135 - James Brown and Matt Oliver from Shenmue Dojo

Hello there! Welcome. This is The SEGA Lounge, the place to be when it comes to SEGA talk. I'm so glad you could join me for another episode.

I hope you've been doing well despite the current situation. I know a lot of us haven't been feeling that great lately so this is an important reminder to all of us: mental health isn't to be taken lightly.

So if you're going through a rough time, mentally or emotionally, please take a breather, take a break from social media and other online stuff and just take a step back, regroup and come back stronger afterwards.

This week's show is all about Shenmue and as I was talking to this week's guests and thinking about my own experience with the first two games and how important they were to me as a young person, I also thought about how crazy things are right now and how we should all take care of our mental health. Certain games and other forms of entertainment can help with that, of course. Maybe even Shenmue. But whatever's happening don't be too hard on yourself. I appreciate you. So take care of yourself.

This week, I'm incredibly honored to be joined by the current co-owners of Shenmue Dojo, the most prominent online resource for Shenmue news, info and more, and also the most active community. The Dojo turned 20 years old earlier this month, which is in and of itself an achievement, but when you add to that the importance of its community (and others, of course) to the evolution of the Shenmue series, it's an even bigger deal. I've had the pleasure of sitting down with James Brown, aka SkillJim, and Matt Oliver, and what follows is a longer than usual episode of The SEGA Lounge, but also one that was certainly a pleasure to record as it's not very often that I get to have fellow Shenmue enthusiasts on the show. They also address the ongoing, yet already funded, Kickstarter project for Shenmue World, a fanmade magazine focused on Shenmue. I hope you enjoy listening to this as much as I enjoyed recording it.

• Shenmue Dojo: https://shenmuedojo.com/
• Shenmue Dojo on Twitter: https://twitter.com/Shenmue_Dojo
• Shenmue Dojo YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/ShenmueDojoVOD
• Shenmue World Kickstarter page: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/skilljim/shenmue-world-unofficial-fan-magazine
• Submissions thread in the Shenmue Dojo forums: https://www.shenmuedojo.com/forum/index.php?threads/artwork-submissions-for-future-issues.3304/
• Suka Pass: https://www.sukapass.com/
• James' Twitter: https://twitter.com/skilljim
• James' YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/theskilljim
• Matt's Twitter: https://twitter.com/MattOliver18

Many thanks to James and Matt for coming on the show this week! The fact that James has been a regular listener of the show since its RadioSEGA LiVE days really warms my heart. If you're a fan of the Shenmue series, be sure to check out the Kickstarter page for Shenmue World. And don't forget Suka Pass. It's such a beautiful little thing you can get on your devices! And really brings back the feeling of wonder you got with the original Shenmue Passport disc back in the days of Shenmue I. And, of course, happy 20th anniversary to the Shenmue Dojo community!

I am finally in a position where I can announce the plans for the rest of the current season of the show. If all goes well, we've got 3 more episodes coming and all of them with brilliant guests. After that, I'll take what I think is a much deserved break and hopefully come back in 2021 with season 6.

I am also now looking for feedback from you guys, my amazing listeners. Thoughts on this new podcast format we adopted for season 5? Suggestions for next season? Types of episodes you'd like to see other than the regular interview format? The official SEGA Lounge email address podcast@thesegalounge.com is open and so is the voicemail feature on our website. Drop me a line or a voicemail and I'll carefully consider your suggestions.

This episode is sponsored by Podpage: thesegalounge.com/podpage

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