Yakuza Kiwami

This review of the brand new Yakuza Kiwami port for the Nintendo Switch is going to basically be split in half to serve two different audiences. The first group that I’ll be talking to are the folks who have never had the chance to dig into Sega‘s venerated crime-drama beat’-em’-up saga until now and are wondering whether or not Yakuza Kiwami lives up to all of the hype. On the other side of the fence, we have folks who have either already been converted to the Cult of Kiryu, or at least those who are not questioning their interest in the Yakuza/Like a Dragon franchise, and simply want to know if this long-awaited Switch version does the game justice. The good news is that I have answers aplenty for everyone.

First, here’s what the Like a Dragon neophytes need to know: Yakuza Kiwami is a glitzed-up remake of the original PS2 Yakuza game from 2005. It first launched on the 8th generation of consoles in 2016, and then it came to PC, giving gamers all over the chance to experience the inaugural adventures of Kazuma Kiryu, the wayward ex-gangster with a heart of gold, fists of hardened steel, and a penchant for taking in endangered orphans who are wrapped up in ridiculous crime conspiracies. As players of Kiwami (or any of its prequels/sequels) all quickly discover, Kiryu also possesses the strange ability to cause hundreds upon hundreds of random Japanese citizens to lose their minds and attack him randomly in the streets of the fictional Kamurocho red light district; this is to say nothing of the many hours he will spend playing arcade games, hitting the ball at the batting cages, bowling, racing model cars, and getting involved in the weird and wacky lives of Kamurocho’s strangest denizens.

The franchise that would eventually standardize its name to Like a Dragon has experienced something of an explosion in popularity in recent years, with the two recent turn-based RPG titles selling millions of copies when they launched, but Yakuza Kiwami represents the series at its purest brawler roots. Unlike his successor, Ichiban Kasuga, Kazuma Kiryu does not ever feel the need to wait his turn before unleashing the beatdown on his many enemies, and players who might only be familiar with the newer games ought to know that they will spend a whole hell of a lot of this games dozens of hours of playtime mashing on the face buttons of their Joy-Cons to ensure that Kiryu is always pulling off the face-smashing-est, ribs-cracking-est, spine-crushing-est combos that his various combat styles will allow. Maybe you’re the type to appreciate the quick jabs and brutal kicks of his “Rush” style, or perhaps you’ve cleared every other enemy, and Kiryu’s beefy “Beast” style is just what you need to bury that last random a-hole’s face into the concrete. There’s always the balanced “Brawler” style to even things out, of course, and eventually, you might accrue enough XP and finish enough side-quests to capitalize on his fittingly named “Dragon of Dojima” techniques, which are guaranteed to take care of even the toughest of baddies. Either way, the Yakuza brand of stylish combat and badass special movies is just as fun today as it was nearly a decade ago.

As for all of the story and side-content that you’ll get to relish in between all of those brawls? It’s also just as great as back in 2016. Sure, the story’s got the wonky pacing and sometimes baffling tonal shifts that feature in every single Like a Dragon game, but those “quirks” are practically a back-of-the-box feature, at this point. Will the mad schemes of Kiryu’s rival, Majima Goro, always make complete sense in the grander context of this crime epic? No! Will Kiryu’s often cartoonishly weird side adventures gel at all with the heavy, bloody drama happening in the big-budget story cutscenes? Nope. Do all of the endless twists and mafioso backstab always feel justified and well-executed? It’s a shot in the dark every time, baby! That’s just the Yakuza way, though, and for all of its faults, this franchise has one of the most distinct and loveable vibes in all of gaming.

Really, the only major downside to Yakuza Kiwami finally arriving on the Nintendo Switch is that it’s the only title available on the platform at this point. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful that a whole new audience will get to fall in love with the Dragon of Dojima like the rest of us have, but this is just one title out of nearly a dozen that have been easily accessible on every other major console for years, now. This isn’t like back in 2012 when I had to buy a used PS3 from my best friend’s girlfriend just to access the then digital-only Yakuza 5; I see the huge franchise bundles on sale on every other storefront I frequent at least two or three times a year. Kiwami is good, but I think it is a game that is much easier to appreciate when you can play it in the context of its (superior) prequel Yakuza Zero, especially since this remake incorporates a number of story additions and alterations to make it flow better as a natural continuation of Kiryu and Majima’s origin stories. Hopefully, this Switch port will sell well enough that Sega will see fit to bring the rest of the games over to the device, too—or, at least, the ones it is able to run.

That brings us to the technical aspects of the Yakuza Kiwami port, and to be honest, I’m pretty impressed. It’s far from perfect, I will admit, and you’d think that the Switch could do better by a game bordering on ten years old, but then again…I played that awful Mortal Kombat 1 port. I know how bad it can really get. All things considered, the Yakuza Kiwami port is perfectly serviceable in most respects, with the full game being very playable, and basically free of any of the kinds of major bugs or visual issues that would give anyone reason to avoid the port entirely. The resolution isn’t great in Handheld Mode, yeah, and things like loading screens and visual pop-in during the city traversal segments of the game are more noticeable here than on my PS4 version, but nothing is game-breaking.

My biggest problem with the Switch port has more to do with the framerate being halved down to 30 FPS. Normally, I’m not the kind of guy who gets hung up on framerate, and the cutscenes have always been capped at 30 FPS on consoles anyway, as far as I’m aware. There is something off about the frame pacing in certain sections, especially effects-heavy sequences that take place during fights or at nighttime in Kamurocho, that can make the game a bit jittery and hard to watch in motion. I had less of a problem with all of these shortcomings in Handheld Mode, though, which is probably how most folks will want to play the game anyways, given that “It’s Yakuza Kiwami, but portable!” seems to be this version’s key selling point.

So, in the end, is Yakuza Kiwami a worthy flagship entry for the series in these uncharted Nintendo waters? I would say that it absolutely is, though mostly for players who are brand new to the franchise. There’s simply nothing new or exciting on offer here to entice returning players, and the downgrades in the visual department technically make this the “worst” version of the game you can get if any of the other options are available. Seriously, though, if you’re on the fence about picking up Yakuza Kiwami for the first time, don’t let any of those caveats stop you. This is a great game, no matter which way you slice it. Hopefully, it will be the first of many excursions for Kiryu on Nintendo platforms.