Yu Suzuki, creator and director of the cult-classic Shenmue series, has expressed a desire to make a prequel in the vein of Yakuza 0.
Shenmue (1990) and Shenmue II (2001) are open-world action-adventure titles initially released for the Dreamcast. They were considered unprecedented technological marvels at the time, with fully detailed 3D worlds that allowed you the player to explore and inspect nearly every nook and cranny. What’s more, the series was one of the first to pioneer quick-time events (QTE) and mini-games.
Shenmue III (2019), released for PS4 and PC, was a project fans had waited 18 years to get, and it was successfully funded through Kickstarter. Although it was built with fresh technology using Unreal Engine 4, it managed to encapsulate the exact clunky feeling of the movement, combat, exploration, and mini-games to feel just like the original games.
Yu Suzuki spent 18 years as the head of SEGA’s AM2 team, and is famous for his legendary arcade works like Space Harrier (1985), After Burner (1987), and of course, 3D titles like Virtua Fighter (1993).
The Yakuza series, which began with the 2005 PlayStation 2 title of the same name, (known today as Like a Dragon) was created by Toshihiro Nagoshi, the same man who worked directly under Suzuki during the creation of Shenmue. It inherits virtually all major gameplay elements from Shenmue, but vastly improves them in a way that makes the experience approachable for most audiences.
Unfortunately, without the refinements and modernization seen in the Yakuza series that came after, Shenmue III failed to sell beyond its core niche audience, and the ending left many fans feeling empty and betrayed by its cliffhanger.
In an interview with IGN Japan, Suzuki did not confirm plans for Shenmue 4 but did discuss more broad ideas for where the series could go next if it were allowed. One of these ideas is a prequel designed in the vein of Yakuza 0, which became an entry point for many new fans of the franchise and is considered by most to be the best title in the series.
When asked if he had thought of a similar approach to take the next Shenmue game, he said, “I think recreating the streets of Debuita with modern visuals on a new engine alone would make it worth doing. It also connects to the topic of not simply expanding in size. Making an even more detailed Debuita than the original Shenmue is an interesting idea, especially if it’s not a remake but a prequel with a new story.”
Still, Suzuki reiterates that if he’s ever able to make Shenmue 4 a reality, he wants to make it more accessible to new players. He said, “To make that possible, the most important thing is to make it enjoyable without knowing previous events in the story. I don’t think that a new player wants to know 100% of the story. 20 or 30% could be enough.”
He continued by reviewing Shenmue III, saying “In Shenmue 3, we implemented a digest movie that teaches the player the main events of the previous games, but for Shenmue 4 I want to integrate that part into the main game. It would be great if the player could naturally learn about previous events just by playing the game. For example, rather than watch a separate movie, having playable flashbacks could be a way to do it.”
Although it remains unclear if a new Shenmue game is currently in development, Suzuki did confirm to IGN Japan that he is busy working on other projects.