Compare! Yakuza Kiwami 2 (2018) vs. Yakuza 2 (2006) Review 

When I launched the game for the first time after finishing 0 and Kiwami 1 I was worried about the frame rate on the menu screen. Then I realized it was an entirely new game engine. Man when I seamlessly walked in a building I absolutely lost my shit

ngl I'm playing kiwami 2 for the first time rn and I can't even imagine thinking this game is worse than kiwami 1. Personal differences I guess.

So far I've played 2, Zero, Kiwami and Kiwami 2 and I'd say Zero is hands down the best !

Come on! I personally found the cabaret club management one of the best things to be included in the 2 remakes. They were easy to pick up and play and anticipation to get to the dates of each of the cabaret club girls was interesting

Damn bro I thought this had more views... I’ll toss you a sub (good video, don’t quit)

7:30 I think it's long and boring because it's basically a guest appearance. The voice actors behind these characters are not all professional voice actors. If you watch Japanese TV programs often you will know. To me, I was actually really surprised to see Masahiro Chono (a quite famous professional wrestler and actor in Japan) when I first played this. (Same for the soft-porn-themed stuff. These characters are all JAV actors) (And also same for Yakuza 0 and 6 and Judgement - Some characters are modeled based on Japanese actors in real life) 10:45 Actually the original Yakuza 2's TV news screen is really faithful to what Japan's TV news footage was like in 1990s (news title in "Yakuza" font on right-bottom corner) You can compare with a real one, for example: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-SIELzcBe0Bk.html (Paul McCartney 's 1990 Japan Tour) Kiwami 2 still keeps this, but its rendering is a little bit off. Also, in Japan, pachinko and slot machine appearances need to get licensed, if I remember correctly, because of the themes (not 100% sure though).

As someone who started with Yakuza 0 and has played through to partway into 4 now, I can certainly say that the physics for the bodies in Kiwami 2 are amazing and it's my favourite physics engine because of it, I just love how I can literally punch and kick people about 12 feet away. It just makes Kiryu seem even more like a badass!

I probably could have googled it, but thanks to you the dragon engine switch explained why I felt such a difference from kiwami 1 to 2. Great video, I just started in the yakuza series starting at 0 and working my way up slowly. Very informative video. Exactly what I was looking for.

Weird thing about the "300 grand" bit, in Kiwami 2 on normal I had plenty enough to pay and the game didn't imply anything about running off to get that dealt with, so I guess Kiwami 2 also gives you an absurd amount of money. I also made the expenditures back not even 20 minutes later.

Great review, thank you!

Both of your Kiwami comparison videos are very important for getting a look at how a great a remake should be. Thanks for your work!

Ive played through 0, 1 and 2 and so far 2 is my favorite in the series. It doesn’t have the best story but the cabaret club, clan creator, minigames and combat are all spectacular.

yakuza 2 cutscenes look like some one covered a camera in a plastic bag

I think this is the first review I've seen of the game that didn't mention the music differences or Shinseicho missing.

I really like how you show the transition with the visual comparison between Kiwami 2 and the original!

Another great video. I hope you do more Yakuza videos.

Love this video. It's well written and well edited and just what I needed after playing these Kiwami games for the first time.

loved this and your one comparing kiwami to the original. was wanting to see a video just like these since i never played the originals and was curious what changes were made.

Quick update worth mentioning to anyone who stops by: Yakuza 2's Shinseicho location (the one with all the shogi quests) has been completely removed in Kiwami 2. All the events that take place there now take place in Sotenbori. Pretty bold to leave a whole city on the cutting room floor!! Bums me out, for sure.

I enjoy Kiwami 2's combat just as much as 0's.

Takashima went from Keanu Reeves to being a literal cut and paste of a guy I know. It creeped me out every time he was on screen how much he looks like him.

