My first experience with the series now known as Like a Dragon was Yakuza 4, back when it was still known by its localized name. Ever since, the series has held my attention with each new entry. Even the titles with weaknesses in gameplay or story still carry the series’ signature sense of humor and unimpeachable formula. So long as each entry provides new, hilarious side stories and minigames, I remain content.
That said, some games stand above others, and Yakuza 0 is not merely one of the best entries, but is responsible for much of its series notoriety outside of Japan. Its status as a standalone prequel is indispensable in that regard, and the phenomenal story and varied combat push it into the position of a genuine classic among fans.
Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut serves to put this now ten-year-old classic in front of fresh-faced Switch 2 owners with a few new features. 0 is a strong enough title not to need excessive revision, but the original game’s gradual decline in price makes it hard to justify a $50 entry fee for a largely identical iteration. And that’s taking the English dub, new cutscenes, and multiplayer mode into account. However, it’s still Yakuza 0, and Yakuza 0 is a truly excellent video game. If you’re such a diehard Nintendo fan that you haven’t touched any other console, this is a perfect introduction to the Dragon of Dojima and Mad Dog of Shimano.
Bucking the series trend of making each mainline title set in a contemporary time, Yakuza 0 is a period piece set during Japan’s economic bubble in 1988. Extravagance pervades the atmosphere, and by the end of the game, the average player will have earned more money here than in the rest of the series combined. Even the grunts you demolish for the whole game seem like they’re loaded, given how much money you can get from them. Appropriately, the game begins with low-level Kamurocho yakuza Kazuma Kiryu shaking a man down in an empty lot, only for that man to turn up dead in that same lot. Worse, his superiors in the Dojima Family are trying to acquire that land for an inconceivably lucrative real estate deal. Knowing that he didn’t kill the victim, Kiryu defects from the Family and attempts to track down the lot’s owner while fighting off the Dojima family’s vicious and unstable lieutenants.
Meanwhile, in Osaka’s Sotenbori district, Goro Majima, manager of the Cabaret Grand, is living a double life. His ritzy job is actually a punishment, having been assigned to a civilian position by his yakuza family after failing a hit. In order to rejoin them, he agrees to kill a mysterious target named Makoto Makimura, but backs out when he discovers she’s a blind woman. Now, with no choice but to protect her from the multiple factions gunning for her, Majima is forced to push his loyalty to its breaking point. And when his story finally interacts with Kiryu’s, they paint a surprisingly tender, human picture of two decent men who find themselves unable to shake the pull of organized crime. It even relates this theme to why society’s least fortunate often turn to crime to protect themselves.
Both tales contain no shortage of memorable, well-rounded characters, and their eventual culmination makes for one of the strongest narrative crests in gaming history. To top it off, the acting is spectacular, both in native Japanese and in the new English dub. Top-tier talent fills the cast; Andrew Kishino as Majima’s boss Sagawa, Kaiji Tang as Kiryu’s blood brother Nishiki, and all of the Dojima Lieutenants are just a few of the highlights. The only part that could even be considered a weak link is Yong Yea as Kiryu. Any English actor attempting to match the pitch-perfect delivery of Takaya Kuroda is fighting an uphill battle on a functionally vertical incline. Yea’s work as Kiryu in Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth is by no means bad, but it sounds like a performance, like a man in his early thirties playing a man in his mid-fifties. Here, even though Kiryu is 20 and age isn’t as much of a factor, there’s still something missing. Maybe it’s that Kuroda makes Kiryu sound so world-weary even when he’s at Japan’s exact legal drinking age, but I’m hard-pressed to complain too much. If you’re not acclimated to the Japanese audio track, it’s easier not to notice.
Thankfully, our other hero has no such caveats. While Matt Mercer wasn’t my first choice for Majima when he took up the role in Yakuza: Like a Dragon, his rendition of the character in Director’s Cut is so good, I would not be surprised if he was cast with this game in mind. The way he weaves between Majima’s various moods of suave cabaret boss, somber thug, and furious Mad Dog is, like Yea’s performance, distinct from the Japanese audio track. But in this case, Mercer, even with his recognizable voice, completely disappears into the character. This is all bolstered by the absolutely phenomenal soundtrack, which swings between techno and contemporary rock stylings while still sounding right at home in the period setting.
But a new dub isn’t all Director’s Cut adds to the narrative. It includes new cutscenes, though they’re quite sparse. There are only five, and they range in quality. At their best, they reinforce themes and character motivations, and at worst, they’re redundant and unnecessary. Some even add new, mildly jarring reveals, none of which I’m particularly fond of. Thankfully, they don’t alter the main plot enough to change my overall impression, which is excellent.
But the gritty main plot is just one half of a Yakuza game. The other is the optional content, and 0 is one of the best in this regard. Substories are far more humorous in tone, like Kiryu helping a dominatrix gain confidence, impersonating a producer, tutoring a group of phony punks, or featuring in a music video for a blatant Michael Jackson parody. Majima’s are just as off-kilter, infiltrating a cult and reluctantly shaping economic policy after saving a politician from being mugged. The period setting gives way to a lot of fun jokes derived from 80s culture and references to Kiryu and Majima’s later adventures. The time period even tinges many minigames, like karaoke and disco dancing, which are just two out of several enjoyable distractions that pepper 0‘s world.
In addition to all these minigames, both protagonists have more substantial side stories like Kiryu’s slot car racing and real estate management, and Majima’s weapon expeditions and cabaret club management. One of the biggest advantages of this Switch 2 release is being able to pick 0 up and play with little hassle anytime, anywhere, which complements both the minigames and bigger diversions incredibly.
Combat is the most varied in the entire mainline series, with two characters and three distinct fighting styles for each (four, if you count the optional ones), all upgradable by spending your ever-swelling funds on new skills. While the curve for unlocking them is heavily tied to your investment in the side content and willingness to repeatedly fight the gargantuan muggers lurking the streets, fighting is still a blast whether you’re locked in an even brawl or totally destroying an entire room of armed goons with the dozens of hilariously violent takedowns at your disposal.
Sadly, combat isn’t compelling enough to justify the multiplayer, which is probably the weakest new addition to the package. It’s little more than repeated brawls that get cluttered up by your allies—nothing you won’t get out of playing the main story. In theory, the draw is that many bosses and NPCs are playable in this mode, but none of them have Kiryu or Majima’s variety and polish, and the grind to unlock new characters while leveling up old ones isn’t worth it. It’s removed enough from the important content that it does not significantly affect the overall experience, but should Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios revisit this mode, it needs work.
Yakuza 0: Director’s Cut puts a great game on a system that makes it portable, and that alone is laudable. Even if the multiplayer is boring and the new story content is redundant, the dub is strong enough to warrant sitting through every cutscene at least one more time. When a series with such an established structure and formula has a strong enough baseline to seem like it can’t go wrong, it can be difficult to sort out the true gems. Yakuza 0, and its Director’s Cut, are gems, end of story.
