Tag: Yakuza

Wrestling legend Kenny Omega and Bly Manor and Midnight Mass star Rahul Kohli join the new Yakuza game Like A Dragon Ishin as special Trooper Cards to power up Kiryu in his time of need. Collectible cards aren’t new to Yakuza, but it seems safe to say these are much more useful than the scantily clad beetle women from Yakuza Kiwami.

Trooper Cards are a tongue-in-cheek feature unique to Ishin, where Kiryu summons the spirits of heroes to gain temporary powers in battle. These powers also coincide with Final Fantasy, which, considering Yakuza: Like A Dragon’s multiple Dragon Quest references, may not come as a surprise.

Kenny Omega’s power can summon the stars as he slashes foes with his angel’s wing, a possible nod to Final Fantasy 7’s Sephiroth – the one-winged angel who summons Meteor in the game. Rahul Kohli summons waves of fire to incinerate his foe, which sounds very Ifrit-like.

Omega and Kohli are two of six special Trooper Cards that will be available as free DLC when Like A Dragon Ishin launches in February 2023. Kiryu has access to other cards as well, featuring characters from throughout the Yakuza series. RGG Studio will reveal the other four Trooper Cards and more about the system in blurbs on their Twitter account in the weeks leading up to launch.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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Sega and RGG Studio released a new Like A Dragon Ishin trailer highlighting Kiryu’s new combat styles – or, more accurately, Sakamoto Ryoma who looks exactly like Kiryu. While the game’s action draws on RGG’s Yakuza series’ signature over-the-top style, it blends new elements in keeping with Ishin’s setting in pre-industrial Japan.

Instead of multiple brawling styles – Rush and Beast, for example – Kiryu-as-Ryoma builds his style around weapons. Swordsman sees him rush into battle with – you guessed it – a sword, whirling and slicing enemies in a style gorier than we’re used to. He picks up a revolver for Gunman style and gains some additional mobility skills. In Gunman stance, Ryoma excels at long-range fighting and maneuvering away from enemies to regain the advantage.

Brawler stance sees Ryoma adopt a traditional fist-focused style, as he pummels opponents and weaves and dodges his way out of harm. 

Then there’s Wild Dancer, a blend of swordsman and gunman that sees Ryoma quite literally dance across the battlefield in a blaze of blood and bullets. While a revolver and a katana might seem tame for a Yakuza game, it seems Ryoma will get his hands on some more outlandish weapons as well, including a giant golden cannon.

Like A Dragon Ishin launches Feb. 21, 2023, for PS4 and PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S, and PC.

Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF

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As the Yakuza series continues to explode in the west, many Switch owners hope the games will eventually land on Nintendo’s handheld platform. Unfortunately, Ryu Ga Gotoku studio head and executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama isn’t sure it’s a good fit.

During an interview with Gamespot, Yokoyama offered insight into why Yakuza hasn’t come to the Nintendo Switch.

“Do we want to put a title like this where we’re going around and picking a fight with the world and doing all this Yakuza stuff, on a Switch,” Yokoyama said. “We still kind of think of ourselves as people of the night world, right? We don’t want to be like walking around the day with everybody else. Like for us, it’s kind of showing this kind of underground feeling. I think the underground kind of feeling is what we want to do.”

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It’s an interesting take, to be sure. Most of the Yakuza series recently game to PlayStation Plus and Xbox Games Pass along with slick PC port of the Judgment spinoffs, so the Nintendo Switch is the only significant omission. Hopefully, Yokoyama and everyone else at Sega will change their tune someday.

Recently, Sega also announced Like a Dragon: Ishin – a complete remake of the Yakuza spinoff. It’s also worth noting that ‘Like a Dragon‘ is the official name for Yakuza in North America and Europe going forward.

Written by Kyle Campbell on behalf of GLHF.

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