Yakuza

Yakuza: Like A Dragon Battle Menus Now Spell ‘SEGA’ Thanks To Joking Tweet

Game development is a collaborative effort between designers, programmers, and writers, which on big productions can number in the hundreds. It can take years to get a specific mechanic or cutscene right, and even then, it might still fall flat with players. But in the case of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, some of the best…

Sega Apologies After Producer Uses Slang To Mock Puzzle-Game Esports Pros

On a recent Sega livestream, Yakuza executive director and producer Toshihiro Nagoshi talked about the company’s iconic puzzle game Puyo Puyo. During the discussion, he said that Puyo Puyo esports players were “serious-looking kids.” He then hemmed and hawed, chuckled, and said that these pros seemed like they eat beef bowls with cheese. Beef bowls…

The Next Yakuza Is Coming In November, But The PS5 Has To Wait

Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the next game in the long-running crime/bike-throwing series, and the first of the post-Kiryu era, has been out in Japan since January. We finally got a Western release date today though, with the game due on most systems in November. That’s Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and, best of all, PC (previous…

Drink Up This Video Game Booze

What better way to celebrate 60 years of Sega, 40 years of Pac-Man and the Yakuza games than by drinking sake. Hiroshima brewery Miyake Honten, makers of Sempuku brand sake, has brewed anniversary sake for Sega and Namco’s Pac-Man, with the brews bottled in special anniversary bottles. This certainly isn’t the first video game branded…

The Meaning Of Yakuza‘s Tattoos

In Japan, tattoos and the yakuza often seem inseparable. Not every gangster has a tattoo and not everyone with a full bodysuit is a gangster, but when pop culture depicts the underworld, anti-heroes come fully inked. Case in point: the Yakuza games. Skin deep they are not. But the same goes for Japanese tattoos, which…

Tekken series director Katsuhiro Harada has finally responded to the popular fan request that Yakuza protagonist Kazuma Kiryu join the cast of Tekken 7 Apparently, the Bandai Namco board members believe Harada himself is a better fit for Yakuza. I’ll take either option, to be honest.

Man Visits Japan Because of The Yakuza Games, Gets On Japanese TV

SuzuKube of French-language game site OtakuGame.Fr traveled all the way from Martinique with something very specific in mind: He wanted to experience the world of the Yakuza games firsthand. As pointed on HachimaKikou (via SoraNews), SuzuKube was interviewed after arriving in Japan for a TV show called You wa Nani Shi ni Nippon e? (Why…

The Weird But Memorable Sidequests Of Yakuza 0

I loved Yakuza movies growing up, and the Yakuza series reminds me of the best of them. I actually enjoyed films like Sympathy for the Underdog, Battles Without Honor and Humanity, and Sonatine more than their mafia-themed cousins we have here in the west. So when Luke wrote his great review of Yakuza 0, I…

The Yakuza 7 mobile is on the streets of Seoul, hoping to get PS4 owners excited for its January release in South Korea. In case you missed it, read Kotaku’s impressions of the game from this year’s Tokyo Game Show. [Thanks, Sang for the tip!]

He’s back! Kazuma Kiryu makes an appearance in the latest Yakuza 7 (aka Yakuza: Like a Dragon) trailer. The game, which Kotaku checked out at this year’s Tokyo Game Show, stars new Ichiban Kasuga as the new series protagonist.  

At this year’s Tokyo Game Show, Archipel (makers of the excellent Toco Toco TV series) ran a series of very cool little interviews after bumping into famous Japanese games developers, like Yakuza’s Toshihiro Nagoshi. 

The Five Best Fishing Mini-Games

Sometimes, between fighting monsters or zombies with swords or guns or whatever, you want to kick back and enjoy a different type of challenge in a video game. Fishing mini-games bring bite-sized blasts of outdoorsmanship to our adventures, and while some players hate them, I’ve found there’s fun to be had when fishing’s done right.…

Finally Playing Judgment Again And Who The Heck Are Any Of These People

The end of the year is always busy here at Kotaku. For many of us, it means a string of reviews to write and games to cover. I’ve gone from Monster Hunter to Greedfall and beyond. Getting the time to circle back and play a game that you missed out on is a fun treat.…

Yakuza 7‘s Big Changes Are Looking Good

Since 2005, Sega has been churning out Yakuza games. They’ve pretty much all followed the same formula: beat-’em-up action, mini-games, some silliness, and riveting drama. Yakuza 7 is different, trading button mashing for role-playing-game-style commands. Gameplay-wise, this is a significant departure for the series. It stars new series protagonist Ichiban Kasuga. This is not his…

Yakuza 7 Announced, Ditches Action Combat For JRPG Battles

The first true post-Kiryu Yakuza game has just been shown off in Tokyo, and Yakuza 7 is changing up more than just its location. Set this time in Yokohama, and featuring new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga (this game was actually very softly announced in March, this is just a more formal and informative reveal) the game…

The Curse Of The Yakuza Games

The Yakuza games and their spin-offs have long starred some of Japan’s biggest celebrities. Now that some of those celebs have ended up in trouble, there are rumblings of a Yakuza curse. Dun dun dun. Earlier this year, actor and musician Pierre Taki, who appeared in the Yakuza spin-off Judgment, was picked up on drug…

Judgment: The Kotaku Review

Yakuza 6 closed the book on the story of fabled gangster Kazuma Kiryu, but Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio’s relentless release schedule cannot be stopped. While we know the developer is capable of different (and brilliant) things—see Binary Domain—they’ve decided to stick with the Yakuza formula in all but name with their latest game Judgment, out…

I Asked The Localization Director of Yakuza and Judgment To Tell Me A Bedtime Story

On the last night of E3 2019, as I teetered on the precipice of rest, I talked to Scott Strichart, localization director of the Yakuza series and Judgment—which is out today, by the way. He —came to my hotel room in Los Angeles for the most last-second interview possible. We discussed his career (he worked…

The Intro To Judgment, The Yakuza Team’s Latest Game, Is Perfect For Its Detective Soap Opera Vibe

Judgment, out tomorrow for Playstation 4, is the latest game from the makers of Yakuza, and it thrusts players into the shoes of a stylish private detective trying to solve a violent murder. One of Judgment’s greatest strengths is how much it leans into its television influences in order to craft a mood worthy of…

Yakuza Kiwami 2 Has Some Of The Series’ Highest Highs And Lowest Lows

Sega’s been giving out Yakuza games like candy, and I am not complaining. Last year, Yakuza Kiwami’s remaster of the first game helped new fans experience an old class. Now, we have Yakuza Kiwami 2 and while not everything from the old game holds up, there’s still a lot to love. This piece was first…