How YOU Can Get Into the Yakuza Series 

I’ve noticed in the past couple of weeks that there has been a lot of hype for the Yakuza games and even just the other day Yakuza 0, Kiwami and Kiwami 2 were re-added to Game Pass as well as RGG Studio West’s Twitter hitting 100k followers, so I figured now’s a perfect time for a video like this. Also sorry for going AFK again there was just a lot of other monotonous stuff I had to do lol. ALSO seethe all you want Yakuza 0 haters, but if it wasn’t for 0 they would’ve given up in putting these games in the west and you bloody well know it.

Starting with 0 made Kiwami a much, much better game for me. The story wouldn't have crushed me nearly as hard if I hadn't experienced 0 first.

easy! play yakuza 0. then go to kiwami, then kiwami 2, 3 remastered, 4 remastered, 5 remastered, 6, 7, judgement, lost judgement. and you are done!

dont listen to him start with kurohyou

I have to say, as someone who started with 0 and played the Kiwami 1 and 2 instead of the originals first when binging all the games, going back to the PS2 versions was interesting. I think playing in release order IS viable (if you have a lot of free time), because the progression and evolution of the combat in RGG games over time is quite fun to experience. I think Yakuza 0 is a game you could either play before Kiwami 1 or after 5, because 0 acts as both an origin story to the rest of the franchise as well as a time capsule to Kiryu's past, where you can see what Kiryu's humble beginnings were like, right before seeing how his story ends with Yakuza 6. I do believe Yakuza 0 is a game that also benefits from hindsight because it definitely can act as a history lesson because of the whiplash you get from what Kamurocho used to be like in the 80s and how different the era Kiryu grew up in was compared to the current times I kind of get conflicted on whether to recommend Yakuza 7 as a starting point, because on one hand it's a great way to introduce newcomers to the literal newcomer in the franchise and the next chapter of the franchise, but I believe it's a game that benefits from already emotional attachment to the franchise already for reasons I obviously won't specify, but that'll depend on the person. Also, I 100% agree on Lost Judgement being the best RGG title. Wish it'd come to PC so I could lovingly harass all my friends to enjoy the funny judge man judging things

The fact that they brought again Yakuza 0 - Kiwami 2 to game pass makes me happy because more people can get introduced to this awesome series.

UPDATE: Just a quick heads up for people who are unaware, Judgement and Lost Judgement are now available on PC.

I completely agree with this video man. Like legit - start with Yakuza 0, but if you want something more modern, go Lost Judgment. If you want a JRPG, play Like a Dragon. Just… don’t start with 3, it’s not a good look if you want to get someone into the franchise. I totally agree with this and it’s a great video. Looking forward to what you bring next, and I hope this video ropes in a few people who haven’t yet played any Yakuza games!

Very recently a fan patch for the original Yakuza came out called Yakuza Restored which restores the original Japanese audio and completely overhauls the localization. So now more than ever, it's completely viable to start in release order

Yakuza the hardest game series to convince your friends to play

After playing yakuza it’s still my favourite franchise in gaming, every game is a banger for me (including the judgement series) with that said it’s not for everyone as some people have a hard job reading

Just play 0 first, Kiwami added so many references to 0 there's no point starting with Kiwami.

Correct order: 1: Yakuza 6 2: Yakuza Kiwami 2 Demo 3: Lost Judgement 4: Fist of the North Star 5: Streets of Kamurocho

nice i recommended the same you can start from 0 or Like a Dragon or Judgment they are really great starting oh and Tiger Drop Timing if anyone want to practice remember you don't need to counter the first hit from enemy walk backward a bit let them do some move and most of the time combo always had active time for Tiger drop so it's like 90% works

My first game that I started with was 0 and then years later jumped to Like a Dragon. Now that I'm trying to go through the entire series, I started with Kiwami and then jumped back to 0 and doing that makes the prequel hit a whole lot harder. So once I get to a point where I get to Like a Dragon again, I'm curious to see how that game will hit me. It'll also be a fun progression to see where RGG starts to have fun with the side stories.

