Everything You Need to Know About Yakuza Kiwami

It’s a Remake of the First Game, With Some New Content

Yakuza Kiwami is a total remake of the very first Yakuza on PS2, albeit with quite a few updates. First and foremost, the graphics of Kiwami have been updated, running on the engine used for Yakuza Zero. This results in a huge graphical overhaul to the look and feel of the game, although Sega has gone taken some pains to ensure it remains true to the original. The story remains the same as the original game, with cutscenes staying the same as well. However, there are a handful of new scenes and events that have been added in, fleshing out the characters of Kazuma Kiryu’s sworn brother, Nishikiyama.

At the same time, there are a number of other additions like new minigames including new hostesses to talk to, Pocket Circuit Racer, and a strange rock-paper-scissors game called MesuKing: Battle Bug Beauties. The game plays more like recent Yakuza titles as well, adapting a new combat system and letting you have full control of the camera. The most notable addition, however, comes with a system known as Majima Everywhere. This system repeatedly pits you against the crazed Goro Majima, as he keeps tabs on Kiryu, trying to get him back to his proper strength level.

Majima Everywhere directly ties into leveling one of your combat styles, and you never know where you might run into him. He might pop out of a trashcan, or disguise himself as a police officer. It’s a zany, but fun system perfectly fitting of the Yakuza series. There’s certainly enough new content to Kiwami to warrant anyone jumping in, whether you played the original or not.

Where Does Yakuza Zero Fit In?

For many players, Yakuza Zero was their first introduction to the series, as well as Kazuma Kiryu. That’s perfectly fine, however, as Zero is probably the best place to start out of all the games, functioning like a prequel to the entire series. Yakuza Zero takes place in 1988, years before the original game and Yakuza Kiwami take place. This makes Kiwami another great point for anyone new to the series, and even better for anyone coming hot off of Yakuza Zero.

The new scenes and events added into the game have direct ties to Zero, and the story add-ons for Nishiki are sure to pull at the heartstrings for anyone that played the prequel. At the same time you’ll see references and familiar faces pop up here and there, like Majima and Kiryu talking about events from Zero, or the Pocket Circuit Racer kids being all grown up. Combat has also been changed to match the style of Zero, meaning you’ll instantly be familiar with how to play the game. In all honesty, Yakuza Zero is the best place to start, and a pretty great game on its own. However, if you want to just hop in with Kiwami and see where the series started, that’s perfectly fine as well.

Four Different Combat Styles

The biggest change to Yakuza comes with the new combat system, carried over from Zero for the most part. This lets Kiryu swap between four different combat styles on the fly, each of which performs incredibly different and even has their own ability tree. As a result, combat in Kiwami is certainly a bit faster, and more brutal, letting you unleash devastating ‘Heat’ attacks on enemies. If you’ve played Yakuza Zero, the combat system will be incredibly familiar to you. However, the biggest difference from that game comes in how you upgrade your abilities.

Instead of spending yen, you’re rewarded with experience for doing a variety of things in the game – beating enemies, eating, completing substories, and getting through the story. Each level of experience you gain is one point to use on upgrades of the three basic styles. The fourth and ultimate style, Dragon, can only be upgraded by taking part in the Majima Everywhere featured and repeatedly fighting him.

Where to Go After Kiwami

With Yakuza Kiwami being the first game in the series, there’s plenty of other titles to move on to, but it can be a bit intimidating to figure out how you should approach things. Starting with Kiwami, you can go back to Yakuza Zero and see the prequel of how everything played out, with some fun ties to certain characters. However, you can also move forward with the series. At this point it’s not easy to get your hands on a PS2 copy of Yakuza 2, let alone how the game hasn’t aged that well.

There’s still a Yakuza game on the way for the west, with Yakuza 6: The Song of Life releasing in March, 2018. Until then, however, you can keep yourself busy by catching up with the series and playing Yakuza 3, 4, and 5. All three games are on the PS2 in English, with Yakuza 3 and 4 getting physical copies and Yakuza 5 being download only. These games take place directly after one another, and don’t worry about skipping Yakuza 2 or even right to 4 if you want, each game contains a story summary of all the previous titles on the main menu. If you want to play Yakuza 2 though, there may be a better way coming.

Just this past week, Sega officially announced Yakuza Kiwami 2, a full-blown remake of Yakuza 2, considered by many to be the best entry of the series. Much like the first Kiwami, the second game will feature the same story as the original, but with a number of enhancements. Kiwami 2 is built on the Dragon Engine, the same one used for Yakuza 6: The Song of Life. There are also new additions like rerecorded voice lines and music, along with brand new story sequences called the Truth of Goro Majima. This tells the story of the famous “Mad Dog of Shimano” during the timeline of Yakuza 2, and his business efforts with Majima construction.

That all sounds great, but unfortunately Yakuza Kiwami 2 has only been confirmed for Japan right now, launching this December. Hopefully in the near future we can hear more on the new title coming West, especially with Yakuza 6 right around the corner.