For all the wonderful writing that is in the Yakuza and Judgment franchise, it isn’t hard to notice that it comes straight from a Japanese company, mainly for a Japanese audience. And sometimes the transition is rocky when providing it for different languages. The team of RGG’s English localization team doesn’t give enough credit for the way they provide and translate the stories, characters, and events of the games and Scott Strichart (senior localization producer) has stepped down.
On the recent Virtua Fighter esports Official Broadcast, Seiji Aoki provided new information on the next upcoming downloadable content for Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown.
The upcoming downloadable content will be collaborating with the Yakuza series celebrating the series 16th anniversary featuring 650 items, 19 costume types, 19 costumes of the iconic characters from the Yakuza franchise such as Akira Yuki with Kazuma Kiryu clothes. The DLC will also feature 20 BGM from the Yakuza series, 20 Virtua Fighter 3 BGM (Arranged), and new 40 stamps.
The Yakuza Collaboration DLC pack for Virtua Fighter 5 Ultimate Showdown will be released on December 8th for $10.
SEGA’s Ryuta Ueda left SEGA back in 2014, we even did a post. Back then he worked at SEGA for 19 years being the chief ard designer for Jet Set Radio, doing enemy art for Panzer Dragoon Orta and also directing the first two Yakuza games on PlayStation 2! At the time, he left the company to work at Yahoo, but according to Ueda’s Facebook page, he has been back at SEGA since May of this year:
“I have decided to resign from Yahoo Japan and return to my old company, Sega. I am very grateful for the many people I met and the many lessons I learned through various projects at Yahoo!
From now on, I will focus on making games again. Not only do I feel the excitement of making things, but I am also smiling a little at the thought of seeing old friends and meeting new people. I would like to fully demonstrate what I have cultivated through experience.
PS: I’m going to try to update my Facebook page a bit more. Oh, and if you are going to ask what I’m making, I can’t answer that.
What is Ryuta Ueda working on now? I guess we don’t know, maybe he will rejoin Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios on upcoming projects? As of right now, that remains a mystery!
From the streets of Kamurocho to the slopes of Jungle Island, Kazuma Kiryu from the Yakuza series rolls into Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania! Instead of collecting bananas, Kazuma Kiryu can collect Stamina X bottles (a item he uses to recover his health gauge in the Yakuza games) as he progresses through numerous puzzling worlds. This would have to be one of the greatest SEGA crossovers so far as RGG Studio, formerly known as Amusement Vision, worked on the Super Monkey Ball series and then became CS1 R&D (RGG Studio) later to develop the Yakuza series.
Kazuma Kiryu will be free and unlockable on all platforms when Super Monkey Ball Banana Mania launches for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Steam, Xbox One, and Xbox Series S|X on October 5, 2021!
Looks like Laced Records has opened up pre-orders fro the Yakuza 0 vinyl soundtrack. The company is set to ship the records in October 2021 and this will include:
The cheaper, deluxe record is set to include 27 songs, with on record being green and the other light blue. It will also including songs like “Fever ☆ Time,” “Ignite Your Spirit,” “Koi no Disco Queen,” “One-Eyed Slugger,” and “Setsuna No Ningyohime〜Heart break mermaid〜【Full Spec Edition】.”
Now the Limited Edition Six Record Set will offer 90 songs with each record getting its own sleeve and its own ‘color-in-color’ design. If you want “Bakamitai”, you gonna have to spend more money on this edition.
A special live broadcast for Yakuza’s 15th Anniversary will be held on Ryu Ga Gotoku Studio official YouTube channel on Tuesday, December 8th at 20:00 JST. The live stream will feature Takaya Kuroda (Kazuma Kiryu) and Kazuhiro Nakaya (Ichiban Kasuga) as special guests.
The stream will also cover the history of the Yakuza series for the past 15 years and will make announcements on future developments on the series. Click here to set a reminder for the upcoming live stream.
In the latest video interview of SEGA 60th Anniversary by SEGA Europe, Yakuza series producer, Daisuke Sato, was asked which SEGA IP would he be interested in developing that he hasn’t had a chance to be involved with. He responded that he would be interested in taking on the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise with a different direction. Here is a quote from the the interview:
“It’s an IP that I haven’t come to before. In the sense that I want to try it,… well, Sonic. After all, when you hear SEGA you think Sonic. I’d like to get involved once at least. But for me, the so call Sonic, is well, if I were to do it, I wouldn’t do Sonic as it was. I would like to make a completely different Sonic.” – Daisuke Sato
While this doesn’t confirm that he is working on a Sonic title at the moment, what are your thoughts on this take? Would you be interested in seeing a Sonic game developed by RGG Studio in the near future. I feel that this would be a interesting project for SEGA to tackle and I would love to see another Sonic fighting game spin-off or perhaps a SEGA All-Stars crossover game using past Yakuza engines.
While Kazuma Kiryu is a big, strong Japanese man that has slapped children and even killed a few people. It seems that series Creator and Producer Toshihiro Nagoshi doesn’t want his leading hero in fighting games because, he doesn’t want him hitting women. According to a recent Red Bull France interview:
“We do get this request a lot. Of course there are exceptions, but fighting games generally have female characters, and personally I don’t really want to see Kiryu beating up women.”