I loved so much the International Superstar Soccer reference that I subscribed immediately

I will say IMO in terms of combat, Kiwami 2 > Kiwami 1 overall, though I think 0 is the strongest. Kiwami IMO relied on some techniques I didn't like in bossfights. The Kiwami regeneration system felt really awkward because you HAD to make sure you had Heat when it activated and weren't mid-animation, but more importantly the heat action resistance enemies gained made fights drag on much longer than they needed to IMO. It's reasonable to have Heat Action resistances so you don't spam the same move over and over, but in Kiwami you use 1 heat action and that enemy takes what feels like 2/3rds less damage from ALL future Heat Actions, it's absurd. This is even more pressing in a game with the Majima Everywhere system where you can dynamically get into bossfights in the open world. Plus a lot of boss fights had massive amount of s and past a certain point seem to be essentially totally immune to grabs. Majima is solid but many of the other story fights are nasty in this respect. On the other hand Kiwami 2 did let me become WAY too overpowered IMO, Extreme Heat Mode let me tear through Ryuji like he was made of toilet paper, but I prefer feeling like a boss and being able to tone the difficulty up than the fights feeling sluggish.

I'll be honest, the way they turned the smooth face of Yakuza 2 Kiryu into the handsome god that he is is fucking astonishing

The whole yakuza series being released on Xbox is a godsend, I can’t believe I’ve been missing out on this game all this year.

I never played the original so I came into this without any outside influence. Turned into one of my top 3 favorite games of all time.

Great video. Really liked kiwami 1, and zero as well . The yakuza games seems really different from everything else available (in a good way)

It's sad that not too many gamers in my town play this series. Or at the very least, the few I've seen pick up one of the games don't really know the true experience each game offers.

Kiwami and 0 use the engine from 5

Gawara looks different more than older, it's because now they are using the face of his voice actor, still it's a weird change if you knew him from original Yakuza 2.

Thank you for pointing out the Majima Construction cutscene. I wanted to skip it but because I would have had to skip the whole thing as it was a voiced cutscene, I refrained, and instead went on my phone for 10 minutes. So damn boring.

My problem with both kiwami games is that they just take other games in the series and do paint job. •Kiwami 1 is Yakuza 0 •Kiwami 2 is Yakuza 6 down with the combat, engine and graphics i wouldn't call them proper remakes but more if a expansions for other games as call back, i was more hopefull they will take the mechanics of yakuza 2 and expand on it and add more crazy moves to the combat and heat finishers, *like but more originality* but thats not the case don't get me wrong they're still fun games but personally i rather play with originals even if yakuza 1 didn't age well

I was hoping you'd bring up the fact the team left out manual lip animations.

Just to add something, sotenbori is also seen in Yakuza 5 when you play the Akiyama/Haruka arc, and they took that map to make the one In kiwami 2 and 0

You have a new sub

You still gonna do the spyro comparisons?

This was a really interesting review, especially after watching your review on Kiwami 1! I’m really new to the franchise, having hopped on after Kiwami 1 was the game of the month on PSN. It was love at first sight (or more accurately, love at first Majima asskicking after a very heart wrenching 10 year timeskip). Kiwami 2 was the third game I played after finishing Kiwami 1 and rushing off to play Zero. Personally, that progression through the three felt VERY smooth gameplay wise. Storywise, Kiwami 1 is definitely the stronger of the remakes. My core complaint with Kiwami 2 would really have to be the animations - the character models are GORGEOUS (even if Kiryu has kind of a potato face), but the syncing is just off enough to feel bad and the movement feels a little clunky. I think it was most glaring in some of the scenes with Majima, in part because he’s a very bouncy, expressive character. I won’t speak to the quality of his side story, though, because I realize it was just a cherry on top that did a lot to expand his characterization and history in the earlier/older games. Either way: I’m happy to report Kiwami 2 definitely didn’t scare me off from the rest of the series, and you were right in saying it works fantastically for filling in Yakuza 2 needs for newcomers. :) Great video, definitely subscribing!

