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{{Stub}}
{{GameSubpages|Yakuza|Yakuza}}
 
 
{{Game
 
{{Game
|title1 = Yakuza
+
|1 = Missions
 
|japanese = 龍が如く
|label1 = Western
 
  +
|romanized = Ryū ga Gotoku
|image1 = Yakuza-1-.jpg
 
|label2 = Japan
+
|image = <gallery>
 
Yakuza-1-.jpg|PS2 (WW)
|image2 = Yakuza1boxart.jpg
+
Yakuza1boxart.jpg|PS2 (JP)
|japanese_title = 龍が如く
 
 
</gallery>
|genre = Action-Adventure, Action-RPG, Beat 'em Up, Open World
+
|genre = Action-Adventure
|rating = CERO: D (17+) <br> ESRB: Mature
 
  +
|rating = * [[wikipedia:Computer Entertainment Rating Organization|CERO]]: D (17+)
|developer = SEGA
 
  +
* [[wikipedia:Entertainment Software Rating Board|ESRB]]: Mature
  +
* [[wikipedia:Australian Classification Board|ACB]]: MA 15+
  +
* [[wikipedia:British Board of Film Classification|BBFC]]: 18
  +
* [[wikipedia:Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle|USK]]: 18
  +
|developer = Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio (CS1 Team)
 
|publisher = SEGA
 
|publisher = SEGA
 
|platforms = PS2, PS3, Wii U
 
|platforms = PS2, PS3, Wii U
 
|distribution = DVD, Blu-ray
 
|distribution = DVD, Blu-ray
 
|release = '''PS2'''
 
|release = '''PS2'''
* 2005 (JP)
+
* December 8th, 2005 (JP)
* 2006 (NA/EU)
+
* September 5, 2006 (NA)
  +
*September 14, 2006 (AUS)
}}'''''Yakuza''''', originally released in Japan as '''''Like a Dragon''''' (龍が如く, ''Ryū ga Gotoku'') is an action-adventure beat'em up video game developed and published by Sega in 2005 for the PlayStation 2.
 
  +
*September 15, 2006 (EU)
 
  +
'''PS3'''
A remake of the game was announced, called ''[[Yakuza Kiwami]]''.
 
  +
*November 1, 2012 (JP; as ''Ryū ga Gotoku 1&2 HD Edition'')
  +
'''Wii U'''
  +
* August 8th, 2013 (JP; as ''Ryū ga Gotoku 1&2 HD for Wii U'')}}
  +
{{Quote|Blood. Honour. Respect. Live the Yakuza Legend.|''Yakuza'' tagline}}
  +
'''''Yakuza''''', originally released in Japan as '''''Like a Dragon''''' ({{JP|龍が如く}} ''Ryū ga Gotoku'') is an action-adventure beat 'em up video game created by [[Wikipedia:Toshihiro Nagoshi|Toshihiro Nagoshi]], and developed and published by [[Wikipedia:SEGA|SEGA]]. The original [[Wikipedia:Sony|Sony]] [[Wikipedia:PlayStation 2|PlayStation 2]] game was developed between 2002 and 2005<ref name=ignprojectj></ref> and released on December 8, 2005 in Japan, with a worldwide release in September 2006. Additionally, HD remasters have been released in Japan for the [[Wikipedia:PlayStation 3|PlayStation 3]] and [[Wikipedia:Nintendo|Nintendo]] [[Wikipedia:Wii U|Wii U]] in 2012 and 2013 respectively.<br />
   
  +
A remake of the game for the [[Wikipedia:PlayStation 4|PlayStation 4]] was released in Japan in 2016, called ''[[Yakuza Kiwami]]''. This remake was released worldwide in August 2017, and on [[Wikipedia:Steam (software)|Steam]] a year later, becoming the second title in the ''[[Yakuza (series)|Yakuza]]'' series officially released on PC.
  +
__TOC__
 
== Plot ==
 
== Plot ==
  +
October 1, 1995: on a stormy autumn night in the Tokyo entertainment district of [[Kamurocho]], a moustached yakuza family boss lies dead on the floor of his darkened office. The lightning punctuates his features, most notably his broken glasses, through which the bullet that killed him went before entering his head. In front of him stands a grey-suited young man, murder weapon in hand. A posse of police officers swarm into the office, weapons drawn, and order the man to drop the gun. The black-haired young man complies, turning around to reveal his face.<br />
Yakuza promises to drop you in the middle of a crime drama. It also promises a lot of back alley street brawling. Above this, it wants to grant Yakuza outsiders a taste of what the organization's all about. It may not be accurate, of course, but Sega's rendition of the notorious society is, if nothing else, an immersive one.
 