Its understandable to feel this way since Kazuma Kiryu is a old school type and wouldn’t make sense for a character like him to assault women. I don’t disagree with him, but fighting games aren’t considered canon or real. Its like, are we really gonna say Mario is out there hitting women and knocking them into a internal abyss when he ring outs them? I think you guys all agree that Kazuma Kiryu joining a game like Tekken 7 or even a new Virtua Fighter won’t ruin his character?
While SEGA of Japan kicked off the SEGA 60th anniversary celebrations earlier this year, SEGA West has officially started celebrations today with a 60 day long GO SEGA event and a dedicated website, SEGA60th.com. During the next 60 days, there will be let’s plays, competitions, employee interviews and content covering the company’s history. Additionally, a large Steam sale has begun, with themed weeks planned.
Most exciting are the reveal of four exclusive mini games. Available on Steam for a limited tile, the games include: Relic Entertainment’s Armor of Heroes, a multiplayer tank battle game featuring assets from the Company of Heroes games. Amplitude Studios’ Endless Zone, a mashup of the developer’s Endless franchise and SEGA’s Fantasy Zone franchise. Streets of Kamurocho, a Streets of Rage and Yakuza mash-up from SEGA. And finally… Golden Axed, the never thought to ever be released working prototype of SEGA Studios Australia’s SEGA Reborn project! The last one we are especially excited to play, as it is a cancelled project we covered quite a bit on this site in the past.
After the break, the full press release and a gallery of mini game screenshots!
The SEGA Cinematic Universe expands with the announcement of a Yakuza movie! Produced by 1212 Entertainment and Wild Sheep Content, this new live action project looks to bring the Yakuza games to the big screen. Who is behind it all and what can we expect? Find out by clicking that play button!
If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.
Steam Database, a tool that tracks down applications and packages on Steam has picked up a recent update for an application of Yakuza: Like a Dragon (aka Yakuza 7), the latest installment in the Yakuza series as of this writing. While it is unusual for Yakuza 6 to still not be available on Steam, Yakuza: Like a Dragon is possibly next in line since it has key differences that separate it from past installments. Mainly because it focuses on a new character Ichiban Kasuga and adapts a turn based battle style inspired by the Dragon Quest games (which funnily enough is referenced in-game).
However, SEGA has not officially announced anything about Yakuza: Like a Dragon coming to Steam at this time, and there is no page officially uploaded. It’s also unknown what features the game will support with a PC release, but it will likely support higher resolutions and frame rates, similar to past Yakuza games released on Steam.
After the ESRB leaking it’s rating and SEGA themselves teasing it on Steam, SEGA has officially revealed that Yakuza Kiwami 2 will arrive on PC in May 9th, for the asking price of $29.99. The game is available for pre-purchase on it’s Steam page, with the promise of unlocked framerates, 4K support, customizable controls, and extensive graphics options. In addition, for those that pre-order Yakuza Kiwami 2, they will receive the Clan Creator Bundle for free, which contains exclusive weapons, outfits, items, and rare Leader Cards.
Yakuza Kiwami 2 on PC is also notable for technically having a Virtual-On game appear on PC for the first time, and also having the new “Dragon Engine” introduced in Yakuza 6 be utilized on PC for the first time. So if you have the spare money, join in on one of the finest games in the Yakuza series this May.
If you have been like me, sitting around and waiting for SEGA to ask for our opinion on how they’ve been handling the Phantasy Star franchise; then you are in luck! SEGA has tweeted out asking for fans to give them feedback on their on-going and some legacy brands. You can take the survey here.
This survey is also good for the future direction of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise, considering it was announced that the next Sonic the Hedgehog game has already begun production.
So what do I think it is? Most likely the announcement for the Dragon Engine Yakuza games coming to PC which includes Yakuza Kiwami 2 and Yakuza 6. I wouldn’t expect a new game announcement or anything, just because Ryu Ga Gotoku Studios announces new games in Japan, not Western shows like Kinda Funny Showcase. It could also be the release dates for Yakuza 3, 4 and 5 in the West, which would make sense since Kinda Funny Games is ran by Greg ‘I love PlayStation’ Miller (not making a sly remark, the man loves PlayStation). It would also be nice to get a Western finalized name for Project JUDGE. What are your thoughts?
A few weeks ago we asked our twitter followers what SEGA franchises or characters deserve a roster spot in the upcoming Super Smash Bros Ultimate. While its cool that SEGA has great representation with Sonic the Hedgehog and Bayonetta, but what if they could squeeze in one more? What franchise should get in? Something more obscure? Something Iconic? In this video I go over the franchises you all asked for and give my two cents on each choice.
If you want to support this type of content, you can check out our Patreon!
If you enjoy our SEGA News Bits segments and want to support us: Give us a sub and give this video a thumbs up so it shows up on more like-minded fans YouTube recommendations. You know, how that YouTube algorithm is.
