The new studio led by Yakuza and Like A Dragon co-creator Toshihiro Nagoshi is reportedly facing closure after publisher NetEase cut its investment in the fresh-faced developer.

Instrumental in the creation of the Yakuza series and a Sega veteran of three decades, the famed developer opened Nagoshi Studio back in 2021 in partnership with publisher NetEase, the entertainment conglomerate behind several big hitters, including Marvel Rivals and Naraka Bladepoint.

Nagoshi Studio announced its very Yakuza-ish debut game only three months ago, an action brawler called Gang of Dragon, at The Game Awards 2025. But according to a new report from Bloomberg, NetEase plans on pulling funding from the studio later this year.

NetEase allegedly made the decision after finding out that Nagoshi Studio would need another ¥7 billion (about $44.4 million) to complete production, leaving the team's fate up in the air without a financial backer. Nagoshi is apparently seeking outside help and additional funding in other places, but hasn't had any luck so far.

The news is just the latest in a series of cuts NetEase has made in its games division. Worlds Untold, another new team headed by BioWare veterans, also had to pause operations after NetEase pulled funding, while some developers, such as Visions of Mana maker Ouka Studio, were shut down entirely.

For now, check out the new games of 2026 and beyond.

Yakuza / Like a Dragon series producer Masayoshi Yokoyama says the thing he's most proud of is that people can openly enjoy the series now. Hm.

The Yakuza series is 20 years old now, with the first game releasing in Japan on December 8, 2005. Compared to its humble beginnings, the series is somewhat of a powerhouse now, with a new release coming pretty much every year (or three in a year in the case of Feb 2023 – Feb 2024) and a massive worldwide fanbase for a series that didn't even bother releasing in English for a number of entries.

Speaking to PlayStation Blog, Yokoyama was asked what he is most proud of about the series compared to 20 years ago, and he says that it's that "people can finally say they enjoy the Like a Dragon series more openly." He explains, "In the past, it wasn’t something you could really say out loud; its reputation and brand image made it hard to talk about publicly. Back in the early days, even some of the studio developers kept their involvement a secret from their parents or girlfriends."

However, that eventually changed; Yokoyama recalls, "about ten years in, more staff began proudly acknowledging their work on the series," adding, "there was even a case where being part of the project helped someone gain approval for marriage from their partner’s parents. That’s when it really sank in how much the series’ presence and perception in the world had evolved."

Yokoyama didn't specify what exactly made it such a touchy subject, but presumably – based on the brand image comment – it was more to do with the idea of a game where you play as a member of the Japanese Yakuza rather than the wild things that happen in the game, like brawling with a group of men in diapers pretending to be babies. Even if Kiryu is incredibly virtuous and really doesn't commit crimes very often, I can understand why someone playing as a character involved in organized crime would be a hard sell, especially given the reaction to the name of Rockstar's Bully the very next year.

Check out our list of The best Yakuza games, ranked, I have it on good authority some of the Like a Dragon games are on there.

Sega is delisting the original version of Yakuza 0 from console and PC upon the release of the previously Switch 2-exclusive "Yakuza 0 Director's Cut" on new platforms, which is a huge shame.

During the Nintendo Switch 2 reveal direct back in April, Sega and RGG Studio surprised fans by announcing that not only was Yakuza 0 finally coming to Nintendo, but it would be in the form of a new Director's Cut that implements new content like a multiplayer mode, English voice acting, and – most notably – new cutscenes. Everyone was quite excited to have a new version of what many still consider the absolute peak of the franchise… until they played it.

Without giving overt spoilers, the additional cutscenes included in Yakuza 0 Director's Cut are mostly retcons. For a series that already has trouble killing anyone off, the game brings back characters that are ultimately inconsequential, considering the game is a prequel, and their living has had zero impact on the 40-year timeframe since then, and robs their deaths of any emotional power they may have had.

And now with the Director's Cut release coming to other platforms, Sega has announced that as of December 8, when it releases, you will no longer be able to buy the original – and far cheaper – version of Yakuza 0 on PlayStation, Xbox, or Steam. Which not only means you only have access to the more expensive and retconned version, but PS4 and Xbox One-only users will have no way to get the game, as the new release is exclusively coming to PS5 and Xbox Series X|S… oh, and your saves won't transfer between the two either.

However, if you already have Yakuza 0, you are able to upgrade to the Director's Cut for $14.99 (as opposed to $49.99). Meanwhile, Yakuza Kiwami 1 will have a $1.99 upgrade fee, and Yakuza Kiwami 2 upgrades will be totally free. But, you only have a week and change to pick up the original version of Yakuza 0 before it's gone forever.

Sega has previously delisted titles for new editions, with the original Sonic releases being wiped before Sonic Origins, released and last year removing Sonic Generations from sale ahead of Sonic X Shadow Generations; although the original Generations is still available through a bundle only on Steam, presumably as a favor to that game's rampant modding community (which would be ideal for this one too).

But for one of the best games of all time to get taken away from a console generation and only a version many consider inferior to remain is a big blow to preservation.

Rapid-release "Definitive" editions like Persona 5 Royal could put people off buying games at launch, Sega worries, with players "hesitant to make purchases" when their version could become outdated

Yakuza Kiwami 3, a remake of 2009's Yakuza 3, has been officially revealed by developer RGG Studio during its 2025 Summit presentation While most fans are lukewarm on what's considered to be the weakest game in the series, I for one am delighted to return to sunny Okinawa with Kiryu and his family of adopted orphans. The focus on family life brings out a beautiful paternal quality making the iconic character all the more lovable. What I'm saying is, this game isn't the worst in the series as many would have you believe – Yakuza 4 is.

Yakuza 4 introduced the wonderful Shun Akiyama to the franchise, and boldly served up a squad of playable characters each with their own section of the overarching story, but it's a flawed entry in many ways. It doesn't quite balance the multiple protagonists as well as later entries would do, and the plot is fairly forgettable. The biggest issue, though, goes far beyond such trivial complaints, and it involves a scene with Saejima Taiga.

Trigger warning: this article refers to sexual assault involving a minor.

A needed glow up

We all know the memes about Yakuza 3 being a weak instalment and I'm not arguing against that, even if the golf course minigame is peak. Trading in the bustling streets of Kamurocho for island living is a bold change of pace that doesn't land well with everyone, but Kiryu suits the fatherly role of the third game well.

The upcoming life sim elements of Kiwami 3 will no doubt appeal to modern, post-Stardew-Valley sensibilities. Kiryu cooks, fishes and tends to his vegetable garden. It's not quite Dondoko Island from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, but it looks like a welcome addition to the title nonetheless, and I'm very excited to see how it develops.

Add in the visual glow, refined combat, new story content and Kiryu's striking new shirt, and Yakuza Kiwami 3 looks set to please players more than the original game ever could. What I'm ultimately daring to say is we'll all be quoting Thanos in Avengers: Endgame as we hold our copies of Yakuza 3 Remastered, emotionally declaring "Perhaps I treated you too harshly." Ok, maybe that'll just be me, but the sentiment remains. Also, Yakuza 3 gave us Majima's dope black suit and he's never looked better, not even in his pirate apparel.

The real worst game

Even without the updated visuals and added content, Yakuza 3 stands above its direct sequel Yakuza 4. The latter game features one particularly vile moment that didn't sit right with me when I first played it and remains a sickening memory now. The instance in question involves protagonist Saejima Taiga, sworn brother of series favourite Majima.

The problem is Saejima Taiga's section of the story sees him come within dangerous proximity of committing sexual assault against Haruka, Kiryu's adopted daughter who has featured in the Like a Dragon series ever since its original 2005 game. Fresh out of prison, Saejima pounces on Haruka after she checks on his recovery, and the tension as they stare at each other is stomach churning.

I must stress that Saejima does stop himself before anything else happens, but to see a child in such a situation is disgusting. Haruka is completely at his mercy, and our attachment to her further hammers home what an evil thing it is to even contemplate what Saejima's is apparently considering.

To make it worse still, Kiryu shows an almost unnatural level of mercy. I know there's the argument that the Dragon of Dojima has softened since taking over the orphanage, but it's never sat right with me that he shows such leniency towards Saejima. I don't blame Kiryu of course, I blame the writers at RGG Studio who decided this is how such a scenario should play out.

Today should be a happy day. A new Like a Dragon game has been officially revealed, and in my section of the gaming world that's about as good as it gets. I've meant to replay Yakuza 3 for a while now, so the prospect of an updated version with plenty extra added on is sumptuous, and when it releases in February 2026 I will be there day one on the virtual shores of Okinawa, enjoying what RGG serves up. Instead, I've been reminded of this incredible franchise's lowest moment.

Whether your new to Like a Dragon or firm fan, here's why you should play Yakuza 0 (again).

After leaking the title last week, Sega has confirmed that Yakuza Kiwami 3 is real, and the remake is coming with a brand new expansion focusing on the game's antagonist.

RGG Studio held its RGG Summit stream for Tokyo Game Show 2025 earlier today, and during the event it was revealed that yes, Yakuza Kiwami 3 is happening. It's coming out on February 11, 2026 and to make things more confusing, the series is back to using the Yakuza name for this one instead of "Like a Dragon". This remake follows the Kiwami way by remaking the game from scratch while introducing new scenes to flesh out the story with new minigames (including actually letting you do tasks at the orphanage) and fighting styles for good measure.

This remake also introduces an English dub to the game with Yong Yea returning as Kiryu and Goofy himself, Bill Farmer, returning as Makoto Date. However, due to some of the recastings, there are some new looks for the characters. My boy Rikiya looks like he got hit with the Spider-Man Remastered treatment making him into a pretty boy, while Nakahara has de-aged about 20 years.

While Kiwami 3 wasn't a surprise thanks to Sega's leak, we were surprised by Sega pulling a Sonic x Shadow Generations and announcing Dark Ties – a story expansion following the game's antagonist Yoshitaka Mine. Dark Ties seemingly follows the character's fall from a successful business man to when he makes a name for himself in the underworld and eventual turns into who we see in Yakuza 3, while exploring his relationship with Daigo Dojima.

This marks the first time you'll be able to play as a main antagonist in a mainline Yakuza game (Dead Souls isn't mainline and Majima isn't a main antagonist, don't start). Mine is a popular character despite only appearing in one game, and while truthfully I wasn't bothered about the prospect of a Kiwami 3, I'm certainly interested now.

Giving that Elden Ring co-op modder a run for their money, there's now a Yakuza 5 mod that lets you play with a friend or AI-controlled Ichiban.

A new Roblox licensing plan could result in Like a Dragon spin-offs being developed in the online playground, as long as it sticks to canon.

I played Roblox not long after it first launched back in 2006, and something I thought was pretty fun, albeit basic at the time, has somehow become the biggest thing on the planet. That's thanks in part to the massive creative community who have made full-blown games of their own on the platform. This then naturally extended to crossovers, with Sega releasing an official Sonic the Hedgehog Roblox game a few years back.

Looks like Sega isn't done with the platform, however, as Game File reports that as part of a new “License Manager” tool, companies can solicit submissions for user-made games featuring their characters, with Netflix, Lionsgate, and Sega on board. However, rather than looking for the obvious choice of Sonic fan games for Roblox's mostly child-filled audience, Sega is interested in Roblox users making games with the mature-rated Like a Dragon series. The company will consider submissions of Like a Dragon-based Roblox games that have an average of 1,000 daily players.

But there's a catch, as Sega wants these games to remain faithful to the lore. In the report, Sega says, "To ensure consistency and alignment with the official canon, all fan-created content based on the Like a Dragon IP should primarily reference the story, characters, and settings as depicted in the official Like a Dragon mainline video game series." It adds, "While we encourage creative expression, please make sure your works stay true to the world and lore as portrayed in these canonical entries." Of course, that doesn't mean that the Roblox-made games will be considered canon, even if Sega takes them on.

RGG Studio already makes a ton of Like a Dragon games, with four entries releasing between February 2023 and February 2025 – three of those being in less than a year, so I can't say I see myself turning to Roblox to get my fix of the series.

I was sad it wasn't Judgment 3 at first, but RGG has officially sold me on its gritty, time-hopping, jazzy action game now officially titled Stranger Than Heaven.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii asks the very important question: 'How do you top a series as silly and zany as Yakuza?' The answer was found at sea by putting fan favorite Majima in command of a pirate ship, duh, but the game's chief director and producer Ryosuke Horii thought it was important to avoid outside influences.

In an interview with Automaton, Horii jokes that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's pivot from urban maps to naval ones "was as if a construction company suddenly decided to build a ship." You might think the game's lead would want to familiarize himself with some other games set on the high seas, but as Horii explains, he didn't want to be unconsciously influenced.

In fact, he actively avoided playing games focused on ship-to-ship combat like Sea of Thieves, Skull and Bones, or any of the Assassin's Creed games where you can command a ship – AC 3, Black Flag, and Odyssey, for example.

"I think it's fine for other members of the team to play [other games with similar themes] and use them as inspiration, but as the person making the final decisions, if I were to get used to how naval combat works in other games, my sense of what feels right for Yakuza players – who might have never played those types of games before – could get distorted," he explains.

"We set our goals very clearly, so while we may struggle with how to get there, we rarely lose sight of our direction," he adds.

For Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, the producer says he focused on the "uniqueness and realism that is typical of the franchise" – this is a series that'll have you go from laughing at nappy-wearing gangsters to crying at an old couple's final goodbye within seconds, after all. So Horii simply applied that to naval battles. "I tried to think of something uniquely Yakuza-like that would satisfy these requirements."

10 years after Yakuza 0, Majima's swashbuckling return finally puts a bowline knot on decades of character growth

From an outside perspective, Like a Dragon games can look intimidating. Formerly known as Yakuza, the franchise is stacked with top-tier titles to the point where I'm often asked which game newcomers should begin with. Should it be the original Yakuza from 2005? Its 2016 remake Yakuza Kiwami? How about the most recent one, Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii?

There's no shortage of places you could start with, but I recommend you choose none of the above as Yakuza 0 – the series' prequel title – is not just the ideal starting point for Sega's open-world adventures, but also one of the most accessible entry points in the history of video games.

From the beginning

Set in 1988, you begin as Kazuma Kiryu, a junior member of an organized crime syndicate known as the Tojo Clan. After a bit of low-level professional thuggery yields unexpected consequences, our protagonist draws the ire of his Yakuza superiors. Yakuza is a big part of the series, as the game name can attest, which is why it's a bit surprising when Kiryu quits the crime business in chapter one.

As tantalizing as this premise already is, We're only at the tip of Yakuza 0's intrigue. Such gripping mystery is a trademark of the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise, and the prequel is one of the strongest examples of what developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio can do with a narrative. Newcomers especially benefit, as much of what follows canonically in subsequent series entries calls back to it.

While you could roll credits in around 30 hours, the appeal of Kamurocho – the semi-fictional pleasure district – means you'll likely double that playtime. Its many faces, bars, and minigames all jostle for your attention; and as you pound the streets and goons who dare square up to you, it's hard to resist veering into an arcade or karaoke bar. Side quests lie in wait everywhere, adding even more depth to the world while also fleshing out Kiryu. These details set up your relationship with the man for games to come by showing you his development from the beginning, along with the world that shaped him – creating a sense of attachment you just don't get from other Yakuza games.

It takes two

Yakuza 0 has multiple chapters where you play as Kiryu, which largely take place in Kamurocho. But in between these segments, you're swapped over to Sotenbori, another location based on the real life Japanese district of Dotonbori in Osaka, where you take on the role of Goro Majima.

Offering a different personality and array of fighting styles to Kiryu, Majima's tale introduces a franchise favourite with aplomb by showing how he both contrasts and compares to Kiryu, establishing the iconic duo in a depth that best benefits newcomers.

While the original Yakuza and Kiwami remake portray Majima as a violent but caring wildcard seen only through Kiryu's perspective, Yakuza 0 puts you in control of the man for that extra level of connection. You become Majima, and as a result, you see the rest of the series from another viewpoint, enhancing the overall experience.

Although it's not the first game in terms of release, or in the official series running order, Yakuza 0 delivers everything that makes the Like a Dragon franchise so celebrated. It's a game about heart, both of its character and locations, and this is a core theme of the series, with Yakuza 0 arguably being the finest example.

Of course, as a prequel there are some elements of Yakuza 0 that better serve veterans. There are callbacks to previous Yakuza titles that will be lost on newcomers, but your overall experience won't be any lesser despite the lack of deeper knowledge. If anything, it'll enhance your new game plus run when you return to Yakuza 0 after rolling on credits on Yakuza 6: The Song of Life – because trust me, you will.

Yakuza 0 is the best entry point, but see where it ranks on our list of the best Yakuza games.

Hidenari Ugaki, the voice actor behind fan-favorite Yakuza anti-hero Goro Majima, pitched a game based on his own character to studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama and was told "that's not going to happen." Two years later, we're getting exactly that in Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii.

