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Yakuza (franchise)
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Yakuza (franchise)
Yakuza, also known as Like a Dragon (Japanese: 龍が如く, Hepburn: Ryū ga Gotoku), is a video game series and media franchise created by Toshihiro Nagoshi for Sega. It incorporates elements of the action-adventure, beat 'em up, and role-playing genres.
Each installment is typically a crime drama, with plot lines inspired by yakuza films and pre-millennial Japanese crime dramas. The most frequently featured protagonist is Kazuma Kiryu, a reformed yakuza associated with the Kanto-based Tojo Clan. While Kiryu often finds himself working with the leaders of the Tojo Clan to thwart conspiracies aimed against them, the primary theme of the series is his desire to leave the yakuza for good and start over by raising orphans and trying to assimilate into civilian life. The gameplay of Yakuza / Like a Dragon has the player controlling Kiryu (or another character, depending on the title) in an open world where he can fight random groups of punks and gangsters, take on side missions and activities to earn experience and money, learn new moves from non-player characters (NPCs), eat and drink at various restaurants, visit hostess and cabaret clubs, craft items, and engage in a variety of mini games such as golfing, bowling, batting cages, video arcades, karaoke, and gambling games including poker, blackjack, Cee-lo, and Koi-Koi. The series is well known for the contrast between the dramatic main storyline and the humorous, over the top side content.
The franchise has become a commercial and critical success, and as of 2024, Sega has reported that the video game series has sold a combined total of 27.7 million units in physical and digital sales since its debut in 2005. Strong sales of the games in its original Japanese market has led to the franchise's expansion to other media, including film adaptations and a television series.
Like a Dragon has been the franchise's branding in Japan since 2005. Yakuza was the primary international branding from 2006 to 2022, when Sega announced it would be discontinued; Like a Dragon became the international branding with Like a Dragon: Ishin! (2023). However, Sega has continued to use the Yakuza branding alongside Like a Dragon, and video game journalists continue to refer to the franchise as Yakuza.
The Yakuza / Like a Dragon game series is set primarily in the fictional district of Kamurochō (神室町), which is based on Kabukichō, an actual red-light district of Tokyo. Other actual locations reproduced in the game series include:
The appearances of the in-game districts and towns are based on their contemporary actual locations from the year each game came out, and are often renovated and remodeled in newer games. However, specific stores and buildings are often different or carry fictionalized branding compared to their real life counterparts, replacing them with real-life product placements or plot-important locations.
The primary protagonist of the Yakuza / Like a Dragon franchise is Kazuma Kiryu, who is playable in every numbered entry of the main video game series through Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Some games, such as Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5, feature multiple playable characters, with players switching between them at predetermined points in the story. Ichiban Kasuga became the new lead character of the main series games beginning with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, with up to six of his companions available as playable characters during combat sequences, though Kiryu appeared in a non-playable capacity and became playable again in subsequent installments.
Other characters have appeared as the protagonists of various spin-off titles. The samurai-era titles Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! and Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! are based around fictionalized versions of historical figures Miyamoto Musashi and Sakamoto Ryōma respectively, both of whom are modeled after Kiryu. The Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku subseries features its own protagonist, street punk Tatsuya Ukyo, while the Judgment subseries follows private detective Takayuki Yagami. Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, a video game adaptation of the manga franchise Fist of the North Star by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara, features similar gameplay and thematic links to the Yakuza / Like a Dragon franchise, with many of its characters like Kenshiro voiced by the same voice actors who play recurring characters in the main series games.
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Yakuza (franchise)
Yakuza, also known as Like a Dragon (Japanese: 龍が如く, Hepburn: Ryū ga Gotoku), is a video game series and media franchise created by Toshihiro Nagoshi for Sega. It incorporates elements of the action-adventure, beat 'em up, and role-playing genres.
Each installment is typically a crime drama, with plot lines inspired by yakuza films and pre-millennial Japanese crime dramas. The most frequently featured protagonist is Kazuma Kiryu, a reformed yakuza associated with the Kanto-based Tojo Clan. While Kiryu often finds himself working with the leaders of the Tojo Clan to thwart conspiracies aimed against them, the primary theme of the series is his desire to leave the yakuza for good and start over by raising orphans and trying to assimilate into civilian life. The gameplay of Yakuza / Like a Dragon has the player controlling Kiryu (or another character, depending on the title) in an open world where he can fight random groups of punks and gangsters, take on side missions and activities to earn experience and money, learn new moves from non-player characters (NPCs), eat and drink at various restaurants, visit hostess and cabaret clubs, craft items, and engage in a variety of mini games such as golfing, bowling, batting cages, video arcades, karaoke, and gambling games including poker, blackjack, Cee-lo, and Koi-Koi. The series is well known for the contrast between the dramatic main storyline and the humorous, over the top side content.
The franchise has become a commercial and critical success, and as of 2024, Sega has reported that the video game series has sold a combined total of 27.7 million units in physical and digital sales since its debut in 2005. Strong sales of the games in its original Japanese market has led to the franchise's expansion to other media, including film adaptations and a television series.
Like a Dragon has been the franchise's branding in Japan since 2005. Yakuza was the primary international branding from 2006 to 2022, when Sega announced it would be discontinued; Like a Dragon became the international branding with Like a Dragon: Ishin! (2023). However, Sega has continued to use the Yakuza branding alongside Like a Dragon, and video game journalists continue to refer to the franchise as Yakuza.
The Yakuza / Like a Dragon game series is set primarily in the fictional district of Kamurochō (神室町), which is based on Kabukichō, an actual red-light district of Tokyo. Other actual locations reproduced in the game series include:
The appearances of the in-game districts and towns are based on their contemporary actual locations from the year each game came out, and are often renovated and remodeled in newer games. However, specific stores and buildings are often different or carry fictionalized branding compared to their real life counterparts, replacing them with real-life product placements or plot-important locations.
The primary protagonist of the Yakuza / Like a Dragon franchise is Kazuma Kiryu, who is playable in every numbered entry of the main video game series through Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. Some games, such as Yakuza 4 and Yakuza 5, feature multiple playable characters, with players switching between them at predetermined points in the story. Ichiban Kasuga became the new lead character of the main series games beginning with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, with up to six of his companions available as playable characters during combat sequences, though Kiryu appeared in a non-playable capacity and became playable again in subsequent installments.
Other characters have appeared as the protagonists of various spin-off titles. The samurai-era titles Ryū ga Gotoku Kenzan! and Ryū ga Gotoku Ishin! are based around fictionalized versions of historical figures Miyamoto Musashi and Sakamoto Ryōma respectively, both of whom are modeled after Kiryu. The Kurohyō: Ryū ga Gotoku subseries features its own protagonist, street punk Tatsuya Ukyo, while the Judgment subseries follows private detective Takayuki Yagami. Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise, a video game adaptation of the manga franchise Fist of the North Star by Buronson and Tetsuo Hara, features similar gameplay and thematic links to the Yakuza / Like a Dragon franchise, with many of its characters like Kenshiro voiced by the same voice actors who play recurring characters in the main series games.
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