This achievement is unlocked during a cut scene with the Yellowhead scout after you defeat 6 fighters. It is story related and is unmissable. Nonetheless, it is quite complex and combat becomes more challenging. So explanations might be helpful.
In Kowloon, the story requires Ryo to enter the Yellowhead building. He must try entering all four entrances. A pair of guards, armed with staffs, guards each access point preventing entry. At the Nihao Teashop (just outside the Teabreak Building), Ryo makes the Chawan [teacup] sign. Four teacups are lined up on a table. He moves the leftmost cup up one space and the second cup from the right down one space and then clicks on the command to wait. He will get a note to go to Moon Child Building, Room 503.
With Ryo’s back to the teashop, go straight and enter the Stand Quarter. When the passage opens into the plaza with the big fountain, find the Moon Child building on the right side. Take the elevator on the right (not all elevators go to all floors) to the 5th floor and enter room 503. At the end of a cut scene, you learn the combat move, Predictive Explosion. It is executed by pressing
to find an obscure target. During the events in room 503, Ryo is given a photo of a scout. He finds out he can enter Yellow Head building if he demonstrates his street fighting prowess.
If you press
and tab to your moves, Predictive Explosion appears at the bottom of the list. It is important because it must be used in one of the upcoming fights.
To prepare for all upcoming fights, press
and tab to your moves. Identify ones with high speed and choose a few to concentrate on in the following battles. All the upcoming opponents are very fast. Slow powerful attacks will catch you flat footed. To be effective, you will evade by pressing
and, then, execute speedy attacks from the opponent’s side or back.
Your available moves are dependent on how many you might have carried over from a
Shenmue save and how many you have mastered in the current game. Some commands have dual functions. You can toggle between them by pressing
. Choose the one with the greater speed with one exception. If Counter Elbow Assault toggles with Backfist Willow, choose Counter Elbow Assault. Counter Elbow Assault appears to have a slower speed. However, since it avoids the opponent’s attack, it is one of the fastest attacks and quite powerful.
Note: If you are not versed in fighting games & have found the preceding free fights aggravating, the upcoming battles will be quite daunting. If this is the case, my recommendation is to play the inexpensive
Virtua Fighter 2. It can be completed in less than half an hour. More importantly, the combat mechanics in Shenmue are derivative of the Virtua Fighter series. First go into the options of
Virtua Fighter 2 and change the punch button assignment from
to
. Change the kick assignment from
to
. Change the guard assignment from
to
. There is no dodge function in
Virtua Fighter 2 similar to the
button in
Shenmue II. Nevertheless, you can now play
Virtua Fighter 2 and, very quickly internalize the muscle memory you will need to be proficient in
Shenmue II.
I advise a save before each of the fights. Nevertheless, you are allowed do-overs until you persevere so the saves primarily are check points of your progress to date. There are numerous street fighting locations, but only three frequented by the scout in the photo. It is best to start with Star Gazing Point with the One-Eyed fighter because it serves as a tutorial. Its entrance is in the Stand Quarter fountain plaza. As you exit the Moon Child Building, take a right. You will see an arch with "Star Gazing Point" written vertically down the left side. Go through the arch and down the stairs towards a street fight. When Ryo nears the street fight, the left blue prompt on the lower left corner display will change to show a fist. Pressing
will initiate the challenge. During the ensuing cut scene, Ryo will note the presence of the scout. Ryo has two options—challenge & don’t. Select challenge. During the fight, Ryo will observe he may have an advantage getting to the blind spot. Press
to dodge to the man’s left (Ryo’s right) and use speedy attacks while to the side or back. This should quickly defeat the one-eyed man. He must be defeated quickly because there is a one minute timer. There is no winning by a decision. If the opponent is still standing at the end, the match is considered a draw and is just as much a do-over as if Ryo had lost. The only difference is he does not lose his money in a draw.
The Passive Raid Master street fight is in the Small Dragon Garden just to the right of the Moon Child Building. Unlike the previous fight, you just have to hit your opponent once before the timer runs out. This is easier said than done since his specialty is blocking. One strategy is to stand still and wait for your opponent to lose patience. Just as he does so press left followed by
+
. This unleashes Counter Elbow Assault that avoids the oncoming attack and strikes with the elbow. This is the move Ryo learned just prior to leaving Hong Kong. Another (faster) strategy is to taunt. You can quickly end the fight right after it starts. As soon as you control Ryo press
+
. Gauge your timing on your opponent’s reaction. You want to press right as soon as he lunges towards you. The execution is simpler than it sounds. Your timing may be off, but you might still land a blow. The intent is to lure him in and strike with the fast, powerful twin hand waves. However, if the timing is off a little, you might still land a hit with Iron Palm or Avalanche lance. (The latter will be executed if you aggressively move as a double move to the right). You can also win by accident especially if you alternate between moving away from & towards your opponent and use very speedy attacks.