Of course, Majima has appeared as a prominent character and even a playable protagonist in a number of Yakuza games, but there's never been a game solely focused on him. We're finally getting one, but only after Ugaki's pitch was pretty soundly rejected by Yokoyama, as the voice actor recounts in a recent interview with Famitsu.

"At that time, I said, 'How about this time it's not 'Ryu ga Gotoku' but 'Hannya Ga Gotoku' and Majima plays the main character?'", Ugaki said (via machine translation), referencing Majima's prominent back tattoo inspired by Hannya of Japanese folklore. "But while I was saying that, Yokoyama-san said, 'That's not going to happen,' and I remember being disappointed (laughs)."

Although anyone with even a cursory understanding of the Yakuza series could've predicted a full-blown Majima game would be wildly unhinged, I don't think anyone expected the swashbuckling pirate game set in Hawaii we're getting on February 8. RGG even added Majima's Hannya tattoo to the Like a Dragon series' 20th anniversary logo.

"But despite what he said, 'Ryu ga Gotoku 8 Gaiden' was produced, and the 20th anniversary logo of 'Ryu ga Gotoku' featured not only a dragon but also Hannya in large size, which made me feel glad that I had played Goro Majima."

Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, a title I struggle to take seriously even by Yakuza standards, takes place six months after last year's Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, seeing Majima inexplicably take on the pirate life after washing ashore in Hawaii and being saved by a young boy named Noah.

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii revives another Sega arcade classic that's never been ported - a true Yakuza games tradition.

Sunkissed water dances along the shore. Watching over it – in full pirate regalia – is the iconic Goro Majima, the titular character of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. As I step into his sandy boots, I'm in awe. It's been a decade since we first got to play as Majima in 2015's Yakuza 0, and he's come a long way from the streets of Osaka, Japan, where the bulk of his story in that game took place. However, there is more than a touch of the familiar for returning fans.

Set six months after 2024's turn-based RPG Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, Majima now finds himself in Hawaii. After washing ashore dehydrated and amnesiac before being saved by a young boy called Noah, Majima befriends a cat called Goro (that is almost definitely a tiger), and sets out to become a pirate. It's a reach beyond the usual soap opera-levels of farce and drama we've come to expect from the series, something RGG Studio chief producer Hiroyuki Sakamoto explained was in an effort to surprise fans. "You have to think of ways to think outside the box," he said, perhaps underselling the situation.

As for why we're getting a pirate spin-off, Sakamoto admits RGG Studio just wanted to think of the weirdest thing Majima could do. "It's Majima. You can't make a serious Majima game."

Those of us who played Yakuza 0, and Kiwami 2's additional content, will know how serious the yakuza-turned-pirate's tale has been at times. If you're concerned the latest Like a Dragon title will abandon that, Sakamoto disagrees. "We want to show people what a Like a Dragon title can be," he said, adding that the game will explore "emotional connections between people."

Blood on the sand

While the deeper story details still remain a mystery to me after roughly two hours with the game, I'm delighted to say that Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a strong return to real-time combat. With two combat styles – Mad Dog and Sea Dog – Majima swings swords, shoots pistols, fires a hook, and delivers the usual flurry of rapid punches and kicks to outfox foes.

The real thrill comes from chaining attacks together using the hook to close distances on enemies before sending them into the air and jumping up to combo them like a swashbuckling Spider-Man, before delivering a devastating blow on the way back down. Other moves of note include throwing swords out as boomerangs before hitting triangle (on PS5) upon their return to administer a heat action, a cinematic sequence where Majima zealously buries his blades into his opponents.

During the session, we were told by RGG staff to be mindful of healing items in our inventory, a friendly warning that was of huge benefit. While the regular enemies that patrol the sunny shores and decks don't ask much of the player, special enemies that give bounties are much tougher. The first one was available at the start of our playtime, and he was a fun challenge as I figured out the controls. However, there's a whole other kind of combat to master in this game.

All hands on deck

The rest of Majima's adventure plays out on the ocean, with an enormous pirate ship under his command. When the initial trailer dropped, comparisons were made to Assassin's Creed: Black Flag, and it's easy to see why. Sailing the waters around Hawaii grants access to other islands, including full areas to explore and some smaller ones with treasure to be found. But upon the waves, there be scallywags, and Like a Dragon's new nautical combat comes in here.

Your vessel can be kitted out with various firearms, from machine guns and cannons to flamethrowers, energy beams, and more. The machine guns fire dead ahead, while your other weapons can be mounted on either the starboard or port sides of the ship, meaning you'll need to line up your shots before pulling the trigger. You can also ram into your foes but that may leave your own ship vulnerable, especially when outnumbered.

When engaging ships in the Pirates' Coliseum – a watery arena where you can challenge an array of enemies – you'll need to board the opposition's vessel after reducing their ship's HP to zero. This leads to a brawler section, where Majima and his crew duke it out until one side loses all their sailors. It makes for a climactic ending to the battle, with your crew toasting their success with flagons raised high as Majima gleefully smiles.

Games within a game

Being a Like a Dragon title, there are also plenty of minigames to distract you from Majima's swashbuckling. From karaoke to Dragon Kart, there are plenty of returning fan favorites, as well as card games like blackjack and poker if you're really missing Balatro. The cooking game is particularly useful, serving up an item that can be used to feed Majima and his crew.

Aboard Majima's ship, he can hold feasts and parties to boost his shipmates' experience and morale. You can also interact with individual crew members, offering gifts to raise their levels. It's also worth pointing out that some crew members can be acquired by beating certain enemies in the Coliseum.

Above all, the ability to customize Majima's outfit and ship is what really got its hooks into me. The range of the wardrobe is impressive, featuring all manner of pirate attire –as well as signature looks like Majima's Yakuza 0 outfit, or the Joryu suit from Like a Dragon Gaiden – to name but a few. The ship takes it up a notch, allowing players to paint the whole thing pink with matching accessories in what is clearly a loving tribute to Goromi, Majima's drag persona from Yakuza Kiwami. There are other colors and accessories, but it proved too hard for me to turn down roaming the high seas in my fuchsia flagship. Just call me Go-RRR-omi!

Bring me that horizon

With just over a month until Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii releases, the intriguing tale of Captain Goro Majima is almost here. While I was initially quite relaxed about the wait for the next title in my joint-favorite series (eternally in competition with the Persona franchise), my brief time with the title has me at fever pitch.

The real-time combat feels more exciting than ever with its chaotic combos, while the ship battles add another level of fun. Returning to Hawaii is another boon, as Infinite Wealth's map is huge and packed with things to do. Above all, I just can't wait to find out what the devil is going on with Majima's pirate phase.

New to the Like a Dragon/Yakuza series? Here's our ranked list of the best games in the franchise.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will let you restart the adventure in New Game Plus with a free update coming sometime after launch. It seems the backlash to Infinite Wealth locking the mode behind paid DLC struck a nerve with publisher Sega and developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio.

"We're excited to announce that New Game Plus will be made available for free as a post-release patch," the devs said in a new Like a Dragon Direct detailing Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. "Stay tuned for updates on exact release timing and content."

New Game Plus has been a staple of the Yakuza - and now, Like a Dragon - series for years, but in Infinite Wealth, the only way to access the mode was as part of the deluxe edition or a $20 DLC pack. While Infinite Wealth was otherwise mostly well-received by the community, to say the decision to make New Game Plus part of the DLC was maligned would be an understatement.

The New Game Plus DLC has 93% negative reviews on Steam, and among the many critics was even voice actor Yong Yea, who said on social media that New Game Plus "should be a base feature or free update for any game that supports it." Clearly, that sentiment has reached the devs.

The rest of the Like a Dragon Direct was dedicated to breaking down the in-game action, and by gum it looks even more like Assassin's Creed 4: Black Flag every time we see it. The ship combat bears a striking resemblance to that which debuted in the Ubisoft series, but it's a whole lot more ridiculous here, since you can do things like replace your standard cannons with laser beams and rocket launchers. It all looks like a very good time.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is due out on February 21, 2025 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, and PC.

Here are all the new games 2025 and beyond you need to know about.

Yakuza games have a knack for resurrecting oft-forgotten classics from Sega's arcade cabinet era, and the upcoming, delightfully-named Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is continuing the series tradition.

Developer RGG Studios just released a blog post diving deep into all the whacky side activities featured in the latest Yakuza kind-of-spin-off. Chief among them is a arcade game called The Ocean Hunter, which has never been ported off of its cabinet origins since it came out in 1998. It's almost the perfect choice for Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii because, as you can probably guess from its name, the game is all about hunting marine predators like sharks and other underwater monsters. 

"The arcade games that can be played in the Like A Dragon series require the 'reproduction of the cabinet,'" technical lead Yutaka Ito wrote in a recent tweet. "This is also a very difficult task, but with the help of many people, we were able to reproduce the Ocean Hunter cabinet in great detail." You can see the entire cabinet, recreated in painstaking detail, in the tweet above.

Yakuza and Like A Dragon have had a long history of excavating old Sega arcade games, recreating the cabinets, and making the entire things playable within the Yakuza series itself - everything from Daytona USA 2 to Virtua Fighter 2 were ported inside of Yakuza games. And, hey, maybe some of that effort is what led RGG to return to Virtua Fighter with the newly-revealed reboot.

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is also bringing back some other returning favorite mini-games, too, like the burger delivery frenzy from Infinite Wealth, a dating mini-game, and, of course, karaoke, because it wouldn't be a Yakuza game without karaoke.

For now, don’t miss a single exciting launch with our new games of 2025 and beyond release calendar. 

The Persona series has now reached over 23 million players worldwide and Yakuza almost 28 million - and Sega says that this fast-growing success can be attributed to a few key choices regarding games' releases.

According to Sega’s Annual Integrated Report for 2024, both the Persona and Like a Dragon franchises are flying. The former series boasts 23.5 million copies sold while the latter has hit a whopping 27.7 million sales worldwide. These impressive figures include digital and physical sales, with the Persona 5 line of games and spin-off titles accounting for over 10 million copies sold alone - almost half of the series' lifetime sales.

The JRPGs' success, as Sega describes it, comes for a few reasons - with the first being the publisher's multi-platform approach to launches. It also comes down to simultaneous worldwide releases, with statements from one of last year's quarterly reports highlighting plans for future titles like Persona 6 to drop across multiple platforms globally on day one. Sega cites remasters and spin-offs as factors for sales growth, too, with recent examples like Persona 3 Reload.

Earlier this year, the remaster of the beloved 2006 entry was released following the very standards Sega says are responsible for high sales - Persona 3 Reload launched across all systems worldwide at once on February 2. It certainly seems to be working for the company, and as a longtime fan of JRPG series like Persona and action-adventure gems such as Like a Dragon, I'm happy not to have to wait for any delayed global releases.

Not sure what to play next? Here are the best Yakuza games, all ranked conveniently in order for easy browsing.

Like a Dragon games are many things. From heartwarmingly hilarious to as dramatic as a content creator apology video, the franchise formerly known as Yakuza has always offered a complete experience with each entry, from mainline releases to spin-offs. But above all, they are very, very silly, and that's a big reason behind why these games are so beloved.

Since the original Yakuza launched in 2005, we've seen primary protagonist Kazuma Kiryu undertake all manner of hijinks in the name of fun. He's fought tigers, ruined a baseball match by brawling with opposition players, and hired a chicken as a real estate manager, all while keeping a (mostly) straight face, just as any good comic lead should. And yet, there's a game that eclipses all of these events for sheer ludicrousness.

Dawn of the dead

Enter Yakuza: Dead Souls, arguably the silliest installment in developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's action-adventure series. This 2011 title puts Kiryu, along with a host of other playable characters, into a zombie outbreak. The familiar streets of Kamurocho (a fictional version of Kabukicho, Tokyo), once teeming with thugs and goons looking for a scrap, is now littered with reanimated corpses – all desperate to nibble on our heroes.

Due to this bitey behavior, the combat turns away from the franchise's traditional beat 'em up action and instead embraces a third-person shooter design. Seeing well-known brawlers like Kiryu, Goro Majima, Shun Akiyama and Ryuji Goda (all playable at various points) trade in their fists for firepower is a novel change, but one that's easy to get behind, even if the controls aren't the smoothest of the PS3 era. Handguns, shotguns, sniper rifles and more are present as you combat the undead threat rampaging in Tokyo's pleasure district. But, despite the severity of Kiryu's situation, there's a lot to giggle about.

Firstly, the series' signature chaotic humor is still present. Majima, for example, is known for his excessive violence. He was introduced in the original title by knocking seven colors of sorry out a subordinate who disrespects Kiryu, but his larger than life personality shines through in eccentric flourishes. It would be easy to dislike someone so aggressive, but when he is spinning around like a Beyblade, knife in hand, it's hard not to chuckle. Yakuza: Dead Souls further celebrates this, featuring an iconic moment when Majima uses the back end of a shotgun to strike a live grenade like a baseball, launching it directly into a monstrous enemy's maw.

Then we have the surprising return of Ryuji Goda, an antagonist from Yakuza 2. Despite dying in Yakuza 2, he's present and playable in Dead Souls thanks to the zombie shooter being set after an alternate (non-canon, believe it or not) ending. Now expelled from the world of organized crime and working in a takoyaki shop, the blond brute sports a prosthetic arm that can transform into a gatling gun. And you thought hitting a grenade like a baseball was too much?

I could go on and on about how hilarious Yakuza: Dead Souls is – particularly the fact it still has a karaoke minigame despite the apparent end of the world taking place – but I'll restrain myself, adding only that it's incredibly funny to see Kiryu, the infamous Dragon of Dojima, shooting his way through a game. Our boy does rock a handgun from time to time in the mainline series, with the most notable example being when he shoots a helicopter pilot in Yakuza 0, forcing it to crash to the ground and explode (remember, Kiryu never kills people), but Dead Souls takes it to a whole other level. Mowing down countless corpses with any firearm he can find, this is the Kiryu of your most feverish hallucinations, and it never stops feeling as amusing as it does wrong. For this reason alone he deserves to be in Fortnite, but that's an argument for another time.

What Yakuza: Dead Souls offers isn't available from any other game in the franchise. The series' expert blend of violence and humor is front-and-center, combining the skin-crawling threat of reanimated cadavers with the absurdity we love characters like Majima for. It deserves another release, whether as a port, remaster or remake, but if you have a PS3 then I urge you to dive into Kamurocho this Halloween. Sing some songs, shoot some zombies, and enjoy the silliest Like a Dragon game money can buy.

Looking for more games to play this Halloween? Here's our list of the best horror games you can play right now.

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii has a new gameplay trailer with a release date that's a week ahead of the previous one.

Premiering during the Xbox Partner Showcase for October 2024, the new trailer offers up the first look at actual naval combat gameplay, which I presume is at the heart of Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii. We've known from the cinematics in the reveal trailer, as well as just the premise of the game, that there would be ship combat, but this is our first proper glimpse of it in action.

And, well, it looks like Yakuza's take on Assassin's Creed: Black Flag. The trailer shows fan-favorite Yakuza antihero Goro Majima take the helm of a wooden battleship whose hull, sails, figurehead, and trimming can be customized, and cut through waves with his signature crazed determination for violence. An enemy ship approaches and Majima crashes into it and orders his crew to fire, with plenty of boat drifting to go around. 

The combat looks a lot faster than, say, Sea of Thieves, and indeed much more in line with Black Flag. The key difference here, of course, is that this is a Yakuza game, and you're playing as Majima instead of a normal Welsh pirate from a historically grounded alternate universe. This means you'll also stun your enemies with guitar solos, summon sharks and giant monkeys, and swing around the sails of your ship. Basically, everything you'd expect to find in a Majima-focused Like a Dragon game but with series-first naval combat, which all seems so tailor-made to my exact interests that I have trouble believing it's actually real.

Finally, the new trailer revealed that Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is now releasing on February 21, 2025, instead of February 28 as originally planned. This puts it ahead of the Monster Hunter Wilds release date, which doesn't seem like a coincidence. 

After 13 Yakuza games and 20 years, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is finally adding a jump button that could open up some wild minigame potential.

Sequels sometimes have a tough time attracting new players who don't want to catch up on a dozen games beforehand, but the next Yakuza is bypassing that problem by simply knocking its protagonist on the head really, really hard. 

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was announced as the hilariously-named spin-off starring none other than Goro Majima who's taking the lead role for the first time ever. Set around six months after Infinite Wealth, Majima washes up on a Hawaiian beach alone and with no memory of who he is or where he's come from - only that he can still fight like someone who's been throwing it down since the PS2.

"Majima fills in the holes in his memory little by little as he goes about doing various things," series executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama explains in an interview with Famitsu, translated by Automaton.

But Majima's shaky grasp of his entire history also means that Pirate Yakuza is "the game least shackled to past events in the Like a Dragon series," and consequently, it's the most friendly to newcomers who don't want to binge eight mainline games before the new one drops on February 28, 2025.

Attracting newcomers wasn't the goal from the outset, however. Yokoyama says that developer RGG Studios was, as always, focused on making a damn entertaining story. And this time, the team apparently wanted to peel back the layers and zone in on "seeing the real Majima" who's been divorced from his association as a "legendary gangster." Now, he's just a 'wannabe pirate.' Being newcomer-friendly was just an added bonus.

