Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii, the following recreation from Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio, was initially an idea referred to as Like a Dragon: Tuna the place authentic protagonist Kiryu Kazuma was a combating fisherman.
RGG Studio director Masayoshi Yokoyama revealed the origins in a PlayStation Weblog put up discussing Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii forward of its February 28 launch date. The sport stars the fan favourite Majima Goro as he wakes up on a seaside with no reminiscence and, in a sea-faring various to his yakuza roots, turns into a pirate.
It wasn’t initially going to star Majima in any respect, nonetheless. “For fairly a while, I needed to make a recreation referred to as Like a Dragon: Tuna, the place Kiryu Kazuma, as a tuna fisherman, units off to sea to battle towards fishing boats,” Yokoyama mentioned.
“Lengthy story brief, it by no means got here to fruition, however key phrases like ‘ship,’ ‘sea,’ and ‘combating,’ which had since then been engraved in my head, advanced into the idea of pirates.”
Kiryu has had loads of fishy expertise over time by the myriad fishing minigames sprinkled all through the Yakuza/Like a Dragon collection. He is additionally resorted to beating the rowdier ones up along with his fists, like within the shark boss battle from Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth that is virtually the tip of Jaws.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is a spin-off to Infinite Wealth, the eighth mainline entry within the Yakuza collection (or ninth together with Yakuza 0). The collection underwent a reputation change from Yakuza to Like a Dragon upon its launch, made extra complicated by the seventh recreation being referred to as Yakuza: Like a Dragon and starring new protagonist Ichiban Kasuga.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii grew into its personal factor through the improvement of the newest recreation, nonetheless. “Round June or July 2023, lengthy earlier than the discharge of Infinite Wealth, the dev staff was already mulling over the concept of an Infinite Wealth spin-off,” Yokoyama mentioned.
“Even when we had been to make Like a Dragon 9, we knew that wouldn’t be sufficient to seize and inform the story. Throughout the finish of the Infinite Wealth improvement, we started percolating the concept of a spin-off that stars characters who will not be Ichiban Kasuga. It was virtually as if we had been making a blown-up sub-story for Infinite Wealth.”
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii was revealed in September as a half Yakuza, half Murderer’s Creed 4: Black Flag-looking entry. A prolonged reveal trailer confirmed Majima washed up on the seaside of Wealthy Island, close to Hawaii, wanting worse for put on and helped by a toddler with a pet tiger (who’s bizarrely performed by Ichiban voice actor Nakaya Kazuhiro).
This would be the first time shortly Yakuza followers have needed to wait a whole 12 months for a brand new launch, with Infinite Wealth having arrived in January and Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii not launching till February. Whereas that is pretty regular for many recreation franchises, RGG Studio is understood for its speedy launch schedule.
Within the final 5 years, for instance, it has launched Yakuza 4 Remastered, Yakuza 5 Remastered, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Judgment Remastered, Misplaced Judgment, Like a Dragon: Ishin, Like a Dragon Gaiden: The Man Who Erased His Title, and Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth, alongside three Tremendous Monkey Ball Video games and an enhanced remaster of Virtua Fighter 5. That is 12 video games in whole.
Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii will due to this fact add to that record, however the subsequent mainline recreation (and a mysterious trademark referred to as Yakuza Wars) are but to be revealed. In our first preview of the incoming entry, IGN mentioned: “Like a Dragon: Pirate Yakuza in Hawaii is ship-shaping as much as be a seaworthy spin-off with a fin-favorite at its helm.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll discuss The Witcher all day.