   
  +
The dead man's name is [[Sohei Dojima]]. The grey-suited man, [[Kazuma Kiryu]], is not the one who pulled the trigger on his own patriarch. Rather, the deed was done by his sworn brother [[Akira Nishikiyama|Akira "Nishiki" Nishikiyama]] in order to protect their childhood friend [[Yumi Sawamura]] from Dojima's advances. Knowing that Nishiki's sister is gravely ill and needs to be looked after, Kiryu takes the fall for him and serves 10 years in prison for a crime that is not his own.<br />
And it all starts by telling a good story. You play an up and coming Yakuza by the name of [[Kazuma Kiryu]]. <!-- modern Japanese names should be written given name first in English --> After years of faithful service, and after a very lucrative assignment, he's ready to start his own family. Thing is, the day he receives his mentor's blessing everything goes to hell. His [[Akira Nishikiyama|good friend]] kills [[Sohei Dojima|the head]] of his Yakuza family, and being the loyal friend he is, Kazuma takes the rap and winds up in jail.
 
   
  +
Ten years later: Kiryu is released from prison into the middle of a crisis within Japan's biggest yakuza organization, the [[Tojo Clan]]. Ten billion yen has gone missing from the organization, igniting a power struggle. On top of that, Yumi has gone missing, and Nishiki, now a powerful patriarch of his own yakuza family, is out to kill him. Now, Kiryu must unravel the threads holding these mysteries together with the help of [[Haruka Sawamura|Haruka]], a young girl caught in the eye of the storm.
After ten years in lockup, Kazuma leaves jail on parole to find [[Masaru Sera|the third chairman]] of the Yakuza murdered and 10 billion yen missing from the treasury. He's still a wanted man in the eyes of his former family members, and his good friend [[Yumi Sawamura|Yumi]] has vanished. Kazuma teams up with the very [[Makoto Date|detective]] who interrogated him 10 years earlier, who is now assigned to the organized crime unit, to see if they can figure out what is going on. Throughout the story, you meet a huge cast of characters, each with their own well-defined personalities and story arcs.
 
   
== Gameplay ==
+
== Chapters ==
  +
There are 13 chapters in this game:
In a way, Yakuza feels like an adventure game with a heavy dose of street brawling. This isn't because of puzzles, though it has a few, because of how immersed you become in the game world. That and the fact characters do actually matter here. As for Kazuma himself - he's the kind of character everyone loves. He's a man of integrity and compassion, yet if you cross him, he'll snap your spine and throw your ass through the window. Then he'll run outside and kick your face in, just to make sure you never walk again. He's a badass, in other words, one that just happens to have his heart in the right place. Having said that, there's a whole lot of fighting going on in Yakuza.
 
   
  +
* Chapter 1: October 1st, 1995, Fate of a Traitor
Fights take place all over town, from bustling intersections to the calm of a Zen garden. In fact, the locations all help immerse you in the world of Yakuza, and it's undeniably one of the game's greatest assets. Were it not for the ability to run across the city, and to stop and linger whenever you wanted, Yakuza would be far less of an experience. You can walk around and talk to NPCs whenever you want, even buy privileged information from a number of street-corner informants. You can also visit a number of shops and parlors, too. Many of them have no ties to the main story, but you can visit a number of restaurants, such as sushi houses or burger joints, to buy food that recovers health ''and'' nets you a few experience points.
 
