Dwight Méndez (ドワイト・メンデス, Dowaito Mendesu) is a secondary antagonist featured in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth. He is the leader of the Barracudas.
Profile[]
Appearance[]
Dwight is an older man with long, graying hair pulled back in a ponytail. He wears a mustache that frames his upper lip and the sides of his mouth.
After an altercation, Dwight has a scar across his forehead.
Tattoo[]
Dwight Méndez's Forehead Tattoo
Dwight has several Western-style tattoos. He has a capital letter "B" on the left side of his forehead, the word "Barracuda" written on top of an ornate pattern on his left forearm, and a machete between thorns and two butterflies on his right forearm. He also has a variety of symbols tattooed on his fingers.
Attire[]
He wears an off-white dress shirt, white pinstriped dress pants with gold-buckled belt, and a pair of dark brown dress shoes. He also wears gold necklaces, gold rings, gold bracelets, and a gold-plated dress watch.
Involvement[]
Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth: 2023[]
Dwight orders Chitose Fujinomiya to lead Ichiban Kasuga and his party into a trap when they enter his territory. To Dwight's surprise, Chitose betrays him. Dwight battles Ichiban and his allies but is promptly defeated and left at the mercy of Eric Tomizawa, who the Barracudas had framed for one of their crimes. Tomizawa picks one of Dwight's fallen machetes and interrogates Dwight on why the Barracudas were tracking down Akane, where Dwight claims that an anonymous employer paid him 10 million dollars to find her (though it's later revealed that this was a lie on Dwight's part to avoid compromising his employer's true identity). Tomizawa prepares to finish Dwight off but holds off at the last second, the near-death experience causing Dwight to wet his pants. Tomizawa instead takes a photo of a terrified and humiliated Dwight, blackmailing him into getting his men off Ichiban and Chitose's backs lest he release the photo online.
Despite Tomizawa's blackmail, Dwight's own fears of failing the Overseer causes him to continue his search for Akane and Lani. He reappears when Eiji Mitamura, an ally of Bryce who managed to infiltrate Ichiban's group as an supposed ally, contacts Dwight of Akane and Lani's location. Dwight sends his men to storm the safehouse Akane and Lani were hiding at, where they manage to successfully capture Lani and extract Eiji.
Dwight is later present at an online meeting between Bryce, his partner Masataka Ebina, and several Japanese government officials and corporate bigwigs, as they discussed plans to transport their nuclear waste to Nele Island. Once the meeting ends, Dwight informs Bryce of his success in capturing Lani and will be sending her to Nele Island on the next boat. Bryce is less than impressed, however, and points out that he only succeeded in finding Lani due to Eiji and Ebina's information. Bryce warns that if Ebina were to use this as leverage against Bryce, Dwight will regret it, a warning that terrifies the Barracuda kingpin.
Bryce orders Dwight to track down Akane, since she was the only one who knows of his false status as Sage of Palekana. Dwight's men find out that Akane is hiding out in Yukata Yamai's territory, which is outside of Bryce's influence. Instead, Dwight bribes members of the Yamai Syndicate to turn against their patriarch and bring him Akane. Despite this, Ichiban and his allies manage to fend of the Barracudas and the mutineers.
As Dwight prepares to personally deliver Lani to Bryce through a harbour hidden beneath District Five, Ichiban and his allies manage to catch up with him. Although Dwight threatens Ichiban by taking Lani hostage, Ichiban calls his bluff by pointing out that Bryce likely needed her alive, otherwise she would have been dead the moment they found her. This distraction allowed Lani to bite Dwight's hand, causing him to let her go and flee to Ichiban's side. Dwight attempts to recapture her by force but he and his men are defeated once again.
Using his vast network of control via the Barracudas, Dwight attempts to lockdown Honolulu in order to prevent Ichiban and his friends from escaping. When Yamai offers a way to Japan using a tugboat, Dwight catches wind of this and pursues Ichiban and his friends on speedboats. Even as they are attacked by giant sharks, Dwight remains determined on recapturing Lani but is defeated once again. Realising that he has failed Bryce too many times, he attempts to make an escape using one of the speedboats him and his crew arrived in, planning to start a new life in Switzerland. However, a shark attracted by the light emitted by his speedboat and the jewellery he's wearing destroys the boat and seemingly devours him.
Fighting Style[]
Dwight has three boss fights in Infinite Wealth, and is accompanied by goons in all of them. His weapons of choice are a pair of machetes, and he also utilizes a grenade launcher in his second and third fight. His final encounter adds a unique environment hazard: giant sharks that are dangerous to both Kasuga and Dwight's parties. His moveset is listed below:
- Bonecutter — a right-machete downward diagonal slash. This attack inflicts 'Bleed'.
- Mutilator — a left-machete leftward slash and a double-machete downward diagonal outward slash. This attack inflicts 'Bleed'.
- ¡Lanzagranadas! (2nd fight onward) — taking out a grenade launcher and firing at a group of opponents. Can inflict 'Burn'.
- Chum the Waters (3rd fight only) — stabbing an opponent in the gut and kicking them to the end of the boat, where they are an easy target for sharks.
- Death Wish (Heat Mode only) — raising his machetes before leaning back and letting out a battle cry, increasing his 'Evasion'.
- Deathbringer — a right-machete downward diagonal left slash and a double-machete rightward slash. This attack projects shockwaves and inflicts 'Bleed'.
- Death Glare — putting his right foot down in front of him and pointing his machete to intimidate his opponents, inflicting 'Fear'.
- More on the Way (2nd fight onward) — summoning three goons to aid him in battle.
Dwight enters Heat Mode when his health has been reduced to approximately 50%, removing his debuffs. His aura is hot pink.
Gallery[]
