I’m probably still dreaming.

Reading the news about the Shenmue III E3 reveal through bleary eyes, I was sure I wasn’t awake yet. I was just thirteen the first time I saw the end credits roll for Shenmue II, and hope for a sequel had diminished in the fourteen long years that had since passed.

I’ve written a few words on the history of Shenmue and its importance to the medium of video gaming. In short, from the first preview images I saw of Shenmue, it was apparent that this was a project of ambition and passion, venturing beyond previous technological limitations to make more than a game: visuals that strove for both realism and beauty, a world of hundreds of characters, all with their own voice and daily routine, and a soundtrack comprised of pieces from some of the most talented Japanese composers.

All of this stemmed from the vision of one man, Sega’s Yu Suzuki, who had already established a reputation as an innovator by the time of Shenmue’s release: from the white-knuckle thrills of Hang-On which saw players straddle a replica motorcycle, to spearheading the first 3D racing and fighting games with Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter, going so far as to employ military technology from Lockheed Martin to have texture-mapped polygons for the sequel to the latter, Suzuki’s ambition was limitless. While his innovations would serve as foundations for games from other developers, Suzuki never rested on his laurels, always keen to move onto something completely new.

And here on my laptop screen was the KickStarter web page for Shenmue III. The funding total rose by the second, breaking records in the process.

I quickly pledged more money than was sensible, but could only dream of being one of the lucky few $10,000 backers who would have dinner with Yu Suzuki in Monaco, LA or Tokyo. To have the chance to thank him, let alone ask the multitude of questions I had whirling around my head all these years...

Trying to put such thoughts out of my mind, in the final days of the KickStarter campaign the Monaco dinner slated for February 2016 was made all the more enticing by the addition of a planning meeting for Shenmue III in the nearby picturesque town of Èze.

“Azure Sky of the Alleyway” by Yu Suzuki

At the same time, a fellow Shenmue fan going by “yuc02” posted on ShenmueDojo.net that he was looking for a plus-one if someone would help pay a little towards it. While he wasn’t asking for much, it was still a leap of faith to trust an anonymous person on the Internet with any amount of money.

After a few phone calls and emails to yuc02 my concerns were assuaged and we came to an arrangement. In the ensuing months, though, I kept the news from friends and family, convinced that something would go catastrophically wrong before I could meet the man responsible for conceiving of my favourite video game series of all time.

In the months leading up to the dinner, yuc02 and I would meet up a few times to get to know each other and to organise the trip. Over lunch he asked if I had given any thought to what I was going to ask Yu Suzuki.

In truth, I had devoted an inordinate amount of time to drafting four pages worth of questions to Suzuki, with topics ranging from Shenmue to the multitude of games he had worked on in the late 2000s that never saw release. I eventually whittled the document down to a mere two pages, but even then I doubted how many I would be able to ask during a single meal without being a nuisance.

Sharing Suzuki’s passion for cars and interest in China thanks to his own heritage, yuc02 planned to ask him about his work on games such as Ferrari F355 Challenge and the aspects of Chinese culture that would be present in Shenmue III.

On the 26th of February we flew out to Nice, spending the day seeing the sights of the French coastal city. Though we had rotten luck with the weather that weekend, we hardly cared about a spot of rain.

Taking a train to Monaco in the early hours of the morning the following day, we stood in line outside the Grimaldi Forum for the 2nd annual MAGIC (Monaco Anime Game International Conferences), hosted by Shibuya Productions, co-producers on Shenmue III. With the first presentation of the day being given by Yu Suzuki, we were determined to be there front row centre.