23 years on from the release of Shenmue 2 and like it’s predecessor, it continues to provide us with new content in the form of an unused cutscene.
Found by Shenmue Park, who has provided a thorough YouTube video showcasing the various different variations of what appears to be an unusued cutscene with Zhang, found in the Shenmue II Game Jam Beta. As Shenmue fans this is what we absolutely adore to discover!
You can view this cutscene in full in the video above, thanks so much to Shenmue Park for the discovery and the brilliant piece of footage showcasing this. The cutscene involves potentially an early interaction with the land shark thugs who usually appear outside Guixang’s Yan Tin Apartments, and also again later in the large scale QTE sequence in the White Dynasty Quarter (where Ryo takes down his toughest enemy yet, a watermelon!). One of the neat features of this unearthed cutscene is a flashback to the barber shop Wude teaching, where Zhangyu holds a blade to Ryo’s throat and Ryo feels no threat. This then provides additional context to the teachings as one of the land sharks holds a blade to Ryo’s throat and Ryo disposes of the knife by performing an awesome kick to throw the knife into the iconic Iron Palm tree, as part of Jianmin’s Wude teachings.
Another neat feature of the cutscene is that if you fail the QTE, a free battle event breaks out where similar to the 70 man battle from the original Shenmue where Guizhang provided back up, in this instance Zhang actually provides aid to take down the land sharks. This is really awesome to see as previously Zhang had shown no combat ability!
ADDED: It was since found that if you fail this free battle event there’s an additional cutscene that has since been uploaded in a “Part 2” video –
If you are interested in trying this scene and the rest of the Game Jam beta out for yourself, please check out the incredible post from Laurent of SEGA Dreamcast Info Games Preservation here: https://www.sega-dreamcast-info-games-preservation.com/en/shenmue-2-game-jam-japanese-prototype-release
For a full indepth recap of this cutscene, fully translated by Switch, check out the newest part in a series all about the Miao Village cut content of Shenmue 2 – https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2024/10/part-eleven-secret-of-miao-village-cut.html?m=1
You can view our live reactions to this cutscene in our recent #LetsGetShenmue4 monthly community stream timestamped here:
Please share your thoughts about this newly discovered beta cutscenes over on the forums here: https://www.shenmuedojo.com/forum/index.php?threads/shenmue-2-game-jam-beta-newly-discovered-cutscene-with-zhang-shenmue-park.5675/