It's very rare for me to recommend a game I love to as many people I know as possible, but Yakuza 0 was such an amazing experience from start to finish, I couldn't help but suggest it to anyone with even the tiniest sliver of interest. Sadly, even with them all owning gamepass, none of my friends have touched the franchise, but I'm not gonna stop until they're all singing Judgement. EDIT: Excuse me? Only ONE meme??? How can you forget: - Kiryu has never killed anyone - Majima has never killed anyone - Ichiban has never killed anyone - Saejima has never killed anyone - Akiyama has never killed anyone - -RGG has never killed Tanimura and Shinada- - Yagami has never killed anyone - Kaito has never killed anyone

my brother convinced me to start from 0, many games later I'm on yakuza 6 and I still view yakuza 0 to be the best game in the franchise.

Now that they're all dropping on ps plus I'm so excited to see the fanbase getting even bigger

I honestly agree with you in regards to Lost Judgment. Honestly my favorite RGG game and the game that got me into the series

That's insane SauciestAngelfishes, maybe this video is what will push me to continue playing beyond a high school mystery club mission

Started playing Like a Dragon a week ago and already have like 40 hours put into it and it feels like there's still so much left to do! Usually I'd be bored of a game by now, but it's so damn good.

People can feel free to start at LAD, but IMO if anyone can help it, start at 0 and work your way up! Otherwise at certain moments in LAD the fear of God will not be put into you like RGG Studios intended.

Thank you so much, finally I can shoe this to all of my friends

I remember seeing Yakuza 0, Kiwami 1 and 2 in the Xbox Live store two years ago during lockdown. I started with 0 because I assumed the events of 0 would lead to the events of Kiwami 1 (I was sorta correct granted this was before I found out that 0 was a prequel as well as the 1st game of the Kiryu Saga AND the Kiwami games were remakes of OG 1 and 2). From experience, it's best to play through the Kiryu Saga games in chronological order. Granted, LAD was probably many people's introduction to Yakuza and I won't hold that against them.

Great video mate. I personally did the timeline order, starting with Yakuza 0, and I loved going through each one. As for release order, it's definitely a cool way to start if you can get your hands on the old games. You get to see the series evolve its gameplay and get better each time. I just played Yakuza 1 for the first time after playing every other game and it was pretty damn fun. I wish RGG would re-release those remasters for the west because the PS2 games have their own cool quirks and atmosphere to them. Also, emulation is unfortunately not perfect. It took me a long time fiddling with settings to reduce the input lag in PCSX2, and even then I experienced problems with the screen border and the FMV's being mute and slow. The remakes are great, but the PS2 games have value, too, so I hope RGG thinks about bringing them back.

Top Gear, Genesis AND Yakuza content? Now this channel is rad. You have earned my sub, good sir.

Having started on Yakuza 0 and playing the games in chronological order, (0, Kiwami 1, 2 & Kiwami 2, 3, 4, 5, and currently am on 6) I will say has genuinely been a rollercoaster for me personally. Yakuza 0 stands as one of my favorite games of all time and pretty much my favorite with the only close second being Yakuza 2. I still really like and even love the other titles, 0-5 , but they just haven’t quite hit that same high for me. They have ALL had their moments though. It’s amazing too that Yakuza, even at it’s worst is still SO much better than some big budget AAA games releasing today. Every single game I’ve played has just oozed passion and love even if I don’t find every aspect of these games perfect. Except 0, I adore that game. For my personal recommendation, I’d probably start off with 0 and go in chronological order like me or Kiwami 1 - 5 and then go to 0 and get a dose of those who suffered after finishing Yakuza 5 and having to wait years for a continuation. If I had to rank the titles I’ve played thus far and completed, I’d probably go as follows: 1: Yakuza 0 2: Yakuza 2/ Kiwami 2 3: Yakuza 4 4: Yakuza Kiwami 1 5: Yakuza 5 6: Yakuza 3 So far, I am adoring Yakuza 6 and it’s so refreshing to return to the dragon engine after playing 3, 4, and 5.

