I've written up a post based on research from various sources including old Japanese magazines, bulletin boards, forums posts and magazine articles to bring together all the characters in Shenmue (the first game, mainly) whose character models and/or names were based on actual people. There is a surprisingly large number!
The article talks about each in-game character in detail, compared to the actual person they were based on - and how they look today.
https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2021/05/shenmue-characters-based-on-actual.html
The article talks about each in-game character in detail, compared to the actual person they were based on - and how they look today.
https://www.phantomriverstone.com/2021/05/shenmue-characters-based-on-actual.html