Mahjong minigame confirmed for Yakuza 4 (PS3)

[Barticle]

To give a quick update, Yakuza: Dead Souls is now available in the US and Europe (with Japanese audio and English text). It has the usual range of minigames including riichi/dora mahjong in English. They're still using oddly asymmetrical uma but now there's a different one on each table, the biggest being a massive +75/+15/-25/-65 which is great for making money.

Oh and they have a new Akagi poster in the mahjong parlour too.

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[chalwa]

Wow, thats great. I thought that during zombie apocalypse there will be no time for mahjong, but it looks like i will buy this game

[Barticle]

Yeah, it's pretty funny how the city's residents are living their lives as usual!

The free aim is a little awkward because it uses the left stick and you can't move when you use it so you're quite vulnerable. However I soon realised that your character has quite an effective auto-aim so you can just "run and gun", firing with R1 (and holding L1 if you want to strafe). I'll get back to the combat soon, but in the short term I need to concentrate on playing mahjong to check the tournament rewards.

For the true Yakuza series experience on the PS3 check out Yakuza 3 and 4 if you haven't already. Just remember that the mahjong minigame was removed from the English version of Yakuza 3 and it's pretty basic in the others (only four rule options and no stats).

[Moah]

Weren't the mini games cut from the english version of Yakuza 4 too?

[Barticle]

I'm pleased to say the localised versions of Yakuza 4 and YDS are pretty much intact. The only absent minigame is the "An x An" quiz machine in the Club Sega arcades which we kinda expect to lose now (the assumption is that a significant proportion of the questions relate to Japanese culture/history so they'd need to be totally re-written rather than simply translated and that would be too expensive for a niche title, or something). Contrast that with Yakuza 3 which lost four minigames and about twenty side-missions, although - since there was so much to start with - there was still loads of solid content remaining after the cut.

We're grateful for each Yakuza game that gets localised in any form but we've been really pretty fortunate with the last two on the PS3. I just hope we get Yakuza 5 too which is reported to have a whole new engine and five separate cities.

[xKime]

I'm pleased to say the localised versions of Yakuza 4 and YDS are pretty much intact

I thought Yakuza Dead Souls in there meant "Yakuza DS" for a second.

I wish!

[Barticle]

Yeah, the franchise has always been a Sony exclusive, I guess because the market share for the Xbox 360 is so small in Japan. There are a couple of portable games called クロヒョウ 龍が如く (the second one was released earlier this month) but they're only available on the Sony PSP.

This year Sega also released a sci-fi third-person shooter called Binary Domain, developed by the Ryū ga Gotoku Studio and released for the Xbox 360 in addition to the PS3 (and there's a PC version coming soon) so who knows what will happen with the re-invention of the series for Yakuza 5...? I don't think we'll see anything on the DS any time soon though, sorry!

[xKime]

Yeah, in any case, it would be a 3DS title. And probably focused on the mini-games. w

[Moah]

You guys are tempting me...

[Barticle]

Yeah, in any case, it would be a 3DS title. And probably focused on the mini-games. w

True, any new title would probably be on the 3DS anyway - but at least that would probably have the power to render the city properly.

You guys are tempting me...

A beautifully detailed and immersive model of a Japanese city with shops, restaurants and bars... effective storytelling... memorable characters... satisfying brawler streetfights... tons of side-missions and minigames... and not forgetting playable Japanese mahjong with an English interface... What are you waiting for?! You should buy Yakuza 4 immediately. Great value for money at release and probably a lot cheaper now.

[xKime]

Woah, all this time I've been thinking it's Japanese GTA with mahjong. w

[Moah]

Woah, all this time I've been thinking it's Japanese GTA with mahjong. w

It does sound like that to me. But, hey, GTA's a good game, so why not?

[xKime]

When I told a group of friends from Japan that it was called "Yakuza" in English, they were like "WHAAAAAA. LOL"

[Barticle]

There are certainly some similarities to GTA (and to Sega's legendary Shenmue titles) but there are some differences too. It has the free-roam urban setting with side-missions and various other distractions but there's usually no driving, almost no shooting and you're not able to attack anyone outside of a fight (YDS however has lots of shooting and even a little driving).

I guess a direct English translation of the title "Like a Dragon" wouldn't mean much to western markets. I think Yakuza is a pretty good choice - it's concise, instantly recognisable as Japanese and evocative of cinematic gangster drama. However the main character is actually retired from the business and in the past couple of (PS3) games another one or two of your four playable characters aren't actually yakuza either...

[Barticle]

The final event for the hostess Erika in YDS involves a mahjong match and a unique, powerful, single-use cheat item...

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13-sided Kokushi and Tenhou!