Also my headcannon is that Ichiban's a somber/emotional drunk (just like Nishiki lmao), while Kiryu is an angry drunk and just gets more aggressive the drunker he gets.

Best start? Yakuza 0 or YLAD. A personal favorite I recommend since that's the way I discovered the series many years ago is Yakuza 4, and that's or one reason mainly: Shun Akiyama.💜💜🖤🖤

Yakuza 0 was my first Yakuza game. Was surprised how amazing it was. Not the best graphics but the story and the amount of content is great

I started with Like A Dragon & just went on to buy all the rest (knowing their different styles) to play in 2023 as a "Year of Yakuza" since I also love beat em ups.

I'm actually starting from 7 myself!! It's a really fun game as I am a huge Persona fan and a Dragon Quest Fan and it's the perfect mix of Persona's style, combat and social stats with Dragon Quests's combat and classic RPG feel with the flair of jobs as classes and all sorts of other cool stuff. I'd say as someone who's never played another Yakuza game, it's a great start from somebody who wants to dip their toes into the Yakuza world first before going full in but aren't great at action games. The characters are great, especially Ichiban he is a JOY. The dub for the game is also really good imo!! Kaiji Tang plays Ichiban incredibly and I just... Love this game a lot and can't reccomend it enough as a newbie.

I started this journey over a year ago and it's been an emotional one

Start with 0 There you go, saved you 10 minutes

That bootleg Yakuza 2 case is so iconic

So, if you just want to check the series out, I agree. Yakuza 0 and Yakuza: Like a Dragon are the best trial points. And from Yakuza 0 you can naturally go to Kiwami 1 and 2 the remastered collection, then 6. However, part of the appeal of this series to me (like most long running series) is how it evolves over time. And I really like the grimy art style in the PS2 games. So, if you’re not opposed to retro gaming and have a PS2 around or are fluent in Japanese and have a PS3 or WiiU around or a way to emulate games, I do really recommend starting with the 2 PS2 games and then move through the main series chronologically (3-5, 0, 6, Like a Dragon). After that you can check out the remakes and spin-offs pretty much as you are interested. I think Judgement isn’t great because everything it does to Stand apart from Yakuza (investigation stuff) I think is boring and not well executed. But it will give you more quality time in and a new perspective on Kamurocho. I also highly recommend the upcoming Like a Dragon: Ishin! And Fist of the North Star: Lost Paradise as cool Alternative takes on the series‘ formula. Overall, it’s a cool series. Kind of the Japanese Assassin’s Creed (annual single player open world with a ton of content). It’s awesome.

Wanna get into this series. Recently watched Tokyo Vice (amazing show btw) and now am in a little yakuza phase lol

i started with 0 on a whim, and honestly I regret it. I've gained an appreciation for how the series progressed throughout the years and I lost that experience when I started with the 8th home console game in the series. not to mention the whiplash you get from constantly changing engines when you're playing kiwami through 3

I started with Kiwami out of thinking I would find a certain substory I confused with 0, but still loved the whole series. Then I got 0 and I am still enjoying it.

I recently started 0 and I'm loving it definitely going to get kiwami and go in cronologic order

Just need to say... we need that spotify playlist man 😂

I still have failed to play a single one of the games ever since HyperBitHero's 'Your Next Favourite' on the series sold me on them back around 2015-17 (I've gotten every single one of the games on Steam, JUDGE EYES / Judgment Remastered & Lost Judgment for consoles I don't yet own and recently imported 龍が如く1&2 HD Edition for the PlayStation 3 I still need to get back out of it's box after I-don't-know-how-many years of neglect), but I can tell you for a fact that I've been listening to much of their soundtracks for years (I still need to go chasing after the recent digital re-releases that now have lossless options on places such as OTOTOY, but I do have what CDs I could import) and there's still so much for me to hear to this day! My mistake is I've been a bit of a bugger about starting with the originals (I had figured even if I had to workaround 龍が如く1&2 HD's lack of English, I could do something productive such as "Ryu ga Gotoku 1&2 HD, but with Kiwami subtitles" at some point, but I just caught word of the Yakuza Restoration project from this very comment section, so it's more productive to point out their greater efforts instead), but even before the PlayStation 2 ship has sailed so far that I'm very sure even the bestsellers have become uncommon to find, let-alone at reasonable prices (At least in my nation of residence), you've still got that little hurdle of deciding whether you'd rather put up with 1's English dub, play the more refined 1&2 HD even if you can't speak or read 日本語 or getting a good set-up for emulating them. So long story short; don't be me. Follow this video's advice. Make it easier on yourself and have fun! And who in the world would recommend anyone to start with Ryu ga Gotoku 3 / Yakuza 3!? At least let them have a good time before they have to learn how to make the best out of one with very certain gripes.

