Yu Suzuki has teased that a prequel to 'Shenmue' could be on the way.

The 65-year-old developer released the third instalment of the to classic Sega video game series - which follows teenage martial artist Ryo Hazuki as he travels through 1980s Japan and China in pursuit of his father's killer - on PS4 and Windows in 2019 and has now explained that whilst he "cannot say much" about the franchise's future, there could be a prequel in that would see him "recreate" the streets of Dobuita.

He told IGN Japan: "I have [thought about it]. I cannot go into detail at this point, but it is something I have been thinking about. I think recreating the streets of Dobuita 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 Dobuita than the original Shenmue is an interesting idea, especially if it’s not a remake but a prequel with a new story."

The gaming developer added that he wants the potential prequel of the game to be "enjoyable" for newcomers to the franchise and doesn't believe they would want to know all of the stories that came beforehand.

He added: "I want 'Shenmue 4' to be enjoyable for newcomers.

"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.

“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 watching a separate movie, having playable flashbacks could be a way to do it.”