  +
* Chapter 2: December 05, 2005, 10 Years Later
  +
* Chapter 3: Funeral of Fists
  +
* Chapter 4: Encounter
  +
* Chapter 5: Purgatory
  +
* Chapter 6: Fatherhood
  +
* Chapter 7: Dragon and Carp
  +
* Chapter 8: Scheme
  +
* Chapter 9: Rescue
  +
* Chapter 10: Shape of Love
  +
* Chapter 11: Honor and Humanity
  +
* Chapter 12: Reunion
  +
* Chapter 13: Finale
   
 
== Gameplay ==
Each shop has several items for sale, and they all affect you in different ways. Discovering what item goes with what benefit is actually a satisfying pastime in Yakuza. In addition to grocery stores and fast food chains, you can also visit seedier locations such as strip clubs and pachinko parlors. It's an m-rated game, remember, and you can actually spend your time looking up specific strippers in specific clubs.
 
 
Or you can just blow your funds at Pachinko, or perhaps even at the UFO Cather Machine, located at Club Sega. Here, you can lose cash and try to win random stuffed animals. It's all part of Yakuza's elaborate network of side-quests. None of it's actually necessary, but damn if it doesn't make the game longer and, yes, more in-depth than your average brawler.
 
 
For all its peripheral factors, Yakuza still has the heart of a straightforward action game. It plays in the third-person, with you in control of the protagonist as he weaves through the crowded streets and alleyways of Japan. Between story segments, usually, when crossing town, you get jumped by random hoodlums or rival Yakuza. In a way, these encounters feel very RPG-like, in that avoiding them is near impossible and they seem to happen whenever you ''just'' want to reach someplace on the map. Unlike many RPGs, however, these fights end quickly.
 
 
You spend a lot of time in Yakuza throwing punches and smashing people's faces into walls, so it's a good thing the combat system handles the job well. It's not without a few glitches, though. Sometimes it gets rather difficult facing multiple opponents, simply because the engine lacks the kind of sophistication seen in pure 3D fighters. Thanks to the game's efficient block and strafe functions, this problem never spirals out of control. You can perform a number of simple combos just as easily as you can grab a nearby object (say, a bicycle) and break it over someone's skull. Regardless of the action, it never approaches the level of complexity seen in your average fighter. It's usually a simple matter of punch, punch and kick. In any other game this could have been an overly negative thing, but not here. And while three-hit combos may sound boring, plenty of other elements make brawling worthwhile.
 
   
=== Battle Techniques ===
+
=== Battle techniques ===
 
==== Offense ====
 
==== Offense ====
* '''Rush Combo''': This determined by the character's use of throwing freestyle fists. It is not a strong impact to be reckoned with but it gives an opportunity for a counterattack towards the enemy, such as dishing out the "Uppercut" as a finishing blow.
+
* '''Rush Combo''': This determined by the character's use of throwing freestyle fists. It is not a strong impact to be reckoned with but it gives an opportunity for a counterattack towards the enemy, such as dishing out the "Uppercut" as a finishing blow. Depending on how many times square is pressed, the finishing blow will change. Be sure to asses the threat to decide which finishing blow to use. For example, using the combo '''square square triangle''', will cause the enemy to over in pain, allowing you to follow up with a grab and continue your combo even after the finishing blow.
   
 
==== Defense ====
 
==== Defense ====
* '''Guard''': To protect your character in unarmed combat, 'Guard' is deployed by drawing your hands back quickly. However, it is insignificant with rear or weapon confrontations. As such, situations need to be assessed.
+
* '''Guard''': To protect your character in unarmed combat, 'Guard' is deployed by drawing your hands back quickly. However, it is insignificant with rear or bladed weapon confrontations. As such, situations need to be assessed.
* '''Sway''': An all-directions quick break away(left,right,forward,backward) that defends the character, when applied well could work favorably.
+
* '''Sway''': An all-directions quick break away(left,right,forward,backward) that defends the character, when applied well could work favorably. When timed correctly, you can circle around the enemy and deploy a rear counter attack. Just as you cannot block attacks from behind, enemies cannot either. You have to be careful with tougher enemies, however, as they can dodge out of the way too.
   