I watched two whole videos from this channel one after the another only to realize that it has only 1k subscribers. I thought you had like 600k or 1million

I'm really disappointed when I found out they removed Tsutenkaku tower part. That's part is so charming even in PS2

I mean, I did play yakuza 2. But it was so damn long time ago. Id like to see what they did with this remaster

One thing I really didn't like about Kiwami 1 that they definitely fixed in Kiwami 2 was that they were a bit *too* faithful in some regions. For example, many of the cinematic cutscenes in Kiwami 1 retain that sort of trademark PS2 era pacing, where characters rarely pause between sentences to consider what was just said or make some kind of expression. You just get a constant barrage of dialogue that sounds almost a bit robotic rather than the result of a natural conversation. I didn't notice this at all in Kiwami 2, and I think that's what helped me get far more invested in the story than I did with Kiwami 1. I do agree that I'm not a huge fan of this new combat engine, as it tends to get very repetitive with what you're able to do and I personally don't really enjoy the weapon combat, but at least you still get Tiger Drop.

Still playing the two original games to this day on my ps2. Just finished yakuza 2 for the millionth time (classic exaggerate number) couple days ago. (Not 100% completion ofc, i can if i want to but if i want to fight amon again i would just load my old save)

KAMURUROCHO IS FUCKING GREEN AAAAAAAAAAAA

I disagree completely about the plots of Yakuza 1 and 2. I got into the series with 0 and found it absolutely infuriating how Nishiki gets sidelined as an antagonist for 95% of the game. 2 had a better plot simply because Ryuji actually got the screen time that a main antagonist needs.

I’m just getting into the Yakuza series. I’m playing Kiwami 1 atm as my first game and I’m not sure where to go between Yakuza 0 and Kiwami 2. I know Kiwami 2 is a sequel to 1. I’ve heard 0 would’ve also been a good game to start with, as it’s a prequel set earliest in the series. I also know that Kiwami 1 and 0 have similar gameplay. I’m not sure whether I should play 0 or Kiwami 2 after I finish Kiwami 1.

Out of all the Yakuza games I’ve played so far, Kawami 2 is definitely my favorite. The game play is so damn satisfying and definitely my fav part. Going from Kawami 2 to the original 3 in the remastered collection was like whiplash

whats the song in the background

I played both the kiwami 1 and kiwami 2 fighting style. I really can't say which one is better. 1 and 0 switching your fighting style according to enemy type was fun. But kiwami 2 also the grab enemy and spin also other things like us fun. If I had to pick which is better. I doubt I will be able to pick one. Both are extremely good. When you played 0,1,2 in series in 2 you will be overwhelmed by seeing all those places and thinking what kiryu and majima will be thinking.

Kiwami 2 was a big jump to go to if you started at Kiwami 1, then went to Kiwami 2 then to the 3-5 remasters, 6 and then onto 0 which is the last one I haven't beaten in the Kiryu saga and one im playing through now. I liked it overall and thought it had a lot of great stuff but the order they released it in felt weird because of the engine changes. I liked the engine in 3-5 on PC the most though 6 was still great, it was just out of place to have the releases in the order they were.

You've got a plesant voice to listen to, gotta admit that.

10:52 that guy kinda looks like Cillian Murphy lo

I won't forgive that kinda of rick roll they did at the end

What’s the background song

Fun fact: me and my parents live pretty far from our family (about a days worth of driving) and because we didn’t have anyone to take care of our cats while we were gone my mom decided to let me stay home. On top of that, she bought me kiwami and kiwami 2 so I wouldn’t be bored while they were gone. There was a sale at the time for the ps4, so I ended getting both of them for around 5-9 dollars (each)

The only sad part on Kiwami 2 is that they lost the pocket circuit racing mini game. I love that mini game in yakuza 0 and kiwami 1. I still wanted to know how takuma did as the Fighters successor in kiwami substory and we didn't get to know if hideki confessed his feelings to mika. I know Fighter`s in yakuza 6 but its more like closing out party on how he and his wife are working full time in the tofu business and they got to meet again after 10 years in the kiwami substory.

