Yakuza Kiwami is a pretty important game, even if it doesn’t really seem like it today. It was an anniversary title that remade the first game in the series in the engine of the series’ current most popular entry. It was the last Yakuza game made before the switch to RGG Studios’ now well-established Dragon Engine. Most interesting to this reviewer, it was the last Yakuza game to release on PS3. Yeah, did you know that? Yakuza Kiwami was released on both the PS3 and the PS4 when it launched in Japan. We only got it on PS4 over here.
The PS3 was a very formative console for me, and Yakuza was one of the many series I latched onto at that time. I fondly recommend having my entry point be Yakuza 4, and then the excitement at learning that Yakuza 5 was lucky enough to get a digital-only localization before the PS3 breathed its last. I mention this because Yakuza Kiwami’s latest Nintendo Switch port feels like it strips the whole series back to a simpler time. It looks and plays exactly like the PS3 titles, and I love it.
The first thing I noticed immediately upon booting the game up was that the licensed music cut from the English release was waiting for me. There are a handful of vocal themes in Yakuza Kiwami (including two openings) that we just didn’t get when Kiwami was localized back in 2017. It wasn’t until recently that this stopped being an issue for us, so seeing these really changed my perception of any scene they were supposed to be used in.
The second thing I noticed was being hit by the massive wave of nostalgia. Not just for the version of Kamurocho I fell in love with, but the visuals made me feel right at home. I don’t have the numbers to back it up, but the resolution needed to get this game running on a Switch and targeting 30 frames-per-second makes it look identical to the PS3 Yakuza games. The remasters of all those games (Yakuza 3-5) are fantastic, but I think something is lost ever so slightly by making them a bit too crisp.
I’m aware this sounds delirious, and mostly fueled by nostalgia, but Kamurocho really just shines like this. There’s something about it being crisp enough to parse everything on screen but blurry enough to make it feel authentic. Like wandering about a busy city on a cold night, having left your glasses in your hotel room. The higher the resolution for games like this, the more obvious the seams become. I was stunned at just how much more immersed this felt than any of my experiences with the Dragon Engine titles.
I’d say the game often hits the 30 FPS target, with the occasional dips when action gets hectic. I don’t really think this game expects too much of the player though to need 60 FPS, even if it would obviously have been nice if they could have achieved that on Switch. I was able to play Yakuza 4 and 5 at 30 FPS back in the day though, so I had no issues acclimating back to this.
I wasn’t huge on Like a Dragon: Infinite Wealth earlier this year, but after this revisit to Kiwami my interest in the series has been rejuvenated. The pacing is so much quicker than the recent entries, with information being doled out fast and frequently. Substories keep you in the action, as if they acknowledge that people want to be battling as much as possible. Everything feels designed around keeping the player engaged and constantly building Kiryu up. Battles feel scrappy and a lot of fun the more you unlock, and this particular game feels like the culmination of everything the team learned in the PS3 era of the series.
I’ve also warmed up significantly to the Majima Everywhere system. The awkward but engaging mechanic exclusive to this remake where Majima roams the streets of Kamurocho to help you unlock the Dragon Style after his time in prison. These are really fun encounters, and I’m mad at myself for avoiding him in my initial playthrough of Kiwami. I approached it with a more completionist perspective in general this time around, and found the side content to be some of the best in the series.
The story itself isn’t as wacky as later entries get, but the quaintness of it was a breath of fresh air after my exhaustion with later entries. Kiryu feels like a real person without the whole mythical status of the Dragon of Dojima hanging over the plot. Nishiki’s entire new storyline sprinkled throughout the normal story is especially excellent, and everything builds to a great finale with a lot of fun twists and turns.
I have some gripes with Kiwami that have not gone away with time, but they matter a lot less I think. The PS2 rigging and animations of the original Yakuza are very alive and well in this remake, and clash with the really detailed new models. Cutscenes use very rigid animations, with mouths basically only opening up and closing to convey a character is speaking. This was a big issue for me back then, but I will admit nowadays I find this charming.
The larger problem is the re-used boss battles of the PS2 game not meshing with the new combat system, iterated on from Yakuza 0’s style system. Even more frustrating is how every boss has a new ability where they will stop the fight, glow a certain color, and recharge their health unless you stop them with a special heat move from the style associated with the color of the glow. It’s an absolute pace killer, and it means that if you have no Heat you have to sit around and let the boss recharge a lot of their health.
The heat moves associated with showing them down are fun to see the first few times, but need to be unlocked manually with no real indication that they’re crucial to fully enjoy the game. Once you do have them though, seeing the same three animations needed to shut a boss down over and over again makes you dread every boss fight. The further you get in the game, the more health a boss can recharge. I still remember how mad I got at the final boss recharging several health bars back when I first played in what felt like seconds, insulting me for not having enough heat or the reflexes to switch to the right style in time. I feel like the rate of this must have been tied to framerate, because it feels more manageable this time around at 30 FPS compared to playing it at 60 on PS4. It’s still not a great system, but I’ll take that little consolation prize.
The Nintendo Switch port of Yakuza Kiwami is an interesting beast. Sure, you could play it anywhere else to get a better experience. Getting to play one of the most addictive Yakuza games on the go is a treat though, and playing it docked looked solid on my 4K TV. If you’ve never played the Yakuza series, this is a solid entry point. It kind of assumes familiarity with Yakuza 0, as Kiwami takes the original game and tries to retrofit it to be a sequel, but you won’t be punished without 0. I certainly wasn’t back when I first played Kiwami. With an impressive portable experience that doesn’t cut back on too much of what makes Yakuza Kiwami special, this is a compelling offer. And if you want to re-experience the PS3 Yakuza games of the previous decade, you’re going to absolutely love this Switch conversion.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch
Review copy provided by SEGA