 
==== Heat Action ====
 
==== Heat Action ====
This option becomes available in the midst of a battle when certain conditions are met and when your character becomes stronger physically and has learned various techniques. This will be expanded below.
+
This option becomes available in the midst of a battle when certain conditions are met and when your character becomes stronger physically and has learned various techniques.
  +
For example, when grabbing an enemy and standing near a wall with a full heat bar, Kiryu will violently throw the enemy at the wall, and with another well timed attack, will follow up with a swift stomp to the head. This can also apply to any weapon you hold. After aquiring certaint skills, a heat action can be used with a full heat guage while hoding a weapon. While holding a chair, for example, Kiryu will throw the chair over the enmie's head, doing massive damage.
   
  +
== Development and Release ==
Take the upgrade system. You can enhance your character in three areas, including body, technique and soul, each of which affects your abilities as a bruiser. It's possible to create a unique fighter, too, though experience points earned through street fights is rarely scarce. You can often afford to upgrade every aspect of your character often, but the opportunity ''is'' there for players who crave technique over health, etc. As you upgrade, you earn new moves and counters. By game's end, you should be throwing lethal uppercuts at the end of your combos and devastating enemies with chairs, poles, boxes, bikes, signs and all sorts of items.
 
  +
On August 6, 2005, SEGA announced that it would be holding a press conference for a new game by [[Wikipedia:Toshihiro Nagoshi|Toshihiro Nagoshi]], titled simply "Project J," on the 23rd of that month.<ref>https://uk.ign.com/articles/2005/08/06/segas-project-j</ref> At the press conference, held in a club in [[Wikipedia:Kabukicho|Kabukicho]], [[Kamurocho]]'s real-life equivalent, SEGA revealed that the new game would be called ''Ryu ga Gotoku'' (like a dragon). At the time, the game had been in development for three years, and was a departure for Nagoshi, who had previously worked on family-friendly games.<ref name=ignprojectj>https://uk.ign.com/articles/2005/08/23/segas-project-j-revealed</ref>
   
== Gallery ==
 
<gallery orientation="landscape" widths="150">
 
Yakuza-1-.jpg|North American Cover
 
Screenshot.jpg
 
Screenshot 2.jpg
 
</gallery>
 
 
== Behind the Scenes ==
 
 
=== Demo ===
 
=== Demo ===
 
[[File:Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) PS2 Demo - -Yakuza Fan Plays-|thumb|330x330px]]
 
[[File:Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) PS2 Demo - -Yakuza Fan Plays-|thumb|330x330px]]
Line 73: Line 85:
 
* Look around the Casino in Purgatory, gamble
 
* Look around the Casino in Purgatory, gamble
 
* Return to the title screen
 
* Return to the title screen
A localized version of this demo was made, accessible only through obtaining a demo compilation disk distributed by Official U.S. Playstation magazine, also released a few months before the final localization. While mostly identical to the original demo (even using the Japanese audio), ''this'' demo starts out with its own trailer, the Shimano boss fight in the Battle Section was cut, and all the swearing, '''outside''' of "bastard", is censored. Like the other demos on the disc, but unlike the original demo, the player is only given 30 minutes to try out the Yakuza demo, after which they will be booted back to the disk's main menu.
+
A localized version of this demo was made, accessible only through obtaining a demo compilation disk distributed by Official U.S. PlayStation magazine, also released a few months before the final localization. While mostly identical to the original demo (even using the Japanese audio), ''this'' demo starts out with its own trailer, the Shimano boss fight in the Battle Section was cut, and all the swearing, '''outside''' of "bastard", is censored. Like the other demos on the disc, but unlike the original demo, the player is only given 30 minutes to try out the Yakuza demo, after which they will be booted back to the disk's main menu.
   
 
[[File:Yakuza 1 - PS2 Trailer & Gameplay DEMO|thumb|right|335 px]]
 
[[File:Yakuza 1 - PS2 Trailer & Gameplay DEMO|thumb|right|335 px]]
   
The translation is also somewhat different in places, with the phrasing of certain things and names being changed in the actual product. For (a more minor) example, Reina is referred to as "Rina".
+
The translation is also somewhat different in places, with the phrasing of certain things and names being changed in the actual product. For (a more minor) example, Reina is referred to as "Rina".
   