Only yakuza game I played was 0 (With keyboard and mouse, I changed the bindings so it was actually fun) I bought it then played through it twice in the span of 3 days Best money I've spent since mirror's edge

Despite the warning, I have not became a real yakuza. I've played the entire series on keyboard and now I am part of Amon family.

I’m convincing my friend to play Yakuza 0, amazing game to start of with. Or if you want a really fun time.

I never played Yazkua before and just saw Like a Dragon for ps plus members. It is so much fun but I heard it's the only one that has the JRPG style to it. (Edit) Also in Like a Dragon being drunk is a buff for Zhao once you unlock drunken fist skill and have diabolical wristband to ensure critical hits.

Love the review, pretty funny and enjoyable

Lololol you will never stop me from grinding my way to max the stats before my “RGG” play through… u right but man I love unlocking stupid abilities that I’ll never use to complete it

Yakuza just came to xbox recently and I just started 0 yesterday and have had a blast so far. It's such. Different take on a classic crime game

For most people, I do recommend starting with 0. But for the few who are willing to emulate or get a ps2, I do recommend starting with the ps2. Because 3, 4 and 5 are simple remasters, they will feel a little clunky after playing kiwami 1 and 0. Not to mention that they have a certain atmosphere that none of the other games can replicate. But in 2's case, the game has ages pretty well and would recommend that over kiwami 2 if you can

Babe wake up new snowiest angeman video

Just started Yakuza yesterday and im starting with 0. I love it so far, excited to see where the series goes. What's everyones favorite title?

I want to add a small thing and say that the games that are dubbed to english (LAD, judgment & lost judgment) also have text in many other laguages including spanish and german. Oh yeah also 5:50 there was also a wii u version of the remaster. Also also i grinded in LJ. Fuck me. Also also also i have a spotify yakuza playlist too. Its 6 hours and 20 minutes long.

Simple answer: start at 0 and go up The timeline is linear If anything play Judgment before LAD and then Lost Judgment after

i hate to admit it but i got into because of the really really early days of the baka mitai memes i actually thought it was catchy and kiryu was a good singer and i had kiwami from ps plus and realised “wow a cool dude who can take on 5+ men in a fist fight no bother” i knew this game was gonna great and as of right now ive beat all the judgement and yakuza games except 7 lol

can you share the spotiify playlist?

This video is making me reply the yakuza series for the 4th or 5th time

Just bought Yakuza 0 & Kiwami Luved&subbed

I've heard that Yakuza 2 original is goated as hell, wanna try it but I don't want to go through the pain of emulating a PS2 game

I got my friend to start with zero since it was the easiest to have him dip his toes to the story without needing to worry of anything.

I got into yakuza bc of Joel’s play through of yakuza kiwami, and I got the game through ps plus

Something that I find strange. I played Yakuza Kawami as the first game I’ve played in the series only a couple weeks before memes started appearing.

Might pick up Yakuza 0 soon and just go with the chronological order

Darn I thought the video was about literally going inside the games and meet Yagami, Ichiban etc. A world where I wouldn't look crazy for fighting turn based on the streets. Oh well, hopefully one day RGG will port us all into kamurocho ;)

Start with original 1 if you want to see the evolution of the series

I always have time for Dual Wielder

you can play the games any way you want but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD PLEASE PLAY THE ENTIRE SERIES SO THE STORY AND PIVOTAL MOMENT MAKES SENSE, like goddamn I have seen WAY too many people skip 2/K2 through 6 and COMPLETELY MISS THE POINT OF KIRYU AND MAJIMAS RETURN, there is a LOT of emotions that I went through at those two moments rant. fucking. over.

