Yakuza

This article is about the 2005 video game. For the franchise formerly known as Yakuza, see Like a Dragon.

Yakuza
Developer	New Entertainment R&D Dept. Ryū ga Gotoku Studio
Publisher	Sega
Platforms	Amazon Luna, PS2, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Windows, Xbox One
Released	Original: PS2 JP: December 8, 2005 PS2 NA: September 5, 2006 PS2 AU: September 14, 2006 PS2 EU: September 15, 2006 PS3 JP: November 1, 2012 Wii U JP: August 8, 2013 Kiwami: PS3 JP: January 21, 2016 PS4 JP: January 21, 2016 PS4 WW: August 29, 2017 Windows WW: February 19, 2019 Xbox One WW: April 22, 2020 Luna US: December 22, 2022 Switch WW: October 24, 2024
Added to Museum	PS4: July 17, 2018

Yakuza, known in Japan as Ryū ga Gotoku (龍が如く, “Like a Dragon”), was the first game in the Like a Dragon series. It was released on PlayStation 2 in Japan on December 8, 2005, in North America on September 5, 2006, in Australia on September 14, 2006, and in Europe on September 15, 2006. It received a high-definition port in Japan as part of Ryū ga Gotoku 1&2 HD on PlayStation 3 on November 1, 2012, and on Wii U on August 8, 2013.

It later received an enhanced remake titled Yakuza Kiwami (Ryū ga Gotoku: Kiwami, 龍が如く 極, "Like a Dragon: Extreme"). It was released in Japan on PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 on January 21, 2016. It received a worldwide release on PlayStation 4 on August 27, 2017, and for Windows on February 19, 2019.

Plot

A former yakuza named Kazuma Kiryu finds himself in the middle of a conspiracy involving a young girl and billions of yen.

In 1995, a yakuza member named Kazuma Kiryu had risen in the ranks of the Tojo clan and was about to be given his own organization. However, he discovered that his childhood friend, Akira Nishikiyama, killed a Yakuza patriarch after the latter tried to rape a woman, Yumi, who grew up with both men at Sunflower Orphanage. Kiryu took the blame, was banished from the Tojo clan, and was imprisoned for murder.

In 2005, after spending ten years in prison, Kiryu was paroled. Upon arriving home he discovered that the Third Chairman of the Tojo clan, Masaru Sera, had been murdered, ten billion yen had been stolen from the Tojo clan, Nishiki had become violent and resentful of Kiryu, and Yumi was missing.

While investigating the murder of the Third Chairman and the missing money, Kiryu formed an unlikely partnership with the detective who put him in prison, Makoto Date. Kiryu later discovered an orphan named Haruka, who was searching for her mother Mizuki, Yumi's sister.

After discovering an underground city beneath the city's homeless encampment, Purgatory, Kiryu met a legendary cop-turned-informant named the Florist of Sai. The Florist said that he once had to create records for an entirely false person, but before he could reveal that reason, Haruka was taken from the park outside Purgatory by Goro Majima, a yakuza who wanted to draw Kiryu out so that he would fight him.

After defeating Majima, and getting Haruka back, the Florist has Kiryu do a favor for him by making sure that his estranged son will take care of his fiancee without the Florist revealing his true identity. After Kiryu made sure the pair would be fine together, the Florist revealed the truth.

Mizuki was the false identity of Yumi. After Kiryu took the blame for the murder committed by Nishiki, Yuki went into shock and suffered amnesia. She eventually recovered and, in 1996, had a daughter, Haruka, with an aspiring politician named Kyohei Jingu. Since he had not yet married Yumi, he abandoned his family to marry someone else to further his career. After accidentally killing a journalist who tried to blackmail him with evidence that he had abandoned his family, Jingu tells Masaru Sera to kill his wife and child so that they can not be used against him again.

Shintaro Kazama, Kiryu's adoptive father, saved Yumi and convinced Sera to turn against Jingu after discovering that Sera had been laundering the 10 billion yen for his own self-interest. To keep Yumi and Haruka safe, Kazama had the Florist of Sai create the false identity of Mizuki, and left Haruka at Sunflower Orphanage, with her believing that Yumi was her aunt.

A Yakuza boss named Futoshi Shimano blew up Shintaro Kazama, after the latter jumped in the grenade's path to save Haruka, and the Omi alliance leader Yukio Terada killed Shimano in revenge. With his last words, Kazama revealed that he killed Kiryu's parents and that Sunflower Orphanage housed the children of the people that he had killed. He gave Kiryu Third Chairman Sera's will, which revealed his successor.

Kiryu then took Haruka to reunite with her mother, and the three confronted Jingu, who was after the 10 billion yen. The latter tried to kill Yumi and Haruka himself, but Yumi revealed that she had set up a bomb to blow up the money. Kazuma revealed the will and the fact that he was named the Fourth Chairman of the Tojo clan. He then defeated Jingu, and then Nishiki, the latter of whom had sought to get out from under Kiryu's shadow. Jingu tried to shoot Kiryu, but first Haruka then Yumi jumped in the path of the bullet. To prevent Jingu from getting the money, Nishiki fired his gun at the bomb, destroying the money and killing himself in the process.