== Regional Differences ==
+
=== Regional differences ===
 
* Unlike all the other games in the series, the US and European versions of ''Yakuza'' came with a full English-speaking voice cast, including ''Star Wars ''actor Mark Hamill as Goro Majima.
 
* Unlike all the other games in the series, the US and European versions of ''Yakuza'' came with a full English-speaking voice cast, including ''Star Wars ''actor Mark Hamill as Goro Majima.
  +
* Some character names were changed. [[Shintaro Kazama]] for example became Shintaro Fuma, and Hanaya the Florist became Kage.
 
* In the Japanese version, Kiryu would be referred to as such, followed by an honorific (-''san'', -''chan'', etc.), very seldom being referred to as "Kazuma". The English version is about the same, only "Kiryu" is replaced with "Kazuma".
 
* In the Japanese version, Kiryu would be referred to as such, followed by an honorific (-''san'', -''chan'', etc.), very seldom being referred to as "Kazuma". The English version is about the same, only "Kiryu" is replaced with "Kazuma".
 
* Instances of Kiryu calling Majima, "Big Brother Majima (''Majima no nii-san'')" was changed to simply "Majima-san" in the dub.
 
* Instances of Kiryu calling Majima, "Big Brother Majima (''Majima no nii-san'')" was changed to simply "Majima-san" in the dub.
 
* The Japanese version had chapter names displayed in read-right-to-left calligraphy. In the English version, the chapter names are displayed as normal. The latter would be the case for all Japanese versions moving forward, including Kiwami.
 
* The Japanese version had chapter names displayed in read-right-to-left calligraphy. In the English version, the chapter names are displayed as normal. The latter would be the case for all Japanese versions moving forward, including Kiwami.
* An English rendering of the abstract font used to display character names in the Japanese version was made for the International release.
+
* An English rendering of the abstract font used to display character names in the Japanese version was made for the International release.
* The English dialogue is noticeably more vulgar than the original Japanese script, with instances of characters swearing where there wasn't anything of the sort originally.
+
* The English dialog is noticeably more vulgar than the original Japanese script, with instances of characters swearing where there wasn't anything of the sort originally.
  +
[[File:Y1ukenglish.jpg|thumb|Example of UK English on the PAL version of ''Yakuza''.]]
  +
* The PAL version features French, German, Spanish, and Italian text languages, as well as having UK localized English subtitles and menu text. The pre-rendered main screen text however remains in American English. So for example, whilst the screen may display "Get to the lobby!", the subtitles say "Get to the foyer!" and the fight title card against "Street Hoodlums" is subtitled as "Street Hooligans."
  +
  +
== Gallery ==
  +
===Official Art===
  +
<gallery>
  +
Yakuza 01.jpg
  +
800px-yakuza logo 8387484878 o.png
  +
Tetsu 01.jpg|Tetsu (Dealer)
  +
wallpaper4_yakuza_8386469407_o.jpg
  +
wallpaper3_yakuza_8386469489_o.jpg
  +
wallpaper5_yakuza_8387554566_o.jpg
  +
wallpaper2_yakuza_8386469247_o.jpg
  +
wallpaper4_yakuza_8387554544_o.jpg
  +
wallpaper_yakuza_8386469103_o.jpg
  +
</gallery>
  +
=== Screenshots ===
  +
<gallery>
  +
Title screen (Y1).jpg|Title screen.
  +
Y1fightingscreenshot.jpg|Kiryu during a fight.
  +
screenshots_yakuza_8399009722_o.jpg
  +
screenshots2_yakuza_8397923165_o.jpg
  +
screenshots3_yakuza_8399009880_o.jpg
  +
screenshots4_yakuza_8397923249_o.jpg
  +
screenshots5_yakuza_8399010024_o.jpg
  +
screenshots6_yakuza_8397923385_o.jpg
  +
screenshots7_yakuza_8399010174_o.jpg
  +
screenshots8_yakuza_8397923499_o.jpg
  +
screenshots9_yakuza_8399010268_o.jpg
  +
screenshots10_yakuza_8397923641_o.jpg
  +
</gallery>
   
  +
==Notes==
  +
<references />
   
 
== Navigation ==
 
== Navigation ==

Revision as of 19:03, 9 May 2021

MAJIMA CONSTRUCTION IS AT WORK! This article is a stub and is under construction.