In an era where sequels take years, Baldur’s Gate 3 developer calls Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii’s quick turnaround “genius shit.” 

Developer RGG Studio's knack for pumping out great Yakuza games on an almost yearly basis is once again getting attention, especially in an era where big-budget sequels can take more than half a decade to make. 

Sega and RGG this week announced that the sixth Yakuza game in five years, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, would be releasing next February. That means the swashbuckling action spin-off is coming out just a year after the last mainline entry, this year's Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, proving that Yakuza fans, as always, stay well fed. 

Baldur's Gate 3 publisher director Michael 'Cromwelp' Douse reacted to the news, calling it some "genius sh*t." He points to how each game in the series iterates on the last, instead of throwing all the work away and building something new. "Fractal design," he tweets. "Persistence where it matters, renewal where it makes sense. Economically solid, but also in terms of managing a community it’s huge. Sports games been doing it for years. Unsure as to why more don’t."

Call of Duty, Just Dance, and some sports games aside, the days of annual series are pretty much over. There were a good few years where we'd get a new Halo and Assassin's Creed annually, but ballooning game budgets and gamer expectations that every new entry should be an 'evolution' have put a stop to that. 

Rather than rebooting everything from scratch after each game, RGG Studios is known for re-using assets, locations, minigames, and there are even some animations that haven't changed in years. Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama recently talked about how other series - like GTA or Assassin's Creed - practically "reinvent a large portion of the game" in between instalments, but Yakuza's secret ingredient is how it iterates on what came before.

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, for example, is building off of the action combat the series was once known for and it's re-using the main Hawaiian town that hosted the majority of Infinite Wealth's events. Oh, it is adding a jump button for the first time in the series, though. That could be huge, genuinely... Well, mostly for the Yakuza minigame freaks among us.

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii leaked months ago, but it was so ridiculous no one believed it was real. 

Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was revealed earlier today, setting up the bizarre story of fan-favorite Goro Majima donning buccaneer cosplay and sailing the high seas. In the wake of the announcement, people are suddenly starting to remember that an accurate outline of the entire game actually leaked months ago - it was just so ridiculous nobody believed it was true.

The old leak originated from a 4chan post back in May, and given the impossibility of verifying information on that forum - anybody can hop on there and make whatever claims they want - nobody paid it too much mind. I mean, come on, we're looking at claims like: "story has Majima becoming lost at sea and losing his memory which results in him getting involved with a pirate feud." Who'd believe it?

Except, of course, it all turned out to be true, from Majima's starring role to the fact that there's a swashbuckling fighting style. The leak even claimed that the "central areas include reusing Hawaii, the 'Madlantis' island, and new hub area that acts as a base." That's a level of specificity that's impossible to put up to pure coincidence.

Screenshots of the leak are all over social media right now, and you can follow that link if you want to see it for yourself, but be warned that there are a few details in there that have not yet been officially revealed.

The leak itself seemed so ridiculous - and so impossible to verify - at the time that it didn't take hold, but there were a few people who remembered it. In advance of the Ryu Ga Gotoku Summit, another round of much vaguer leaks seemingly pointing at the new Like a Dragon game began to circulate, and a few users were brave enough to just straight-up call this a pirate game ahead of the reveal. For once - and possibly only once - listening to a 4chan leak managed to pay off.

After 13 Yakuza games and 20 years, Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is finally adding a jump button that could open up some wild minigame potential.

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is just as bonkers as the name makes it sound, but next year's swashbuckling action spin-off also pushes the series forward in some key ways.

Announced at today's RGG Summit 2024 as a follow-up to Infinite Wealth's Hawaiian antics, Pirate Yakuza is a first in many respects. It's Goro Majima's first time leading a game all on his lonesome after holding on to his undefeated Fan Favorite Side Character belt for over a decade. It's the first time, in any piece of media, that I've seen yakuza-pirate mutants. And it's the first-ever game in the series to introduce a jump button.

I just heard your collective eyes roll from across the other side of the internet, but hey, a jump button in a series as audacious as Like A Dragon is no small feature to scoff at. Since Pirate Yakuza is going back to the series' button-mashing routes, jumping definitely means we'll be able to juggle a couple of criminals in mid-air, and some combat clips have already given us a taste of Majima's off-the-wall abilities, shadow clone jutsu included.

Sure, it'll be nice to jump over ledges and deliver follow-up whacks to an enemy I've just uppercutted. But what gets me more excited is the potential of all those new minigames. 2D platforming minigames, Sonic homages, garbage-collectathon minigames across Hawaii's roofs - anything's possible. Infinite Wealth already riffed on Pokemon Snap for its "sickos" minigame, so who's to say this upcoming game won't parody Mario or something? Either way, Yakuza's always gone in the most unexpected directions with its minigames, and having another traversal ability opens the door up to all-new possibilities. 

Yakuza has seen a “large increase in new fans, including women,” but the JRPG series will continue being about “middle-aged guy things.” 

Here's something I guarantee no one expected. Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is the next game in the storied, always surprising series - and it's coming out little over a year after the last Yakuza JRPG.

Developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios announced the next spin-off today at its annual RGG Summit. Set after the events of this year's Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth, the next game sees fan-favorite recurring badass Goro Majima waking up on a beach close to Hawaii with none of his memories intact, before quickly donning the titular Pirate Yakuza suit for some high-seas crime-busting. He does have an eyepatch already, to be fair, so this was the perfect time to have him lead a game for the very first time.

Like A Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii comes out on PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox One on February 28, 2025. If you're keeping track, Infinite Wealth only launched this January, so that's a pretty unbelievable turnaround in an era where big-budget sequels can sometimes take half a decade to release.

Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama previously explained that, in stark contrast to your GTAs or Assassin's Creeds, Yakuza is a series that continually iterates on what came before to quickly get out new sequels. Pirate Yakuza seems to be following the same formula, as some shots in the announcement trailer has Majima walking around the same Hawaiian streets that were in Infinite Wealth, plus an all-new island and an entire city built on a "ship graveyard" called Madlantic, naturally.

RGG Studio has confirmed that the mainline Like A Dragon games will remain as turn-based RPGs, but that means the spin-offs that bookend each mainline adventure can iterate on Yakuza's button-mashing action. Majima can jump for the first time in series history, switch between at least two stances, and has access to a bunch of whacky, surreal moves ripped straight out of Ichiban's imagination. Oh, and there'll of course be more substories and minigames to get lost in.

Yakuza has seen a “large increase in new fans, including women,” but the JRPG series will continue being about “middle-aged guy things.” 

Anyone who's played Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth probably remembers its outrageous Sicko Snap minigame - a spin on Pokemon Snap that has our protags taking pictures of muscly half-naked men  - but it wasn't included purely for the shock value.

According to the game's director Ryosuke Horii and game design supervisor Hirotaka Chiba who spoke to Automaton about the minigame, Sicko Snap actually fixed a very real problem elsewhere in the Yakuza RPG, even if it made the producers ask, "What the hell is this?" 

"Sicko Snap was not originally planned, as opposed to minigames like Crazy Delivery and Dondoko Island, which were a part of the original proposal," Horii explains. "Sicko Snap was the result of our attempts to solve a problem that arose during development."

When developer RGG began implementing trolleys, a common form of public transport in the game's real-life Hawaii counterpart, the team soon discovered that the rides "felt kind of boring" because the sluggish vehicles were too slow and cramped to fit any battles inside. That's when Horii thought of adding a picture-taking minigame to the trolley rides, though it was first focused on dogs, not sickos.

"There was the issue of regular dogs on the map being indistinguishable from dogs placed for the purpose of the minigame, but also, it felt kind of ordinary," Horii adds. "There’s no good reason one would take pictures of dogs either. We needed something a little more 'out there.'" When the team "tried putting in sickos wearing nothing but a pair of panties," that's when the mini-game finally clicked into place for Horii since "they really stood out against the background nicely."

"There's nothing wrong with dogs, but we weren’t sure if it was the right choice for Infinite Wealth," Chiba adds. As bonkers as Sicko Snap is, it fits right in with the diaper-wearing gangs, queer crustacean substories, and overall zaniness carved into every other Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth moment - and I hope it only continues in whatever the Yakuza studio announces in September. 

Yakuza has seen a “large increase in new fans, including women,” but the JRPG series will continue being about “middle-aged guy things.” 

Despite an influx of new fans, the long-running Yakuza (now Like a Dragon) series will continue being about "middle-aged guy things," according to the studio leads at Ryu Ga Gotoku.

"I think that this is precisely one of Like a Dragon’s selling points," said series director Ryosuke Horii in an interview with Automaton. "In Yakuza: Like a Dragon, everything starts with three unemployed middle-aged guys being like 'Let’s go to Hello Work.' They have a different air about them than a group of young heroes would, complaining about back pain and the like. But this 'humanity' you feel from their age is what gives the game originality."

Aside from the prequel entry Yakuza 0, in which lead protagonist Kazuma Kiryu is only 20, the mainline Yakuza games all center around men nearing or over 40 years of age. Kiryu is 37 in the first Yakuza and 55 in the most recent entry, Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, while his co-lead protagonist Ichiban Kasuga is 42 when he makes his first appearance in Yakuza: Like a Dragon and 46 in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. While the story includes a diverse cast of characters of all ages, the main focus is on middle-aged members of various Yakuza families in Japan trying and often failing to separate themselves from the seedy underbelly of society.

Like a Dragon series lead planner Hirotaka Chiba added, "We’re making the hearty talks of middle-aged dudes our identity, rather than youthfulness," pointing to a scene in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth where one of the lead heroes, Koichi Adachi, voices reservations about drinking beer "because he's worried about his uric acid level."

"We have had a large increase in new fans, including women, which we’re truly happy and grateful for," said Horii. "However, we don’t plan to do anything like deliberately changing conversation topics in order to cater to new fans. That would make us unable to keep talking about things like uric acid levels… (laughs)"

Chiba cited another scene in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth in which Seonhee and Saeko's "girl talk gets hijacked by Nanba and ends up turning into guy talk" as another thing that will "keep on happening" in the series going forward.

Despite this relatively niche narrative appeal, the Yakuza series is more popular than ever. Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth wasn't just the fastest-selling Yakuza game ever when it launched in January, it's also the best-reviewed Yakuza game to date, topping beloved entries like Yakuza 0 and Yakuza Kiwami 2. Ryu Ga Gotoku is also teaming up with Amazon to develop a live-action Like a Dragon TV series, which is due to premiere on Prime Video on October 25.

Find out which Yakuza game made our list of the best JRPGs ever.

Yakuza director Masayoshi Yokoyama has said in a new interview that Yakuza isn't trying to depict authentic Japanese crime syndicates, but rather focus on real human emotions, and specifically, lust.

Hold up, Yokoyama, are you telling me you won't find killer chickens, time travelers, and haunted videotapes in real-life Japan? I've been lied to! Talking to our sister publication Edge for their upcoming issue, Yokoyama explained how, despite the series' focus on various crime families - and, ya know, the whole Yakuza title - studio Ryo Ga Gotoku's main focus is on telling stories that evoke authentic human drama.

"Our studio's main objective is not to depict Japanese Yakuza," Yokoyama said. "It is to depict people who are in positions where they are more likely to experience life-or-death situations. This enables us to explore fundamental human emotions and drama."

It's counterintuitive to hear that a series titled Yakuza isn't even trying to replicate actual Yakuza life, but if you've played any one of the main games, not including the Judgment spinoffs which are more grounded in reality, it's not all that surprising. There's a side quest in Yakuza 7 where you throw fists with a gang of grown men who dress up and act like babies. Another substory has you reuniting someone with his pet crawfish named Nancy. I've only been to Japan once, but I've never assumed these were the sort of things real Yakuza thugs kept themselves busy with.

Anyway, the next game in the Yakuza series is the (confusingly) titled Like a Dragon: Ishin, a remake of one of the few Yakuza games to never be released outside of Japan. After that launches on February 21, Like a Dragon: Gaiden, a smaller scale game exploring what happened to former series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu between Yakuza 6 and 7, will launch sometime in 2023. Then there's Yakuza 8, which is (again, confusingly) titled Like a Dragon 8, launching in 2024.

Here's how we ranked the best Yakuza games available now.

Yakuza's developer has "lots of other not-announced" games in development, and some aren't related to the Yakuza franchise.

In a new interview with Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio heads for Game Informer, studio lead Masayoshi Yokoyama briefly touched on future endeavours for the developer. "We have lots of other not-announced titles," Yokoyama said. "Things outside the same Ryu Ga Gotoku universe that we're working on."

Shortly after the interview with Game Informer took place, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio unveiled no less than three Yakuza games. Like a Dragon: Ishin is a remake of the long-lost samurai spin-off, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name is a brawler game starring mainstay Kiryu, and Like a Dragon 8 is a continuation of the mainline saga.

Despite this trio of Yakuza games, which is unprecedented for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, Yokoyama asserts brand new adventures are in development. Right now however, it's clear that Yokoyama and other studio heads at the developer are all-in on the three forthcoming Yakuza-related games, and aren't ready to delve into the specifics of these other projects. Be sure to read Game Informer's exclusive report for a deep dive into the inner workings of the studio.

As for the imminent Yakuza releases, Like a Dragon: Ishin launches on February 21, 2023, while Like a Dragon Gaiden is coming at some point later in the same year. Finally, Like a Dragon 8 is currently slated for 2024, but Yokoyama previously revealed in another interview that the studio hasn't actually settled on the overseas name of 'Like a Dragon 8,' and it could well change prior to launch.

Here's why Yakuza fans lost their collective minds for Ishin when it was revealed earlier this year. 

Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio hasn't actually settled on Like a Dragon 8's final name.

Speaking to Automaton Media recently at Tokyo Game Show 2022, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama spoke about the upcoming title. It turns out that although the sequel was revealed as "Like a Dragon 8" last month in September, the studio hasn't completely settled on this name for the new game.

According to the interview with Yokoyama, we could well end up with a sequel called Yakuza: Like a Dragon 2, or simply Like a Dragon 2, following in the footsteps of Yakuza: Like a Dragon led by newcomer Ichiban Kasuga in 2020. Yokoyama revealed Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio traditionally ends up observing user reactions to the names of their new games, before settling on them.

In fact, the developer has thought about changing the series' name in the past. Yakuza: Like a Dragon adopted the Japanese series title as its subtitle, and although Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio previously considered changing Yakuza's overseas name after the series gained more popularity, it decided to leave it be until now.

Two titles that do have finalized names are Like a Dragon: Ishin, the remake of the long-lost Japanese samurai spin-off, and Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name, a spin-off starring Kiryu in between Yakuza 6 and Like a Dragon. As the Yakuza series increases in popularity overseas, it's hard to remember a time when Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio had so much going on at once.

Previously, Yokoyama revealed in a separate interview why Yakuza: Ishin was remade instead of Kenzan, a similarly-lost Yakuza game confined to a Japanese release. 

A new Yakuza spin-off called Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name has been announced for launch next year.

Unveiled earlier today at the RGG Summit on September 14, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name once again puts Kiryu Kazuma back in the protagonist position. It's set between Yakuza 6: The Song of Life, and the forthcoming Like a Dragon 8, telling Kiryu's story throughout the years between the two titles.

In short, we're going to see what Kiryu has actually been up to over the course of several years. The reveal trailer for the new spin-off adventure can be seen just above, and sees Kiryu attempting to adopt a new lifestyle, before he inevitably gets pulled back into the murky underworld of Japan.

As people familiar with the Yakuza series so far will no doubt know, Yakuza 6: The Song of Life saw Kiryu fake his death, before leaving for a new life away from criminals at large. He reappeared briefly in Like a Dragon though, helping new protagonist Ichiban basically get his act together when he's down in the dumps.

Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Name will be with us at some point next year in 2023, slated to launch across both new and last-gen console systems, as well as PC. The game looks to be a fully-priced retail release, rather than DLC for Like a Dragon, but RGG Studio did say in the RGG Summit broadcast that we shouldn't expect it to be quite as long as other full games in the series.

Elsewhere in the new showcase, RGG Studio revealed Like a Dragon Ishin's release date, as well as a bunch of new characters from across the latest entries in the series.

Yakuza series developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has announced a new showcase for next week on September 14.

The RGG Summit will be taking place next week on Wednesday. It'll be kicking off at approximately 3am PT/6am ET/11am BST, and you'll be able to watch the entire presentation directly through Sega's Twitch channel.

It doesn't take a wild imagination to theorize what Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio could be set to announce. Over the past month, images have made their way online of an unannounced Yakuza game, originally published as part of Famitsu's tour of the studio's offices in Tokyo.

Just last week, in fact, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio poured more fuel on the speculative fire, revealing that they'd be debuting a new trailer for a project right before Tokyo Game Show, which is slated to begin next week. The developer never announced what project this new trailer would be showcasing, however. It could be that this is the new trailer that will premiere during the RGG Summit next week on September 14. 