I completely missed the Cabaret club mini game in Kiwami 1. I thought it wasn't there until watching this video and was kinda sad because of that. Having a mandatory interaction in any form was valuable for me.

i often call the heat action as yeet action

I finished kiwami 1 in August and after 93 in game hours I beat 0 with only a 41% completion rate yesterday. I got to chapter 4 of yakuza kiwami 2 and I think it looks great but I would much rather go back to the three styles.

Being a hardcore Yakuza fan and support the series Day 1 from 2006.....I must say I really dislike the Dragon engine. Kiwami 1 was way better in my opinion and they should of just used the same engine. Also, I find they should of just Remastered Yakuza 1 & 2 HD from PS3 since it would of helped when playing through 1-6. The progression would of made more sense and you'd appreciate the improvements unlike now. So this is how you should play the games in my opinion. Yakuza 1 PS2 or PS3 HD Remaster (Highly suggest HD remaster) Yakuza 2 PS2 or PS3 HD Remaster Yakuza 3 PS4 Remaster Yakuza 4 PS4 Remaster Yakuza 5 PS4 Remaster Yakuza 0 PS4 Yakuza 6 PS4 Than after all those, you can play; Kiwami 1 Kiwami 2 So you treat Kiwami just as a bonus to see a new way of Yakuza 1 & 2. Anyways this is the best and most enjoyable way to play the series and appreciate it more! Happy gaming!

Just played kiwami 1 and 2 and the jump to 3 is. Wow

What are you talking about? This game is better than 6 gameplay wise (has same gameplay with more heat actions!) The additional majima content was fun especially seeing him interact with Makoto again! Cabaret club mini game is awesome! I'll be honest I haven't played y2 before but I watched the story on RU-vid. My only complain was the areana for ryuji's first fight which had that awesome reflection and the sorwd intro in his second fight which was more badass! The final fight with ryuji blow any fight from 6 out of the park. Only somoya final fight comes close to it!

I got the game on Xbox game pass so it’s already paid itself, but I can see myself paying 60 bucks on the game. You can easily sink 50+ hours on this game so if you ask me the playtime-price ratio beats most games on the market.

Y2 is just a straight up golden classic. However I think YK2 is a great remaster, and i like how it's toned down just a little bit while still be at maximum volume. My only gripe is YK2 has no Jack Daniels.

this is the best review of the game on youtube i just watched all of em while installing

I prefer the simpler combat of Kiwami 2 vs the one from 0 and Kiwami. In the previous ones every combat unlock in the skill tree had a description like "While unarmed, Press X when an enemy shoots at you and you have 3 full Heat bars and also 7 enemies are behind you and one is lying down in front of you, and also you are wearing green shorts". I almost never pulled off many of the combos or used many of the skills.

IMO the best part in Yakuza 0 is Clube sunshine Mini Game, idk how many hrs I spent and enjoyed it 😁 how is the club business game in comparison in kawami2?

Kiwami 2 is my personal favorite, I like the mini games a lot and while I agree that the story is a bit odd, it’s enjoyable.

Did you know? Yakuza Kiwami engine was from the first Yakuza on PS3, Yakuza 3 or Kenzan. Also, yeah, I agree with you, the way they force its players to play the tower defence is so unforgivable.

I’m loving this whole series i just started kiwami 2 this morning I beat kiwami 1 and last night and 0 last week I even love like a dragon like a dragon is the game thy got me into the series in total

I bought yakuza kiwami 2 for PC yesterday and can't wait to try it

Btw i like your review better than ign and gamespot... You know the game so well..

I feel like the Clan Creator cutscenes come across better to those who actually know who the main villain characters are. I'm a big pro wrestling fan, so I knew the big-bads of that mode were Japanese pro wrestling legends, and thus they scanned better for me than someone who knows nothing about Japanese pro wresting.

i got this and Zero for just a few dollars bc they were both on sale not my favorite Yakuza game, but it was still worth it

As well thought out and put together this video was, i found myself disagreeing with alot of your points. Very interesting

Hold up, you aren't supposed to have that kind of money for the 300,000? I was sitting on a cool 1.5 mil when I got there, perhaps I've been too thorough.