Template:Game

Blood. Honour. Respect. Live the Yakuza Legend.

Yakuza tagline

Yakuza, originally released in Japan as Like a Dragon (龍が如く Ryū ga Gotoku) is an action-adventure beat 'em up video game created by Toshihiro Nagoshi, and developed and published by SEGA. The original Sony PlayStation 2 game was developed between 2002 and 2005[1] and released on December 8, 2005 in Japan, with a worldwide release in September 2006. Additionally, HD remasters have been released in Japan for the PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii U in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

A remake of the game for the PlayStation 4 was released in Japan in 2016, called Yakuza Kiwami. This remake was released worldwide in August 2017, and on Steam a year later, becoming the second title in the Yakuza series officially released on PC.

Plot

October 1, 1995: on a stormy autumn night in the Tokyo entertainment district of Kamurocho, a moustached yakuza family boss lies dead on the floor of his darkened office. The lightning punctuates his features, most notably his broken glasses, through which the bullet that killed him went before entering his head. In front of him stands a grey-suited young man, murder weapon in hand. A posse of police officers swarm into the office, weapons drawn, and order the man to drop the gun. The black-haired young man complies, turning around to reveal his face.

The dead man's name is Sohei Dojima. The grey-suited man, Kazuma Kiryu, is not the one who pulled the trigger on his own patriarch. Rather, the deed was done by his sworn brother Akira "Nishiki" Nishikiyama in order to protect their childhood friend Yumi Sawamura from Dojima's advances. Knowing that Nishiki's sister is gravely ill and needs to be looked after, Kiryu takes the fall for him and serves 10 years in prison for a crime that is not his own.

Ten years later: Kiryu is released from prison into the middle of a crisis within Japan's biggest yakuza organization, the Tojo Clan. Ten billion yen has gone missing from the organization, igniting a power struggle. On top of that, Yumi has gone missing, and Nishiki, now a powerful patriarch of his own yakuza family, is out to kill him. Now, Kiryu must unravel the threads holding these mysteries together with the help of Haruka, a young girl caught in the eye of the storm.

Chapters

There are 13 chapters in this game:

  • Chapter 1: October 1st, 1995, Fate of a Traitor
  • Chapter 2: December 05, 2005, 10 Years Later
  • Chapter 3: Funeral of Fists
  • Chapter 4: Encounter
  • Chapter 5: Purgatory
  • Chapter 6: Fatherhood
  • Chapter 7: Dragon and Carp
  • Chapter 8: Scheme
  • Chapter 9: Rescue
  • Chapter 10: Shape of Love
  • Chapter 11: Honor and Humanity
  • Chapter 12: Reunion
  • Chapter 13: Finale

Gameplay

Battle techniques

Offense

  • Rush Combo: This determined by the character's use of throwing freestyle fists. It is not a strong impact to be reckoned with but it gives an opportunity for a counterattack towards the enemy, such as dishing out the "Uppercut" as a finishing blow. Depending on how many times square is pressed, the finishing blow will change. Be sure to asses the threat to decide which finishing blow to use. For example, using the combo square square triangle, will cause the enemy to over in pain, allowing you to follow up with a grab and continue your combo even after the finishing blow.

Defense

  • Guard: To protect your character in unarmed combat, 'Guard' is deployed by drawing your hands back quickly. However, it is insignificant with rear or bladed weapon confrontations. As such, situations need to be assessed.
  • Sway: An all-directions quick break away(left,right,forward,backward) that defends the character, when applied well could work favorably. When timed correctly, you can circle around the enemy and deploy a rear counter attack. Just as you cannot block attacks from behind, enemies cannot either. You have to be careful with tougher enemies, however, as they can dodge out of the way too.