However, it's worth remembering that the studio very casually confirmed the existence of a new Yakuza project last year in late 2021, with studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama revealing that the new game would pick up several years after the events of Yakuza: Like a Dragon. That sure was one low-key way of confirming a very anticipated new game.

Check out our new games 2022 guide for a full list of all the confirmed games on the horizon. 

You can find Yakuza Like A Dragon Kappa Statues around Ijincho as part of the Part-Time Hero questline in Chapter 5. Just like the Yakuza Like a Dragon missing cats task you'll have to speak to Hiro to start things properly, but once you've done that, you'll need to search in all sorts of obvious and obscure places to find the statues. Find all 10, and get photos of them, and you'll bag 2 million yen as a reward in Yakuza Like A Dragon. That’s not bad at all, especially when you realize how much it can cost to upgrade your weapons and armor, and it's not too far into the game. Here are the locations for all 10 of the Yakuza Like A Dragon Kappa Statues.

Yakuza Like a Dragon Kappa Statues locations

Above we’ve crossed off where you can find these Yakuza Like a Dragon Kappa Statues for yourself, and below we’ll go into detail on just where these pesky statues are hiding.

1. Bar District - Upstairs in the Survive Bar

Trust us when we say that this little Kappa Statue is a tricky one to find! The Survive Bar will have already been unlocked before you can partake in this quest, but unless you’ve explored the bar thoroughly, you’ll be shocked to discover that it has an upstairs!

Head upstairs and you’ll get to a single, box room with a half-open wardrobe. Look inside and you’ll see a Kappa Statue staring at you - not creepy at all. Take a picture with your phone and voila! That’s the first Kappa Statue down.

2. Sunrise Street - In an open window near Ichiban’s residence

This one is much easier to find. Head out of Ichiban’s residence and turn left, then head on down the street until you find a building with a green, neon sign over the top of it. You can look inside, through the glass, and see the Kappa Statue in there. Take a photo and that’s the second Kappa Statue down.

3. South Sakura River Street - Beside a young boy near the river

It is more than likely that you’ll come across this Kappa Statue before you can actually have access to take a picture of it. Right next to the parking lot where you can play the Can Collecting quest, you’ll see a boy hanging around a statue. That statue is a Kappa Statue, but like we explained in the intro, you can only count it once you talk to Hiro in the Part-Time Hero quest line that happens in Chapter 5.

4. Romance Street - Behind a wired fence on the stairs

Near the bottom of the east map, just before you hit the unreachable zone, you’ll get the option to turn right down a small side-alley. Do so and you’ll come across a small area with a fenced off section to the left that you’re unable to get to, where you’ll see the Kappa Statue sitting on one of the steps. Get your phone out and grab that photo!

5. Restaurant Row - Chapter 6, On A Roof

This Kappa Statue is unable to be picked up until after you progress through the main story of Chapter 6. You’ll be asked to go and stop Captain Takabe, which leads you to a dead end - apart from the small alcove leading upwards to your right. We’ve included another image to help you visualize where to go.

Head up there and turn left. Look up and you’ll see the Kappa Statue on the very top of a flat roof that’s unreachable - but that shouldn’t stop you from taking a photo!

6. Fukutokucho - Only available after progressing midway through Chapter 7

This statue is the most difficult one to get to, because you’ll need to wait at least part way through Chapter 7 to get it. You’ll know exactly where I’m talking about because, as you play throughout the game, you’ll come across an area that the game just keeps pushing you away from. That should tell you there’s something real juicy there. 

And there sure is. Unfortunately, you’ll need to wait to get it. After progressing throughout the area in Chapter 7, you’ll get the chance to go back without the game telling you to get lost. 

Head up the stairs to where you first followed the mysterious Geomijul leader, but instead of turning inside to the right, turn left and you’ll see that across the way there’s a Kappa Statue you’re able to take a picture of.

7. West Jinnai Station - Behind a wall, in a glass elevator

This is an incredibly weird Kappa Statue to find, as it’s very easy to get lost around the Jinnai Station. The best way to find it is look for barriers that stop you from going near the road, if these barriers have a square, box-like area nearby, then you’ve found the Kappa Statue in the glass elevator! Take a photo to memorize your befuddling time together.

8. West Carriage Highway - Behind the Baseball Minigame Arena

Is it really a Yakuza game if there isn’t a baseball minigame? To find this Kappa Statue, you’ll have to go straight to the very left-hand side of the map, up at the top, just behind the baseball arena. You’ll know that you’re in the right place when you go behind the arena and see a gold safe, with the Kappa Statue not too far behind it to the right.

9. Chinatown - In a dark corner by inaccessible stores

Despite the title, this Kappa Statue is more hidden in plain sight than in a shady corner. As you progress throughout Chinatown’s busy streets, you’ll eventually come across a crossroad that gives you the option to continue to go up, go left, or right. The Kappa Statue is just before you get to those crossroads, hidden away in a corner by a few inaccessible stores.

10. Hamakita Park - In a Cafe van

Want some Kappa with your coffee? There are a number of different cafes in vans around the Hamakita Park, with two being directly near the Dragon Kart amusement center. The first, which sells materials that you can use to upgrade your armour and weapons, will have a Kappa Statue right next to the owner. 

And that’s it! These are all the Kappa Statues for you to get. Now don’t hold back, go report it to your Part-Time Hero and get the 2 million yen that you deserve.

Use this full Yakuza Like A Dragon guide to help you get through some challenging parts of the game, and let Ichiban become the hero of Yokohama he’s always wanted to be. There are people to recruit to your team, side quests for you to complete, a business to run on the side, and even a school to attend - it's got exams that you need to pass too! If you just need some tips or want help getting though some tough sub-stories, you're bound to find some useful help in our Yakuza Like A Dragon guide.

Basic tips

Yakuza Like A Dragon really breaks the Yakuza formula as it’s a turn-based RPG and introduces lots of new elements and side quests. If you need some help getting to grips with it all, here are 10 Yakuza Like A Dragon tips to sort you out.

Recruit Emi

As a turn-based RPG, building up a party of competent combatants is key in Yakuza Like A Dragon. Learn how to recruit Emi Kamataki in Yakuza Like A Dragon to bolster your team.

Recruit Kiryu and Majima

For some late-game fun, you’ll even be able to recruit the classic Yakuza characters Kiryu and Majima as Poundmates. Be warned: calling upon them is pretty pricey and are both of them are unlocked very late in the game, so you won't get to use them much. Either way, you should still know how to recruit Kiryu and Majima in Yakuza Like A Dragon.

Managing shareholders

Sounds weird that managing shareholders is a part of a video game, but in Yakuza Like A Dragon, you’ll need to meet with them as part of Ichiban’s confectionery business. Here’s how to deal with Yakuza Like A Dragon management.

Ounbara school exam answers

We didn’t think we’d be doing school exams in a video game, but Yakuza Like A Dragon proves us wrong. If you want to ace the exams or see where you went wrong, we’ve got all the cheats you’ll need in this Yakuza Like A Dragon exam answers guide.

Missing cats

Hiro is in dire need of help in finding his runaway feline friends. If you can’t find the pesky cats, take a look at our Yakuza Like A Dragon missing cats side quest guide.

Kappa statue collectibles

There are 10 of these odd-looking statues that you’ll need to find, so use our Yakuza Like A Dragon Kappa Statues guide to speed up the process and complete this side quest quickly.

Find all the Yakuza Like a Dragon missing cats scattered around the map and you can get over a million yen as a reward from Hiro. After Ichiban has a few conversations with Hiro, the superhero-clad boss will call Ichiban and explain the cats in his office have run away and he needs Ichiban's help to find them. If it sounds familiar it's because it is: it’s almost a running joke to have a missing cat mission in a Yakuza game, and Yakuza Like A Dragon is no exception to this.

The rewards for this side quest are generous, so make sure you don't miss it during Ichiban's adventures. Finding all of the cats rewards you with 1 million yen and finding an extra tenth cat for Hiro will cause him to grant another one million yen. Here's where you can find all the Yakuza LIke A Dragon missing cats.

Yakuza 7 missing cat locations

We have included a map above that’ll make finding the cats much easier for you, and below we’ll include the nitty gritty details to point you to the exact spot of your feline friends.

1. Bar District - Next door to the Survive Bar

If you head to the Bar District and go towards Survive, you’ll come across the bar and have the option to either turn left - towards the bar - or right. Go right, past the fancy art of faces and into the left entranceway where you’ll see a LEDA sign. Turn right and you’ll see the cat lying down and remember, if you can’t see them, the constant meowing will definitely give the cat’s location away! 

2. Sunrise Street - Outside of Ichiban’s Apartment

Ichiban and Nanba got their very own place at the end of Chapter 3, and not only is it a great place to rest and get your HP/MP back to where it should be - but it’s also the home to one of Hiro’s missing cats! Head outside of your apartment, turn right and you’ll see a cat on a green box. It’s almost impossible to miss.

3. Misaki Street - On the Top Floor of the Car Park

The next cat you’re looking for is right where you go if you want to play the can collecting minigame. Only, instead of going to the bottom floor of the car park, head up the ladder and turn to the left. You’ll see a cat lying just behind a car, all sneaky like.

4. Restaurant Row - Down a Narrow Side-Alley

Restaurant Row’s cat is a very tricky one to find and is easy to miss if you don’t like to explore the dead ends of Ijincho. To find this cat, you’ll need to go towards the weapons and arms shop in Restaurant Row and then turn down the alleyway. You’ll get to a dead end but see on your map that you can turn right. Turn and you’ll see the cat right in front of you. 

5. West Jinnai Station - On Top of a Trash Container

West Jinnai Station is home to many things, and one of them is Hiro’s missing cat. Head to the station and circle around where you’ll be able to see some silver safes. Just a few feet away from them you’ll see Hiro’s cat on top of a trash container. But to get to it you’ll need to circle around, as there’s a fence that is only accessible through the outside of the station.

6. West Carriage Highway - Near the Baseball Court

Head to the top left of the map where you’ll see the location of your favourite minigame - the baseball arena. This is a great start, but isn’t necessarily where you want to go. Once at the baseball arena, turn right and head towards the baseball court. You’ll see a bunch of plants and hedges, and behind one of those hedges is a missing cat.

7. Bayside Street - On Top of An Electrical Unit Next to the Building

Bayside Street is just opposite of the Vocational School where Ichiban can take exams and study how to get a personality, so it’s very simple to find the building where you’ll find this fleeting feline. Head on over to the massive building opposite, go to the right side and you’ll see the cat resting on the electrical unit next to the building’s front door.

8. Chinatown - Down a Side Street, On Top of a Small Wall

Trust us when we say that Chinatown isn’t as big as it looks. Head to the centre of the area, where the streets will split off into four - back where you came from, the left, ahead, or the right. Go right and you’ll see the Chinatown cat immediately, resting on a low wall by a collection of small, inaccessible shops and restaurants.

9. Hamakita Park - Resting Under A Water Fountain

Hamakita Park is a wide, spacious area where cats are pretty easy to find and this cat is no exception! There are quite a few grassy areas, but only one has what looks to be a water fountain at the very top of it. This is where you’ll find the cat you’re looking for, resting just underneath it. 

After you get these nine cats you’ll have to go to Hiro’s office to receive your payment of 1 million yen from the man himself. You may think your job is done, but for those paying attention, you’ll have noticed that there’s one cat left… Hiro’s very first cat, Robson, has been missing for such a long time. If you can get nine cats back, what’s one more? If you can find Robson, Hiro will reward you.

10. Hamakita Park - Sitting On A Park Lamp

Which leads us to our very last entry, and thankfully, you already know the location! Travel back to Hamakita Park, but go in the direction of the top right-hand side of the map. You’ll see that you can go up a steep hill, do so and you’ll see at the side of the path is a park lamp. Sitting on top of that is Robson, Hiro’s long-lost cat. Once you find him, Hiro will reward you with another 1 million yen and you’ll earn yourself a new poundmate too.

Make sure you also look for Yakuza Like A Dragon Kappa Statues as you play through the game to get rewarded with even more yen!

The Yakuza Like A Dragon exam answers for The Ounbara Vocational School aren't easy, but passing means you'll improve Ichiban's personality. The exam questions cover all sorts of school subjects, including sport, mathematics, and history. However, success in these tests will make Ichiban a more well-rounded person and bolster his personality, allowing you to access other areas and part of Yakuza Like A Dragon in Ijincho. You can pick up the exam activity near Chinatown when you find the building and while it's not something you have to do, we recommend taking the tests. If you're ready to cheat through the tests, here are all the Yakuza Like A Dragon exam answers.

Sports Tier 1 Exam

Sports Tier 1 Exam

Q) In badminton, players compete for points by hitting a feathered ball, or shuttlecock, back and forth with a racket. Which of the following is the maximum speed that the shuttlecock can travel?
A) 500 km/h

Q) American football is a sport in which two teams compete for points by carrying an oval shaped ball into the opposing team’s touchdown zone. What is the maximum number of players in one team allowed on the field?
A) 11 players

Q) Table tennis is played for points by two opposing players hitting a ball back and forth across a table. There are 2 ways to grip the racket which differ greatly from one another. One method is called Shakehand. What is the other called?
A) Penhold

Q) In baseball, what is the term for when one player in one game hits a single, double, triple, and a home run?
A) Hitting the Cycle

Q) Figure skating is a sport in which an individual skater’s showmanship and technique are evaluated as they skate across the ice. What is the name of the technique where the skater launches into a jump from the back outside edge of one foot and lands on the back outside edge of the other foot?
A) Lutz

Q) One technique in skiing is to keep the front of the skis together while the rear are separated. What is this technique called?
A) Snowplough Turn

Q) Fencing is a sport in which two athletes duel against each other in one-on-one matches. There are currently 3 disciplines in modern fencing. Which of the following allows ‘cutting’ attacks?
A) Sabre

Q) Surfing, climbing, bungee jumping and sky-diving are just some of the sports that can, at times, present a high level of risk. What are these sports collectively called?
A) Extreme sports

Q) Boxing is a one-on-one combat sport that separates fighters into a series of classes depending on their weight. Among these is the featherweight class. Which of the following is the weight class for fighters who weigh even less?
A) Bantamweight

Q) Darts is played by throwing small missiles, or darts, at a circular board divided into sections. The closer the darts land to the center, the higher the amount of points earned. What is the dead center of the board called?
A) Bullseye

Sports Tier 2 Exam

Sports Tier 2 Exam

Q) Marathon is a track and field event that requires running a distance of 42.195km. Which of the following is the event that became the origin for this distance?
A) Battle of Marathon

Q) Soccer is a team sport in which competing teams aim to score points by kicking the ball into the opposing team’s goal. With the exception of the goalie, touching the ball with one’s hands or arms is considered a foul. What is this particular foul called?
A) Handling

Q) Golf is played on a course in which the golfer’s goal is to hit the ball into a hole in as few strokes as possible. Each course has a preset stroke count that the golfer is expected to meet at each hole. Reaching the hole in the exact number of preset strokes is called a par, while doing so 1 stroke below par is called a birdie. What is the term for when a hole is reached 3 strokes below par?
A) Albatross

Q) What is the name of the track and field event in which athletes push a metal ball as far into the air as they can and compete for distance thrown?
A) Shot Put

Q) Baseball is a team sport in which competing teams switch between offense and defense. The pitcher on defense’s goal is to throw the ball in such a way that the batter on the offense strikes out. This is known as a breaking ball. Which of the following is not a type of breaking ball?
A) Volley

Q) Basketball is a team sport where competing teams aim to score points by shooting the ball into the opposing team’s hoop. The amount of points earned is determined by where on the court the shot was taken. What is the maximum amount of points a player can score from one shot, excluding additional points from penalty shots?
A) 3

Q) What is the name of the racing technique in which a vehicle rounds a curve by skidding the tires, saving time as a result?
A) Drifting

Q) A triathlon is completed by consecutively overcoming 3 different events while competing for the fastest overall time. Which of the following events is not a part of the triathlon?
A) Cross Country

Q) Skiing is a sport in which a skier slides down a snowy slope on a pair of skis. Aside from the components that secure the skier’s feet to the skis, skiers typically use a pair of tools to keep themselves stable. What are these called?
A) Poles

Q) In bowling, what are the 10 objects that must be knocked down by the bowling ball in order to score points?
A) Pins

Underworld Studies Exam

Underworld Studies Exam

Q) The Tojo Clan boasts having the highest headcount when it comes to members. As such, many subsidiaries have formed, some extending all the way to third-string families. Which of the following is not a subsidiary of the Tojo Clan?
A) The Tamashiro Family

Q) Akira Nishikiyama, the first patriarch of the Nishikiyama Family, rapidly grew the family from the late 1990s until the early 2000s. Who was the family’s third patriarch?
A) Tsuyoshi Kanda

Q) Though the Tojo Clan is composed of many powerful members, there is one who stands out as especially militant and is feared by many as the Mad Dog of Shimano. What is the name of this individual?
A) Goro Majima

Q) Jin Goda was the father of Ryuji Goda, who was known as the Dragon of Kansai. He was also a former chairman of the Omi Alliance, but of which generation?
A) Fifth 