Another nice video; personally don't mind the cut content and it has a better balance than kiwami

Yakuza 5 used the original yakuza 2 sotenbori which then got upgraded for yakuza 0 and then reused in kiwami 2. Atleast i think that is what happened.

Wish they would make Kiwami 3 too.

i went 0, kiwami 1 and 2, 3, 4 and i just started 5 today i'm really looking forward to 6 because i REALLY wanna punch people 340 meters away. might nab the judgement games too for that reason tbh.

I paid the majhong info guy the 300k. I wasn’t aware that I didn’t need to.

To be honest i like yakuza kiwami 2 than yakuza 6... Yakuza 2 kiwami is best played on ps4 pro , better anti aliasing better texture ,and better ambian occlusion....

I way prefer the combat of Kiwami 2, I found 0/Kiwami's unfair and frustrating "as fun as it is frustrating" is how I usually put it. Kiwami 2's is super clean and nearly every hit I take feels like I actually deserved to get it

God bless the Dragon Ragdoll Engine, but Zero is definitely the best. I miss the Kuze fight theme. (So far I've only played Zero, Kiwami and Kiwami 2 and Platinum'd them so I might change my opinion)

My time playing Yakuza Kiwami 2: History: idk Destroying bikes and scooters: 30 hours

Caption: jacquizz a2

I gotta say, I agree with your assessment that Kiwami was better. The new physics in combat can be fun, but over time it gets very repetitive and too easy. The story was just flat out bad and uninteresting. Most of the new characters and the entirety of the Jingweon mafia plot fell completely flat for me. At least Kiwami had characters like Kazama, Shimano, Haruka, Date, Majima, and the Florist as the only supporting characters and they were all very interesting. Not to mention, all the new cutscenes they added for Nishiki were downright inspired.

Played Kiwami 2 after 0 after PS2 Yakuza 1 Just when I looked back at the PS2 Yakuza I got a strange feeling "was I really playing this? wow"

I feel conflicted about the new engine being used for 2. I guess I'll get used to it, it's fucking Yakuza.

You didn’t even bring up the majima saga

7:39 aren't you forced to play the pissing minigame once in the story actually?

Wait.. i'm playing through Kiwami 1 right now as my first Yakuza game and from what i'm hearing in this video so far... does Kiwami 2 suck?!?!

My gripes with Kiwami 2 are fairly minor, mainly that the stabbing scene was ruined, game being easy even on Legend difficulty (you can pause whenever you want and use your entire inventory of healing items (10 of each) to save yourself, also buffs) and the slippery, janky ragdolls. But overall, I liked this game's gameplay the most - weapons feel strong for once and Dragon style is all you have.

When this came out, the value of yakuza 2 on ps2 fell from £60 to £20, I sold mine for £40 and bought Mario and Rabbids Kingdom battle 😂

Me personally I loved Yakuza 2 remake even though with Yakuza 6 engine it’s still a great game with solid combat with it more better but I still loved what they gave and that story is amazing.

I was really disappointed that they didn't use the yakuza 0 engine here. The fighting styles in that game where different from the originals but somewhat familiar to them. Some of the attacks where in the older games but they made it to feel different too and added newer styles. That's why I love Yakuza 0 and Kiwami over Kiwami 2

I like this game more than zero...

K2 on steam in my country is only 20 bucks when it's released, talking about a steal.

I hate the Dragon of Dojima at 0 and Kiwami is annoying, but took good at put a "remake" mechanics at Kiwami 2 which is great. But, the technique change styles is very good and it's like you play with Dante pretty good in Dmc5 and decides to play Dmc3, 2 or 1 again, and it puts to Majima too.

best story yakuza 3 !

Love the series but the reused assets are a bit much