Heat Action

This option becomes available in the midst of a battle when certain conditions are met and when your character becomes stronger physically and has learned various techniques. For example, when grabbing an enemy and standing near a wall with a full heat bar, Kiryu will violently throw the enemy at the wall, and with another well timed attack, will follow up with a swift stomp to the head. This can also apply to any weapon you hold. After aquiring certaint skills, a heat action can be used with a full heat guage while hoding a weapon. While holding a chair, for example, Kiryu will throw the chair over the enmie's head, doing massive damage.

Development and Release

On August 6, 2005, SEGA announced that it would be holding a press conference for a new game by Toshihiro Nagoshi, titled simply "Project J," on the 23rd of that month.[2] At the press conference, held in a club in Kabukicho, Kamurocho's real-life equivalent, SEGA revealed that the new game would be called Ryu ga Gotoku (like a dragon). At the time, the game had been in development for three years, and was a departure for Nagoshi, who had previously worked on family-friendly games.[1]

Demo

File:Ryu Ga Gotoku (Yakuza) PS2 Demo - -Yakuza Fan Plays-

Released a few months before its proper retail distribution in December 2005, this test version of the (original Japanese) game starts with a couple of warnings that it is intended for mature audiences only, after which the player will talk with a man in a suit, known as the "Guide", if they want to sample the game proper.

The Guide will give you an overview of the demo's purpose, then present you with a set of options:

  • Sample part of the main story, which entails Kiryu returning to Kamurocho to look for Stardust to meet with its owner, so that he can meet with Kazama in secret (10 Years Later). On the way, the player can engage in a few sidequests, fight, and follow the plot until after the run-in with Shimano minions. Once the next cutscene ends, the player is taken back to the "talk" with the Guide.
  • The battle tutorial within the Peace Finance base
  • Several real battles against random enemies, (seemingly) ending with the Futoshi Shimano boss
  • Romance a girl at the hostess club
  • Look around the Batting Center, play baseball
  • Look around the Casino in Purgatory, gamble
  • Return to the title screen

A localized version of this demo was made, accessible only through obtaining a demo compilation disk distributed by Official U.S. PlayStation magazine, also released a few months before the final localization. While mostly identical to the original demo (even using the Japanese audio), this demo starts out with its own trailer, the Shimano boss fight in the Battle Section was cut, and all the swearing, outside of "bastard", is censored. Like the other demos on the disc, but unlike the original demo, the player is only given 30 minutes to try out the Yakuza demo, after which they will be booted back to the disk's main menu.

File:Yakuza 1 - PS2 Trailer & Gameplay DEMO

The translation is also somewhat different in places, with the phrasing of certain things and names being changed in the actual product. For (a more minor) example, Reina is referred to as "Rina".

Regional differences

  • Unlike all the other games in the series, the US and European versions of Yakuza came with a full English-speaking voice cast, including Star Wars actor Mark Hamill as Goro Majima.
  • Some character names were changed. Shintaro Kazama for example became Shintaro Fuma, and Hanaya the Florist became Kage.
  • In the Japanese version, Kiryu would be referred to as such, followed by an honorific (-san, -chan, etc.), very seldom being referred to as "Kazuma". The English version is about the same, only "Kiryu" is replaced with "Kazuma".
  • Instances of Kiryu calling Majima, "Big Brother Majima (Majima no nii-san)" was changed to simply "Majima-san" in the dub.
  • The Japanese version had chapter names displayed in read-right-to-left calligraphy. In the English version, the chapter names are displayed as normal. The latter would be the case for all Japanese versions moving forward, including Kiwami.
  • An English rendering of the abstract font used to display character names in the Japanese version was made for the International release.
  • The English dialog is noticeably more vulgar than the original Japanese script, with instances of characters swearing where there wasn't anything of the sort originally.
Y1ukenglish

Example of UK English on the PAL version of Yakuza.

  • The PAL version features French, German, Spanish, and Italian text languages, as well as having UK localized English subtitles and menu text. The pre-rendered main screen text however remains in American English. So for example, whilst the screen may display "Get to the lobby!", the subtitles say "Get to the foyer!" and the fight title card against "Street Hoodlums" is subtitled as "Street Hooligans."

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