Q) The Omi Alliance is considered the largest yakuza organization to have ever existed in the Kansai region. The Sengoku Family was a direct family with a well-established name. Who was its patriarch?
A) Toranosuke Sengoku 

Q) Many other yakuza organizations exist aside from the Tojo Clan and the Omi Alliance. Which of the following is not one of them?
A) The Taihei Association

Q) Andre Richardson was the head of a globally-known weapon smuggling organization. What was the name of this organization?
A) Black Monday

Q) Kazuo Shibata was the patriarch of the Shibata Family, a subsidiary of the Tojo Clan. A certain sworn brother to Shibata was the chairman of a certain clan with its office based in Kamuro Theater. What was the name?
A) Hatsushiba Clan

Q) The Tojo Clan is considered the largest yakuza organization to have ever existed in the Kanto region. The Tojo Clan has seen six chairmen up until this point. Who was the third chairman?
A) Masaru Sera

Mathematics Tier 1 Exam

Mathematics Tier 1 Exam

Q) Which of the following calculations is different from the rest?
A) 1x3x5x7 - Right answer
B) 5!
C) (9+3)x10
D) 8x15

Q) Which of the following calculations is different from the rest?
A) 108/12 - Right answer
B) 4x2
C) 10/2+3
D) 64x2/16

Q) Solve for x in the following numerical sequence: 1, 4, 9, 16, x, 36, 49
A) 25

Q) Solve for x in the following numerical sequence: 6, x, 496, 8128, 3350336
A) 28

Q) Which of the following calculations is different from the rest?
A) 125/5 - Right answer
B) 3x5
C) 1+2+3+4+5
D) 30/5+9

Q) Solve for x in the following numerical sequence: 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 13, 17, 19, x, 29, 31, 37
A) 23

Q) Solve for x in the following numerical sequence: 1, 3, 6, x, 15, 21, 28, 36
A) 10

Q) Solve for x in the following numerical sequence: 1, 2, 4, 7, x, 16, 22
A) 11

Q) Which of the following calculations is different from the rest?
A) 2/1 - Right Answer
B) 0.2
C) 1/5
D) 20%

Mathematics Tier 2 Exam

Mathematics Tier 2 Exam

Q) If two of the interior angles of a triangle are at 65 degrees and 35 degrees. At what angle is the remaining interior angle?
A) 80 Degrees

Q) Choose the correct solution to the following problem: 6+16
A) 22

Q) Choose the correct solution to the following problem: 120x2
A) 240

Q) If two of the interior angles of a triangle are at 40 degrees and 50 degrees. At what angle is the remaining interior angle?
A) 90 Degrees

Q) Choose the correct solution to the following problem: 14+37
A) 51

Q) A pentagon is composed of 5 sides of equal lengths and therefore has 5 equal interior angles. At what angles are these corners?
A) 108 Degrees

Q) Choose the correct solution to the following problem: 200/25?
A) 8

Q) Choose the correct solution to the following problem: 72-3-17
A) 52

Q) What is the name of the quadrilateral that is made up of opposing angles of equal measure, none of which are at 90 degrees?
A) Parallelogram

Q) Choose the correct solution to the following problem: 121/11
A) 11

SEGA Proficiency Tier 1 Exam

SEGA Proficiency Tier 1 Exam

Q) Panzer Dragoon II Zwei is a shooter game by SEGA. What is the name of dragon who partners up with the protagonist Jean-Luc Lundi?
A) Lagi

Q) Feel The Magic: XY/XX is an action game released by SEGA. What is the name of the sketchy performance group the protagonist joins in order to impress his love interest?
A) Rub Rabbits

Q) Sonic the Hedgehog is an action game released by SEGA. How old is Sonic?
A) 15

Q) Virtua Fighter is the fighting game released by SEGA. What is the name of the main protagonist?
A) Akira

Q) Many titles in SEGA’s Sakura Wars series have subtitles. Which of the following is not a subtitle used in the first five numbered titles?
A) Goodbye Homeland

Q) The Valkyria Chronicles series is a strategy RPG by SEGA. In the first title of the series, which country are the protagonists from?
A) Principality of Gallia

Q) SEGA has released a variety of hardware over the years. Which of the following is not a device attachment released for the Genesis/Mega Drive?
A) SEGA Keyboard

Q) The Mega Drive is a gaming console released by SEGA in Japan in 1988. Which of the following buttons is not part of its controller?
A) Select

Q) SEGA has released a variety of hardware over the years. Which of the following is one of their products?
A) TeraDrive

Q) Space Channel 5 is a rhythmic action game released by SEGA in which the heroine Ulala is challenged to various dance battles in space. Which of the following is said by Ulala and her team after they strike a pose during a dance battle?
A) Chu!

SEGA Proficiency Tier 2 Exam

SEGA Proficiency Tier 2 Exam

Q) Sonic the Hedgehog is a young blue hedgehog who runs and rolls around at the speed of sound. This beloved and iconic character made his first appearance on which of these consoles?
A) Genesis

Q) SEGA has sold a number of home gaming consoles over the years. The SEGA Saturn was released in various colors. Which of the following colors was not released in Japan?
A) Black

Q) The Sakura Wars series is a romantic adventure game that takes place during a fictional Taisho era. Who was the protagonist of the first four games in the series?
A) Ichiro Ogami

Q) SEGA has released various gaming consoles over the years. Which of the following is not one of those consoles?
A) SEGA Pluto

Q) Which of the following is SEGA’s popular fighting game series?
A) Virtua Fighter

Q) Jet Set Radio is an action game released by SEGA. In addition to inline skating, what else did this game’s characters do around the city?
A) Graffiti

Q) SEGA has sold a number of home gaming consoles over the year. From the following listed, which is their second oldest console?
A) Genesis

Q) In SEGA’s Sakura Wars, which division is the young Sakura Shinguji affiliated with?
A) Flower

Q) Which of the following SEGA releases is the shooter game known for its pastel-colored world where players control a sentient spaceship and fight against enemy invasion?
A) Fantasy Zone

Q) Which of the following SEGA releases sees a group of heroes on their quest to take down Death Adder?
A) Golden Axe

World History Exam

World History Exam

Q) The mother of Marie Antoinette, France’s last queen, was the grand duchess of Austria as well as queen of Hungary and Bohemia. What was her name?
A) Marie Theresa

Q) Which of the following is the title of the monarchs who were said to rule the nation with divine right and justice in ancient Egypt?
A) Pharaoh

Q) Which of the following is another name for the 19th century American Civil War that was fought to end or continue slavery?
A) War Between the States

Q) China’s Wei and Jin Dynasties saw an exceptionally long war that lasted from the second century to the sixth century CE. Which of the following is the dynasty that ultimately unified the nation?
A) Sui

Q) Feudal lord Oda Nobunaga was assassinated in 16th century Japan right as he unified the nation. Who was the vassal responsible for his death and caused the Honno-ji incident?
A) Akechi Mitsuhide

Q) Who was the Carthaginian general who led an invasion into Roman Italy in the third century BCE?
A) Hannibal Barca

Q) What were the words of Roman politician Gaius Julius Caesar as he crossed the Rubicon in 49 BCE?
A) The die is cast

Q) Which of the following is the ancient civilization that is said to have flourished thanks to the Tigris-Euphrates river of Western Asia?
A) Mesopotamia

Q) Who was the last known emperor of Russia?
A) Nikolai II

Q) Which of the following is the location where French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte spent his final moments after losing the Battle of Waterloo in the 18th century?
A) St. Helena Island

Isezaki Ijincho Proficiency Exam

Isezaki Ijincho Proficiency Exam

Q) What is the name of the theater located on N Isezaki Road that shows classic vintage films?
A) Seagull Cinema

Q) Which of the following is the name of the subway station located at the heart of Isezaki Ijincho?
A) Jinnai Station

Q) What is the name of the street that runs in front of Ounabara Vocational School?
A) Daikokuten St

Q) What is the name of the racing activity in Hamakita Park that’s quickly become all the rage for both the young and old?
A) Dragon Kart

Q) Chinatown has many gateways modeled after traditional Chinese architecture. What is the name of the gateway that faces Pier St. and sits closest to the ocean?
A) Taiyo Gate

Q) Which of the following is the name of the very popular fast food chain located on Hyakkei Street?
A) Wette Kitchen

Q) One area of Isezaki Ijincho is occupied by the Bar District. Which of the following bars can be found in this district?
A) Bar Rodriguez

Q) Which of the following arcade games is currently set up and running in Club SEGA Yokohama located in Chinatown?
A) Space Harrier

Q) What is the name of the river that flows through Isezaki Ijincho?
A) Sakura River

Q) Of the parks in Yokohama Chinatown, which of the following is located along the coast and has an open space with a large fountain?
A) Hamakita Park

Animal Science Exam

Animal Science Exam

Q) Which of the following extinct animals were considered penguins?
A) Great auk

Q) Which of the following is not an ape?
A) Japanese macaque

Q) Which of the following birds cannot fly?
A) Ostrich

Q) Spiders are commonly known to spin a web in order to catch their prey. Which of the following spiders does not spin a web to catch its prey?
A) Jumping spider

Q) Which of the following is not considered a shark?
A) Sturgeon

Q) Which of the following reptiles has the longest body length?
A) Saltwater crocodile

Q) Which of the following is considered an insect?
A) Ladybug

Q) Which of the following is an herbivore?
A) Beaver

Q) Which of the following is considered an amphibian?
A) Salamander

Q) Which of the following is considered a fish?
A) Great white shark

Fashionista Exam

Fashionista Exam

Q) What is the name of the outerwear made from a single piece of cloth worn by men in ancient Greece?
A) Toga

Q) From the following names of clothing patterns, which one makes use of the diamond shape?
A) Argyle

Q) Which of the following articles of clothing is native to Vietnam?
A) Ao dai

Q) Which of the following articles of clothing is nativeto Scotland?
A) Kilt

Q) Which of the following materials has a similar feel to acrylic fiber?
A) Wool

Q) Which of the following characteristics is not true of silk thread?
A) It’s a plant-based fiber

Q) Which of the following fibers are neither anima-based or plant-based, but artificially created?
A) Nylon

Q) Which of the following hats takes its name from when it was worn during hunts?
A) Flat cap

Q) What is the origin of ‘polo’ in polo shirts?
A) Polo, the sport

Q) Fill in the blank. A high-end fashion store in France would be said to specialize in haute ____
A) Couture

Music Proficiency Tier 1 Exam

Music Proficiency Tier 1 Exam

Q) Pablo de Sarasate was a composer best known for his piece Zigeurnerweisen. Which country was he born in?
A) Spain

Q) Which famous musician is known for compositions such as The Magic Flute, The Marriage of Figaro, and Don Giovanni?
A) Mozart

Q) An excerpt of a musical piece will play. What is the title of this piece?
A) 2nd Movement (Largo) - Right answer
B) 1st Movement (Adagio)
C) 3rd Movement (Scherzo)
D) 4th Movement (Allegro con fuoco)

Q) Composers and arrangers give direction to a piece such as its intensity and tempo. They do this by using terminology shared with the performers to aid them in visualizing the piece. Which of the following means to gradually slow down the tempo?
A) Ritardando

Q) An excerpt of a musical piece will play. What is the title of this piece?
A) A Midsummer’s Night Dream - Right answer
B) Night on the Galactic Railroad
C) The Magic Flute - Queen of the Night
D) Walpurgis Night

Q) An excerpt of a musical piece will play. What is the title of this piece?
A) Csikos Post - Right answer
B) Orpheus in the Underworld
C) Comedians’ Galp
D) The Sorcerer’s Apprentice

Q) Which of the following is a symphony composed by Jean Sibelius?
A) Finlandia 

Q) Composers and arrangers give direction to a piece such as its intensity and tempo. Which of the following terminology means to play very, very loudly?
A) Fortississimo

Q) Which of the following is an opera composed by Italian composer Giuseppe Verdi?
A) Macbeth

Q) What is the term for when two people play simultaneously on one piano?
A) Duet

Music Proficiency Tier 2 Exam

Music Proficiency Tier 2 Exam

Q) An excerpt of a musical piece will play. What is the title of this piece?
A) Fur Elise - Right answer
B) Campanella
C) My Beloved
D) Bolero

Q) What is the name of the tool used to adjust rhythm to a certain tempo?
A) Metronome

Q) A percussion instrument produces sound from being struck, shaken or scraped. Some examples of percussion instruments include cymbals, castanets, or even the piano. Which of the following is also a percussion instrument?
A) Xylophone

Q) Which of the following is Pyotr Tchaikovsky’s well-known ballet piece?
A) Swan Lake

Q) Fill in the blank. Johann Sebastian ___ was a musician who composed many pieces during the Baroque period.
A) Bach

Q) Which of the following are considered to be some of the best violins in the world?
A) Stradivarius

Q) Which of the following pieces was composed by Frederic Chopin?
A) Minute Waltz

Q) An excerpt of a musical piece will play. What is the title of this piece?
A) Pomp and Circumstance - Right answer
B) Symphony No.5
C) Enigma Variations
D) Violin Concerto

Q) An excerpt of a musical piece will play. What is the title of this piece?
A) Spring - Right answer
B) Winter
C) Autumn
D) Summer

Q) Which musician composed famous pieces such as Moonlight Sonata, Ode to Joy, and 5th Symphony?
A) Beethoven

Pharmacology Exam

Pharmacology Exam

Q) Which of the following purified components is effective in retaining the moisture in one’s skin?
A) White Petroleum

Q) There are several ways to obtain medication in modern times. Which of the following requires both a doctor’s consultation and permission to obtain?
A) Prescription medication

Q) Various medicines are researched and developed to combat sickness around the globe. What is the collective name for medicine with the same properties as the original that is released after the latter’s patent expires?
A) Generic drugs

Q) Which of the following is considered a topical medication?
A) Lozenge

Q) There are three common methods for taking medication. One is orally, as with oral medicine, another is topically, as with ointments. What is the third method?
A) Injection

Q) Which of the following is used to ease physical pain?
A) Morphine

Q) Which of the following is an oral medicine?
A) Powdered medicine

Q) What is the chemical compound found in antiseptics?
A) Ethanol

Q) Which of these chemical compounds is found in ointment used to treat eczema?
A) Steroid

Q) Which of the following components is effective in relieving pain from headaches and inflammation?
A) Acetylsalicylic acid

Nutritionist Exam

Nutritionist Exam

Q) Though most people in Japan associate cheese with cow’s milk, Scandinavian countries are known to make cheese from the milk of rather unexpected animals. Which of the following is such an animal?
A) Reindeer

Q) Which of the following is a Turkish dish?
A) Kebab

Q) Which of the following is the name of the unsaturated fatty acid found in a blueback fish?
A) Docosahexanoic acid

Q) Which of the following is a Spanish dish?
A) Tapas

Q) Which of the following nutrients is not found in tomatoes?
A) Vitamin D

Q) Which of the following dishes uses fish in its recipe?
A) Acqua pazza

Q) Which of the following is the component found in spicy foods such as chili peppers that can also promote one's appetite or burn off fat?
A) Capsaicin

Q) What is the common name for a cold soup that uses puree of mashed potatoes, cream, and bouillon?
A) Vichyssoise

Q) While dietary fibers are not digested by the human body, they do possess the unique ability to clean the gastrointestinal tract. Which of the following is the distinctive water-soluble dietary fiber?
A) Pectin

Q) Which of the following pasta dishes is made with just three ingredients of boiled pasta, black pepper, and cheese?
A) Cacio e pepe

Hazardous Materials Exam

Hazardous Materials Exam

Q) Which of the following is considered a heavy metal?
A) Zinc

Q) What is the name of the transition in which a solid changes to a gas??
A) Sublimation

Q) In Japan, up to how many categories of hazardous materials is a professional handler permitted to handle?
A) 6

Q) Of the various classified hazardous materials, the most commonly handled are those of category IV, which pertains to materials such as petroleum and oil. What are these materials?
A) Flammable liquids

Q) When storing materials that Japanese law deems hazardous, a certain perimeter of open space around the storage facility must be secured. Which of the following is the most logical reason for this?
A) To mitigate damage and harm in unexpected situations

Q) There are many instances in which static electricity can cause a fire. Which of the following is something that can be done to mitigate such an occurrence?
A) Increase humidity

Q) In Japan, which of the following laws pertains to hazardous materials and hazardous materials handlers?
A) Fire protection

Q) A dust explosion occurs when fine particles of fixed concentration suspended in the air rapidly combust from a spark. Which of the following is always present during a dust explosion?
A) Oxygen

Q) In Japan, storing, transferring, and using certain hazardous materials, such as chemicals, requires a government-certified supervisor to be present. Which of the following tasks would require having such an individual supervising the process?
A) Managing a gasoline station

Q) In Japan, hazardous materials are categorized depending on their state of matter. In which of the following categories would one find alcohol and gasoline?
A) Liquid

