbike key model, which you normally can't see well during the cutscene:

(Some more pics of it in this post)
https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2020/12/naoyukis-stylish-motorbike-key-tag-sega.html

 

[Switch]

Update: another unused key model in the What's Shenmue files which is a close match to one of the unused inventory icons I had assumed to be a duplicate.



(I'm working on a new post that explores some more unused object models, and one of these may provide a potential explanation for its use).

 

[Jibby]

In Shenmue Saturn, the basement entrance is different to the final game. Have to wonder if one of the unused keys was used to unlock the outdoor hatch.

Perhaps the Dojo sword puzzle originally revealed just the key to the basement instead of the entrance itself.

 

[wataro]

Some are, but generally speaking not for most of the unused icons.

There is a model for the unused key however, and looking at it today I noticed it has the number "H214" on it, but written in reverse, for some reason. I had thought it might have been Ryo's house key, but perhaps it was going to be the key for a room #214 in an apartment building he was to have visited during the story.

View attachment 13614

Great post and find as always, looking forward to more deep dive and hidden treasure

It seems the basement had much more importance at one point maybe the key is for the basement !

The H214 is a legitimate key type in Japan like a model number from the maker, surprised you haven't seen one living here in Japan switch!

合鍵H214・V304(MIWA)

key-stamp.com

 

[Switch]

In Shenmue Saturn, the basement entrance is different to the final game. Have to wonder if one of the unused keys was used to unlock the outdoor hatch.

That's an interesting point, as the nature of the puzzle would necessarily have been different in the Saturn version. Or maybe a key to unlock the shed to fetch the spade!

Great post and find as always, looking forward to more deep dive and hidden treasure

It seems the basement had much more importance at one point maybe the key is for the basement !

The H214 is a legitimate key type in Japan like a model number from the maker, surprised you haven't seen one living here in Japan switch!

Aha!

I confess that I haven't seen a key like that (although I quickly checked my keyring and see one that is also a "Miwa" brand but with a different appearance). It's great to be able to clear up the meaning of the number! I've added an update into the blog post.

 

[wataro]

Update: another unused key model in the What's Shenmue files which is a close match to one of the unused inventory icons I had assumed to be a duplicate.

View attachment 13636

(I'm working on a new post that explores some more unused object models, and one of these may provide a potential explanation for its use).

looks abit like the key from the project berkely video at 9min