"One of those game journalists that call it Ya-KU-za". I might be evil and bitter, but making fun of game journos is healing balm for the soul!

Simple, Start Yakuza 0 or 1/k1 I would say 0 because when you meet Kuze, you'll understand how great this shit is!!

Started from in October of 2021 now stuck at judgment because it’s not available for Xbox one

Number one motivation that made me hook into yakuza series - dame Dane meme Number two. Ktivation that made hook into yakuza series - out of context yakuza videos

You can get Zhao drunk though and then use his Drunken Fighting move

Somehow you managed to make this more confusing

You need to play all the Yakuza games lol I did.

Judgement was a awsome yakuza game

Only reason i got into it too see how father and daughter relationship will go. I hate when 6 cut them apart

9:13 it’s morbin time.

My only reason to recommend Yakuza 0 first other than overall story Is the Sub Stories/ide Missions I find it the wackiest and funnest of all the games And the soundtrack is just so much more pumpin'... Force Addition "Chef's Kiss"

You know what's funny, owning the whole yakuza & judgment franchise bht you aren't able to play them. Sucks to be me.

I play 0 to 6 and loved all of them but I just couldn‘t play like a dragon because of the overhauled fighting. Is the story worth that awful playstyle?

I have a question if I own an Xbox one and I want to play the judgement series can I play lost judgment and skip lost judgment?

I’ve played the yakuza games to great success on keyboard and mouse, 0 through 6, beating some on legend too, so it’s just a matter of preference. KBM is fine and so is console. It’s not inferior as so many like to say

Was this video supposed to throw shade at Cvit and HyperbitHero? Lmao, I've played both and I honestly do prefer the Kiwami remakes because of how better the combat is.

I've been describing them to the blind. From 0 to Like A Dragon. My people seem to be able to follow it ok.

So I started with Kiwami 1 then yakuza 0 and I’m kinda glad I did. It made me wanna learn the characters backstory more , like why Majima was so crazy.

As an xbox one and PC enjoyer, I cry every night because I cant play Judgment

I started with Yakuza: Like a Dragon, super underrated gateway into the franchise. Still my favourite out of them all.

I played Yakuza Like A Dragon because it is free in PSN Plus

One very important point you missed when encouraging new people to play these games. They start slow, slow, and slow as shit!!! They all start with lots of exposition that a new player wont understand and lots of tutorials on all the systems. Then after the training wheels come off these games are amazing, but those first few chapters may feel like a real grind for new players. I remember when I played Zero. Sure the captions are English dubbed, but the names, places, and different families are all Japanese names and I didnt know who the hell was who or what. In time all that sorts itself out, but that first chapter is alot to take in for some people.

I feel like 0 is too good of a game to start. It's a pretty steep slope after starting with it, and I would've rather played the PS2 games, which are actually a lot easier to get ahold of (in terms of controls) than many people would have you believe.

I have the oposing situation respect the first games, i'm not really intrested in them but i only have a PS2 so i'm forced to play them

I just saw a friend play yakuza 0 a lot and I thought ok let me buy it I guess and let me tell you I do not regret buying the games one bit even Yakuza 3 and yea I didn't enjoy it it was still passable?

So jokes aside I started with Dead Souls

you can play judgement on stadia also. lost judgement never got ported to stadia though.

I wan't that spotify playlist.

I bought yakuza 0 and kiwami and kiwami 2 just because they weren’t on game pass and than a week passed and now I just feel stupid

Why didn't you mention super monkey ball banana mania?

Started with 7 ended with 0 , no regrets

numerical order starting with 0 is clearly the best way for this series. the ps2 originals can be ignored and maybe played later out of pure interest how those games looked and played back in the day, but other than that theyre just way too outdated

As a keyboard and mouse player, I think keyboard is fine