Shenmue 3 Kickstarter? Yu Suzuki Looking Into Crowdfunding Sequel to Beloved Series, Working on Secret Project

Famed game designer Yu Suzuki was responsible for a good portion of Sega's hits. Space Harrier, After Burner, Virtua Fighter, Virta Cop- he was the man behind hit after hit, but the game he's perhaps most beloved for is still Shenmue. Now it seems that the's looking into the possibility of using Kickstarter to fund Shenmue III.

When asked by Eurogamer whether he'd considered crowdfunding the game "Yes," Suzuki answered. "I am researching it." 

Of course, this has been talked about before, and Suzuki isn't ignorant to the possibilities of the site. Last year at the Monaco Anime Game Show a French Journalist got Suzuki to admit to the same.

As Eurogamer points out the man has been elusive (to say the least) since the release of the Shenmue II, and it seems from his few words that he continues to be. He did drop the fact that he was working on a new game, though. "Just now, I don't have anything I can say yet," he smiled, according to Eurogamer. "I can't announce right now - but I'm making something." 

As for Shenmue, the original was really before its time. It hit the Dreamcast in 1999 (2000 in North America and Europe) and was more ambitious than any other game before it, especially . It featured a wide-open world, with a day and night system, weather effects, dozens upon dozens of characters to interact with in order for you to help protagonist Ryo hunt down the man who killed his father. It's one of the first open-world games where you really felt like you were experiencing a living, breathing world, where you had the freedom to do whatever you want- even if that was only to play arcade games (authentic ports of Suzuki classics like Space Harrier!) in the local arcade, or work at a warehouse to make money. 

Shenmue II picked up literally right from where Shenmue finished, with Ryo landing in Hong Kong to continue his search. Pretty much everything was improved from the game, especially the improved action sequences and pacing of the game, although the biggest issue is that story is unfinished. Shenmue III was already all planned out, the storyline all written, but the game never went into production after the second one failed to garner sales despite being considered one of the best games of all time. Part of this was the expense of the Xbox-exclusive North American version (which came with a separate disc that showed all the cinematics from the first game to bring gamers without a Dreamcast up to speed) sold terribly.

Fans have been peititioning for Sega to get to work on Shenmue III for years and years but there's been no movement- perhaps now that they can put up money themselves there will be a possibility that the saga will finally get finished.