Flag Master Exam

Flag Master Exam

Q) Which of the following countries has 4 colors in its flag?
A) Malaysia

Q) Which of the following countries has a dragon on its flag?
A) Bhutan

Q) Which of the following countries has blue in its flag?
A) Estonia

Q) Which of the following countries has yellow in its flag?
A) Spain

Q) Which of the following countries has a leaf on its flag?
A) Canada

Q) Which of the following countries has a sun and stars on its flag?
A) The Philippines

Q) Which of the following countries has green on its flag?
A) Cameroon

Q) Which of the following countries has only red, white, and blue on its flag?
A) Russia

Q) Which of the following countries has a moon on its flag?
A) Singapore

Q) Which of the following countries has only red and white on its flag?
A) Austria

Trivia King Tier 1 Exam

Trivia King Tier 1 Exam

Q) What was the basis for measuring one pound?
A) The weight of flour consumed by one person per day

Q) Who was the ancient Greek philosopher who was a disciple of Socrates and also posited the Theory of Forms?
A) Plato

Q) Mt. Everest, also known as Sagarmatha or Chomolungma, is known to be the tallest mountain when measured from the surface of the sea. Which island has the tallest mountains when measured from the seabed?
A) Hawaii

Q) There are six types of chess pieces, each with their own unique abilities: king, queen, rook, bishop, knight, and pawn. Which of these can turn into any of the other pieces, save for the king?
A) Pawn

Q) What is the height of the Royal Gorge Bridge, one of America’s most popular bungee jumping spots?
A) 321 meters

Q) The Kuroshio current is a major ocean current that flows northward along the west coast of Japan. What is the name of the southward current that collides with the Kuroshio current and thenceforth flows to North America?
A) Oyashio

Q) Chess is played by strategically moving pieces around on a checkered board. How many squares make up a chess board?
A) 64

Q) The Earth’s surface is made up of many layers called tectonic plates that adjacently overlap one another. Which one of these four plates does the Japanese archipelago rest on?
A) Eurasian plate

Q) The Grimm brothers, a pair of German writers, are known for their Grimm’s Fairy Tales, a collection of fairy tales familiar to many to this day, even in Japan. Which of the following is not a part of this collection?
A) The Little Mermaid

Q) One unit of measurement is the foot, named after the body part. Asia also uses a unit of measurement associated with feet called the shaku. In Japan, how many centimeters is one shaku comprised of?
A) 30.303 cm

Trivia King Tier 2 Exam

Trivia King Tier 2 Exam

Q) Who was the Norwegian artist who painted the famous The Scream in 1893?
A) Edvard Munch

Q) Our solar system is composed of many planets, Earth included, that revolve around the sun. Which of the following is the planet that is closest to the sun?
A) Mercury

Q) In the modern age, UTC is the standard time common around the glove. What is the name of the observatory in England which acts as the base for the GMT time zone and adjusts UTC?
A) Greenwich Observatory

Q) Karaoke is a popular leisure activity in Japan. What is the origin of the term ‘karaoke?’
A) An empty orchestra with no performers

Q) How many cards are in a deck of playing cards after taking out the jokers and any spare cards?
A) 52

Q) What is the name given to the top dancer of a classic ballet group?
A) Principal

Q) Which of the following is the field of study that focuses on the principles of electrons, atoms, molecules, and other micro particles, most notably when it comes to space research?
A) Quantum physics

Q) What is the common name for when a hand in poker contains five cards of the same suit?
A) Flush

Q) Which of the following games became a big hit in 1970s Japan and involves techniques like the Backhand Slip Grip Special, Everest, Moon Landing, and the Lighthouse Somersault?
A) Kendama

Q) What is the name of the layer between the Earth’s core and its surface crust?
A) Mantle

Trivia King Special Tier Exam

Trivia King Special Tier Exam

Q) Mt. Everest, also known as Sagarmatha or Chomolungma, is known to be the tallest mountain on Earth. What is the second tallest?
A) K2

Q) In Japan there is a law that limits how many coins may be used in one payment. According to this law, how many one yen coins can be used in one transaction?
A) 20

Q) What two parts compose the Ounabara Vocational School crest?
A) The ocean and pen

Q) What is the name of the first-magnitude star that is part of the Lyra constellation and is also known as the Weaver Girl during Japan’s Star Festival and China’s Qixi Festival?
A) Vega

Q) Which of the following is a certificate that can be obtained at Ounabara Vocational School?
A) Music Proficiency Tier 2

Q) What is the name of the ancient Indian board game that is said to be the origin of the modern shogi or chess?
A) Chaturanga

Q) What is the alternative name for the second-magnitude star commonly referred to in the 21st century as the North Star?
A) Polaris

Q) In the Tale of the Bamboo Cutter, a Japanese folktale, the beautiful Princess Kaguya is born from a stalk of bamboo. Which of the following is not a gift brought  by the princes to ask for her hand in marriage?
A) A phoenix feather

Q) In Japan, coins and bills are manufactured by two separate entities. Coins are manufactured by the Mint Bureau, but which of the following manufactures bills?
A) The National Printing Bureau

Q) What is the name of what is considered the oldest board game in the world, still played today by various rule sets such as the Kalah or Oware?
A) Mancala

Ounabara Proficiency Exam

Ounabara Proficiency Exam

The Ounabara Proficiency Exam is different from the other exams you’ve just answered. Instead of unique questions, this exam asks you to take on all the questions you’ve answered before and answer them again in this exam. The kicker, though? If you just get one answer wrong then you’ve failed it. That’s right, no more 3 out of 5 questions being good enough to pass. Nope. You’ll need to get 5 out of 5. Give all of these exam questions one last look before venturing in. It could just be the difference between a pass and a fail!

If you're looking for other side activities to do, check out Yakuza Like A Dragon management, where you'll be at the helm of Ichiban Confections and making extra money on the side.

Learn how Yakuza Like A Dragon management works to ace shareholder meetings and make money on the side. It's not a Yakuza game if you aren't running a side hustle, and Ichiban is no different in Yakuza Like A Dragon with his Ichiban Confections business. The goal is to build a rice cracker business, and become the best in Yokohama. You'll also have to upgrade your store, train, and face Shareholder Meetings at the end of every business period. In these meetings you have to convince your sponsors that it's all going well and that you’d love to have their support to continue. If all else fails, however, then you’ve got one other option: saying sorry. 

On the surface, this may not seem all that important, but failing a Shareholder Meeting can have severe consequences, such as decreasing your rank in management - terrible if you’re trying to get to the top 100 or 50 before Nick Ogata comes to visit and rids you of your business. It also hurts the morale of your employees, and the reputation of your business. So, if you want to do well at Management - and you'll need to if you want to recruit Emi Kamataki in Yakuza Like A Dragon - you must be ready to talk your way through those meetings. Here's what you need to know about Yakuza Like A Dragon Business Management and Shareholder Meetings.

Getting prepared for Yakuza Like A Dragon Shareholder Meetings

The game tries to explain Shareholder Meetings, but unfortunately is pretty bad at explaining some of the pictures and information it throws at you. For one thing, it doesn’t let you know that while looking at your Management screen, where you can recruit employees and buy property, there’s also the option to look at who you’re going to be up against in your Shareholder Meetings. You should have a look at it before you start your Shareholder Meetings, just so you can analyze your strategy. 

Let’s give you an example. Look at the following image:

With this screen you’re able to see that the three shareholders in the upcoming meeting have different colour circles attached to their level. One has blue, one has red, and the other has green. On the left side of the screen, you’ll see the same colours - blue, red, and green. These shareholders are linked to those colours, and will focus on these subjects in the Shareholder Meetings. Blue will be interested in your net worth, red in how you manage your employees, and green in the current sales that you made during the period of business. 

These colours aren’t just for showing who cares about what, however. Focus your attention to the top right of the screen and you’ll see a circle that may look similar to previous Yakuza players. For those who have no idea what that circle of mishmashed colours mean, we’ll explain: green beats blue, which beats red, which then beats green. It’s a circle that goes by the formula of rock-paper-scissors, and it’s this method that you’ll need to rely on when having it out with your shareholders. For example, if you have three enemies, with two red circles and one green, you should include blue and red employees as these are best suited for battle.

You can also see that, next to their titles of part-time employee, there is a number that isn’t their level. This is how much power you need to have to ‘play’ the employee in the meeting. As you can see, the total power here is 40, so if I was to play my first employee, I’d be left with a power of 33. 

If you look closer, you’ll see that both the boardroom members and employees have a smiling or angry face next to their level. While it isn’t great if your opponent is angry, it’s even worse if your employees are as they won’t perform as well. So the best thing to do before a board meeting is to give your employees some love through treating them to spas or just letting the game do it for you by using Auto-Care in the employee section before you head into the shareholders meeting. The more positive your employees are, the better chance you’ll have in succeeding in the meeting.

Understanding Employee Stats

To pick the best employee to head to ‘battle’ in, you’ll need to know and understand what employee stats are and what they will contribute in the Shareholder Meetings. As you can see, you’ve got stats labelled under the Shareholder Meeting tag - these are the only stats that you’ll need to focus on.

Charisma - This is the employee’s attack power, and can be improved by levelling up your employee. The higher the charisma, the more damage your employee will do in battle. 

Tenacity - This is the health of your employee, and like Charisma, can be improved by levelling up your employee. 

Command Cost - This is how much power you need in order to choose the employee to argue against the opposing shareholders.

Going to Battle

With all that said and done, it’s time to head to battle and kick those ungrateful sponsors where the sun don’t shine!

In this section of the game, you’ll have to put all the information that you’ve learned from this guide into action. It may sound a little overwhelming at first, but if there’s one tip we can give out to you is that, if you’re struggling throughout the battle, you can hit the pause button and get your breath. It’s helped us out many times!

Onto battle! After the introductory cutscene, you’ll be tasked with answering questions from your sponsors. You can choose which sponsor you’d like to talk to first, but be aware that the longer you wait, the more impatient they’ll get and if you leave them waiting too long… The support meter, and your employee’s health will take a hit. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with waiting, as each second gives you more power, but just don’t wait too long. 

From the picture above you’ll notice that the sponsor yelling at us has blue shields above his dialogue box. This is significant as it means that you’ll need a green employee to penetrate the shields and leave the sponsor vulnerable to your attacks. In this image, the sponsor and shield are the same colour, but if you have a sponsor that’s blue but their dialogue box has green shields, use your red employees to break the shields down and then use the green employee to deal damage. It’s a lot of memorizing, which is why we really do suggest pausing if you feel overwhelmed. 

You should also take notice of the red bar of the sponsor when you get into an argument with them. That’s their Tenacity, aka health bar, and can only be shortened when their shield is down. We advise you go for the sponsor with the smallest health bar first, as they are much easier to win over and you’ll still have enough power to at least knock some health off the more powerful enemies. After all, you only need your support to be 100% to win the match, not get all of your shareholder sponsors on your side. It’s best to have more than just one.

If you’re struggling with waiting on power, leaving room for your enemies to tear into your support, there is only one option...

Saying sorry

At the bottom right hand corner you’ll see a ring with three, smaller rings above it. This is your ‘sorry’ button, and pressing it will give you the option of making Ichiban apologize. You have three levels of ‘sorry’ which range from stunning your enemies to knocking their health down to 0 if you use it at the right moment. It is incredibly helpful, and can be used to tactically beat your enemies in battle.

Now that you know everything you need to in order to win the Shareholder Meeting battles, go out there and prove to everyone that Ichiban is the best business manager in the world!

Knowing how to Recruit Kiryu and Majima in Yakuza Like A Dragon will allow you to unlock them as late-game Poundmates to call upon in combat. This sadly means the two iconic Yakuza characters aren't available as true party members and are just temporary allies that Ichiban can bring in by calling them on his smartphone. Importantly, it does prove that this isn't quite the end for Kiryu and Majima, so let us warn you that there will be some minor spoilers ahead for Yakuza Like A Dragon. If you're still here, this is what you need to know to recruit Kiryu and Majima as Poundmates in Yakuza Like A Dragon.

How to Recruit Majima in Yakuza Like A Dragon

Chapter 12 is one of the longest chapters in this game - especially if you haven’t been saving up your money - so you’ll be relieved to know that after all that hardship you’ll get a fitting reward: the inclusion of having Majima as a Poundmate. Yes, just a Poundmate that you can call up on your phone. While it may sound a little disappointing, it’s for a good reason that you’ll only find out when you complete Chapter 12.

You’ll first have to beat Majima, alongside his brother Saejima, in Chapter 12. It’s a difficult fight, so be prepared to do some grinding beforehand in order to stand a chance against the two of them.

Once you complete Chapter 12 and have Majima as a Poundmate, you can call upon him for help. His attack damages all enemies in the battle, with a chance of paralyzing them. However, the cost of him helping you is a hefty one! 1,000,000 Yen isn’t exactly cheap, so make use of his help when you really, really need it.

How to Recruit Kiryu Kazuma in Yakuza Like A Dragon

There are 15 chapters in Like A Dragon, and you meet the Dragon of Dojima himself during Chapter 12. He’ll be the guy in shades, casually saving your life as though it’s really that easy. You’ll have to remember that Kiryu is around 60 years old at the time, but let us tell you this: he isn’t afraid and is limber enough to kick some butt. 

As fortunate as you are to see Kiryu in Chapter 12, you won’t be able to officially recruit him until the very end of Chapter 14. That means that unfortunately yes, there’s only one whole chapter where you’ll be able to use Kiryu as a Poundmate. Still, that may be for the best considering the cost of using Kiryu, like Majima, is incredibly pricey.

The results however are worth it, as while 1,000,000 Yen isn’t cheap, the ability of Kiryu’s attacks are nothing to turn your nose up at. With Kiryu’s help, all enemies get hit and they’ll have a chance of getting an instant KO. Even the toughest of enemies don’t stand a chance against the Dragon of Dojima!

Knowing how to recruit Eri Kamataki in Yakuza Like A Dragon Chapter 5 will allow you to get her to join Ichiban's party for more adventures in Yokohama. You won't be able to recruit her to Hero Ichiban Kasuga's party - along with Nanba, Saeko, and Adachi - until you reach the Management section of Yakuza Like A Dragon where you run a Japanese rice crackers company. You will have to put some effort in though, both to run the company and win Eri over to your side. Here are all the steps you need to take to recuit Eri Kamataki onto your Yakuza Like A Dragon team.

How to Recruit Eri Kamataki in Yakuza Like a Dragon

Talk to Eri at Ichiban Confectionary

So you’ve said yes to helping Eri run Ichiban Confectionary - great! Talk to her and learn the ins and outs of the business. She’ll teach you how to run things, and remind you of the goal that you set up with Nick, a character who Ichiban meets earlier in the game, on getting to Management Rank of 100 as soon as possible. Why? Because if you don’t, it’s game over for Ichiban and co, which means no way for you to recruit Eri into your party.

Get to the Top 100 Rank

If you want to recruit Eri, getting to the top 100 is the goal and the only way to do that is play the management minigame - so get to work! There is no real ‘right’ way in order to succeed at the business side of things, but it’s very important that you ace your Shareholder Board Meetings - battles where Ichiban must convince shareholders that they were correct to put their faith in Ichiban and his company. If you’re worried about that, then don’t be! We’ve got a guide that’ll help you ace each and every Shareholder Meeting!

Once you’ve got to the top 100 rank, Eri and Ichiban will get a call from Nick that’ll give them their next objective - getting to the top 50 rank. But before the two of you can dive back into work, Ichiban suggests you and Eri celebrate your achievements by drinking at the Survive bar.

Meet Eri at Survive

Head to Survive and talk to Eri. It’s here that she’ll reveal more about what happened that led to her signing the company over to some sketchy people - the sketchiest being the top dog of the industry. It’s here that, after a talk with Ichiban about his new adventures with his friends, Eri will ask to join your party. 

Unlike other party members, Eri’s bond can only be fulfilled if you progress through the management subquest. So if you want to get to know her, and make her more powerful as a teammate, make sure to continue to manage Ichiban Confections.

If you want to expand your team further, be sure to know about how to recruit Kiryu and Majima in Yakuza Like A Dragon.

Use these Yakuza Like A Dragon tips to help you make sense of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios' wild, turn-based take on Japanese gang crime. Like A Dragon also has some pretty major differences compared to previous Yakuza titles, so you even the most honed players may find they need some guidance in Yakuza Like A Dragon. There are new characters, a fresh story, minigames, combat, and even a new map. Players will take on the role of Ichiban Kasuga and mostly play around in the bigger, fiercer world of Yokohama's Isezaki Ijincho. Together with Ichiban's companions, you'll be facing new challenges and adventures. Here are 10 essential Yakuza 7 tips and tricks to get you started to becoming the greatest hero that ever graced Yokohama!

1. Resting is a free way to recover HP and MP

Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon is just as unforgiving as previous Yakuza titles. When you’ve taken a beating in battle, you don’t recover your HP/MP - you’re left to either go eat, or suffer. This often means that you’ll need to go to your nearest restaurant or cafe and chow down, which means spending money. That’s fine and all, but what happens if you’d prefer to be frugal? Well, that just means you’ll either have to trek back to your first starting point in Yokohoma, or Survive, the bar that you unlock in Chapter 4. In both of these locations you’ll find a place to rest, filling your HP/MP completely. It may be frustrating to go back and forth, but it helps you save money and that can never be a bad thing!

