Funding the next chapter
July 21, 2015 | 19:02 | Written by: snake911
Look what I have gone and done. I already spent all of my free cash for the month by giving it to the Shenmue 3 Kickstarter. Even though I was happy to see Yu Suzuki getting the opportunity to continue his epic story, I wasn’t sure if it was something I wanted to assist with by contributing to his Kickstarter (since it was already funded just hours after it was announced). I thought about it for a long while before finally deciding to pull the trigger just shortly before the campaign ended -- and I was happy to do it.
I really respect Yu Suzuki for all of his contributions to video games. From his pseudo-3D sprite-scaling games from the ‘80s like Hang-On and Out Run where he added unique controllers to the arcade machines for players to experience, to the ‘90s where he introduced 3D polygonal based gaming with Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter. But his most ambitious project was Shenmue, a game that incorporates a few different genres plus added a few new gaming elements to the mix. Originally planned as a grand 15 chapter story, it was left incomplete for many years where only two games were released.
I’ve always appreciated the series from a distance but never actually played the games myself. My brother bought the original game when it came out back in 2000, and I watched him play the majority of the game, but I never saw the ending. Similarly, I watched my cousin play through a huge chunk of the sequel when it came out for the Xbox, but I never saw the ending. I’m so glad I was able to get both games for myself before sellers on eBay decided the price for these games need to be doubled what they were following the announcement of Shenmue 3. I also have both the Dreamcast and Xbox connected to my TV ready to play.
Now with the third game beginning development and my added contribution to its funding, this seems like a good time and incentive to actually play the games. I’m planning to start playing the first game soon and am excited as ever to return to Yokosuka and experience the world of Shenmue firsthand.
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