Shenmue III backer’s edition
Shenmue III with backer-exclusive case
Platform: PlayStation 4
Year: 2019
Region: PAL
At E3 2015, during the PlayStation media briefing, Yu Suzuki announced plans to develop Shenmue III, the long-awaited sequel to the original Dreamcast cult classics. The game would be funded through a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter. Suzuki appeared on stage to officially count down to the start of the crowdfunding campaign. It became the fastest campaign on the platform, reaching its $2 million goal in under seven hours, and ended up being the highest funded video game, with over $6 million, by the end of the campaign.
Now, on November 18th, 2019, the third entry in the story is finally here, 18 years after the previous installment. Those who backed the campaign (upwards from a certain amount) received rewards according to a tier system. This version of the game was sent to anyone who spent $60 or up. It includes a physical version of the game (in this case for PlayStation 4) and an exclusive backer-only case.
The case is a simple paper sleeve featuring the Shenmue logo on the front, and the game’s title below it.

Then there is of course the game itself, the PAL version in this case. The cover features protagonist Ryo Hazuki and Shenhua Ling.

And that’s all there’s to this version. Nothing too fancy, but still a nice little extra for those who helped the game become a reality. For years Shenmue III was just a wish, something many feared would never really happen, so the fact that this game actually exists is sort of a miracle, a term Yu Suzuki used himself when talking about the launch of the game.