2. Skills aren’t just for battle and another option to heal

Getting skills is a great feeling, but there’s more to them than meets the eye. While most skills are used in battle, there are a few that can be used outside of combat. One of the very first skills you come across is Nanba’s Healing Powder, a skill that helps heal individual members of your party. All you need to do is pause, go to Skills, choose Nanba’s healing spell and then choose who you want to heal. It will cost MP, like it does in combat, but you won’t have to wait multiple turns to heal your allies. This is particularly helpful in dungeon areas if you’re out of items or struggling to keep up with the constant barrage of enemies. 

3. Treasure Hunting is a good way to earn money and find useful items early on

Treasure Hunting is introduced very early in the game as a way for you to scrounge up some pocket change, such as 100 to 500 yen. Nothing much, but something that can help you in a pinch if you’re desperate. You only have to do it a few times before the story progresses, but that doesn’t stop you from going up to vending machines later on in the game to try your luck. 

But why should you? Simple. It isn’t just yen that you can get when you look under vending machines and garbage cans. You’re able to get health items, snacks, and more importantly, objects like Silver and Gold plates that can be sold at the Pawn Shop for good money. It’s hard to get money in the early game, so this is very helpful in getting started.

4. Chat with your party whenever you can at Survive to raise your bond with them

Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon introduces a cool new system: bonds. Bonds are the connection between Ichiban and his new friends, and they can be deepened by fighting in combat together, sharing meals, as well as playing minigames like darts. There are multiple ways to raise those bonds, but be warned: raise them to a certain extent and you’ll notice your companions will get a lock around their bonds icon. This means that you cannot raise your bond until you talk to them at your hangout bar, Survive. 

Head on over to Survive and you’ll get the chance to talk to your companions and discover more about them. It’ll raise your relationship past the lock, give your friends more EXP regardless of whether they are in the main party or not and, more importantly, will open up more Jobs for your party. Make sure you know how to Recruit Kiryu and Majima in Yakuza Like A Dragon, particularly if you're a fan of previous Yakuza games!

5. Running away can be the smart decision in a fight

Nobody likes running away, but sometimes that’s the only option available unless you want to get your ass beat and all your funds stolen. Maybe it’s because you’ve gone into an area where, to your horror, you’ve discovered almost all of the enemies are at least 20 levels above you, or perhaps you’re out of items and your MP is sorely lacking to the point that healing is impossible. If that’s the case, there really is no option but to get the hell out of there.

Running away also has other benefits. When you run away after getting into combat, the area you’re in will clear of enemies for a while - giving you the chance to explore the map with no real danger. It’s only a short while, but if you repeat the process you’re able to get around most of Ijincho without any trouble.

6. Money making bugs are mostly found at Hamakita Park

One of the ways that you can get money in this game is bug-hunting. However, bugs can be rare in the part of the city where you start your adventure, meaning that unique bugs - such as the silver moth and butterfly - are hard to find in these areas. This can be frustrating when you get Part-Time Hero jobs in Chapter 5 that ask for you to deliver bugs, because sure you can try and get them through reward points with collecting cans, but that’s more time-consuming than necessary.

So head on over to the top right of the map - Hamakita Park. There you’ll find more than enough bugs to sell in the grass and trees and while there will also be tough enemies, you can always run away if the going gets tough.

7. Switch up your Jobs often to see more options

If there’s one thing that’ll kill your excitement quickly, it’s sticking to one Job. Sure you get stronger if you decide to stick to one and nothing else, but you lessen your chance of seeing everything that the game has to offer. Not just that, but you lose out on certain skills and ailments too - and who would want to miss out on that? Not us!

8. Work on Ichiban's personality to access new locations, NPCs, romances and other options

Ichiban having a personality may not seem all that important at first, but as you continue to play you’ll notice that some options - whether it be a location, a Job, an NPC or a romance option - are completely locked off to you due to you not having the right personality to strike up a conversation. This isn’t a dealbreaker by any means, but opening up new locations offers the chance for more minigames, money, romance, and more, so do consider it! You can improve your personality through the Vocational school exams, collecting books and magazines, as well as completing quests.

9. Use the ATMs to avoid losing money if you fail a fight

One of the worst things that can happen to you in Yakuza 7: Like A Dragon is losing a battle. Sure you don’t die and lose a ton of your items, but you do lose half of your money. And we do mean half, no matter how much money you have. So, that 1 million yen you had before? Yep, it’s gone. 

So, the only thing to do is put your money in a safe place. Thankfully there’s more than enough ATMs around the city, so you won’t have to go too far in order to find a secure place.

10. Collect CDs when you can, because you can

Survive Bar isn’t just a place where you can talk to your friends, drink, create herbal remedies, and sing karaoke. No, there’s even more things you can do there, and one of those things is listen to music. It’s no game changer by any means, but it lets you listen to KOI NO DISCO QUEEN which, come on, is more than enough reason for you to try and get as many CDs as possible.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon fans are returning the turn-based RPG to its brawler roots with an upcoming mod. 

The modders have posted the clip seen below to the Yakuza subreddit, showing off a retooled Yakuza: Like a Dragon boss battle. Instead of the usual turn-based RPG combat, which took Like a Dragon in a wildly different direction from the rest of the Yakuza franchise, the mod enables fast-paced brawling action gameplay, more in line with the rest of the series.

Apparently, this is a glimpse at a massive mod project from YouTuber Jhrino, of which you can see one video just below. It looks like the modder is completely reworking Like a Dragon's core combat and movement systems to make it play more like the seven mainline Yakuza games preceding it. 

One major thing the modder has to consider is the party-based RPG system Yakuza: Like a Dragon utilizes. Unlike previous games, protagonist Ichiban is nearly always accompanied by three supporting characters in combat, so this mod has plenty of extra legwork to compensate for them.

Interestingly, this mod is reverting Like a Dragon back to the combat system it ditched deep in development. For those that aren't aware, Like a Dragon was originally announced with an April Fool's video, showing Ichiban and Saeko taking on grunts in turn-based combat.

At this point, Like a Dragon used the combat system of previous Yakuza games. However, the video became so popular that developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio spent the final year of development switching the game's combat to an RPG setting. Talk about changing things at the eleventh hour.

The next game in the Yakuza series is in development, and it'll maintain the turn-based RPG combat used in Like a Dragon. 

Yakuza developer RGG Studio has many more projects in the works beyond Yakuza 8.

In a recent interview with Japanese outlet Den Famitsu Gamer (via The Tojo Dojo), new RGG Studio head Masayoshi Yokoyama confirmed that there are "a lot of unannounced titles" in development at this time.

"At some point I’ll be able to discuss some things that I think will surprise you all, so look forward to that," said Yokoyama.

Though he couldn't talk about anything beyond Yakuza 8 at the moment, he made it clear that the team is still going full steam ahead when it comes to pushing out new titles. 

In November, Yokoyama also confirmed that RGG Studio was working on a new IP that didn't belong to either the Yakuza or Judgment series. There haven't been any additional details about what that could be, but it certainly seems that there's a lot at play here. 

We'll likely see Yakuza 8 hit shelves in the near future before we hear more about what Yokoyama and the team have planned. A sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon, the latest entry in the long-running JRPG series, it's set to continue the story of protagonist Ichiban Kasuga. 

"This game is currently being developed by producer Sakamoto and directors Horii, Ito and Mitake. I myself along with Takeuchi and Furuta are working on the story," Yokoyama wrote in an October 2021 blog post, adding that the studio wants the sequel to feel "different but the same."

It may be some time before we hear additional updates on what's brewing at RGG Studio, but there should be a flurry of updates on the horizon.

Want to jump into a Yakuza game right now? Be sure to check out our full review of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

Sega has launched a line of colognes inspired by some of its tentpole series: Yakuza, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Shenmue.

If you're in the UK or EU, you can pre-order any one of Sega's new colognes right now for £29.99/29,56€, and they're expected to start shipping next month. The Yakuza one apparently smells like a Yakuza chairman... so, cigarettes and whiskey highballs?

"Created for the night, this bold and intriguing Yakuza/Ryū ga Gotoku 'Bourbon and Smoke' unisex cologne will have you smelling like the Tojo clan's finest crime boss! This fragrance flaunts a deep and mysterious scent of antique oak, cedarwood, beeswax infused with smoky bourbon, leathery rose and scorching pimento," reads the description.

If you've ever wondered what Sonic smells like, he's apparently quite citrusy. The description for his official cologne describes "a blast of fresh citrus, a zing of grapefruit zest and exotic lemon and lime, topped with the scene of the ocean breeze and chilled melon fade." Honestly, that's probably preferable to the scent of an actual hedgehog (no offense to the spiny little guys).

Finally, Ryo Hazuki himself has his own Shenmue cologne now called 'Tobacco and Gold'. The scent has notes of cardamom, bergamot orange, smoldering tobacco, orris root, and patchouli. "Rebellious and addictive, this exhilarating Shenmue 'Tobacco and Gold' unisex cologne hits all right smells to get the likes of Ryo Hazuki nodding in appreciation," the description reads.

Once you've got your cool red suit and Yakuza scent sorted, here are the best games of 2021 (so far) to stay inside and play.

A Yakuza: Like a Dragon sequel is in development, Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio has revealed in a new blog post.

Earlier today on October 8, the long-time Yakuza developer published a new blog post revealing internal personnel changes at the studio. As part of these changes, Masayoshi Yokoyama has been promoted to director of Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, and used his message in the blog post to reveal that a sequel to Yakuza: Like a Dragon is currently in development.

Yokoyama reveals that the sequel to Like a Dragon will continue the story of protagonist Ichiban Kasuga, who took the reigns from Kazuma Kiryu in the 2020 RPG. "This game is currently being developed by producer Sakamoto and directors Horii, Ito and Mitake. I myself along with Takeuchi and Furuta are working on the story," Yokoyama writes, adding that when they eventually reveal the game, the studio wants it to feel "different but the same."

This all comes off the unfortunate news that longstanding Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio heads Toshihiro Nagoshi and Daisuke Sato are both departing the studio, as well as parent company Sega. Nagoshi has been at Sega/RGG Studio since 1992, working on titles like Virtua Racing and Virtua Fighter, before spearheading the Yakuza and Super Monkey Ball franchises, later branching out into overseeing countless franchises at Sega, including Valkyria Chronicles, Sonic, Hatsune Miku, and more.

Sato, on the other hand, joined Sega just a few years after Nagoshi, working on a similar range of arcade titles, before branching out into production and art/character design for the Yakuza series at large. Neither Nagoshi or Sato comment on where they'll be headed next in the farewell post from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, but a Bloomberg report earlier this year that Nagoshi would be departing Sega for a new, senior role with Chinese developer NetEase.

Two stalwarts of the Yakuza franchise may be gone, but there are still countless veterans helping shape the future of the series with Ichiban Kasuga. A report earlier this year confirmed that future games in the Yakuza series would retain Like a Dragon's style of turn-based combat over Kiryu's action-brawling mayhem, and as we said in our original Yakuza: Like a Dragon review back in late 2020, it's a "confident step in a different direction" for the brilliant series.

If you're still playing through RGG Studio's RPG, head over to our guide on Yakuza: Like a Dragon exam answers for how to ace your studies.

Another day, another E3 2021 leak. This one concerns Yakuza: Like A Dragon and a rumor that it's coming to Xbox Game Pass sooner rather than later.

While not confirmed as definite, of course, the Brazillian Microsoft Store seemingly shared premature details of the game on the official store, suggesting the Sega title is heading to Xbox's subscription service. 

Industry insiders have since responded to the leak and allege the news is in line with what they'd been told, too.

Though the information online has since been deleted, naturally, screencaps were reportedly taken of the store, showing two DLC packs for the game are available as part of Xbox Game Pass… even though the game itself is not. Yet, anyway.

Chances are we'll find out more later today at Xbox's E3 presentation. Just try to look surprised when the news is shared, okay?

In case you missed it, Yakuza series creator Ryu ga Gotoku Studio has confirmed that the main Yakuza series will be a turn-based RPG going forwards. As part of last month's Lost Judgment reveal, Yakuza creator Toshihiro Nagoshi and producer Kazuki Hosokawa confirmed that future entries into the Yakuza series will feature turn-based combat after the success of Yakuza: Like a Dragon.

“The Yakuza series has been transformed into a turn-based RPG. On the other hand, over the year, Ryu ga Gotoku Studio has accumulated resources and know-how of making flashy and exhilarating action games that are effortless to enjoy. We decided that we should let our signature action gameplay live on through Lost Judgement,” they said.

As we explained at the time, up until Yakuza 6 all of the Yakuza games featured live-action combat, more akin to the usual brawler or fighting game. That all changed with Yakuza: Like A Dragon, which introduced a new protagonist and a new turn-based combat mechanic, too. Hard to believe it's all because of an April Fools joke back in 2019, eh?

"Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a confident step in a different direction for Ryu Ga Gotoku’s series," we said in GamesRadar+'s Yakuza: Like a Dragon review. "An impactful combat system filled with whacky abilities stands tall against the action-based formula RGG perfected over nearly two decades, and newcomer Ichiban Kasuga and his friends come together as an excellent cast to leave a lasting impression. 

"Like a Dragon might fall into genre traps of a prolonged main scenario and pretty lacklustre dungeon design, but the ever-charming side stories maintain that perfect Yakuza combination of funny and meaningful."

Here are our picks of the best Xbox Game Pass games.

A sequel to Judgment, the 2019 spinoff of the popular Yakuza series, seems to have leaked. The full reveal is expected to happen tomorrow at 7am PDT / 3pm BST for "Judgment Day," an event previously teased by developer Ryu Ga Gotoku.

As flagged by Wario64 on Twitter, the title, cover art, and other key details of the Judgment sequel briefly appeared on the Japanese PlayStation Network. The sequel seems to be titled Lost Judgment, and the cover art features a close-up of protagonist Takayuki Yagami peering through an opening door.

According to the leak, a standard edition and deluxe digital Lost Judgment will launch in Early Access on both PS4 and PS5 on September 21. Just remember, that's the presumed release date for Japan, and it could take quite a while longer for a western release.

If you haven't played the first Judgment yet, it sounds like it's worth a look if you're a fan of the Yakuza series, particularly the ones prior to Like a Dragon with beat-em-up fighting. While our 3/5-star Judgment review flags a few significant problems, including "its shallow and unfulfilling crime-solving gameplay," the robust story, combat, and exploration should please fans of the series looking for more. If you decide to check it out, just be sure to read through these essential Judgement tips to make the most of your time in Kamurocho.

If the leak is confirmed to be true, Lost Judgement will be just one of many upcoming PS5 games we can't wait to check out.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon hasn't even been out for a full month yet, but now an after Cyber Monday sale is dropping copies of its day-one edition to just over half their regular price. Amazon is cutting $25 off the price on both PlayStation and Xbox in the US - whichever console family you buy it on, the same disc is guaranteed to work on both last and next-gen hardware in the same family.

• Yakuza: Like a Dragon Day Ichi Edition on PS4 / PS5 upgrade ready / Xbox One / Xbox Series X | $59.99 $34.99 at Amazon
• Yakuza: Like a Dragon Day Ichi Steelbook Edition on PS4 / PS5 upgrade ready / Xbox One / Xbox Series X | £44.99 £34.99 at Amazon UK

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is a brand new entry in the series that launched the same day as the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S. It sees a new hero take the reins - Ichiban Kasuga - who's aided by a colourful array of fresh faces. That's helped in part by its switch to a party-based RPG combat system from its usual action-based gameplay. In our review, we noted how the game "impressively pulls off the switch to an RPG in style, providing an excellent combat system supported by loveable characters, and a tantalising main storyline with meaningful side quests".  

Even if you want to wait to play Yakuza: Like a Dragon on PS5, you'd still do well to pick up this deal while it lasts: Sega has confirmed that the game will get a free upgrade on PS5 when it arrives in March. Just make sure that you pick up a console with a disc drive when you go to buy a PS5, otherwise having the PS4 disc won't do you much good.

A new Yakuza: Like a Dragon update has added in a feature that no one really noticed was missing in the first place.

The new patch for Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's game, which is out now on all platforms, adds the ability for you to see which enemies are weak to certain attacks in the heat of battle. So if you select an electric-based attack and hover your cursor over enemies while deciding which one to use it on, you'll see if any of them are weak to the element.

I can't believe I never even noticed this feature was missing from Like a Dragon. It makes perfect sense that the game would signal which enemies are weak to certain attack in battle, but up until now I've admittedly been relying purely on memory to determine which enemies are weak to certain elements.

Well, this certainly makes everyone's life a lot easier while playing Yakuza: Like a Dragon. Combat can get real tough in Like a Dragon, especially when you're going up against any number of the game's formidable boss characters surrounded by their minions, so this will undoubtedly help tons of players.