The Acrobat Style Master is in front of the Ghost Hall building. Just before you enter Dragon Street, take a right and proceed until you see a fighter in green. You have to snag him in a grapple in less than 30 seconds. Defeating him is simple. Face him and press
followed by
. It may not work the first time, but sooner rather than later this will execute the move you learned in room 503, Predictive Explosion, followed by a successful grapple. Predictive Explosion pinpoints the elusive opponent making him susceptible to the grapple. As far as I can tell, this is the only time you can use Predictive Explosion during the game. No button assignment is shown against it in your move list. Pressing
followed by
under any other circumstances would be a punch and grapple.
After winning the third street fight, the Scout immediately approaches Ryo and tells him to meet at Dragon Street. You have the option to fast travel there and wait (forward time). The scout gives you three photos. Go to where you fought the Acrobat Raid Master and speak to the bare-chested man in green sweatpants with a double white stripe along the leg. Ask him individually about all three fighters and he will give out their locations.
Rod Stunt: You need 500 HKD for the entry fee. Go through the Nihao Teashop and enter the Tea Break Building. Go right a little and to the back. Talk to the man guarding the entrance. He looks exactly like the Rugby player arm wrestler in Hong Kong. He will let you in the adjoining Phoenix building provided you cough up the 500 HKD entry fee. Note that, as soon as you enter, the Afterburner game is in a room to your right. Don’t forget to play it before or just after the fight. It is only available during a small part of the game and is required for an achievement. To get to the fight, you have to climb the stairs in the back to the fourth floor and take the elevator down to B1. Then descend the stairs from there to the fight.
The tactics you used against the one-eyed man will be effective against Rod. Use
to scoot to the side or back and use speedy attacks of your choice. There is no time limit and there are three rounds. If you lose the first round, I recommend quitting the game (
, highlight Shenmue II, press
, choose quit) and restarting the game from a save made just before the fight. If you lose two rounds, you will replay the fight until you win. Rod has a tendency to grapple. The best way to break a grapple is to press the left stick away from his lunge while simultaneously pressing
. All three fighters you face are faster and more powerful than Ryo. So, it is not advisable to go toe to toe against them in the style of a 2D fighting game. If a frontal attack or combo successfully lands, the opponent’s counter-attack will keep Ryo at a disadvantage. On the other hand, frequent use of
prevents opponents from honing in on Ryo. If an attack lands while
is being pressed, its damage is much reduced. Avoid being pushed out of the ring. It is an automatic defeat (of that round). Conversely, if Rod gets too close to the edge, a speedy/powerful attack can give you a quick ring out. Twin Hand Waves (
+
) & Counter Elbow Assault (
+
) are particularly effective. If you can maneuver Rod so he is on the perimeter of the inner white area and he is facing inward, he is prone to stepping back and ring-outing himself.
Greg More is in the Blue Dragon Garden. The entrance is just to the right of the Small Dragon Garden where you fought the Passive Raid Master. The entry fee is 1000 HKD—the winnings from the previous fight will be enough to cover it. The cut scene shows Greg likes to grapple and that he can end the fight in a single move. So, it is even more important to stay away from his clutches. He is a little slower than Rod so you might like to kick liberally when you get the chance. You can use the same tactics you used against the one-eyed man. It will take a while to whittle down Greg’s robust health. You can end the fight quickly by taking more risk. Greg is inclined to rush recklessly. If you employ evasive maneuvers around the circumference, he will soon ring-out himself. As with Rod, this is a best two out of three round fight.
Chunyan is in the Black Heaven building next to the Star Gazing Point where you fought the one-eyed man. Take the elevator up to the 11th floor and climb the stairs up one more story. Enter the fight area and pay the guard the 2000 HKD entry fee. Then, take the metal stairway down to the fight level. Chunyan is fast and relies primarily on jumping and kicking. The fight is only one round. You must get her health down to two red orbs to trigger a command QTE
. The QTE must be executed promptly but without rushing. Chunyan will not attack during this time, but you only have a split second to react. If you fail the QTE, you lose the entire fight and must start over from where you entered on the 12th floor. If you succeed in the QTE, you win the fight. Because it’s hard to change gears from fighting to the QTE, I like to use the following technique. I whittle down Chunyan’s health to 3 orbs using the best techniques and using Y liberally to evade her attacks. At 3 orbs, I evade with
but attack only with the Vortex Throw (
). The vortex throw is unlikely to successfully grapple, but it does inflict a little damage when it connects unsuccessfully. After a few hits, Chunyan’s health will drop to 2 orbs. At that point the command QTE is triggered. I simply execute the Vortex Throw that uses the same button sequence & timing as the QTE.
After the cut scenes associated with winning the third fight, the Yellowhead scout approaches and tells Ryo to meet him sundown at Dragon Street. You can fast travel to Dragon Street and ‘wait’ (time advance) to the appointed time. Proceed forward on Dragon Street. A cut scene will trigger during which the achievement unlocks.