Before she died, Kiryu told Yumi that he loved her. He then gave up the position of Fourth Chairman of the Tojo clan to Yukio Terada, planning to leave the Yakuza life behind to raise Haruka.

Playable games

Yakuza

At Club Sega, you can play the UFO Catcher crane game.

In addition, there are gambling parlors, casinos, and bars that allow you to play various parlor games and gamble.In addition, there are gambling parlors, casinos, and bars that allow you to play various parlor games and gamble.

• Baccarat
• Batting Center
• Blackjack
• Cabaret club - earn the affection of up to six women
• Pachinko Slot
• Roulette

Yakuza Kiwami

The mini-games in Yakuza Kiwami are based on those in Yakuza 0.

At Club Sega, you can play Sega arcade games.

• Battle Bug Beauties: MesuKing - based on the Catfight Arena from Yakuza 0
• UFO Catcher 8

In addition, there are gambling parlors, casinos, and bars that allow you to play various parlor games and gamble. As with Yakuza 0, the Japanese gambling games that had previously been cut out of previous Western releases of Yakuza games are playable, complete with instructions on how to play them.

• Baccarat
• Batting Center
• Blackjack
• Billiards - includes 4-ball, 8-ball, 9-ball, rotation, and puzzle pool
• Bowling
• Cabaret club - earn the affection of up to two women
• Cee-lo
• Cho-han
• Darts - includes 301, 501, 701, 901, cricket, and count-up
• Karaoke button-based rhythm game
• Koi-koi
• Mahjong
• Oicho-kabu
• Pocket Circuit slot car racing
• Poker
• Roulette
• Shogi

Development

Toshihiro Nagoshi was a supervisor on the Shenmue team when it was first being developed at Sega AM2. As the game became larger, he opted to manage his own studio instead.

He talked to Shenmue creator Yu Suzuki as well as the head of the development divisions of Sega at the time about the prospect. He left the Shenmue project and became the manager of Sega AM11 when it was formed in September 1998.

Sega AM11 became Sega Software R&D 4 in May 1999. During this time period, Nagoshi was called in to finish the Shenmue project, which was in a state of perpetual development. For the final months of development, Nagoshi had to serve as producer and director in order to finish the game. Shenmue was finally released on December 29, 1999.

After his development division was spun out into Amusement Vision on April 21, 2000, Nagoshi became its president. While running Amusement Vision, he wanted to develop an open world action-adventure that would benefit from his experience course-correcting the messy development of Shenmue.

As the game dealt with the yakuza, he brought in Hase Seishū, a Japanese author who is known for writing yakuza crime novels, to supervise the game's storyline. Together, they created the game's protagonist, Kazuma Kiryu. He was originally meant to be in his 20s, however, it was decided that it would be unrealistic for a man to be given his own yakuza family at that age. Thus, Kiryu was aged approximately ten years, and the storyline accounted for this by having him in prison during that time.

Amusement Vision became the New Entertainment R&D Department on April 1, 2005, and Yakuza was released on the eighth of December of that year.

Versions

The original PlayStation 2 release of Yakuza had several changes when it was translated into English, including the name of the game itself. In Japan, it was titled Ryū ga Gotoku, or Like a Dragon, after the dragon tattoo on Kiryu's back. In addition, several character names have been changed, and the dialog was re-recorded with English voice actors.

Ryū ga Gotoku 1&2 HD was released only in Asia for PlayStation 3 in 2012 and for Wii U in 2013. This release was identical to the original but featured high-definition graphics.

Yakuza Kiwami, the high-definition remake of Yakuza, contained most of the mini-games from Yakuza 0. It cut down the number of flirtable hostesses at cabaret clubs from the six in Yakuza down to two. It also added a mode called "Majima Everywhere" wherein Goro Majima pops up in various areas and in various costumes around Kamurocho intending to get Kiryu's dragon fighting style back up to the level it was before Kiryu was incarcerated. Kiwami also added new cutscenes meant to both improve the flow of the story as well as to tie it into the Yakuza 0 prequel.

The Western localization of Yakuza Kiwami cut two songs by the singer Koshi Inaba due to licensing issues. The localization contained Japanese voices with subtitles and reverted most of the changes that were made in the original English translation. The dialog was presented with the original Japanese voice acting and English subtitles. The characters regained their original Japanese names as well. Shintaro Fuma is Shintaro Kazama, Akira Nishiki is Akira Nishikiyama, Futo Shimano is Futoshi Shimano and Kage the Florist is given the translation of his Japanese title Sai no Hanaya, Florist of Sai.

Pre-order bonus

People who pre-ordered the original Japanese version of the game received the first issue of a physical magazine with articles based on the world of the game titled Kamutai Magazine.