Several mini-games and retro games in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties revealed and detailed

When you can’t focus on the main story because of all the side games stealing your attention

Today, Sega and RGG Studio have detailed a bunch of side games in the upcoming Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties. Here, they’ve talked about beloved returning games such as karaoke and Reaper hunting and brand new stuff such as retro Sega games, substories, the Kanda’s Damage Control side missions in Dark Ties (Mine’s Story), and LaLaLa Loveland in Yakuza Kiwami 3 (Kiryu’s Story).

Clear out your afternoon, warm up your vocal pipes, gather up as many AA batteries as you can, and step on past the break to find out what awaits you during any downtime you have in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties, which releases worldwide next month.

Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties

As many may already be aware, a lot of mini-games with a long history of being part of the Yakuza/Like A Dragon series are still available, such as karaoke, bowling, darts, mahjong, batting cages, golf driving ranges, and more, but there’s a couple new ones that you’re sure to enjoy. Lets start with the retro games.

As usual, a series of classic Sega games will be available to play in software emulation. This time, RGG Studio have prepared a ton of Game Gear games as well as a few Model 3 and even NAOMI arcade games for you to enjoy. Starting with the Game Gear games, they’ve highlighted that they licensed three from Bandai Namco Entertainment Inc. Game Gear ports of Namco’s classic arcade titles Pac-Man, Mappy, and Galaga ’91 (A conversion of Galaga ’88), will be available among a wider selection of games coming from Sega. Any games with 2-player modes can be played with a friend locally.

The full list of Game Gear games are as follows:

1. Pac-Man (1991)
2. Mappy (1991)
3. Galaga ’91 (1991)
4. Sonic Chaos (1993)
5. Sonic Drift (1994)
6. Streets of Rage (1991)
7. Columns (1991)
8. Puyo Puyo (1993)
9. The GG Shinobi (1991)
10. Fantasy Zone Gear (1991)
11. G-Loc: Air Battle (1990)
12. Woody Pop (1991)

Besides the Game Gear games, they have also revealed the Like A Dragon debut of the NAOMI arcade board with Slashout (2000). Magical Truck Adventure (1998) is also here, joining the only other Model 3 title known to be in the game so far: Emergency Call Ambulance (1999).

Three karaoke songs have also been shown with sneak peeks in English and Japanese, including Yoshitaka Mine’s take on a particular fan favorite.

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Yakuza Kiwami 3 only

LaLaLa Loveland

At one point in the game, longtime series protagonist Kazuma Kiryu will cross paths with one Lala Aizawa, CEO of LaLaLa Mobile, who talks Kiryu into checking out his mobile social network, LaLaLa Loveland. With it, Kiryu will form connections with others who have joined this social network when in close proximity with their phones. This way, Kiryu will be able to gather a laundry list of user profiles for his friends list with something called the “Red Thread of Fate Transmission.”

Besides connecting with other people, Kiryu can also use the Red Thread of Fate Transmission to unlock rewards from Loveboxes hidden all over Kamurocho and Downtown Ryukyu. Be on the lookout for these, as they can pop up in unexpected places.

Phone customization

Speaking of Kiryu’s cell phone, you can also customize its appearance to your heart’s content. You can change the home screen or swap out the antenna or phone charm, and doing so can even boost some of Kiryu’s abilities in combat, so it pays to try out a couple of combinations and see what you like best. You can also add stickers and rhinestones to the outside of the phone.

Reapers

Returning from the original Yakuza 3 are the Reaper missions. At the behest of acting Tojo Clan chairman Osamu Kashiwagi, Kiryu is asked by a rehabilitation organization formed by Kashiwagi to look for a wide variety of former Tojo men who were ousted from the clan for acting out of line and now harbor a deep desire for revenge against the Tojo Clan. These men are all classified as “Reapers”. By beating them in battle, the Reapers can be reformed and Kiryu will be paid handsomely in cash and valuable items.

Substories

Two substories that Kiryu will eventually deal with have been revealed as well, one happening in Kamurocho and one happening in Ryukyu.

A Star’s Debut at Stardust

Stardust, the pivotal host club in Kamurocho run by Kiryu’s friends Kazuki and Yuya, is facing a staff shortage at a critical time. A special group of valuable patrons from Hokkaido are on their way and they don’t have enough hosts to tend to them. Kiryu agrees to step in as a temporary host going by “Kazzy-chan” and dresses up for the role. He’ll have to tap into his inner handsome heartthrob and sweet talk these patrons as best as he can to save the day.

Keep at It, Parents!

Kiryu finds a saucy magazine lying on the beach next to his orphanage, but rather than throw it away like any sensible person might do, he decides to bury it in the sand to keep his children from finding it. The orphanage dog, Mame, then digs up the magazine and darts off with it. Kiryu has to chase Mame down and retrieve the magazine before he lets it taint the innocent minds of these kids.

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Dark Ties only

Good Deed Quests

As part of the Kanda Damage Control side game, a series of side missions called Good Deed Quests are given to you by current Nishikiyama Family patriarch Tsuyoshi Kanda’s subordinate Zenba. He tasks Yoshitaka Mine with investigating a series of interesting and mysterious events. Some of these are hilarious, but some end in tragedy.

Public Intoxication Awareness Campaign

One example of a goofy Good Deed Quest is when Mine is asked to step in when a group of rowdy drunkards start causing trouble in a bar. Mine goes there to find that these miscreants are all pirate and yakuza cosplayers. I think we can all guess how Mine will help them sober up.

To Catch a Serial Killer

For a more serious Good Deed Quest, a young man comes to the Nishikiyama family requesting them to track down the “Kamuro Killer”, a serial killer at large who murdered this man’s sister. Mine hunts down the Kamuro Killer and finds himself entangled in a deeper, darker revenge plot than he bargained for.

There will also be many smaller requests scattered around Kamurocho that Mine can resolve quickly, such as saving a passerby who wound up in the crosshairs of some thugs looking for an easy punching bag or delivering an energy drink to a tired businessman to perk him up for an upcoming meeting.

There will also be even smaller missions that you’ll accomplish eventually just by playing the game normally, such as defeating a certain number of enemies or defeating them in a certain way.

Accomplishing each of these missions as you go will reward you in the moment, but it also builds up Kanda’s reputation, and maybe even change him as a person if everyone’s lucky. His rep starts at “Actually Trash” and can be raised up to “Actually Godlike”. Every time his reputation raises up in rank, you get rewarded a lot of money for your trouble.

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Sounds like there’s never a dull moment to be had in this game, but it wouldn’t be a Like A Dragon/Yakuza game otherwise. We hope you look forward to getting lost in Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties when it launches worldwide on February 12th, 2026 on Steam, Xbox Series S/X, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and Nintendo Switch 2. You can check out the official website for the latest pre-order info.

For those of you with a Sega Account, you can also get two special outfits for Kiryu to wear free of charge: Ichiban Kasuga’s outfit from Yakuza: Like A Dragon and his Hawaii outfit from Like A Dragon: Infinite Wealth. If you don’t have a Sega account, then make one now!

Are you looking forward to Yakuza Kiwami 3 & Dark Ties? Which of these side games are you looking forward to trying the most? Have you played any of these newly included retro games before? Are there any other arcade or Game Gear titles you’re hoping to see? Are you Actually Godlike or Actually Trash? Let us know in the comments below.