Speaking of making everyone's life easier, Yakuza series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi recently revealed that Like a Dragon switched to being an RPG less than 11 months out from launch. Nagoshi revealed that when an April Fool's video aired in 2019 depicting Like a Dragon as an RPG, it was still an action game, but the team decided to make the switch to RPG-based combat after the video was shockingly well received.

If you're looking for a decisive edge in Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio's game, you can head over to our game on how to recruit Kiryu and Majima in Yakuza Like a Dragon for more.

It turns out that when Yakuza developers pranked the world with a turn-based gameplay reveal of Yakuza: Like a Dragon last April, the game was actually still action-based.

If you're unfamiliar with the story, it's a wild one. On April 1, 2019, the video below premiered from Yakuza developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, giving the world a look at the turn-based gameplay of the next game in the series. As you can see, protagonist Ichiban Kasuga steps up to confront some street thugs with a brand new RPG-based gameplay system.

Thing is, it was all a prank from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio. As was revealed afterwards, the gameplay reveal above was never meant to be anything more than a joke. So how come it actually ended up representing the final product, when Yakuza: Like a Dragon would release months later in Japan?

It turns out that the audience loved the fake gameplay reveal so much that Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio changed Yakuza: Like a Dragon, switching it from an action game to a turn-based battler. So from April 2019, when the prank first aired, to January 2020, when Like a Dragon launched in Japan, the developer was actually busy retooling their entire gameplay system because the prank went down way better than anyone could've anticipated. All of this is revealed in the brilliant interview below with Yakuza series producer Toshihiro Nagoshi, by Archipel on YouTube.

As Nagoshi reveals in the interview, many people somehow assumed they were already making a turn-based RPG when the April Fool's video was released. After the video though, the team pivoted immediately to the RPG formula, with Nagoshi remarking with a wry smile that "hurrying to make things is sort of a characteristic of the Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio."

There are some game development stories that just make your jaw drop, and this is very much one of them. To think that the entire team at Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio abandoned the established gameplay that they spent nearly two decades refining, to chase something entirely new in less than a year is mind-boggling.

But, it paid off. Yakuza: Like a Dragon has generally been received very well by critics and fans alike, acting as a major launch title for the Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S in the west. Having spent well over 60 hours with Ichiban Kasuga and company, I can firmly say Like a Dragon is fantastic. If you're after some more elaborate thoughts, head over to our Yakuza: Like a Dragon review.

If you're still working your way through the brand new RPG adventure from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, check out our Yakuza: Like a Dragon tips for essential info.

Sega has released a new trailer for Yakuza: Like a Dragon, showcasing some of the ways that shiny Xbox Series X-optimized tag makes the game look and play better.

The cinematics in the trailer look great, and some of the Xbox Series X optimizations sound legit, like "breathtaking visuals" and "blazing fast speeds," but some other stuff advertised is just Sega being silly. There's "next-gen crustacean AI" (top), "cutting-edge hairstyles," and my personal favorite, "optimized protagonist optimism." Just look at this protagonist. He's so damn optimistic.

Seriously though, there's a lot to look forward to for Yakuza fans with an Xbox Series X/S pre-order. Talking to Xbox Wire,  Yakuza Chief Producer Masayoshi Yokoyama detailed some of the key improvements with the next-gen version, which will be a lot smoother during fast action scenes. Yokoyama explains that balancing high resolution with stable framerates was key to drawing out fine details in the graphics while making sure the action played smoothly.

"Since Yakuza: Like a Dragon uses an RPG battle system, we chose to focus on providing higher / more stable framerates to facilitate a more comfortable player experience, but we also had the opportunity to increase the resolution to show off the intricate details we include in our characters and set pieces," he says.

As to what Yokoyama himself is most excited for in the next-gen version of Yakuza: Like a Dragon, it's the lightning-quick loading times. "It's nearly instantaneous; there's not even time to read the loading screen tips!" he teases.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is due to release November 10 on Xbox One, PS4, PC, and Xbox Series X/S. The PS5 version will release on March 2.

Here's what specs you'll need to play Yakuza: Like a Dragon on PC.

Sega gave me a chance to play Yakuza: Like a Dragon early, and the first thing I did was look a gift horse in its English-speaking mouth. I knew the preview was probably going to start with English as the default, but I still made a face until I could change the voice acting language to Japanese - like I was used to from the hundreds of hours I spent kicking ass and raising orphans in previous games.

Thankfully, it's easy to swap voice languages in the middle of a playthrough. I played with Japanese voices for 10 or 15 minutes and everything was right in the world. Then I realized I was just doing the comfortable thing. It would have been more comfortable if Yakuza: Like a Dragon still had its trusty old protagonist Kazuma Kiryu, or didn't totally change up its combat system, but here we are. This is a time to give new things I shot. And besides, this is the first Yakuza game with a full English dub since Mark Hamill oozed malice as Goro Majima in the original. That has to at least be worth a try.

Yakuza's localization has come a long way since 2006. Like a Dragon follows the same model set forth in Judgment, the last game from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio: the English subtitles and the English voice script diverge in points to play to the strength of both mediums. After I overcame my purist sneering, I was able to appreciate the English voice work. It feels as natural as one could expect, the characters are distinct, and the script itself deftly rides that trademark Yakuza line between melodrama, oddball humor, and genuinely touching conversations.

I'm probably going to stick with Japanese in the full game, but I already know there will be some moments that make me miss the English: the little conversations your party members can have out in the world, for example, which wouldn't require a quick reading break if I could just listen to what they were saying. That feeling of wandering around a Japanese city is a big part of Yakuza's appeal for me, though, and it isn't quite the same when nobody's speaking the language. Yakuza: Like a Dragon's Yokohama is a lovely place to wander.

Take in the sights

Yakuza has always been a fantastic Japanese tourism simulator, and there's never been a better time to take a walk around its rendition of Yokohama than in the travel-starved time of late 2020. Don't be fooled: this is not a tourism-board-approved destination. The rivers are full of garbage and slick with oil, half of the buildings are run down, and forgotten people try to live as best they can in encampments on the side of the street. It isn't played for gritty shocks or cynical humor, thank God. It's just life.

Wandering the streets feels different with a party of four following you everywhere you go. There was something to be said for the lonely-in-a-crowd feeling of late nights in Kamurocho, but it's nice to have company too. And as always, there are plenty of new folks to meet out on the streets. There are people in need of a rescue, surprisingly charismatic crawfish, and the owner of a classic movie theater who can't stand when people fall asleep in the middle of a movie.

If that last example sounds oddly specific, it's because it leads directly into what may be Yakuza: Like a Dragon's strangest new minigame: our new hero Kasuga Ichiban is terrible at staying awake during movies. In order to take in each classic film and absorb its character-building (and stat-building) message, you have to fight off legions of "REM Rams" who pop up in the seats around him and try to lull him to sleep. You do this by pounding their respective buttons in time, while avoiding the "Alarm Cock" roosters who want to help you. Yakuza doesn't usually get quite this surrealist, but this is also a game where you summon rains of crawfish to pinch and poison your enemies.You can't always lean on your crustacean friends.  

Roll through the fights

Most of the time, you handle street brawls with your fists (or bats, or umbrellas, or whatever weapons your party members have equipped). Either way, it's all managed with a turn-based combat system. It still looks like the usual Yakuza combat, with the belligerents circling around and grabbing junk off the street to clobber each other, but it plays like a turn-based JRPG.

A Persona-style button menu offers quick access to standard attacks, special skills, and so on. The specifics of how each character fights are determined by their current Job; that's a Job both in the Final Fantasy sense of something that gives you special abilities and influences stats, and a Job in the sense that they're all part-time work (your entire party in Yakuza: Like a Dragon is eternally broke). You might naturally gravitate toward ass-kicking Bodyguards and Enforcers for their combat strength, but trust me when I say a Chef or a Hostess can kick just as much ass with their tricks of the trade.

Turn-based battles are another big change for Yakuza, and after rolling through a boss battle and about a dozen street fights, I'm... fine with it? I'll be the first to admit that I don't typically enjoy traditional JRPG combat, but at least Like a Dragon's fights move quickly. I also appreciate the in-fiction explanation that our new hero isn't a one-man, mob-demolishing army like the last one was, so he has to coordinate with his allies. I'm not sure I'm having more fun this way, mind, but it works. I'm glad the developers are trying new things after a decade of incremental changes.

That's where I am now. The brief time I had with a pre-release version of Yakuza: Like a Dragon was never going to be enough to convince me that I'll enjoy the new voice acting options, the new hero, the new battles more than the ones that I'm already so deeply invested in. It was enough to make me excited to see more.

I love it when longstanding franchises keep reinventing themselves. It's thrilling to have no idea where the Yakuza after this one is going to go. What other old standbys will it replace? What new ideas from Like a Dragon will it set aside? Will Kasuga still be the main hero, or is this the start of a new age of rotating protagonists? I've never been more excited to be a Yakuza fan.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is getting an upgrade onto PS5, but won't have cross-save. In a tweet yesterday, developer RGG Studio attempted to clarify how the upgrade would work in the midst of some player confusion.

The official Western page for the Japanese studio told fans that "physical owners of Yakuza: Like a Dragon on PS4 can also use the original disc to upgrade to the PS5 version." There'll be a little bit of a wait for that, as while the current-gen and Xbox Series X version of the game are now due to arrive slightly earlier than scheduled, on November 10, the PS5 version won't launch for four more months, on March 21, 2021. In that announcement, the studio announced that "digital owners of Yakuza: Like a Dragon on PS4 can upgrade for free at PlayStation Store immediately on the game's PS5 release."

While an upgrade will be available, however, cross-save between the two versions won't. RGG Studio also stated that "save data will not be transferable between the PS4 and PS5 versions of the game." That's created some confusion among fans, with one asking: "what's the point of [an] upgrade if you can't take your save data with you?"

It's a similar situation to that outlined by Insomniac Games for Marvel's Spider-Man. Earlier this month, the studio confirmed that "saves won't transfer from the original game to the remaster" on PS5, despite the upgrade that will be available once the next-gen version is released.

While you might have to wait a little while for Yakuza 7, here are all the upcoming PS5 games confirmed so far.

The Yakuza: Like A Dragon system requirements for PC have been confirmed by Sega, and they're pretty approachable for mid-range machines.

Yakuza: Like A Dragon is coming to PC on November 10, alongside the PS4 and Xbox Series X/Xbox Series S versions of the game. It will be the first game in the Yakuza series with a simultaneous PC release (though it did first hit PS4 in Japan back in January). Here's what you'll need to run it.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon minimum system requirements

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i5-3470 | AMD FX-8350
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 660, 2 GB | AMD Radeon HD 7870, 2 GB
• Storage: 40 GB available space

Yakuza: Like a Dragon recommended system requirements

• Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
• OS: Windows 10
• Processor: Intel Core i7-6700 | AMD Ryzen 5 1400
• Memory: 8 GB RAM
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060, 3 GB | AMD Radeon RX 580, 4 GB
• Storage: 60 GB available space

I never know what to expect with cross-generational games, but if you have a mid-range machine gaming from the last five years or so, it should be able to handle the Yakuza: Like A Dragon system requirements just fine.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is the first main Yakuza game not starring series stalwart Kazuma Kiryu. New protagonist Ichiban Kasuga must rely on some unlikely allies to help fight his way through the Japanese underworld, using a new JRPG-inspired turn-based combat system.

Sega also revealed the Yakuza: Like a Dragon PS5 release date, which will follow four months after the others. 

The Yakuza: Like a Dragon PS5 release date has been revealed at last, and it will follow about 4 months after all the others.

The official Twitter account for series developer Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio revealed the Yakuza: Like a Dragon PS5 release date of March 2, 2021. It also confirmed that purchasing the digital version of the game on PS4 - which is coming out on November 10 - will entitle you to a free PS5 upgrade as soon as the new version is available. Update: RGG Studio confirmed in a followup Tweet that it will work for the physical version, too.

The announcement from RGG Studio also showed off our first look at Yakuza: Like a Dragon running on PS5 hardware. The video shows part of an emotionally charged scene where new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga agrees to take the fall for a crime he didn't commit to help out his Yakuza family. Our old hero Kiryu did pretty much the same thing in the first Yakuza, so Kasuga's already in good company.

We got a second look at Yakuza: Like a Dragon gameplay immediately after, and it swings in the complete opposite direction with a big boss battle against an excavator. As in the piece of heavy machinery with treads and a big bucket arm for digging into the earth. After some consternation, Kasuga's party agrees to punch the hell out of the arm part and hope for the best. Its life gauge depletes when they hit it, so I guess it must be working?

Speaking of punching, I took a look at what Yakuza: Like a Dragon's turn-based combat means for folks who aren't so into JRPGs. 

Yakuza: Like a Dragon converts the street-brawling action of the Yakuza series into traditional, turn-based JRPG combat. I'm usually a big supporter of game franchises reinventing themselves, especially at natural break points like the arrival of a new protagonist - but I was filled with more dread than joy when I first heard the news last year. After Sega took me on a lengthy tour of the combat system, I have some hope again. This might be the first JRPG I ever finish.

I'm not ashamed to admit it. I've never completed a Persona, a Dragon Quest, a Final Fantasy, or even a Pokemon. Not for lack of trying! I've started dozens of JRPGs, sometimes multiple times each, but I never get much more than halfway through before losing interest. I think my record is probably still Final Fantasy 6, which I abandoned just before the big turning point in the middle of the game when I got frustrated with a boss. My main hurdle is, of course, turn-based combat. It always takes too long even if you're just fighting some rando low-powered monster, and it always seems to vacillate between pointlessly easy battles of rote tactics and a giant 'You Must Grind This Much To Advance' sign.

Then there are all the annoying random encounters, the long lists of equipment that make barely perceptible adjustments to long lists of stats, the massive stories that require dozens of hours of commitment and so much dialogue. Those get me too. But when the initial shock of the combat changes wore off, I realized I was already perfectly fine with all those other JRPG things when Yakuza does them. All those Kamurocho toughs chasing after me for no good reason are random encounters. All those Comfy Soles and Military-grade Belts are just armor. I've put literally hundreds of hours into Kiryu's story at this point and I've only played from Yakuza 0 to Yakuza 3 (I'm working on it).

So it comes down to the combat. The question is, after watching a roughly hour-long hands-off preview of Yakuza: Like A Dragon, do I believe that picking attacks from a menu can make a satisfying replacement for grabbing a thug and hitting Triangle to slam him butt-first onto a bollard?

The Mad Dog of Menus

The battles I saw all used a full party, composed of the floofy haired new hero Ichiban Kasuga and three trusted comrades. The fights start in the usual Yakuza manner - either a cinematic standoff leads to fisticuffs or a bunch of jerks want to fight you in the street for no good reason - and the action ticks over directly to combat in the same environment. Each character automatically moves to circle their opponents, with the current active character cycling through your party and the bad guys on a predetermined initiative order.

When one of the good guys is up, you can do a standard attack or spend some of your MP on a special skill. Skills include everything from big bat swings to powder puff bodyslams to liquor-breath flamethrowers, some of which can affect multiple enemies based on positioning or be powered up by pulling off timed button presses. You can also execute a gig-economy summon by calling Postmates, which lets you bring in cameo assists from recurring characters like Gary Buster Holmes in exchange for a set yen fee.

Each character's attacks and abilities are largely determined by their current Job. If you have even half of the JRPG mental block that I do, this is probably the part where you're ready to bounce faster than a Final Fantasy Dragoon. But Yakuza might have an answer for that too; not by removing the long list of skill requirements and special abilities, but by tying each job to its own quests. For instance, you can pick up the mantle of Part-Time Hero, which will let you answer calls for help from distressed citizens around the city.

Other job options for Kasuga include Bodyguard, Chef, and Breaker (as in breakdancer). I don't think I'll ever have the kind of brain that enjoys creating synergized skill strategies and optimizing statistical growth across Jobs, but I know from experience that Yakuza tells some of its most affecting, memorable, and funny tales in "optional" side content like this. I can't wait to see what shenanigans will ensue as Kasuga and the gang pursue their part-time careers.

Like a Dragon Quest

I'm still torn about whether I would have preferred Yakuza: Like a Dragon just kept going with the combat of its predecessors. It was finely honed but undeniably well worn after so many years of relatively minor revisions. Having taken a long look at Like a Dragon's new JRPG combat, I'm more hopeful.

I don't know if I'll ever get to the point where I prefer waiting my turn then picking a move off of a menu to the satisfaction of building that heat bar in real time, picking up a giant traffic cone, and then just wrecking somebody with it. But I do know this game is still the Yakuza I love, the Yakuza I've already put hundreds of hours into and plan to spend hundreds more catching up with. I mean, have you heard of how long Yakuza 5 is supposed to be? I've made the commitment.

A little thing like a new way to fight isn't going to put me off my long, strange trip through fictional melodramas of the Japanese underworld. After years spent peacing out of JRPGs, I think this is finally gonna be the one.

Yakuza: Like a Dragon is coming to Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S on November 10, Xbox One and PC on November 13, and PS4 and PS5 at a later date.